Beacon tracking across multiple rooms
Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 3:07 amHi!
Quite new to ESP..please bare with me
Not 100% sure whether ESP boards are the way to go here...but perhaps someone will have more insight.
I want to track a few portable devices across multiple rooms at work (NHS). I am thinking about roughly following this guide: https://www.hackster.io/erictsai/lora-t ... ays-0aa109
...and using nRF51822 Bluetooth beacons on the tracked devices. Those would get picked up by ESP32's in every room by monitoring every beacon's signal strength. The ESP32's would then broadcast this info to an MQTT server (RPI?)..and then i'd find a way how to see that info (local webpage/lightboard on the wall or smth).
My issues:
1. How to connect all the ESP's and MQTT into a single network. Easiest way would seem to use work's wifi, but since it's an NHS institution, I suspect the IT people won't even bother being helpful for me to connect 10-20 ESPs into the hospital's network (safety concerns, potential to access sensitive information, etc). I could technically place several isolated wifi routers around the place, but again..I don't want some IT guy coming and disconnecting/moving/removing the router because they didn't set it up themselves.
I was thinking whether an ESP mesh would work in this scenario. This would allow the system to be completely isolated and I could just scatter simple power socket usb adapters around the place with ESP32s plugged in.
2. ESP mesh and range. The ESPs would be scattered roughly every 20-30 meters with 1-3 walls between them. Do you think i'd get a reliable enough link? The amount of information transmitted would be quite minimal (i.e. Beacon1 - RSSI to ESP no 'x' is 'y' dBm).
I'd appreciate some feedback whether you think i'm going the right direction with this...or perhaps you'd use something completely different ?
Thanks!
Quite new to ESP..please bare with me
Not 100% sure whether ESP boards are the way to go here...but perhaps someone will have more insight.I want to track a few portable devices across multiple rooms at work (NHS). I am thinking about roughly following this guide: https://www.hackster.io/erictsai/lora-t ... ays-0aa109
...and using nRF51822 Bluetooth beacons on the tracked devices. Those would get picked up by ESP32's in every room by monitoring every beacon's signal strength. The ESP32's would then broadcast this info to an MQTT server (RPI?)..and then i'd find a way how to see that info (local webpage/lightboard on the wall or smth).
My issues:
1. How to connect all the ESP's and MQTT into a single network. Easiest way would seem to use work's wifi, but since it's an NHS institution, I suspect the IT people won't even bother being helpful for me to connect 10-20 ESPs into the hospital's network (safety concerns, potential to access sensitive information, etc). I could technically place several isolated wifi routers around the place, but again..I don't want some IT guy coming and disconnecting/moving/removing the router because they didn't set it up themselves.
I was thinking whether an ESP mesh would work in this scenario. This would allow the system to be completely isolated and I could just scatter simple power socket usb adapters around the place with ESP32s plugged in.
2. ESP mesh and range. The ESPs would be scattered roughly every 20-30 meters with 1-3 walls between them. Do you think i'd get a reliable enough link? The amount of information transmitted would be quite minimal (i.e. Beacon1 - RSSI to ESP no 'x' is 'y' dBm).
I'd appreciate some feedback whether you think i'm going the right direction with this...or perhaps you'd use something completely different ?
Thanks!