Skip to main content

Smart sensors can detect iPhone and Android devices

Spanish company Libelium has announced it has developed new sensing technology that can detect smartphones through their WiFi or Bluetooth interfaces and integrated it inside Meshlium Xtreme, the company's multiprotocol router. Applications of this new technology go from street activity measurement to vehicle traffic management. For instance, the company claims it is possible to monitor the number of people passing daily in a street, the average time they stop at landmarks, like shopping windows, and even d
May 25, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSSpanish company 740 Libelium has announced it has developed new sensing technology that can detect smartphones through their WiFi or Bluetooth interfaces and integrated it inside Meshlium Xtreme, the company's multiprotocol router. Applications of this new technology go from street activity measurement to vehicle traffic management. For instance, the company claims it is possible to monitor the number of people passing daily in a street, the average time they stop at landmarks, like shopping windows, and even differentiate between residents (daily matches) and visitors (sporadic matches).

"This new technology allows us to detect both iPhone and Android devices without the need of a specific application installed on them," explains Libelium's CTO, David Gascón.  "Meshlium Xtreme detects the "hello!" messages periodically sent by the Smartphones without the need of user interaction and always ensuring their privacy, since these messages do not identify their owners," he adds.

When used for vehicle traffic monitoring, the system provides data in real time about the flow of traffic on highways and roads, monitoring also the average time a vehicle slows down or stops for traffic congestion intervention by road authorities.

Related Content

  • Camera technology a flexible and cost-effective option
    June 7, 2012
    Perceptions of machine vision being an expensive solution are being challenged by developments in both core technologies and ancillaries. Here, Jason Barnes and David Crawford look at the latest developments in the sector. A notable aspect of machine vision is the flexibility it offers in terms of how and how much data is passed around a network. With smart cameras, processing capabilities at the front end mean that only that which is valid need be communicated back to a central processor of any descripti
  • Machine vision - cameras for intelligent traffic management
    January 25, 2012
    For some, machine vision is the coming technology. For others, it’s already here. Although it remains a relative newcomer to the ITS sector, its effects look set to be profound and far-reaching. Encapsulating in just a few short words the distinguishing features of complex technologies and their operating concepts can sometimes be difficult. Often, it is the most subtle of nuances which are both the most important and yet also the most easily lost. Happily, in the case of machine vision this isn’t the case:
  • Weigh in motion reduces road wear, increases toll revenue
    January 24, 2012
    IRD, Inc's Terry Bergan discusses future applications of weigh in motion technology. The application in recent years of Weigh In Motion (WIM) at tollgates has been driven by recognition of the fact that there is economic value, which can be levied, attached to Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) which haul laden (and are therefore heavy) rather than empty. As wear and damage to road surfaces increases exponentially with weight, the targeting of HGVs in particular makes sense from both the economic and maintenance p
  • Airborne traffic monitoring - the future?
    March 1, 2013
    A new frontier in the quest to monitor road traffic is opening up… but using airborne drones to reduce the jams comes with some thorny issues. Chris Tindall reports. Imagine if you could rely on a system that provided all the data you needed to regulate traffic flow, route vehicles and respond swiftly to emergencies for a fraction of the cost of piloting a helicopter. That system exists, but as engineers and traffic managers start to explore the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – more commonly k