Assessing Material Impacts in NLOS UWB Ranging Errors: Characterization for Museum Environments

Museums, with their intricate layouts and diverse materials, present unique challenges for accurate indoor positioning, especially in environments rich with glass and other reflective surfaces. These materials can interfere with many positioning technologies, complicating efforts to track visitor movement accurately for insights into visitor behavior, exhibit engagement, and space utilization. Indoor positioning technologies have become essential for understanding movement and interaction within enclosed spaces, especially in environments like museums, where optimizing visitor experience and curators exhibit management are key priorities. While several technologies have been applied in museums, Ultra-wideband (UWB) positioning has emerged as a standout solution due to its high accuracy and resilience in complex indoor environments. This study exploits low-cost UWB positioning devices to track and analyze visitor behavior within a museum characterized by extensive glass and reflective surfaces. Through a comprehensive measurement campaign with volunteer participants visiting a real exhibition, real-time data on visitor trajectories, engagement patterns, and interactions with exhibits were collected. The UWB raw data, acquired from actual visitor movements, allows us to post-process them and propose solutions to overcome challenges posed by the glassy and crowded environment. The results show the capability of the algorithm to enable robust and reliable tracking even in challenging spatial configurations. The study’s findings highlight patterns in visitor flow, high-engagement zones, and preferred pathways, offering insights into optimizing exhibit layout and visitor satisfaction. This research underscores the potential of UWB positioning to generate actionable, data-driven insights in museum environments, supporting informed decisions in crowd management, exhibit arrangement, and personalized visitor experiences.