I love interesting uses of Bluetooth® technology and this one is on the list. Santa Rosa Ski and Sports is a small business in…wait for it…Santa Rosa, California deploying a pretty cool solution to track and manage foot traffic in the store. A company named Swarm developed the solution that consists of a Bluetooth Smart sensor tag, an app on a smart device and a monthly service fee for managing the analytics of the collected data.

Swarm’s first product was a traffic-counting device employing a Wi-Fi sensor to track people using Wi-Fi signals from cell phones. However, complications with maintaining a reliable Internet connection, firewalls and additional IT support made it difficult and not cost effective for smaller clients.

The new sensor combines a motion detector with a transmitter to send data via Bluetooth Smart. This makes the solution more cost effective. The application will cache up to three days’ worth of traffic and revenue data so store owners can collect on a Bluetooth Smart compatible device any time in that window.

(Credit: Nanci Taplett)