Hubs
A hub is a dedicated hardware unit mounted at a permanent location in your facility. It provides consistent Bluetooth scanning coverage of the area around it.
A hub is one kind of hotspot. "Hotspot" is the general word for anything that relays a tag signal to the cloud: a hub, a phone running the Blecon Agent, or a third-party access point. "Hub" means the fixed hardware.
Setting up hubs
- Mount the hub at your chosen location; ceiling mounting is recommended for even coverage.
- Power on: Connect to power (PoE or AC adapter, depending on model).
- Connect: The hub connects to the Blecon cloud automatically via Ethernet, WiFi, or cellular.
- Register: Add the hub as a managed hotspot from the Network page in Blecon Track, or via the Tracker API.
- Configure location: Set the hub's coordinates for accurate positioning.
Configuring location
After registering a hub, set its location for accurate positioning:
- 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.
- Network zone assignment: Assign the hub to a network zone for room-level presence tracking without coordinate surveying.
These manually configured coordinates take priority over the hub's self-reported location.
Placement guidelines
- Space hubs 10–15 meters apart for 2–5 meter positioning accuracy.
- Mount at consistent heights for reliable signal measurement.
- Avoid placing directly behind large metal objects or water sources.
- Document hub locations for future maintenance.
For detailed placement guidance, see Plan hub placement for a warehouse.
Monitoring
Registered hubs are monitored for online/offline status:
- Online/offline: Whether the hub is currently reporting data. A newly registered hub shows as Pending until its first status report arrives.
- Last seen: When the hub last communicated with the cloud.
Hubs are checked every 15 minutes. If a registered hub hasn't reported within the check interval, it's marked offline.