Review of Bluetooth Low Energy RSS-Based Positioning

ble rss-based positioning combines low-cost deployment with widespread smartphone support. This review synthesizes peer-reviewed studies from 2013 through the search cutoff of 19 September 2026 for mobile and iot platforms, including methods adapted from other radios and BLE-specific techniques. We systematically searched major bibliographic databases using BLE, RSS, positioning, localization, and methodological terms and then deduplicated and screened the records. The synthesis covers six dimensions: (i) RSS preprocessing and filtering; (ii) proximity-based, model-based, and fingerprinting approaches; (iii) sensor fusion; (iv) applications; (v) public BLE RSS datasets; and (vi) comparisons with other RSS-based positioning technologies. BLE RSS offers practical, cost-effective positioning in gnss-denied environments, but RSS instability remains the predominant limitation.