Bluetooth Triangulator

The Bluetooth wireless RF standard has been established as one of the most prevalent protocols implemented for wireless personal area networks. Its relatively low power consumption compared to implementations such as 802.11 make it suited for a variety of short range applications suitable for small embedded devices. The cell phone market has been a huge catalyst in making the Bluetooth protocol mainstream, as the majority of mobile phones now feature Bluetooth connectivity. As Bluetooth enabled devices become a part of our wireless world, there is increased interest in locating and communicating with other Bluetooth devices within a local network. While basic discovery of surrounding Bluetooth devices is already possible, rich software applications could better use a Bluetooth service that was able to triangulate the location of surrounding Bluetooth devices. This paper will describe the Bluetooth Triangulator, an experiment combining hardware and software design to allow Bluetooth devices to communicate with each other and determine the position of other Bluetooth devices using signal strength readings. This type of service is useful not only as a device location utility, but can also be the foundation for rich software applications such as security or social networking applications.