I am looking to develop a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) receiver with the longest possible range. It would be placed on the side of a building in a weather proof box and could be either android or windows based. Our software already runs on android so that is the preferred platform.
Hi Andrew,
Thank you for posting. I’m not sure how any of our products would help with this. Our Bluetooth adapter has the standard range for a class 2 device, 10 meters or 32 feet. It works in Windows, but not Android.
Several factors influence range. First is transmit power. Different Bluetooth devices have different ranges, which are designated by classes based on the transmit power. Class 1 is the highest with a 100 meter range. Class 2 devices are by far the most comment.
Being in a weatherproof box with likely reduce the range to some extent, based on what the box is made of. Metal would be the worse, while plastic shouldn’t be too bad.
Radio interference is often a problem. Bluetooth uses the same 2.4GHz band used by many consumer devices, include Wifi, cordless phones, security cameras, and others. The Bluetooth signal is relatively weak compared to these others.
Some Bluetooth devices allow connecting an external antenna, and this may help.