I’m looking for a bluetooth adaptor for the PC. I was thinking of a shortrange device, like a range on <1 meter/3 feet.
I want to mount it on the bottom of my box, and then coat the sides with something to block the signals, so it could only scan devices through the glass, and very close to the surface.
But I haven’t been able to find any with such a short range, so does any one know a supplier for this? Alternatively, could I limit the range in another adaptor somehow?
If you _really_ wanted to you could probably limit of power of the chip through hardware/software mods. I would go as Ancalagon says though, and just leave it like it is. That way if you have a fiducial sort of thing on the bottom of lets say, a bluetooth camera, it will know the camera name based on the fiducial, and ping the camera for pics.
Yup, but I’m going a non-fiducial way. Signal strength and signal quality is not necessarily the same. At least not at that range. I have been making a few things with RFID in the past, and it’s possible to adjust the RFID-readers antenna for such purposes. I don’t wan’t a bluetooth device that scan for devices in a 100 meter radius, when I only need those within 1 meter from the table. If within that meter, yes, I expect the signal quality to be good. Maybe I could make a limiter of some sort with higher range adapters, but that really also comes down to the device, it connects with.
I think the standard Bluetooth range is 10 meters(~30 feet). Also, for short range, it denies quite a few laws of physics to have it just end like that. It would also fade out just like the large one, on a smaller scale.
Look for the “world’s smalles usb bluetooth adapter” , it’s been showcased on gizmodo and other tech sites.It’s cheap and has a range of 10 meters , not gonna go lower than that tough.
I think the standard Bluetooth range is 10 meters(~30 feet). Also, for short range, it denies quite a few laws of physics to have it just end like that. It would also fade out just like the large one, on a smaller scale.
Good luck with whatever you are doing,
Alex
Ty for your reply. I know the signal strength is degrading depending on distance, and that wold be a smooth “gradient”. I just thought it was possible hardware-wise to ignore devices at a signalstrength lower than per say 50%… Well, I guess I’ll go for a 10m range then, and just see if I can do it in the software alone.
This is an idiot reply but it should be possible to isolate the blue tooth adaptor in the box so that it can only ‘see’ a narrow arc for connections? The idea being that if a signal is coming from above the MT box it is visible, but otherwise it’s blocked. I’m just thinking this because I’ve been reading about reflectors for improving wireless reception, one thing they can do is block reception to antenna from one direction while improving it from another.
It would be rather easy to filter out devices below a certain signal threshold. Because (I don’t think anyway) that Bluetooth will automatically establish a connection, you can just tell it to ignore the ones below a certain strength. This would probably half to be done within software, unless you wanted to get into really icky and scary hardware This would allow you to filter out devices that are not on the table, though I am not sure how accurate it would be. This is all dependent on the accuracy of the signal strength reported Bluetooth chip you would be using. Does Bluetooth even report this kind of data?
Take a look at the linux app, BlueProximity. It locks and unlocks your computer based on the signal strength (distance) of your phone. It’s a great app and works brilliantly. You can get it to run a program when the device comes in or out of range. I use it on my laptop and it’s perfect. Have it so when I open my office door my laptop springs to life!
That’s a cool app. I think I read about if before somewhere, but had no real use for it. You could probably use that as a model for your signal filtering code.
This would allow you to filter out devices that are not on the table, though I am not sure how accurate it would be. This is all dependent on the accuracy of the signal strength reported Bluetooth chip you would be using. Does Bluetooth even report this kind of data?
