---
title: 'BLIP – Asset Tracking & Location Based Contextual Services Using Bluetooth Based Indoor Positioning'
author: rhnvrm
type: post
date: 2016-03-22T23:43:41+00:00
url: blog/2016/03/22/blip/
categories:
  - projects
tags:
  - hackathon
  - iot
  - python

---
**BLIP** is a naive solution for effective tracking of assets in indoor spaces, where satellite (GPS) based positioning systems are unreliable, and provide location based contextual services. This project was made at IndiaHacks: Internet Of Things Hackathon at SAP Labs, Gurgaon. It was an overnight hackathon and [Paul][1] and I were awake till the last moments and only slept after creating a small demo video.

<img class="size-medium wp-image-101 aligncenter" src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot-1-300x209.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="209" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot-1-300x209.jpg 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot-1-768x534.jpg 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot-1-700x487.jpg 700w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot-1.jpg 854w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

We were inspired by the The Time Machine (2002) movie&#8217;s scene where the protagonist enters a museum in the future.

<iframe width="465" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CQbkhYg2DzM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

During the hackathon we were able to make an app that relays RSSI values to our real time Database (rethink-db) that works on a pub-sub model, queries the real time database for its calculated position and receives contextual information relating to its predicted position inside the building where beacons have been set up.

<img class="size-full wp-image-99 aligncenter" src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Screenshot-from-2016-12-23-04-44-36.png" alt="" width="136" height="257" />

Since, the final submission deadline was extended, we were able to reach back our campus at night and shoot a demo video at our university&#8217;s library.

<iframe width="465" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8IrnY7-q16A" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Finally, we were selected in the top 20 for the offline finals of IndiaHacks and went to Taj Vivanta, Bangalore. It was a nice experience where we got to improve our idea with the help of mentors that were available there. We tweaked the algorithm and the variables a bit for the demo room we made at the venue. We were surprised to be among the few student teams at the finale.

<img class="size-medium wp-image-100 aligncenter" src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot-2-300x143.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="143" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot-2-300x143.jpg 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot-2.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

We gave our best and demo&#8217;d the project and were finally awarded the 7th position and received two RaspberryPi 3B models as the prize.

<img class="aligncenter wp-image-98 size-full" src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot.jpg" width="462" height="826" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot.jpg 462w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heiot-168x300.jpg 168w" sizes="(max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px" />

 [1]: https://twitter.com/commandpaul