Is it possible to make Bluetooth People Counter using the B523 SoM

Hello,

In a discussion over coffee Today, we thought whether it was possible to use the BT of the B523 (SoM) for people counter, much like a ESP32/LoPy4-based PAX counter - have anyone researched whether or not it is possible?

All the best,
Christian

It’s theoretically possible as the hardware (nRF52840) supports BLE sniffer mode.

However, it would require disabling features in Device OS and writing custom software to directly access the nRF52 BLE hardware as this mode is not exposed by Device OS. I wouldn’t recommend doing it, but it is technically possible with a lot of effort.

Thank you for answering @rickkas7 - It’s nice to know that it is possible with some (if not, a lot of) work. Do you think it is something that will be exposed in the Device API in the future?

It’s not a common use case for the Boron/B Series SoM/Tracker SoM so it’s unlikely to be implemented unless there is suddenly a large demand for the feature.

1 Like