Bluetooth tag-tracking using MQTT and ThingsBoard

Bluetooth tag-tracking using MQTT and ThingsBoard

Implement Bluetooth tag-tracking solutions using MQTT protocol and ThingsBoard IoT platform with MikroTik KNOT devices. This guide covers topology planning, ThingsBoard configuration, RouterOS scripting, and data visualization.

Overview

Bluetooth interface implementation in RouterOS allows devices to capture Bluetooth advertising packets broadcasted over channels 37, 38, and 39. MikroTik Bluetooth tags like TG-BT5-IN and TG-BT5-OUT broadcast advertising payloads over these channels, enabling asset tracking when used with KNOT devices.

Supported Hardware

Device	Description
KNOT	IoT gateway with Bluetooth scanning capabilities
TG-BT5-IN	Indoor Bluetooth asset tracking tag
TG-BT5-OUT	Outdoor Bluetooth asset tracking tag with extended range

Key Capabilities

• Track assets equipped with Bluetooth tags across multiple KNOT devices
• Monitor tag proximity and movement between zones
• Capture RSSI signal strength for distance estimation
• Integrate with ThingsBoard via MQTT for visualization
• Configure filters for MAC addresses, payload data, and signal strength

Sub-menu

/iot bluetooth scanners

Prerequisites

Before implementing Bluetooth tag tracking, ensure you have:

Hardware Requirements

Requirement	Specification
KNOT device	With Bluetooth interface
Bluetooth tags	TG-BT5-IN or TG-BT5-OUT
Network connectivity	Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or cellular
ThingsBoard server	Cloud or local installation

Software Requirements

• RouterOS 7.x with IoT package installed
• ThingsBoard instance (cloud or container-based)
• MQTT broker configuration on KNOT

Tag Configuration

Tags can be configured using the MikroTik Beacon Manager app to broadcast payloads:

• Automatically at fixed intervals
• When movement is detected
• When tilt is detected
• When free-fall is detected

Topology Planning

Basic Two-Zone Topology

Deploy two KNOT devices (KNOT-A and KNOT-B) to create separate tracking zones. When a tag moves between zones, the server indicates which KNOT detected the tag.

Multi-Zone Deployment

For larger areas, deploy multiple KNOT devices with overlapping and non-overlapping Bluetooth ranges:

# Example: KNOT-A covers Zone A, KNOT-B covers Zone B
# Distance between KNOTs: 140m for non-overlapping ranges
# Each KNOT range: ~70m (environment-dependent)

Bluetooth Range Considerations

Environment	Typical Range
Line of sight, no interference	Up to 180m
Office environment	30-100m
Industrial setting	Variable based on interference

Caution

Actual range depends on environment factors including 2.4GHz interference, building materials, and tag output power settings.

RSSI Filtering

Use RSSI threshold filtering to control detection range:

RSSI Value	Interpretation
-40 dBm	Very close proximity
-60 dBm	Moderate distance
-80 dBm	Edge of detection range

Configure RSSI filtering in scripts to ignore weak signals from distant tags.

ThingsBoard Configuration

MQTT and ThingsBoard Setup

Before configuring RouterOS, set up ThingsBoard for MQTT communication. This guide uses the access-token authentication method for simplicity.

Creating Gateway Devices

Create each KNOT as a gateway device in ThingsBoard:

1. Navigate to Devices section
2. Click + and select Add new device
3. Configure device settings:
   • Name: Descriptive identifier (e.g., “KNOT-A-Warehouse”)
   • Check Is gateway option
4. Repeat for each KNOT device

Access Token Configuration

Set up unique access tokens for each KNOT:

1. Select the device in ThingsBoard
2. Navigate to Manage credentials
3. Generate or assign access token
4. Record credentials for RouterOS configuration

Tip

For production environments, use SSL-MQTT instead of non-SSL MQTT to prevent packet inspection.

Gateway MQTT Topic

KNOT devices publish telemetry to the gateway topic:

topic = "v1/gateway/telemetry"

RouterOS Configuration

MQTT Broker Setup

Configure MQTT broker connection on each KNOT:

/iot/mqtt/brokers/add name=tb address=x.x.x.x port=1883 username=KNOT-A_ACCESS_TOKEN

Parameter	Description
name	Broker identifier (used in scripts)
address	ThingsBoard server IP or hostname
port	MQTT port (1883 for non-SSL, 8883 for SSL)
username	Device access token from ThingsBoard

Bluetooth Verification

Verify tag detection before implementing tracking scripts:

/iot bluetooth scanners advertisements print

 # DEVICE     PDU-TYPE        TIME                 ADDRESS-TYPE  ADDRESS            RSSI     LENGTH  DATA
 0 bt1        adv-noconn-ind  mar/07/2023 12:11:57  public        DC:2C:6E:0F:C0:3D  -51dBm      22    15ff4f09010079100000ffff0000cf188a6b2b000064
 1 bt1        adv-noconn-ind  mar/07/2023 12:11:58  public        2C:C8:1B:4B:BB:0A  -49dBm      22    15ff4f090100168dfefffffffeffa51ae1362200005e

Filter for specific tag:

/iot bluetooth scanners advertisements print where address=DC:2C:6E:0F:C0:3D

Tracking Script

Create a script to process advertisements and publish MQTT messages:

/system script add dont-require-permissions=no name=tracking owner=admin policy=\
    ftp,reboot,read,write,policy,test,password,sniff,sensitive,romon source="# Required packages: iot\r\
    \n\r\
    \n################################ Configuration ##############################\r\
    \n# Name of an existing MQTT broker that should be used for publishing\r\
    \n:local broker "tb"\r\
    \n\r\
    \n# MQTT topic where the message should be published\r\
    \n:local topic "v1/gateway/telemetry"\r\
    \n\r\
    \n# POSIX regex for filtering advertisement Bluetooth addresses\r\
    \n# To disable this filter, set it to ""\r\
    \n:local addressRegex ""\r\
    \n\r\
    \n# POSIX regex for filtering Bluetooth advertisements based on their data\r\
    \n# To disable this filter, set it to ""\r\
    \n:local advertisingDataRegex ""\r\
    \n\r\
    \n# Signal strength filter (e.g. -40 ignores signals weaker than -40dBm)\r\
    \n# To disable this filter, set it to ""\r\
    \n:local rssiThreshold ""\r\
    \n\r\
    \n# KNOT identifier for MQTT message\r\
    \n:local gwName "KNOT_A"\r\
    \n\r\
    \n################################## Bluetooth ###############################\r\
    \n:put ("[*] Gathering Bluetooth info...")\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:global makeRecord do={\r\
    \n    :local jsonStr "{\"ts\":\$ts,\"values\":{\"reporter\":\"\$gwName\",\"rssi\":\$rssi}}"\r\
    \n    :return \$jsonStr\r\
    \n}\r\
    \n\r\
    \n# array of record strings collected for each advertising MAC address\r\
    \n:global macRecords [:toarray ""]\r\
    \n\r\
    \n# process advertisements and update macRecords\r\
    \n:local advertisements [/iot bluetooth scanners advertisements print detail as-value where\r\
    \naddress ~ \$addressRegex and\r\
    \ndata ~ \$advertisingDataRegex and\r\
    \nrssi > \$rssiThreshold]\r\
    \n\r\
    \n/iot/bluetooth/scanners/advertisements clear\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:foreach adv in \$advertisements do={\r\
    \n    :local address (\$adv->"address")\r\
    \n    :local rssi (\$adv->"rssi")\r\
    \n    :local epoch (\$adv->"epoch")\r\
    \n    \r\
    \n    :local recordStr [\$makeRecord ts=\$epoch gwName=\$gwName rssi=\$rssi]\r\
    \n    \r\
    \n    :if ([:len (\$macRecords->\$address)] > 0) do={\r\
    \n        :local str (\$macRecords->\$address)\r\
    \n        :local newStr "\$str,\$recordStr"\r\
    \n        :set (\$macRecords->\$address) \$newStr\r\
    \n    } else={:set (\$macRecords->\$address) \$recordStr}\r\
    \n}\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:local sendData true\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:if (\$sendData) do={\r\
    \n    :local jsonStr "{"\r\
    \n    \r\
    \n    :foreach addr,advRec in \$macRecords do={\r\
    \n        :set jsonStr "\$jsonStr\"\$addr\":[\$advRec],"}\r\
    \n    \r\
    \n    :local payloadlength\r\
    \n    :set payloadlength [:len (\$jsonStr)]\r\
    \n    :local remcom\r\
    \n    :set remcom [:pick \$jsonStr 0 (\$payloadlength-1)]\r\
    \n    :set jsonStr "\$remcom}"\r\
    \n    :local message\r\
    \n    :set message "\$jsonStr"\r\
    \n    :log info "\$message";\r\
    \n    :put ("[*] Message structured: \$message")\r\
    \n    :put ("[*] Total message size: \$[:len \$message] bytes")\r\
    \n    :put ("[*] Sending message to MQTT broker...")\r\
    \n    /iot mqtt publish broker="\$broker" topic="\$topic" message=\$message\r\
    \n}"

Script Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Description	Example
broker	MQTT broker name	"tb"
topic	MQTT topic path	"v1/gateway/telemetry"
addressRegex	MAC address filter (POSIX regex)	"^DC:2C:6E" or "" to disable
advertisingDataRegex	Payload data filter	"15ff4f09" for MikroTik tags
rssiThreshold	Minimum RSSI value	"-40" or "" to disable
gwName	KNOT identifier	"KNOT_A"

JSON Message Structure

The script generates JSON messages formatted for ThingsBoard Gateway API:

{
  "2C:C8:1B:4B:BB:0A": [
    {
      "ts": 1678967250600,
      "values": {
        "reporter": "KNOT_A",
        "rssi": -47
      }
    }
  ],
  "DC:2C:6E:0F:C0:3D": [
    {
      "ts": 1678967247850,
      "values": {
        "reporter": "KNOT_A",
        "rssi": -59
      }
    }
  ]
}

Field	Description
MAC address	Tag identifier
ts	Unix timestamp in milliseconds
reporter	KNOT device that detected the tag
rssi	Signal strength in dBm

Scheduler Configuration

Automate script execution with scheduler:

/system/scheduler/add name=bluetoothscheduler interval=30s on-event="/system/script/run tracking"

Recommended Interval Settings

Use Case	Interval	Notes
Real-time tracking	10-15s	Higher data freshness
Standard monitoring	30s-1m	Balanced approach
Low-frequency updates	15m+	Reduced message volume

Temperature Monitoring Script

For TG-BT5-OUT tags with temperature sensing, use this enhanced script:

/system script add dont-require-permissions=no name=tracking+temp owner=admin policy=\
    ftp,reboot,read,write,policy,test,password,sniff,sensitive,romon source="# Required packages: iot\r\
    \n\r\
    \n################################ Configuration ##############################\r\
    \n:local broker "tb"\r\
    \n:local topic "v1/gateway/telemetry"\r\
    \n:local addressRegex ""\r\
    \n:local advertisingDataRegex ""\r\
    \n:local rssiThreshold ""\r\
    \n:local gwName "1"\r\
    \n\r\
    \n################################## Bluetooth ###############################\r\
    \n:global invertU16 do={\r\
    \n    :local inverted 0\r\
    \n    :for idx from=0 to=15 step=1 do={\r\
    \n        :local mask (1 << \$idx)\r\
    \n        :if (\$1 & \$mask = 0) do={\r\
    \n            :set \$inverted (\$inverted | \$mask)\r\
    \n        }\r\
    \n    }\r\
    \n    return \$inverted\r\
    \n}\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:global le16ToHost do={\r\
    \n    :local lsb [:pick \$1 0 2]\r\
    \n    :local msb [:pick \$1 2 4]\r\
    \n    :return [:tonum "0x\$msb\$lsb"]\r\
    \n}\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:global from88 do={\r\
    \n    :global invertU16\r\
    \n    :global le16ToHost\r\
    \n    :local num [\$le16ToHost \$1]\r\
    \n    :if (\$num & 0x8000) do={\r\
    \n        :set \$num (-1 * ([\$invertU16 \$num] + 1))\r\
    \n    }\r\
    \n    :return ((\$num * 125) / 32)\r\
    \n}\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:put ("[*] Gathering Bluetooth info...")\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:global makeRecord do={\r\
    \n    :local jsonStr "{\"ts\":\$ts,\"values\":{\"KNOT_\$gwName\":\"\$gwName\",\"temp\":\$temp}}"\r\
    \n    :return \$jsonStr\r\
    \n}\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:global macRecords [:toarray ""]\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:local advertisements [/iot bluetooth scanners advertisements print detail as-value where\r\
    \naddress ~ \$addressRegex and\r\
    \ndata ~ \$advertisingDataRegex and\r\
    \nrssi > \$rssiThreshold]\r\
    \n\r\
    \n/iot/bluetooth/scanners/advertisements clear\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:foreach adv in \$advertisements do={\r\
    \n    :local address (\$adv->"address")\r\
    \n    :local ad (\$adv->"data")\r\
    \n    :local rssi (\$adv->"rssi")\r\
    \n    :local epoch (\$adv->"epoch")\r\
    \n    :local temp [\$from88 [:pick \$ad 28 32]]\r\
    \n    \r\
    \n    :local recordStr [\$makeRecord ts=\$epoch gwName=\$gwName temp=\$temp]\r\
    \n    \r\
    \n    :if ([:len (\$macRecords->\$address)] > 0) do={\r\
    \n        :local str (\$macRecords->\$address)\r\
    \n        :local newStr "\$str,\$recordStr"\r\
    \n        :set (\$macRecords->\$address) \$newStr\r\
    \n    } else={:set (\$macRecords->\$address) \$recordStr}\r\
    \n}\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:local sendData true\r\
    \n\r\
    \n:if (\$sendData) do={\r\
    \n    :local jsonStr "{"\r\
    \n    :foreach addr,advRec in \$macRecords do={\r\
    \n        :set jsonStr "\$jsonStr\"\$addr\":[\$advRec],"}\r\
    \n    :local payloadlength\r\
    \n    :set payloadlength [:len (\$jsonStr)]\r\
    \n    :local remcom\r\
    \n    :set remcom [:pick \$jsonStr 0 (\$payloadlength-1)]\r\
    \n    :set jsonStr "\$remcom}"\r\
    \n    :local message\r\
    \n    :set message "\$jsonStr"\r\
    \n    :log info "\$message";\r\
    \n    :put ("[*] Message structured: \$message")\r\
    \n    /iot mqtt publish broker="\$broker" topic="\$topic" message=\$message\r\
    \n}"

The temperature value is decoded from the 8.8 fixed-point format in the tag payload at bytes 28-32.

Data Visualization

Device Creation

When the script runs, ThingsBoard automatically creates devices for new MAC addresses:

1. Navigate to Devices section
2. New tags appear as devices
3. Each tag shows latest telemetry data

Creating Dashboards

1. Select a tag device
2. Go to Latest telemetry
3. Select reporter or temp parameter
4. Click Show on widget
5. Choose widget type (e.g., Timeseries table)
6. Add to new or existing dashboard

Dashboard Configuration

Configure time windows for data display:

# Recommended: Realtime-current day for ongoing tracking

Multi-Tag Dashboard

Create a consolidated dashboard showing all tracked assets:

1. Add widget for each unique tag
2. Configure time window
3. Enable auto-refresh
4. Add alert thresholds if needed

Use Cases

Warehouse Asset Tracking

Track pallets and inventory across warehouse zones:

• Install KNOT at zone entry/exit points
• Attach TG-BT5-IN tag to each asset
• Monitor asset movement between zones
• Generate dwell time reports

Vehicle Tracking

Track assets during transport:

• Install KNOT in delivery vehicles
• Attach TG-BT5-OUT tag to cargo
• Monitor cargo location during transit
• Receive alerts when cargo enters/exits vehicles

Cold Chain Monitoring

Monitor temperature-sensitive shipments:

• Use TG-BT5-OUT tags with temperature sensing
• Configure temperature alerts in ThingsBoard
• Track temperature history during transit
• Generate compliance reports

Zone-Based Access Control

Implement location-based triggering:

• Configure RSSI thresholds for zone boundaries
• Trigger actions when tags enter/exit zones
• Integrate with other automation systems
• Log access events for audit trails

Troubleshooting

Tags Not Appearing

1. Verify Bluetooth interface is enabled
2. Check tag is within KNOT range
3. Confirm tag is broadcasting (Beacon Manager app)
4. Review KNOT logs for Bluetooth errors

/log print where message~"bluetooth"

MQTT Connection Failures

1. Verify broker address and port
2. Check access token validity
3. Confirm network connectivity
4. Review firewall rules

/iot/mqtt/brokers/print
/iot/mqtt/publish print

Missing Telemetry Data

1. Verify script is running via scheduler
2. Check script execution logs
3. Confirm topic format matches ThingsBoard API
4. Validate JSON message structure

/system/script/run tracking
:put ([/log info])

Intermittent Detection

1. Adjust RSSI threshold for environment
2. Reduce tag broadcast interval
3. Check for 2.4GHz interference
4. Verify KNOT placement for optimal coverage

Performance Issues

Issue	Solution
High CPU usage	Increase scheduler interval
Missing detections	Reduce number of tracked tags
Slow updates	Decrease scheduler interval
Memory issues	Restart KNOT device

Related Commands

• /iot bluetooth scanners advertisements print - View detected advertisements
• /iot bluetooth scanners advertisements clear - Clear advertisement cache
• /iot mqtt publish - Publish MQTT messages
• /system script run - Execute tracking script
• /system scheduler - Configure automated script execution

Related Resources

• Official MikroTik Bluetooth Documentation
• ThingsBoard MQTT Gateway API
• MikroTik Tag Advertisement Formats
• MikroTik Beacon Manager
• MQTT and ThingsBoard Configuration