BLE 5.0 - Long Range

[Gova]

I hope, operating BLE 5.0 at low data rate will give us longer range in open space. So in an environment like a football field, where each player will have 5.0 operating devices and we will have more than 5-6 receivers, is it possible to decide whether a player is inside the field or not based on the RSSI values from all the receivers ?

[AmbystomaLabs]

No, RSSI values cannot be used to determine that.

2.4GHz is highly absorbed by soil and people, also any equipment around the field will create multipath issues. The RSSI numbers will vary so wildly just due to which direction a player is facing or how many players are next to them, or whether they are lying on the ground that generally you will have no idea if the RSSI number indicates a player on the field or one in the parking lot.

All BLE ranging systems are based on the assumption that at long range we can normally tell something is there, and at close range (maybe 10 meters) we can more accurately measure how far something is away assuming there are no obstacles.

All the iBeacon or similar approaches are assuming we are ranging for point of sale applications where we want to alert a consumer they are standing in front of a display case.

Here is a bit I copied from the Estimote website.  The Apple iBeacon take on it is similar. You will note that "we don't know, it is out there somewhere" starts at a few meters.

• immediate (strong signal; usually up to a few centimeters)
• near (medium signal; usually up to a few meters)
• far (weak signal; more than a few meters)
• unknown (“hard to say”, usually when the signal is very, very weak)