Bluetooth Proximity Detection | FireBeetle ESP32

[@EliasHall]

This is very intriguing, I want to try to use this for access control on a dog door. I've ordered my ESP32 along with a BLE tag. Thanks for the example and excellent video.

[@brucefarley7495]

Elias, I'm looking to do the same thing. How did that work out?

[@EliasHall]

@@brucefarley7495 I was able to code something that works quite effectively. I'll see if I can publish it for anyone that's interested.

[@wonderwoman8219]

@@EliasHall I'm interested in your code too, were you able to publish it?

[@Phi349]

@@EliasHall I am doing the same thing! Would love to see your code too.

[@EliasHall]

Here is my code. gist.github.com/Azimuth0r/ef2a3d1f12eb5a8fa28d9e2ae671cdc8

[@JimmyClarke1]

Love how you walk through the code. Makes it really easy to understand.

[@lozkokaramitev8027]

Nice Video! Apologies for the intrusion, I would appreciate your initial thoughts. Have you researched - Norajon Proximity Packthread (google it)? It is a smashing one of a kind guide for getting money with paid traffic without the hard work. Ive heard some pretty good things about it and my old buddy Taylor got excellent success with it.

[@DonDon-kn9lg]

Great Video! Excuse me for chiming in, I would appreciate your initial thoughts. Have you heard the talk about - Norajon Proximity Packthread (should be on google have a look)? It is an awesome one off guide for getting money with paid traffic minus the hard work. Ive heard some super things about it and my good mate called Gray after a lifetime of fighting got amazing success with it.

[@icefire5555]

Wonderful video! I was looking into finding a distance sensor for a Lasertag project and I'm glad to see it's possible with this. I wanted to have a Seach and destroy gamemode where a refuser has to be planted near the bombsite.

[@peterlander9747]

We did this by putting the Taggers into Beacon mode. They send out a very short range RF signal regularly and if they are near a suitable target, it "hits" it.

[@arnierosen7743]

I suppose that is basically how a car ignition switch works when you press the button. You have to use the automatic key fob to actuate the switch when you get into the car. Otherwise just pushing the start button doesnt work. Also door locks etc. Great work.

[@nursomethingas8516]

This is a really helpful video tutorial and solved development problems that I had for months . I just have one question which is how would I change the existing code to be able to print the distance of the beacon from the sensor ? Thanks in advance to anyone answering right or wrong .

[@Alexandallyfishing]

Did you figure this out?

[@nursomethingas8516]

@@Alexandallyfishing Sorry saw the comment just now, yes but the code etc is being stored in my previous workplace so I do not have access to it.

[@coreyevans9543]

Some very useful information. Have you covered or know of any videos that cover something similar in regards to proximity? For example, a user with a smart phone or tablet that is connected to the ESP32 device via BLE, and the phone or tablet informs them if they're further or closer away from the ESP32 so that when walking around it'll let them know until they find it.

[@lelandgreen117]

Would this be able to do distances of 3 or 6 feet?

[@Spitfireman01]

Hi Guys, this is a very interesting video and I now have my Firebeetle up and running detecting all Bluetooth devices. As a newbie could someone advise as to how I could modify the code so it is looking for a particular BLE UUID or Local Name. Thanks Peter

[@FirstLast-xn3zv]

You can compare the mac address in the device object

[@brenpike8152]

Hi Davy. Is it possible to have the ESP32 detect only specified Bluetooth devices such as an iPhone? For example, I would like to use the ESP32 BLE to open my front door lock, but only for devices (iPhones) that I specify.

[@aneikei]

Hi, did you ever get this to work?

[@NarciGH]

Thanks for sharing this video. I'm going to do a project that detects the distance between two devices(Not a cell phone), and then sends that distance to the database for storage. I need guidance.

[@DJcoasttt]

Hi, could you explain how to make this work for multiple specific Bluetooth Beacons to be used for triangulation? (2d)

[@PlayStore-jk8bf]

Hi, Did you find a way how you do it !!

[@lourine17]

I’d be interested to know too

[@Antz_411]

Have you managed to look into what the maximum sensor range is? I'm looking for an omnidirectional proximity trigger range of approximately 10m. Bluetooth seems to be the most viable solution thus far. Anybody got a better idea?

[@MrMoxy76]

Hi. Did BLE work for your project?

[@selekelektronik1059]

Hi Davy, thank you for your beneficial video. What can the maximum distance between esp32 and beacon? For example 20-30 meters? best regards

[@JeffEmbracedDC]

I would also like to know.

[@apmonish6983]

Great video...! I would like to ask weather can we use one more esp32 instead of the BLE Beacon shown in the video, where in both the esp32 comes in range the led must turn on. Can this be done? Help me out in doing this please.

[@soosgabor100]

Please add Mac filtering to the code. And my BLA device sending 1 sec on 1 sec off signal so ESP-32 pin or led not constant... is it possible to add delay to stay longer on util the new signal is arrive? Thanks I want to use this as door entrance

[@juliennhandy2643]

Did u ever get this to work for door entry?

[@sosodave4192]

Hey Davy, I just came across your video as an accidental suggestion from youtube. I am trying to find some sort of a Bluetooth tracker that acts as an out-of-proximity two-way alert system. basically, I need some sort of a tracker system, ideally Bluetooth, where I can put the puck in my backpack or purse and connect it to my cell phone. if the two items get more than about 60 ft apart from each other, then I would like both of them to start giving off a low audible warning, and even a vibration warning on the phone since it already has that built-in ability. over the course of about 15 or 20 seconds, I would like the alert on both items to get progressively louder. this differs from most Bluetooth trackers and key finders and other things in that I wanted to be fully automatic rather than having to press a button to find my lost keys. this way, if I leave my backpack in the restaurant, it will alert me after I walked out the door and gotten maybe 50 or 60 ft away so I can immediately go back and retrieve my bag. the problem with having to press a button to find my lost item is that I might not realize that I left my backpack in the restaurant until I am all the way home. the other half of the issue is that I may pick up my backpack, but inadvertently leave my phone at the table. so the puck that lives in the backpack would also have to be able to alert me that I've left my phone, since I don't have my phone to tell me that I have left my pack. there are already some products on the market, such as tile, that can do this, the problem is that they require you to send your geolocation through your phone back to their servers on a full-time basis. I will guess that they are doing so so that they can track what stores you go into and things of that nature and thus Target you with advertising, but I would much prefer a system that I can control myself that does not require me to login to anyone's server or give away my information. I understand that in the process, I am giving up the nifty feature of having worldwide tracking along with everyone else on their network, but I'm willing to do so since all I really need is this relatively short range proximity sensor. if this fire beetle can be made to run on batteries, and the Bluetooth range extended out to about 50 ft, then it seems like this might be the ticket, assuming that I can make it interact with an Android app. I am brand new to all things Arduino, so I am basically just throwing some ideas out that I hope are possible. thank you for any advice or insight you may be able to offer.

[@tendurrr]

thanks for the idea! one question, does the headers used in this project work with esp32 that is not fire beetle?

[@colleendemaris1211]

This is awesome! I have a couple questions, because I'm looking to create something similar to this set up. Can it detect bluetooth devices that are not BLE, and are instead classic bluetooth? And (I'm new at learning this) does the code force the device to pair to the bluetooth device in order to get the RSSI, or can it just grab the RSSI without connecting? Thanks so much!

[@Organicbicycle]

Hi did you ever find out the answer for this? Can I use my apple watch woth classic BLUETOOTH ?

[@rodmanunderhilliii8198]

Hello, I liked this video a lot. I was wondering if the detector, could see the direction the beacon is transmitting from? If not, I assume it is because it uses an omni directional antenna. Is there a directional antenna that I could replace the omni one with? I was thinking about the possibility of using this between two autonomous (RC type) toy cars, with the FireBeetle.

[@pwfraley]

Which Bluetooth Library did you use? I keep getting errors about the includes ... I know this video is old, but I could not find a solution on google ...

[@keithmycek2768]

Davy - thanks for the video. I purchased a FireBeetle a while back and tried out your demo. I had originally though that I could do some room level presence detection - and I still might explore that option further. However now, my idea is to implement more of a "non invasive" authorization mechanism whereas someone could use their phone to identify themselves. I tried all night last night to modify you code to spit out some sort of UUID (BLEUUID?) from my iPhone or Apple Watch - to no avail. Would you know how to do that, at all?

[@aneikei]

Hi, did you ever get this to work?

[@keithmycek2768]

@@aneikei Yes, and no. I abandoned the original solution in favor of a custom ESPHome config that I loaded on an ESP32. It can detect my Apple Watch and can keep lights on if it detects my unlocked watch within a certain range in the particular room.

[@nspnutritionsportsperforma6804]

@@keithmycek2768 lol I think this comment brought this video up for me. What was the custom one used

[@rajvigneshtn]

Hi, Is it possible to make the node scan and advertise at the same time, or scan and advertise in round robin? Basically I want them to detect each other. How to identify a node. I understand UUID cant be used because its application or service specific. Is there a unique identifier for every BLE chip that can be accessed inside the program as a part of scan result? Thanks in advance.

[@joshuavaughan9288]

Could you connect that circuit board to your phone such that as your phone moved in and out of range of 1-2m the light turns on or off

[@devrajput2439]

Can you make it for specific bluetooth address instead of all?

[@rabbippfx]

Also interested on it !

[@RensDuijsens]

I have a 2014 Dodge Charger with Keyless entry. It has however no automatisch locking. Instead, there is a bottom on the door handle that locks the door when pushed. I want to use this BT-detection to see if my phone (or any other device) leaves the car. If so, I will lock the car by stimulating the door button press. Thanks for this example, but I must confess that I can not yet get it to work right. The blue LED just blinks in a 1 second interval.

[@JenkinsVisualProduct]

Thanks for the video!! Is there a way that you know of to program a Bluetooth tag similar to RFID?

[@scorpionkingzylen5090]

great video, i need help, iam using ble proximity in esp 32 to trigger my light bulb in my living room the problem is my living room is little big so when im in corner of the room esp does not catch the ble signal from my smart watch so im thinking of using another esp32 module to create mesh network to extend signal to cover every corner inside my room. thank you.

[@victorfigueroa191]

hi, what is the maximum range that can be achieved with this technology when detecting BLE devices?

[@mahmudulhasan671]

I want an Arduino controlled car to track a particular Bluetooth device(say my smartphone) and follow it within a certain range. How do I find the distance and orientation of the device using esp32? I m new to these works and I found your video very helpful.

[@mahmudulhasan671]

I mean can I find both the distance and angle of the device wrt the car's position using esp32?

[@clementfaure1238]

did you ever find a solution?, I'm looking to do a similar project

[@quentinjames981]

Would a range of 2 meters be achievable using this method?

[@paperwelder]

Have a question looking to make a tracking toy for my son. Where I wear a device and he can track me like a ghostbusters meter but not using a phone. Can that be done?

[@DavyBot]

Absolutely! If you connected a few LEDs to use as a proximity meter (or some other kind of display) you could have different signal strength (RSSI value) ranges change the LEDs accordingly. Or use a small piezo speaker or something to beep at a speed relative to the signal strength so it beeps really fast the closer they get. That's a great project idea!

[@paperwelder]

Davy Wybiral well the idea is to remake this 80s toy kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5C4aGVqn7mDjas

[@MeribRS]

Thanks for this amazing video!

[@nekomikumata]

Hi, this code doesn't work. Compiling it gives me this error: Compilation error: conversion from 'BLEScanResults*' to non-scalar type 'BLEScanResults' requested

[@rukeshkoju1534]

very interesting Davy. I have a question how can we use for the specific Bluetooth device. Can we turn on the WiFi instead of making the led glow. Thank you.

[@DavyBot]

Absolutely, you'd just need to change the Arduino code a bit.

[@davesmith699]

@@DavyBot Gday Davy, could you give me an example. Please.

[@sampeukert4219]

Hello I am doing a project for getting the rssi between two HC05 bluetooth modules I am struggling with pairing the devices and getting the rssi? any thoughts??

[@judojorge]

Great video! Do you know if this can be done using LoRa? I'm working on a project that requires detection over long distances and LoRa could really help in that regard. Unfortunately I'm a bit of a beginner when it comes to MCUs, the Arduino IDE, and electronics in general. I know the theory behind it as I've taken physics and an electromechanical systems class but I don't have a lot of hands on experience with this stuff. I'd imagine the code on one of the receivers would looks something like this: get the RSSI of the LoRa transmitter if RSSI < -XXdBm (whatever the value comes out to be for about .4km) then turn on LED else turn off LED any help would be greatly appreciated!

[@Xeduriii_MCYT]

Hello! Did you figure out if it can be done using LoRa? I'm also creating a similar project.

[@laylabekef]

Hey Davy nice video! thanks , i have a q , can i tell the Ardunio to turn on the blue led only when the Ble is in X distance ... meaning ... can i set up the max or min distance between the Ble and the Ardunio by a code? thanksss

[@DavyBot]

You can, by changing this line: digitalWrite(PIN, best > CUTOFF ? HIGH : LOW); To something like this: digitalWrite(PIN, (best > MIN && best < MAX) ? HIGH : LOW); Where MIN and MAX are the range you've defined.

[@laylabekef]

@@DavyBot thanks a lot!

[@dwurm5688]

Do you upload the sketch to the Arduino or the ESP32 module?

[@stevemaxwell4756]

Is there a way to do this using another FireBeetle ESP32 module as a receiver instead of other bluetooth devices?

[@Alex-vu5uu]

How can I add another PIN in the code? for example if I want to make the device led light turn on and vibrating at the same time?

[@chaoshero223]

Hi, i have a problem is that scan frequency is 1hz ? i need more scan speed for my project so how to increase scan frequency?

[@jonathantest12]

Maybe your scan speed is limited for the processor speed of your board. Do you can check the speed of your board?

[@ThuanDuong-pv3xu]

@DavyBot Thank a lot !, can you write the code of case that scan address of beacon (true) , LED high else LED low ?

[@galihtanu]

Can it use for deciding position of your esp? Let say you have 3 or more ibeacon. Then you use triangulation your esp. From 3 or more ibeacon. Example: If ibeacon placed in as triangle with same distance eachother. And esp measure strength of signal of ibeacon 1, 2 and 3. If signal strength relatively equal. So you on centerpoint of triangle.

[@rifinize]

This is how our GPS system works

[@nisargpatel6574]

Great video! Can we do the same thing inside an ios or android app instead of using arduino?

[@rioaditiyono8442]

Can I use it as Passive Keyless Entry so my bike will autostart it's engine when I'm about 1 meter from it, and trun off engine and engage the alarm when I'm out off 1 meter radius?

[@Dubriske]

I'm looking to do something similar as ^ if anyone has any suggestions

[@rioaditiyono8442]

@@Dubriske still can't find any clear info about it. Was gonna use RFID but it's too short.

[@maheen-]

I came here for the same, still searching.

[@zakifahmidwiputra8773]

hey can u make a video to only detect specific address if u do i appreciate it

[@DJcoasttt]

yes please! I want to make a beacon positioning system!

[@quantumdirect]

At 2:16, he addresses that. In 'BLEDevice: :init("");' you would put the unique name of the Bluetooth device inside the quotation marks.

[@paytufo]

@@quantumdirect Could I put some bluetooth names? I understand is the bluetooth MAC or something like that?

[@quantumdirect]

@@paytufo Got me, player. I was just paying attention to the video. MAC address sounds like a good start.

[@paytufo]

@@quantumdirect I know he put the device name, but I think using the MAC or even UUID from the bluetooth you can avoid duplicate names.

[@theUsesOFnot]

How to detect Bluetooth devices that are not BLE (ie. classic). Can I do that with an ESP-32 Dev board?

[@koller18]

You are very beautiful 😵

[@1206Vince]

Is it possible to get the RSSI of a connected device like a smartphone. I can connect my phone with the ESP32 with UART but i cant manage to get the RSSI

[@GiustinoEsposito98]

Did you figure it out? Is it possible to use phone bluetooth or it must be a BLE tag?

[@painrelieverstech]

Can we use something similar as a anti theft device? Can we control the alarm distance?

[@clyriss1115]

Do I can use other bluetooth module to have the RSSI?

[@RajveerSingh-vf7pr]

Any way to make stuff like air tag from this? 😊

[@juliennhandy2643]

Can this board some how be used to activate say a 6v motor?

[@ahsanfarooqi5663]

Hi good evening. can we measure the signal distance? in arduino using any wireless module? please replay thank you

[@elijahcollins5391]

How do you change the distance and allow for only one Bluetooth device to trip it

[@ellpancha]

Very nice project, can you identify the beacon using the UUID instead the mac address, in my case my phone uses a random mac, so can't use the mac to authenticate the user

[@DavyBot]

Thanks! It looks like the getServiceUUID() method of BLEAdvertisedDevice will return a BLEUUID. Then that BLEUUID object has a toString() method to get a string representation of the UUID.

[@rajvigneshtn]

@@DavyBot Is there a similar function call to get the NAME or MAC ID of a scanned BLE device?

[@elijahcollins5391]

Can this work with something else on an Arduino uno and like a bluetooth receiver

[@harshaspecvin1016]

Hi , i m getting this error "BLEAdvertisedDevice.h: No such file or directory" , can i get help .

[@concert3528]

What was the white circle plastic?

[@YoutubeUser01]

Can I use a smartphone's Bluetooth instead of Puck.js?

[@tobiastejeda4694]

Can I do this with a HC-05 module?

[@veernahar]

can the other Bluetooth device be an esp 32 and if so would both of the esp 32s be able to detect the proximity of the other esp 32s?

[@jonathantest12]

Yes. You just need to take the signal strength (RSSI) and calculate the distance between the two in the same way that he did in the video

[@stattonracer]

What’s the Bluetooth range pickup on this? Can it pick Bluetooth class 1? 300feet?

[@nekomikumata]

d = (λ / 4π) * (10^ ( (dBm - RSSI) / 20) )

[@Brandon_Wlson]

can this same idea work with a cell phone?

[@jpaulexo]

What is the range? (Meters, foots)

[@AdamOnLinux]

the range is just the strength of the bluetooth signal

[@lindenmeyer11]

Can it sense from say 3 meters (10 feet) away?

[@DavyBot]

Absolutely. It senses from the range of Bluetooth Low Energy support on the devices and 3 meters is comfortably within that range. (One thing to note is that obstructions like walls can reduce this range)

[@sushmoymitra6957]

Can I use VR controller instead of pucks.js ??

[@spammie1234]

Could this be used for social distancing warning?

[@jonathantest12]

Yes. By calculating the RSSI (which is the signal strength of the blueooth) you can know how close one person is to another.

[@edwinbilson2293]

Why is it that at a close proximity some Bluetooth devices cannot share files even though they are connected

[@devrajput2439]

Using this we can make keyless entry system for car ,bike , automatic home door unlock, auto open garage Can you tell me how to make BLE key fob at home which can run on coin cell?

[@kalukurikrishna]

Can we use another bluetooth for proximity

[@NikolaosPap]

Nice idea but please add motiror scanning and unique mac to controll the proximity not best...please

[@DiyintheGhetto]

Is there a way to detect how many feet away? Here is a example. Say I'm within Range of 30 feet and Led comes on is there a way i can see how many feet it is into i get to 1 foot away?

[@isaackay5887]

Lol, are you thinking of what I'm thinking of how to use this

[@DiyintheGhetto]

@@isaackay5887 Sorry for the late reply. I'm thinking of something lol

[@isaackay5887]

@@DiyintheGhetto Haha no worries. I have no idea of what I was thinking of back then lol

[@DiyintheGhetto]

@@isaackay5887 no worries I’m always lost 😂 😆 😝

[@yukizerotwo6815]

How to print the rssi????

[@CaliforniaJoe420]

I know this is an old video but I was hoping you might by chance help me, I am trying to figure out how to alter the code to link to a known BLE device. I apologize if you have already answered or made a video on this, if you have could you point me to it kindly. Thanks again for the informative video, so far I have it working but would like it to discriminate BLE devices to only act when the correct BLE address is in range.

[@aneikei]

Hi, was there ever a response to this?

[@CaliforniaJoe420]

@@aneikei unfortunately no, I needed it for a Pet Feeder design I was doing for my Senior Project. I ended up using this kzbin.info/www/bejne/r33JfmmBeLBshMk , I will say if you choose to use this method I needed to change my ESP 32 board to version 1.0.2 the newest firmware seemed to change something that conflicted with his code. I did end up successfully completing my project and am hosting a Q&A on it this Friday for my Senior Project Board as well as various electronic companies in the area.

[@DanaGould0]

Isn't it redundant to keep creating the scan object and setting active scan to true in the loop? I would think that could be moved to setup and make the scan pointer a global. Obviously your way works.

[@DavyBot]

If you look at the source code for the library (in BLEDevice.cpp) all the getScan method does is return a pointer to the private scan object. So it's not actually creating it each loop. And pointer assignment is cheap. As for setting it active, that method is just a wrapper for a property assignment (BLEScan.cpp), which is also very cheap. But you're right, that part is technically redundant. My tests with passive scans afterwards seemed to have similar performance too so it might not even be necessary.

[@DanaGould0]

Good points. Thanks!

[@shritgautam5426]

can arduino be used instead of firebeetle?

[@hadjisamir6727]

I want to do this with arduino Uno and CC2541 but not succeeded yet cause I have not found a library

[@sssedo1573]

How could I change up to different devices, could you make a new video?

[@mr.e-wheel]

My question is - How to connect this to door lock relay in my car and setup with my phone bluetooth? Thanks to this idea I would put to my old car the best feature form new cars, keyless access.

[@nideeshvv327]

Yes, I’m thinking too. My plan is to get new fob key and the Bluetooth strength trigger the switch of the Key.

[@Alex-vu5uu]

how can I remove the delay?

[@chaoshero223]

How to increase scan update rate shorter than 1 second

[@JeffEmbracedDC]

I would also like to know.

[@sverduijn1]

Sometimes I forget my pallet jack at customers. Does there exist a bluetooth system which will give me an alarm in the truck when I drive away without the pallet jack in the cargo space? Some chip that I could put on the pallet jack and some signal in the cabin?

[@MrHsynoruc]

Can we define smart phones as a buletooth device?

[@isaackay5887]

Lol, are you thinking of what I'm thinking of how to use this

[@browaruspierogus2182]

So it's just reading value of signal strength. I thought it detects a non BT object.

[@DavyBot]

Correct. If you want to detect any object you could use a laser range finder or ultrasonic range sensor to measure distance. This measure how far away a Bluetooth device is based on its signal strength.

[@ericsheffield3549]

I will use it to open my gate when i pull my car up to it...and power up lights and send data to the house control board..and more

[@joselucas9398]

It worked? How did you synchronize the microcontroller with a specific beacon? That's where I'm confused

[@jonathantest12]

you can create a bool variable that saves the state of the gate. If the gate is open, the lights will also open. This is a basic example, you can do something more powerful

[@wl11lm]

just i need of esp32?

[@bobdylan5926]

I am using the esp32 cam. How can I adapt this to work on that? Also, can i use this to get proximity of any given smartphone?

[@jonathantest12]

yes, the esp32 cam works similarly to esp32. Any bluetooth adapter(smartphone, boards, etc) has the rssi which is what you need to calculate proximity between bluetooths

[@soosgabor100]

Hi can anyone write a code to find a phone bluetooth signal instead bla? And maybe discriminate for only one phone mac address. PLEASE I need that. Many thanks

[@OmkarNisal]

I assume you are trying to validate access using phone mac address . How hard / easy is it to emulate (duplicate) Bluetooth MAC address?

[@OmkarNisal]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hprRkKRvj5ikpqs

[@1abas]

Why doesn't it sense the phone's Bluetooth signal

[@Euclid58Films]

How can I contact you via email concerning a project?

[@luisavila8421]

I really want one of this to unlock my car when I very closer to it

[@OmkarNisal]

You need to have much much more secure system if you want to keep your car safe.

[@OmkarNisal]

Check this out to know why I think it is not safe kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2a2noqqfdJslac

[@legendswordch6220]

Nice

[@biezom9418]

Too near.....can far more ?

[@jodokast1205]

Let’s be clear here, Bluetooth has no ability to really detect proximity it can only detect signal strength. Newer devices will have much more powerful output than older devices. So the app has no way to know the difference between an old device that is very close or a newer device that is 20 metres away.

[@peternierop3241]

Hence you should ask the device for how strong it thinks it transmitted. In fact, many devices have an output level that can be configured and obviously this info is essential in the calculation of received signal.

[@cliffmathew]

Thanks

[@cf9870]

Just sent you an email, Just FYI incase you miss it.

[@rabbippfx]

is it possible to make this for specific device? I want to turn on the LED when only the specific device is nearby.....not all device! please help.......