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Hotspots

The eyes and ears of your tracking network. Hotspots detect Bluetooth signals from your devices and relay them to the Blecon cloud, where the positioning engine turns those signals into precise locations. Choose from dedicated fixed hardware for consistent indoor coverage, or turn any phone or tablet into a mobile hotspot for flexible, on-the-go detection.

Types of hotspots

Type Description Best for
Fixed hotspots Dedicated hardware mounted in your facility Consistent indoor coverage
Mobile hotspots Phones, tablets, laptops, hardware hubs, or vehicles running the Blecon Agent Extending coverage, outdoor areas

How hotspots work

Hotspots are simple relays. They continuously scan for Bluetooth device signals, measure the signal strength (RSSI), and forward everything to the Blecon cloud along with the hotspot's own location. The cloud decides what's relevant and calculates device positions.

Hotspots don't pair with devices, don't hold encryption keys, and don't decrypt device data. Security is between the device and the cloud — so there's zero security configuration at the edge and no risk from a compromised hotspot.

Managed hotspots

Note

Hotspot registration and monitoring is currently only available for fixed hotspots (hubs). Mobile hotspot management is not yet supported.

Any hotspot that connects to the Blecon cloud is automatically detected, but it operates anonymously — the system uses whatever location the hardware self-reports (GPS, WiFi, or cellular).

When you register a fixed hotspot to your account, it becomes a managed hotspot. This gives you:

  • Location overrides — Set exact coordinates (GPS, local x/y/z, or floor) that take priority over the hotspot's self-reported location. This is the most accurate positioning option.
  • Network zone assignment — Assign a hotspot to a network zone so any device it detects is placed in that network zone, enabling room-level presence.
  • Alias — Give the hotspot a human-readable name (e.g. "Warehouse B — Aisle 3").
  • Online/offline monitoring — The system checks managed hotspots every 15 minutes and marks them offline if they stop reporting.
  • Hotspot groups — Organize managed hotspots into groups by location or purpose, and configure per-group alerts for when hotspots go offline.

Registering a hotspot

Register hotspots in the Console under your account's Hotspots section, or via the API:

POST /v1/accounts/{account_id}/hotspots

A hotspot can only be registered to one account. The number of managed hotspots is limited by your account tier.

Hotspot groups

Groups let you organize managed hotspots and configure alerts at the group level:

  • Create groups by location (e.g. "Building A — Floor 2") or purpose (e.g. "Yard scanners").
  • Enable alerts on a group to be notified when any hotspot in the group goes offline.
  • Alerts can be sent to email or other targets.

Manage groups in the Console or via the API at /v1/accounts/{account_id}/hotspot-groups.

Hotspot location

For positioning to work, hotspots need to know their own location. The system uses this priority order:

  1. Managed hotspot configuration — Coordinates you set manually. Always used when available. Most accurate.
  2. GPS/reported location — Location from the hotspot's GPS, WiFi, or cellular. Used for unmanaged hotspots or managed hotspots without a manual override.

For managed hotspots, you can set:

  • GPS coordinates (latitude/longitude) — For multi-building or outdoor deployments.
  • Local coordinates (x/y/z in meters) — For indoor floor plans with a local reference frame.
  • Floor — Building floor number for multi-storey deployments.

Questions? Contact Blecon support — we're happy to help.