Bluetooth is a means of wirelessly transmitting data over low frequency radio signals. A typical signal has a range of around 10m. Below are a two links providing more information about the history and workings of bluetooth. There's also a video that talks about potential security issues.
HOW STUFF WORKS
BLUE TOMORROW
Cheerio.
From what I've read, bluetooth as a technology is far more expensive than RF modules such as the XBee. Price will be constraint. I suppose we'll get the school to buy a few for us. The XBee's range is about how much we expect for our project - ~100ft indoors and ~300ft when it's in the LoS. These can be hooked to Arduinos as "shields", apparently.
ReplyDeleteWe need the darn things early to experiment with. Sure we know what technology we're going to be using. But getting it to do what we really want to is a whole new ball-game.