Bluetooth Asset Tracking: How BLE Tags Work Without Gateways

What is Bluetooth asset tracking?

Bluetooth tracking finds equipment with small battery tags that send a short radio signal. The signal is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which the Bluetooth SIG designed for very low power use. The tag does not know where it is. Something nearby has to hear it and report the sighting.

What hears the tag decides where you see it. A crowdsourced tag is heard by any phone that passes, so there are no receivers to install.

What does a Bluetooth tag need to be heard?

A Bluetooth tag needs something nearby that listens. In a gateway-based system, that is a receiver that passes each sighting on. Digital Matter describes gateways fixed to walls, poles or equipment, or carried on a vehicle (Digital Matter, "Bluetooth Gateway Devices" page). Each one is wired to power or runs on its own battery, and sends what it hears over a mobile data connection.

So a unit shows up only where gateways are installed, and the map ends where they end. Every new yard, site or vehicle means another gateway to mount, power and connect.

A crowdsourced tag does without that infrastructure. Any phone that passes already carries power, a connection and a position.

How do Bluetooth asset tracking tags report without gateways?

They report through any phone that passes. These crowdsourced networks are large. Apple counts over a billion iPhone, iPad and Mac devices on its network, and Google counts over a billion Android devices on its own.

So the tag is heard wherever people go. That covers the yard, the job site and the customer's site, with nothing to install at any of them. How crowdsourced tag networks work explains the relay step by step.

Does a Bluetooth asset tracker need GPS?

No. A GPS tracker needs power for its receiver and a data plan for every unit. A Bluetooth tag has no GPS receiver and no SIM, so it needs no data plan. Each report carries the position of the phone that heard it, and the phone works out that position itself.

Power and a data plan for every unit are why tracking used to stop at the most expensive machines. A tag needs no wiring and runs on a small battery. So the rest of the fleet can carry one too.

How long does a Bluetooth tag battery last?

A tag runs up to six years, depending on its size. It only sends a short signal, and BLE is built for low power. There is no wiring and nothing to charge.

Every size fixes with an adhesive pad, and the two larger sizes can also be screwed on. Asset tracking tags covers where to mount each one.

What to expect from Bluetooth asset tracking

Expect a dated position for each unit, at building level, as phones pass.

• Updates come from passing phones. A unit reports as phones pass it. Busy sites and roads bring frequent reports. A locked yard reports again when people come back.
• Building-level position. A report places a unit at the right yard, site or building. The unit number shows which machine to walk to.
• Location, not engine data. A tag reports where a unit is and when it came and went. It does not read engine hours or sensors.
• Where, not who. A report shows where a unit is, not who moved it. An equipment sign-out sheet covers the who.