Non blinky-flashy, Sorry - Bluetooth hardware device?

[kane]

Not related to all things blinky-flashy, but thought I'd check the brains trust here to see if anyone has any ideas.

I am wondering on the availability of a "dumb" bluetooth device, which doesn't need to do anything clever, apart from being visible.

Need it to be low-cost, and low power usage. Ideally, battery powered that would last a few years..

To elaborate on the requirements - we are developing an app that could benefit from the ability to detect whether the app user is within range of a location. Obviously GPS could be used, but these will be used in central locations (eg CBD and/or basements) where GPS is sometimes not reliable. By having bluetooth "hotspots" in various locations, the app would listen for bluetooth devices, and if it sees a known MAC address, it acts accordingly.

A bit of a long shot, but thought I'd check if anyone has any ideas! Looking on alibaba, there's a heap of bluetooth PCBs etc, but wouldn't know where to start!

Cheers

Kane

 

[David_AVD]

I bought a couple of modules similar to this eBay one. They had a default ID from memory. I don't think they have an advertised MAC address though?

 

[kane]

I bought a couple of modules similar to this eBay one. They had a default ID from memory. I don't think they have an advertised MAC address though?

So does that require mating with something else, or if you simply power that up, does it become a valid bluetooth device?

I thought that every bluetooth device is allocated a MAC address, but could be wrong?

 

[David_AVD]

It's been a few months since I fiddled around with those modules, but I *think* I just powered it up and it worked without anything else connected. I did hook up a serial terminal to change the broadcast name (or whatever they call it) but have not tried it in a data transmission scenario yet.

 

[kane]

It's been a few months since I fiddled around with those modules, but I *think* I just powered it up and it worked without anything else connected. I did hook up a serial terminal to change the broadcast name (or whatever they call it) but have not tried it in a data transmission scenario yet.

Cool, might get some to play with!

 

[mick8248]

Don't think they have a MAC address but they do have a unique 48 bit address but not sure how you go about reading it.

 

[David_AVD]

A quick Google search shows that Bluetooth does indeed use a MAC address.

The following technologies use the MAC-48 identifier format:
 Ethernet
 802.11 wireless networks
 Bluetooth
 ...