About the relationship between people and discoverable Bluetooth devices in urban environments

ABSTRACT

People are frequently carrying their Bluetooth enabled mobile phones in their pockets while moving through public spaces. With only a small fraction of these being set to discoverable mode, it is possible to estimate the number of persons in proximity by conducting Bluetooth device inquiries. In this paper, we present a method for the measurement of the percentage of people with discoverable devices. We did experiments using this method in Bremen, Germany and San Francisco, US, suggesting that about 2%, respectively 6%, are detectable. Further, we show that this measurement can well be implemented on common mobile phones, and that specialized scanners are not necessary.

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