Indoor Positioning & Beacon Management for BLE, Wi-Fi & Multi-Vendor Infrastructure

Cuebly’s indoor positioning beacon management platform enables system integrators to deploy BLE beacons, Wi-Fi positioning, and radio frequency infrastructure for accurate indoor location tracking where GPS fails. Map facilities, register beacons, and create zone-based geofences for safety monitoring in hospitals, factories, warehouses, and office environments.

Support multiple beacon types like Emerit e-BBE9, TWIG SRD beacons, and standard BLE-compatible hardware, through a unified management interface. Upload custom floor plans, position virtual beacons, and define indoor geofences without technical expertise.
Built for system integrators deploying personal safety solutions in indoor environments. Scale from single-floor pilot projects to multi-building campus deployments while maintaining centralised beacon inventory and health monitoring.

  • Multi-vendor beacon support: Emerit e-BBE9, TWIG SRD, BLE-compatible hardware, and Wi-Fi positioning
  • Visual floor plan mapping: Upload facility layouts, position beacons, create zone-based geofences
  • Scalable site management: Deploy across single rooms, multi-floor buildings, or entire campuses
  • Health monitoring: Track beacon battery levels, signal strength, and connectivity status centrally
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Indoor positioning beacon management for hospitals, factories, and office buildings

Why Indoor Positioning Matters for Safety Applications

GPS positioning works reliably outdoors but fails inside buildings. Concrete walls, metal structures, and multiple floors block satellite signals. For personal safety applications in hospitals, factories, warehouses, and office buildings, outdoor GPS cannot provide the location accuracy required for effective emergency response.

Indoor positioning fills this gap. Using BLE beacons, Wi-Fi access points, or radio frequency technology, devices determine their location relative to known infrastructure points. When a lone worker triggers a man-down alarm or panic button indoors, responders need to know which floor, which zone, and ideally which room the person is in. Indoor positioning provides this critical information.

Regulatory and Operational Drivers

Many industries face regulatory requirements for indoor location tracking:

Healthcare: Hospitals must locate staff quickly during emergencies. When a nurse triggers a panic alarm, security personnel need precise location. Not just “somewhere in Building B.”

Manufacturing: Factory safety regulations increasingly require zone-level tracking for lone workers in hazardous areas. If someone enters a restricted zone or fails to exit before lockdown, indoor positioning enables rapid location.

Logistics: Warehouse operations use indoor positioning to verify workers are in safe zones during forklift operations or automated equipment activation.

Operational Benefits Beyond Safety

While safety is the primary driver, indoor positioning enables operational improvements:

  • Workflow Optimisation: Understand how workers move through facilities. Identify bottlenecks or inefficient routing.
  • Asset Tracking: Beyond personnel, track valuable equipment or inventory using the same beacon infrastructure.
  • Mustering Verification: During evacuations, verify all personnel have exited buildings and reached designated safe zones.
  • Access Control Integration: Trigger automated responses when personnel enter restricted areas without authorisation.

System integrators deploying indoor positioning create competitive advantages. Customers can’t get equivalent functionality from outdoor-only GPS tracking. Indoor positioning transforms basic safety device deployments into comprehensive facility-wide safety and operational monitoring systems.

Complete Indoor Positioning Infrastructure Management

From initial site setup to ongoing beacon maintenance, Cuebly centralises indoor positioning infrastructure management for system integrators.

Site & Floor Plan Management

Create hierarchical site structures matching facility layouts:
Sites: Top-level locations (e.g., “Main Hospital Campus”)
Buildings: Multiple buildings per site (e.g., “Building A – Emergency”, “Building B – Surgery”)
Floors: Multiple floors per building (Floor 1, Floor 2, Basement)
Zones: Specific areas within floors (Operating Room 3, Warehouse Zone C, Office Wing North)

Upload custom floor plans in PNG image format supporting transparant background. The platform displays floor plans as background images for beacon positioning on top of the map. Scale floor plans to match real-world dimensions, enabling distance-based geofences and proximity calculations.

Floor plan management supports multi-building campuses with dozens of floors. Healthcare facilities with emergency rooms, operating theaters, patient wards, and administrative buildings map their entire campus. Manufacturing sites with multiple production buildings, warehouses, and office spaces create comprehensive facility models.

Changes to facility layouts are simple: upload updated floor plans and reposition beacons visually. No need to reconfigure backend systems or update device firmware. Physical beacon locations may not change, but their virtual positions on updated floor plans adjust instantly.

Beacon Registration & Mapping

Register beacons by entering unique IDs, selecting beacon types (Emerit e-BBE9, TWIG SRD, generic BLE beacon), and assigning them to sites. Bulk import supports CSV files with hundreds of beacons for large-scale deployments.

Position beacons visually on floor plans by dragging and dropping beacon icons. The platform displays beacon coverage radius. Overlap visualisation helps to optimise beacon placement for complete coverage without excessive redundancy.

Name beacons using descriptive labels: “ER-Entrance”, “OperatingRoom3-North”, “WarehouseZoneC-Center”. Clear naming simplifies troubleshooting and maintenance. Names can also be used in messages to any device with a display, email, voice message, SMS and more. When a beacon battery fails, technicians know exactly which physical location requires service.

Beacon mapping supports flexible deployment patterns:
Dense Coverage: Many beacons for meter-level accuracy (operating rooms, clean rooms)
Zone Coverage: Fewer beacons for room-level accuracy (warehouses, office floors)
Mixed Coverage: Dense in critical areas, sparse in low-priority zones (optimising cost vs. accuracy)

Geofencing & Zone-Based Rules

Define virtual boundaries on floor plans. Geofences trigger automated actions when devices enter, exit, or remain within designated areas.

Safety Geofences:
Restricted areas: Alert when personnel enter without authorisation
Hazardous zones: Automatic alarms if lone workers don’t exit within specified times
Safe zones: Verify all personnel reach mustering points during evacuations

Operational Geofences:
Workflow zones: Track time spent in different facility areas
Access control: Integrate with physical security systems for automated door locks
Proximity alerts: Warn when unauthorised personnel approach sensitive equipment

Geofences operate independently per customer environment. Hospital Customer A’s restricted zones don’t affect Factory Customer B’s configurations. Multi-tenant architecture supports diverse use cases across customer base.

Beacon Health Monitoring

Track beacon operational status from centralised dashboards:
Battery Levels: Monitor remaining battery life across all deployed beacons. Set alerts for beacons <20% battery. Schedule proactive replacements before failures impact positioning accuracy.
Connectivity Status: View last-seen timestamps. Beacons that stop transmitting indicate battery failure, theft, or physical damage. Offline beacon alerts enable rapid response.
Firmware Versions: Track firmware across beacon fleet. Push firmware updates to supported beacon types (vendor-dependent capability). Ensure security patches and feature improvements reach deployed hardware.

Beacon health reports aggregate data across all customer sites. System integrators see which customers have the most beacon maintenance requirements, which beacon models exhibit best reliability, and which facility types require the densest beacon placement.

Predictive maintenance based on historical battery life data: if Emerit e-BBE9 beacons typically last 18 months in your deployments, schedule replacement campaigns at 16 months before failures occur.

Multi-Vendor & Technology Support

Cuebly supports multiple indoor positioning technologies and beacon vendors:
BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) Beacons:
Emerit e-BBE9: Long battery life, adjustable transmission power, healthcare-optimised
TWIG SRD beacons: Industrial form factor, cost-effective, logistics-optimised
Standard iBeacon or Eddystone beacon: Any BLE-compatible hardware (BlueUp, Teltonika, Zebra Technologies, others)

Wi-Fi Positioning:
Leverage existing Wi-Fi infrastructure for location tracking. Devices detect nearby access points and the Cuebly platform calculates approximate positions based on signal strength. No additional beacon hardware required but typically lower accuracy than BLE due to typically lower density.

Radio Frequency (RF) Technology:
TWIG and some other manufacturers offer proprietary RF positioning systems. Cuebly integrates with vendor-specific RF infrastructure where deployed.

Mix technologies based on facility requirements and budget constraints. Use BLE or RF beacons in critical high-accuracy areas (operating rooms, hazardous zones) and Wi-Fi positioning in lower-priority spaces (office areas, parking structures). This hybrid approach optimises cost while maintaining safety-critical accuracy where it matters most.

Indoor positioning process using BLE beacons and Wi-Fi infrastructure

How indoor positioning Beacon Management Works: From Beacons to Location Data

Indoor positioning relies on devices detecting signals from known infrastructure points (beacons or Wi-Fi access points) and calculating their position based on signal characteristics.

BLE beacons continuously broadcast unique identifiers and signal strength. Personal safety devices (TWIG, Emerit trackers, smartphones with Cuebly app) detect these beacon signals.

Proximity Detection: Device detects nearby beacons and identifies the strongest signal. If Beacon “OperatingRoom3” has the strongest signal, the device reports its location as “Operating Room 3.” Accuracy: zone/room level (typically 3-10 meters depending on beacon density).

Trilateration: With three or more beacon signals, Cuebly calculates the position using signal strength to estimate distances. More accurate than proximity detection but requires denser beacon placement. Accuracy: 1-5 meters with optimal beacon density.

The device reports detected beacon IDs and signal strengths to the Cuebly platform. The platform maps beacon IDs to physical locations (floor, zone, coordinates) and displays device positions on floor plans.

Similar principle using existing Wi-Fi access points instead of dedicated beacons. Devices detect nearby access points and report MACs/VMACs plus signal strengths. The platform calculates positions based on known access point locations.

Advantage: No additional hardware deployment costs.
Disadvantage: Typical lower accuracy due to existing number WiFi acces points installed and requires pre-mapping Wi-Fi infrastructure.

Devices send location updates at configured intervals (every 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes), when significant location changes occur or (only) on event (like an alarm). Balance between battery life (frequent updates drain batteries) and positioning freshness (infrequent updates miss rapid movements).

For safety applications, typical update intervals: 60-300 seconds for normal operations, 10-15 seconds when alarms are active (increased frequency during emergencies for precise location tracking).

Beacon Technology & Vendor Options

Cuebly supports multiple beacon technologies and manufacturers, giving system integrators flexibility to match beacon types to customer requirements and budgets.

BLE Beacons

Emerit e-BBE9: Long-range BLE beacon (~20m) optimised for healthcare and office environments. -4 dBm transmission power and 500mS interval. Typical battery life: 24+ months at moderate transmission settings. Mounting: adhesive or screw mount.

iBeacon or Eddystone Standard: Any iBeacon- or Eddystone-compatible beacon hardware works with Cuebly. Choose vendors like BlueUp, Teltonika, Zebra Technologies or others based on price, form factor, and feature requirements.

Range: BLE beacons typically cover 10-50 meters depending on transmission power, physical obstructions, and device sensitivity.

Wi-Fi Positioning

Leverages existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. No additional beacon hardware required. Requires initial site survey to map access point locations. Accuracy: 5-15 meters (lower than BLE due to typically less access points available then dedicated beacons). Best for supplementing BLE in low-priority areas or budget-constrained deployments.

RF Technology

Vendor-specific radio frequency systems (TWIG SRD, others). Typically proprietary protocols requiring compatible devices. Higher infrastructure costs but can offer superior performance in challenging RF environments (metal structures, interference).

TWIG SRD Beacons: Compact RF beacons designed for industrial, logistics and warehouse environments. Typical battery life: 24+ months at moderate transmission settings. Mounting: screw mount.

View complete hardware compatibility list

Indoor Positioning Use Cases

System integrators deploy indoor positioning beacon management across diverse industries, each with distinct requirements and regulatory drivers. The same beacon infrastructure and management platform supports healthcare compliance, manufacturing safety regulations, and corporate security policies. Here’s how three common facility types leverage indoor positioning for personnel safety and operational efficiency.

Healthcare environments require precise indoor location tracking for staff safety and emergency response efficiency.

Lone Worker Protection: Nurses working night shifts in remote hospital wings trigger panic alarms if threatened. Indoor positioning directs security to exact floor and room locations within seconds.

Code Response: During medical emergencies (code blue, code silver), indoor positioning helps coordinate response teams. See which staff are nearest to emergency locations and guide them efficiently.

Patient Wandering Prevention: Patients with dementia or psychiatric conditions sometimes leave authorised areas. Geofences around secure zones trigger alerts when patients exit designated areas, enabling immediate intervention.

Equipment Tracking: While primarily for personnel safety, the same beacon infrastructure tracks valuable medical equipment (defibrillators, infusion pumps, wheelchairs). Know which floor each piece of equipment is on without manual searches.

Typical deployment: BLE beacons in patient rooms, hallways, stairwells, and emergency exits. Dense coverage in critical areas (emergency rooms, ICUs, psychiatric wards) with sparser coverage in administrative wings.

Manufacturing and logistics facilities use indoor positioning for safety compliance and operational efficiency.

Hazardous Zone Monitoring: Factories have areas with dangerous equipment, chemical exposure risks, or temperature extremes. Geofences around hazardous zones alert supervisors when workers enter without proper authorisation or safety equipment. If workers don’t exit within expected times, automatic alarms trigger.

Forklift Safety Zones: Warehouses create geofences around active forklift operation areas. Workers on foot receive proximity warnings when forklifts approach. Automated systems can slow or stop forklifts when pedestrians enter danger zones.

Evacuation Verification: During fire alarms or emergency evacuations, indoor positioning verifies all personnel have exited buildings and reached mustering points. Incident commanders see real-time headcounts and know if anyone remains inside.

Workflow Optimisation: While safety is primary, warehouses use location data to optimise pick routes, identify bottlenecks, and understand facility traffic patterns.

Typical deployment: Zone-level accuracy (10-15 meter precision) sufficient for most warehouse applications. Focus beacon density in high-risk areas (machinery zones, chemical storage) with basic coverage elsewhere.

Universities, corporate campuses, and multi-building office complexes deploy indoor positioning for safety and access control.

Campus Security: Security personnel responding to panic alarms or medical emergencies need to know which building, which floor, and which wing. Indoor positioning guides them directly to incident locations across sprawling campuses.

Visitor Management: Track contractor or visitor movement through facilities. Geofences around restricted areas (data centers, executive floors, research labs) trigger alerts when unauthorised personnel enter.

Emergency Mustering: During evacuations, verify employees have exited buildings and reached designated assembly points. Account for all personnel across multiple buildings quickly.

Access Control Integration: Combine indoor positioning with physical access control systems. Automatically unlock doors when authorised personnel approach; keep doors locked for unauthorised individuals even if they possess valid badges for other areas.

Typical deployment: Cost-optimised mixed approach. Dense BLE beacon coverage in high-security or high-value areas. Wi-Fi positioning in general office spaces where approximate location suffices. Minimises beacon hardware costs while maintaining functionality.

Indoor Positioning Beacon Management Built for System Integrators

Cuebly’s indoor positioning beacon management is designed for system integrators deploying indoor positioning across multiple customers with diverse facility types.

Multi-Customer Infrastructure

Manage beacon fleets across all customers from a unified reseller environment. See aggregate beacon health statistics: which customers have the most battery replacements due, which beacon models exhibit best reliability, which facility types require densest placement.

Scalable Architecture

Deploy from single-room pilots to multi-building campus installations without operational complexity increases. First customer with 10 beacons across one floor takes same management effort as tenth customer with 100 beacons across five buildings.

System integrators choose Cuebly for indoor positioning that scales alongside their business growth.

Cuebly enables us to deliver highly tailored solutions for complex customer requirements. Their platform lets us turn simple incoming alarm data into precise, custom outputs, fully controlling structure, triggers, and scenarios. With fast, engaged support and an openness to feedback, Cuebly stands out as a reliable and flexible partner.

Linus Hellsten

Head of Technical Support (LWP) – Almas Industries DE

Frequently asked questions

Cuebly supports Emerit e-BBE9 BLE beacons, TWIG SRD beacons, and any iBeacon or Eddystone-compatible hardware (BlueUp, Teltonika, Zebra Technologies and others). We also support Wi-Fi positioning using existing infrastructure. Mix beacon vendors and technologies based on facility requirements and budget constraints.

Accuracy depends on beacon density and technology. BLE beacon-based positioning: 1-5 meters with dense beacon placement (one beacon per 10 meters), 5-10 meters with standard placement (one beacon per 20 meters). Wi-Fi positioning: 5-15 meters depending on access point density. For most safety applications, room-level or zone-level accuracy (5-20 meters) is sufficient.

Battery life varies by beacon type and transmission settings. Emerit e-BBE9: 24+ months at moderate transmission power. TWIG SRD: 18-24 months. iBeacon and Eddystone compatible beacons: 6-48 months depending on model and settings. When available in the beacon signal, Cuebly monitors battery levels and alerts you before failures occur, enabling proactive replacements.

Yes. Wi-Fi positioning leverages existing access points, eliminating beacon hardware costs. However, accuracy is typically lower due to less dense access points placement (5-15 meters vs. 5 meters for BLE). Wi-Fi positioning works well for general office spaces, parking structures, or budget-constrained deployments. Combine Wi-Fi positioning in low-priority areas with BLE beacons in safety-critical zones for cost-optimised hybrid deployments.

Upload facility floor plans (PNG) through the Cuebly platform. Scale floor plans to match real-world dimensions. Position beacons by dragging and dropping icons onto floor plans. The platform displays beacon coverage to help optimise placement. Changes to floor plans or beacon positions update instantly without device firmware changes.

Yes. Draw geofences on floor plans to define virtual boundaries linked to a specific floor level. Configure automated actions when devices enter, exit, or remain within geofenced areas. Use cases: restricted area alerts, hazardous zone monitoring, mustering point verification, proximity warnings. Geofences operate independently per customer environment, supporting diverse safety rules across your customer base.

Cuebly monitors beacon health and alerts you when batteries drop below thresholds (typically 20%). When beacons fail, devices fall back to last-known locations or alternative positioning methods (Wi-Fi if available). For safety-critical applications, deploy redundant beacon coverage so single beacon failures don’t create positioning dead zones. Schedule proactive battery replacements based on historical data.

Yes. TWIG TUP93EU, TUP92EU, and other TWIG devices detect BLE beacons, SRD beacons or Wi-Fi acces points and report location data to Cuebly. Emerit e-RG360, or e-WG200 trackers natively support BLE beacon detection, Emerit e-BBE9 beacon infrastructure and Wi-Fi access points. Mix device types based on customer requirements.

Ready to Deploy Indoor Positioning Solutions?

Stop losing visibility when GPS fails indoors. Deploy BLE beacons, Wi-Fi positioning, and comprehensive indoor location tracking for hospitals, factories, warehouses, and office environments.

Book a demo to see indoor positioning and beacon management in action. We’ll show you floor plan mapping, geofence creation, and how system integrators scale indoor positioning across diverse customer facilities.

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