BeaconThings - Beacons and SmartThings

[JDRoberts]

Micro location is a problem that many people are working on, but no one has solved yet.

One reason is that any radio frequency device, including Ibeacons, are 360 degree transmitters. So if it’s 30 meters out from a driveway gate, it’s also 30 meters in from that gate, which often takes you inside the house.

And defining a " room" is also tricky, because unlike a motion detector, the iBeacon detects through walls.

There are different approaches you can take, but nothing perfect yet.

Here’s the approach I took: using two devices and a transitional mode.

A dual device approach to geopresence for smaller areas (sequential detection)

Continuing the discussion from Smart Presence Sensor randomly "leaving" and "returning": Battery life is fine on my presence fob, but I still get random drop-offs with both the fob and the phone presence. Using an idea from @DigitalM0nkey , I am changing over the way I use presence sensing for all activities. I’m now using dual devices at the geo-fence barrier, as well as a virtual presence sensor for better continuous occupancy indication. Basically I’m trying both reduce the range and improve reliability by using two devices that will be recognized in sequence rather than both at the same time. So this is how it will work at my house now: Smartthings recognizes that my phone or the fob, mainly the fob , has entered the Geo fenced area. but nothing else happens yet. I do not tri…

And here’s a topic with discussion of many microlocation strategies.

In room detection of Occupancy

Experts, quick question. What equipment and rules do you need to setup in order to: detect a person enter the room detect a person leave the room count total # of person in the room basically I want to setup a rule so that whenever someone enter the room, turn the lights on, and turn lights off when exiting the room. Thanks!