Detecting Proximity with Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons for Cultural Heritage

Area of Science:

• Digital Heritage
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Cultural Informatics

Background:

• Pisa's medieval city attracts many tourists.
• Enhancing visitor experience in cultural sites is a key challenge.
• Smart devices offer new avenues for digital content delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, implement, and test the RE.S.I.STO application for proximity detection.
• To provide high-quality digital content to visitors of Pisa's medieval city.
• To automatically detect visitor proximity to artworks using smart devices.

Main Methods:

• Development of a mobile application utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons.
• Implementation of algorithms for analyzing BLE beacon signals to determine proximity.
• Experimental campaigns in diverse museum layouts, including open spaces and complex sites like Camposanto Monumentale.

Main Results:

• The RE.S.I.STO application achieved performance ranging from 40% to perfect accuracy in proximity detection.
• Stress and stability tests confirmed the application's robustness during data collection.
• The mobile application demonstrated a significant reduction in beacon loss rate, averaging 77% of collected beacons.

Conclusions:

• The RE.S.I.STO application effectively detects visitor proximity to artworks in cultural heritage sites.
• The system enhances digital content accessibility for smart device users.
• The technology shows promise for improving museum and heritage site visitor engagement.