The use of Bluetooth technology for gathering traffic data is becoming
increasingly popular due to the large volume of data that can be gathered at a relatively
low cost. The limited number of devices in discoverable mode and potential long
discovery time of the Bluetooth devices creates an opportunity for evaluating the sensor
array setup that can maximize the sample of devices identified. This thesis investigates
several factors that have a significant impact on the quality of the data obtained using
Bluetooth, including the number of Bluetooth readers, orientation of the Bluetooth
antennas, position of the readers relative to one another, and the location of the Bluetooth
stations.
The thesis begins with an overview of Bluetooth technology and literature review
on the use of Bluetooth in previous traffic studies. Next, the methodology for the setup of
the Bluetooth system and the four tests performed to evaluate the factors affecting the
quality of the data are described. Through the results of these tests, it was observed that a
"flat" antenna orientation allows for the greatest detection range and that the walls of
buildings can prevent detection of Bluetooth devices inside the buildings. In addition,
using multiple Bluetooth readers per sensor array resulted in statistically significant
increases in number of detections of single reader sensors, and horizontally separated
sensor arrays were observed to be more effective than vertically separated sensor arrays.
Finally, the thesis concludes with a summary of findings and a discussion of further
research needs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/42778 |
| Date | 29 August 2011 |
| Creators | Box, Stephanie |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
Page generated in 0.0014 seconds