CutiQueue: People Counting in Waiting Lines Using Bluetooth Low Energy Based Passive Presence Detection
Falk Brockmann, Marcus Handte, Pedro José Marrón · 2018
Queueing systems are used to estimate the attributes of waiting lines, for example the number of people in line or the waiting time. This information helps to reduce the time spent waiting by balancing people amongst multiple lines or aids in the decision making about opening a new line. However, current queueing systems are often mounted at fixed positions, require user participation, or need time consuming manual calibration after each layout change. In this work, we introduce CutiQueue, a flexible and portable queueing system that is battery powered, needs no manual calibration or user participation. CutiQueue is based on passive presence detection using the RSSI of low cost Bluetooth Low Energy transceivers. We analyze the performance of the system in experiments using a prototype implementation to estimate the number of people waiting as well as the length of the line. The experimental evaluation indicates an average accuracy of 97.96% when compared to counting people walking or standing in the waiting line using a laser barrier.