How to extend the BLE range in the Wipy settings?

[fish82]

Hi everyone,
We are currently testing the Wipy 2.0 (with expansion board) for an outdoor geolocation use using the BLE module, so far we have only tested it indoors but the range appears quite limited (a few meters). We need a signal with a range up to 20m, can this be achieved with the Bluetooth module? And how can we add some code to change the range settings if the current limit is a set limit and not a physical one?
Thank you very much for your help!!!
Philippe

[RichardTXD]

@redimo
Good luck. Thanks for the update.
We scan BLE for 10 seconds then delete/restart the ble object.
I'm noting there are maybe 3 updates we've not tried yet for BLE reliability. Maybe they are better?
Very interested in how it works for you.

[redimo]

@RichardTXD

Its no problem. We are heavily working on that as its our only issue with the whole system right now - its ready to work and demonstrate its capabilities, but the WiPy hardware is a limiting factor.

Currently we scan after a certain period of time, whilst turning of scaning and turning it back on every single time as that did indeed mess things up.

[RichardTXD]

@redimo said in How to extend the BLE range in the Wipy settings?:

t don

Hi - sorry - I have no idea. Just letting you know I've read your post.

Simple diagnostics come to mind, print everything possible to try to find out what is happening. You are probably doing that already... Also, to de-intialize the bluetooth then reinitialize it. I found that stopped the module from crashing. Sorry I can't be more help.

[redimo]

@RichardTXD @fish82

Hello,

Me and my group are currently also experimenting with the WiPy 2.0 aswell as Bluetooth Tokens for Location, but mostly indoor. Our currently onyl problem is that the WiPy sometimes just dont want to find the Tokens. Ive we're using 3, 2 find the token but the third just doesnt, even thought theyre all around the same range

[RichardTXD]

@tainanfish
Hi Philippe, my experience with beacons is that the rssi changes a lot even when standing still. It also reflects easily off some objects and is absorbed heavily by others. RSSI is not the ideal way to do this but in the absence of other means you'll have to give it a try to see if it works for you.

I'm also concerned that if WiFi is turned on in the WiPy and it is beaconing then Bluetooth may be affected. I'd try turning off WiFi when doing BLE tests.

I'd suggest using an Android device with a Bluetooth 4 program giving you RSSI values and use that as a reference or a check against the WiPy. I'd suggest using a short interval on the Beacons so you get a lot of packets and you can do some averaging or whatever. Do some Google research on RSSH and geolocation too (seriously!). I'd also suggest if possible mounting the Beacons with a clear line of sight to the sensing device so as to get the minimum number of objects near the sensor that would cause RSSI variations. After that... good luck.

My experience about 15 years ago was that the 433Mhz short range transmitters were very good for RSSI by comparison. Sure, reflections and multipath was an issue, but less of an issue. I seem to remember it was more repeatable for us. I think with the longer wavelength that it was less affected by people and (smaller) objects. One trick we did was to send each packet 3 times - the receiver then had a much better chance of receiving data. That was a long time ago but I remember it was significant.

Just some thoughts / observations / ancient history.

Now in 2017 and with new tech I may be vastly wrong and you get a great result. I hope so. I'd love to hear how you go with it.

[tainanfish]

@RichardTXD
Hi Richard I am also totally new to it, and not very familiar with radiocommunications, but my technical partner is working in this field. He has been experimenting with Wipy over the last few weeks but not outdoors yet, we will try this this weekend and I will post the results here/on my other post on the same topic.
The kontakt beacons you mention seem quite interesting. We want to use beacons to geolocalize some assets by triangulation with several receivers, we need a range of about 10 to 20 m and would like to know also if we can restrict the range so that we don't include too many other irrelevant (moving) assets outside our area of interest (I guess we can do that with kontakt by choosing a certain level of power, which doesn't seem to be the case with wipy).
All the best,
Philippe

[RichardTXD]

@fish82
Hi Philippe, I just now saw your topic. I'm new to the WiPy - about 2 weeks and limited experience.
Have you had any success?
I'm wondering if with the udpates to the fiurmware if that helped at all?
Kind regards - Richard