A hybrid BLE and Wi-Fi localization system for the creation of study groups in smart libraries

Campus libraries in modern universities provide students with group study areas where they can work and study collaboratively. In this paper, we propose a complete solution for the creation of study groups in future smart libraries featuring (i) a smartphone application to create study groups, (ii) a hybrid Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Wi-Fi indoor positioning system to localize study groups and (iii) a server-based infrastructure based on MQTT and Node-RED to advertise study groups to other students. We describe in details all components of the architecture and perform an experimental evaluation of the indoor positioning system in a realistic scenario.