Bluetooth Tracking

[hucker]

I have been looking at bluetooth tracking and wondering if it really does work. All of my family's cell phones now have bluetooth capability and I've verified that I can see them from my PC but I wonder if in practice it actually works for any but the most subtle HA tasks.

Bluetooth just can't be that reliable because batteries go dead, you leave your phone in the car, you walk outside. Given those scenarios, what things do you do with bluetooth tracking? You certainly don't want to setback the heat when no phones are detected or turn off lights.

Of course you could get smarter and look for several factors indication presence like recent door openings, lights changing state and motion detectors.

Any thoughts on real world, reasonable WAF uses?

 

[Digger]

I would love to set something up so that I can detect my sons cell phone in the laundry room. To many times has it wound up in the laundry. The last time a few weeks ago was the death of it. Even with insurance it cost $50 to replace.

Possibly RFID would be better for that.

 

[Dave X10]

I have been looking at bluetooth tracking and wondering if it really does work. All of my family's cell phones now have bluetooth capability and I've verified that I can see them from my PC but I wonder if in practice it actually works for any but the most subtle HA tasks.

Bluetooth just can't be that reliable because batteries go dead, you leave your phone in the car, you walk outside. Given those scenarios, what things do you do with bluetooth tracking? You certainly don't want to setback the heat when no phones are detected or turn off lights.

Of course you could get smarter and look for several factors indication presence like recent door openings, lights changing state and motion detectors.

Any thoughts on real world, reasonable WAF uses?

I am using BlueTooth tracking as part of my homes Occupancy Sensing. I had the idea to do this some time ago... and then read that HomeSeer had a plug-in to do this. However I am a BVC (Bill's Voice Commander) user.. and a BIG fan of Bill's Voice control.. that works with X10's CM15A. So I talked a HA programmer (Tuicemen) into writing a program he calls BlueWatch. His BlueWatch Site (for trial Download or purchase is here)

I have a HA PC I run 24/7. It runs AHP, BVC, WeatherAloud, and now BlueWatch. It's an old P3... so it may be at its limit. I am not bragging as I am NOT the creator of these programs... but they play well together and the effect is awesome.

The macro creation and execution of the automation is key to using these newer technologies. I started a project I call S.A.R.A. (Smart Articulate Responsive Automation). It is my hope that I might inspire more clever people than myself. So we (me included) can better our setups using their ideas. I know Dan (electron) has certainly inspired me.

 

[damage]

i've written 2 apps for bt tracking. one is xPL based ( http://bit.ly/8zw3eb ) and the other has a built in scripting engine ( http://bit.ly/8Rhb6B ) allowing it to interact w/ any activex object. my main use for it is notifications (the system sends notifications via sms if our phones are gone) rather than actual presence, as there are many times we don't bring our phones with us (taking the dog for a walk, etc). we use rfid in the cars to trigger setting the alarm or setting back the hvac.

both of my apps scan for BT devices every 30 seconds, so if there hasn't been motion in the house or someone hasn't gone outside for several minutes and the phone disappeared, the system knows that the battery is probably dead and reminds us to charge our phone.

when the house was built in 1999, we didn't plan too well for all the gadgets we'd eventually install so we didn't end up with enough wire to the wiring closet. so our system is more distributed than central (HA, sage & camera servers are in 3 different locations in the house, etc). it works out well for BT proximity. i use these $2 BT dongles http://bit.ly/bco8dQ - the range is not great but because i have several BT dongles running, the system can approximate where the phones are. one server covers the garage, guestroom and family room but that's all. another server can only cover the living room, master & office. a thin client connected to the brultech monitor covers the kids rooms and the laundry room. before i went w/ the distributed approach, i modded a BT dongle to put on an external antenna ( http://bit.ly/9dUOjS ) and the range improved a lot.

one thing we use BT for is to automatically handle google voice forwarding ( http://bit.ly/5LYpzV ). i have a BT dongle installed on my work PC running BlueTrackerScript (since i don't have xPL running @ work). if my cell's at work, my google voice number is forwarded to my cell and work line and nobody at home gets bothered by my calls.

 

[hobbes487]

I wrote a bluetooth proximity application for vCrib last year. I will detect any bluetoth devices that are within range and report when they arrive or leave. vCrib then can use that information to run all kinds of logic to determine when someone on site or not. It is also distributable so there can be multiple computers running it around the house to increase the range. Once you are able to accurately detect bluetooth devices an get that info to an intelligent HA system you can do a lot of cool stuff.

 

[hucker]

I wrote a bluetooth proximity application for vCrib last year. I will detect any bluetoth devices that are within range and report when they arrive or leave. vCrib then can use that information to run all kinds of logic to determine when someone on site or not. It is also distributable so there can be multiple computers running it around the house to increase the range. Once you are able to accurately detect bluetooth devices an get that info to an intelligent HA system you can do a lot of cool stuff.

I'm curious as to what the cool stuff is. As best as I can tell bluetooth proximity is a fuzzy way to track a person since batteries go dead and people set their phones down. Do those with bluetooth proximity *always* carry their phone? I do like the concept of having multiple dongles around the house to track people... though I have wondered why I haven't seen a computer proximity done that is set to true when a user is logged in to a computer and false when it goes to screen saver.... yet another service.

 

[damage]

though I have wondered why I haven't seen a computer proximity done that is set to true when a user is logged in to a computer and false when it goes to screen saver.... yet another service.

i played around with it before, but it's not useful for me as i'm constantly RDP'ing onto different machines.

 

[hucker]

though I have wondered why I haven't seen a computer proximity done that is set to true when a user is logged in to a computer and false when it goes to screen saver.... yet another service.

i played around with it before, but it's not useful for me as i'm constantly RDP'ing onto different machines.

That could be fixed though by checking if there was an RDP session in which case it wouldn't count.

 

[roussell]

I've always wondered if you could take a usb bluetooth dongle, add a small battery or two to power it and create a bluetooth ID tag. I guess the main question is that if you power up a dongle without a computer - will it come up and broadcast it's ID or does it need the PC?

Currently I track phones with a combination of bluetooth and wifi (pinging IP address of the phone). We're pretty good about having our phones with us as far as at-home/away, but don't always have it beside us while in the house.

Terry

 

[damage]

though I have wondered why I haven't seen a computer proximity done that is set to true when a user is logged in to a computer and false when it goes to screen saver.... yet another service.

i played around with it before, but it's not useful for me as i'm constantly RDP'ing onto different machines.

That could be fixed though by checking if there was an RDP session in which case it wouldn't count.

true and you can do that with eventghost. then there's also what to do with laptops. you may know someone's logged in, but you may not know where they are w/ the laptop. i suppose you can use BT to track laptops too

 

[drozwood90]

Just use a cheap ear piece....

--Dan

 

[roussell]

I'm curious as to what the cool stuff is. As best as I can tell bluetooth proximity is a fuzzy way to track a person since batteries go dead and people set their phones down. Do those with bluetooth proximity *always* carry their phone? I do like the concept of having multiple dongles around the house to track people... though I have wondered why I haven't seen a computer proximity done that is set to true when a user is logged in to a computer and false when it goes to screen saver.... yet another service.

You could always make everyone in your family wear these...

Terry

 

[Dave X10]

.......... As best as I can tell bluetooth proximity is a fuzzy way to track a person since batteries go dead and people set their phones down. Do those with bluetooth proximity *always* carry their phone? I do like the concept of having multiple dongles around the house to track people... though I have wondered why I haven't seen a computer proximity done that is set to true when a user is logged in to a computer and false when it goes to screen saver.... yet another service.

I do use BlueTooth tracking. The last time my cell phone "went dead" was about three years ago. I've miss-placed it once since then... (it was in the car). I always carry my cell phone.. and at home it is always in "ear range".

I have no plan to try to triangulate my position by BlueTooth. Home or not home... is a big improvement over just timers and remotes [IMHO]. I have a sensor that can determine if my living room TV is on. And my easy-chair is also sensorized.

I have automatic increased perimeter security if no one is home. And have been working on macros that will cause my BVC enabled system to ask me if I would like the TV turned on. But really honestly haven't discovered an abundance of uses for all the Occupancy Sensing yet. But.. I am open for ideas.