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After the Bluetooth packet is broadcasted by the tag and the KNOT captures/displays it, you can utilize scripting and scheduling to structure messages out of the payloads that the KNOT receives and automate the KNOT to send those messages periodically via MQTT, e-mail or HTTP post. That means you will need a server where the data should is going to be stored and visualized. In this guide, we will be using MQTT protocol for the communication and the server/platform called ThingsBoard.

Amongst different use cases for the Bluetooth tags, as the title suggests, it is possible to implement a scenario, where you can track the approximate position of the tag.

What you are going to need is:

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showcase a server called ThingsBoard and MQTT communication.

ThingsBoard has a cloud solution and different local installation options (on different OS). Since we've added a container feature, it became possible to also run the platform within the RouterOS. For that, you will need, for example, a CHR machine or a CCR2004-16G-2S+. If you want to choose this route (the container route), make sure to pick the devices that you plan on using as a "server" carefully, because this implementation can be heavy on RAM usage (it is suggested to have a device that has at least 2 GB RAM and is either ARM64 or AMD64 architecture).

There are multiple use cases for Bluetooth tags and, as the title suggests, in this guide, we will focus on the scenario, where you can track the approximate position of the asset that has the tag attached.

You will require:

• 2+ devices with Bluetooth interface, like the KNOT (the amount of the devices required depends on the size of the area);
• 1+ Bluetooth TG-BT5-IN and/or TG-BT5-OUT tags (depending on how many assets you need to track);
• a ThingsBoard server that is going to collect and visualize the data.

Summary

How is it going to work? Let's say, you have a warehouse...You can scatter the KNOTs across the warehouse so that the KNOT's Bluetooth range does not overlap with the neighboring KNOTs. You need to test the Bluetooth range in your environment/topology to figure out how far the Bluetooth range goes, as it can be much lower than expected if you have a lot of 2.4 GHz interference or materials that can impact the signal strength, like concrete. For example, in line of sight, with no interference, the distance at which the KNOT is able to capture the tag's broadcasted payload, can be up to 180 meters (KNOT — ~180 meters — TG-BT5-OUT). But you also have to keep in mind that with more distance, more packets will be lost on the way.

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