Study case - suitable communication protocol

[alexa]

Hello researchers & developers,

I have a high-level question regarding which communication system would be more suitable for my following idea.

My set-up would be the following: identify different objects in a storehouse using a simple & low-cost infrastructure.

Now, my first idea would be to use BLE and Item Finding, but the problems are that:

1). The technology is quite new and I find no start-examples for that;  

2.) If I would start with this idea, however, what would be the recommended device/development board to start with? (in this case, deploying around 50 x nRF52840 DevBoards would definitely be a no-go, for my low-cost  scope );

3). I have second thoughts if Bluetooth is the best communication protocol.I am also thinking of other options and I am actively doing more research with this regard. If you have any ideas, I would be very grateful to investigate more, starting with fresh ideas 

Thanks and have a great day!

[haakonsh]

"The technology is quite new and I find no start-examples for that;  "

You need to elaborate more on your use-case. Do you only need to know if an object is present in the warehouse or do you need the exact location as well?

 " If I would start with this idea, however, what would be the recommended device/development board to start with? (in this case, deploying around 50 x nRF52840 DevBoards would definitely be a no-go, for my low-cost scope );"

You only need a handful of nRF52840 Dev kits, you can use the nRF52 dongle (PCA10059) for the rest (10-12$ MSRP). 

"I have second thoughts if Bluetooth is the best communication protocol.I am also thinking of other options and I am actively doing more research with this regard. If you have any ideas, I would be very grateful to investigate more, starting with fresh ideas "

BLE is very versatile, but it depends on your use-case. I don't have enough information about your specific needs to be able to know whether BLE is a good fit or not. 

[alexa]

Of course I can elaborate it. I just gave a first idea about my use case, because it's better for me to explain it step by step.

haakonsh said:

Do you only need to know if an object is present in the warehouse or do you need the exact location as well?

- location as well (or better said a rough location, in order to identfy later if specific objects get lost).

haakonsh said:

You only need a handful of nRF52840 Dev kits, you can use the nRF52 dongle (PCA10059) for the rest (10-12$ MSRP)

- ok, I understand. Very good to know. Thanks!

haakonsh said:

I don't have enough information about your specific needs

- Ok, so what other information should I provide? I do not have a very specific scenario yet, since I am in the `idea` phase. This is why I asked the question in the first place.

Thanks & have a good day, Alexa

[haakonsh]

alexa said:

location as well (or better said a rough location, in order to identfy later if specific objects get lost).

Standard BLE beacons can be used to give rough location estimates based on a packet's Received Signal Strength Indication.

BLE is quite a big specification and can be tailored to a wide variety of use-cases. Warehouse tracking is a good fit for BLE mesh, given that you don't need better than ~5m spatial accuracy for tracking.

For better accuracy, you'll need to use the Direction Finding features of BLE 5.1, but that requires significant development resources in said field, most likely you'll need to outsource that part of the development if you're a small company.

I suggest you find some good sources for what BLE is and what it can do, f.ex https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=what+is+BLE. 

[alexa]

Hello and thanks a lot for your complete answer!

It is very helpful. Actually, I am a student, reading and trying to find an interesting project. So thank you very much for your guidance!

Have a great day & week!