Nice presentation. I always try to keep up with the latest and greatest new technologies, Blunami appears to have it all. O.k., I can't help to wonder, if the background hills in you video, are in thousand Oaks Ca. near Wildwood park?
Hi Dave. Slightly misleading channel discussion. Bluetooth and BLE are frequency hopping technologies. Each device uses all available hop channels in a pseudo random sequence agreed to by the two devices when a connection is formed. If two devices land on a channel at the same time and a data collision occurs, they detect it. Each moves on to its next channel and retransmits the message segment. As the connections will now be on different channels the message will get through. I worked with Washington University in St. Louis testing Bluetooth in various wireless environments and found no loss of connections in the presence of WiFi, Zigbee or other sources of interference. It's important with Bluetooth to distinguish between channels and connections. Bluetooth uses 79 hop frequency channels but can have a huge number of connections sharing those channels. BLE does the same thing using 40 channels. I participated in the development of BLE and it is designed to support thousands of connections in an Internet of Things applications for home automation or industrial automation. In testing in ugly industrial environments Bluetooth got through when WiFi couldn't. Great product idea btw. Bill Drake
His explaination seemed to go off the rails to me. Your explanation does a much better job. Based on probabilities quick guesstimate with 40 people hitting the horn at the same time, 4 to 8 may have an initial conflict but it would likely be sorted out within 0.25 seconds or less (most wouldn't even notice). With 60 people there would be more initial conflicts but all should be sorted within 0.5 seconds.
Thanks you answered one of my questions, I have brass steam engines and if I put the decoder in the boiler or the tender will the Bluetooth signal be able to get out?
You are going to lose a little bit of range (with the brass tender shell) but since the BT module has such a powerful signal to start with, your final result won't be that bad. As discussed in the video, it will help if you set it up so the BT antenna is not immediately adjacent to the brass walls of the tender.
As a total newbie to model railroading I was wondering, if you order the blunami and a batterypack can it run your analog train through your phone. Or do you have to order something else as well ?
If you are comfortable snipping a few wires and doing a little soldering you can easily prepare most locos to work with a Blunami (and you don't need any additional equipment). If you google "convert dc locomotive to dcc" you will see plenty of tutorial videos.
Dave, thanks for the video. When you say ¼ inch from a metal shell are you assuming it’s on top of a coal load or will it work within a closed top Diecast tender shell if kept away from the shell? Thanks
You'll want to identify where in the module the antenna is and (hopefully SoundTraxx will post an image of that sometime) and put a dot on the outer shrink-wrap on that spot, and then do your best to position the module so the antenna is as far from any metal edge as you can. Having the module inside a diecast tender will take away some of the signal (maybe 25% based on some tests I've done in the past) but as long as you position it properly, you should hopefully get a good enough signal. I have used this same brand of modules in a brass shark-nosed loco and have gotten a pretty strong signal.
The range for bluetooth are different from outside and inside buildings. Can you provide more about the specs in terms of version that you are using? The BlueRailTrains site says the app works on IOS9 which is 2015. Also since bluetooth is bi-directional communications, would it be possible to add feedback from the locomotive such as locomotive motor diagnostics (temperature, speed etc) This might require some cooperation with the manufacturers. This would really be a nice plus.
In this demo I am using an iPad Air 2 (released 2014). I am running the latest iOS version supported (15.5) - You always want whatever device you have to be updated to the latest iOS it can. Yes, everything is bidirectional, and the parameters you mention are all sent as constant telemetry to the app from the decoder.
I posted a video (link below) that details the control app. You can also control the loco with a standard DCC cab. czcams.com/video/ZwKzTVrm_6E/video.html
Note that the loco never moves. A better demo would start moving the loco and then stop it. This would require multiple number of commands sent to the loco almost continuously. This would be a much better test of signal. This is not a good demo of signal range because it does not reflect realistic situations. Specifically, there is nothing between the train and the ipad. On a layout a train will go into a tunnel, perhaps made of casting powder. The tunnel will weaken the signal. Also their are obsticals such as other trains and buildings so there is not a direct signal.. Finally according to searching the internet bluetooth is limited to about 30 ft.
I use it all the time indoors and out, and from multiple rooms away. It has great signal strength and latency is not an issue. When it travels through a long underground tunnel (which I test it on) the loco reconnects when it nears the exit of the tunnel (so you never notice). Your research about “30 feet” is for classic Bluetooth, not Bluetooth low energy (which this is)
What a great idea this Blunami is for model railroad. Thanks for the post.
Nice presentation. I always try to keep up with the latest and greatest new technologies, Blunami appears to have it all. O.k., I can't help to wonder, if the background hills in you video, are in thousand Oaks Ca. near Wildwood park?
Hi Dave. Slightly misleading channel discussion. Bluetooth and BLE are frequency hopping technologies. Each device uses all available hop channels in a pseudo random sequence agreed to by the two devices when a connection is formed. If two devices land on a channel at the same time and a data collision occurs, they detect it. Each moves on to its next channel and retransmits the message segment. As the connections will now be on different channels the message will get through.
I worked with Washington University in St. Louis testing Bluetooth in various wireless environments and found no loss of connections in the presence of WiFi, Zigbee or other sources of interference.
It's important with Bluetooth to distinguish between channels and connections. Bluetooth uses 79 hop frequency channels but can have a huge number of connections sharing those channels. BLE does the same thing using 40 channels.
I participated in the development of BLE and it is designed to support thousands of connections in an Internet of Things applications for home automation or industrial automation. In testing in ugly industrial environments Bluetooth got through when WiFi couldn't.
Great product idea btw.
Bill Drake
His explaination seemed to go off the rails to me. Your explanation does a much better job. Based on probabilities quick guesstimate with 40 people hitting the horn at the same time, 4 to 8 may have an initial conflict but it would likely be sorted out within 0.25 seconds or less (most wouldn't even notice). With 60 people there would be more initial conflicts but all should be sorted within 0.5 seconds.
Nice Dave. But no chain link fencing? How am I suppose to run my neighbors trains from my back yard?😉
Probably from the camouflage observation platform that you've built.😀
Thanks you answered one of my questions, I have brass steam engines and if I put the decoder in the boiler or the tender will the Bluetooth signal be able to get out?
You are going to lose a little bit of range (with the brass tender shell) but since the BT module has such a powerful signal to start with, your final result won't be that bad. As discussed in the video, it will help if you set it up so the BT antenna is not immediately adjacent to the brass walls of the tender.
As a total newbie to model railroading I was wondering, if you order the blunami and a batterypack can it run your analog train through your phone. Or do you have to order something else as well ?
If you are comfortable snipping a few wires and doing a little soldering you can easily prepare most locos to work with a Blunami (and you don't need any additional equipment). If you google "convert dc locomotive to dcc" you will see plenty of tutorial videos.
Dave, thanks for the video. When you say ¼ inch from a metal shell are you assuming it’s on top of a coal load or will it work within a closed top Diecast tender shell if kept away from the shell?
Thanks
You'll want to identify where in the module the antenna is and (hopefully SoundTraxx will post an image of that sometime) and put a dot on the outer shrink-wrap on that spot, and then do your best to position the module so the antenna is as far from any metal edge as you can. Having the module inside a diecast tender will take away some of the signal (maybe 25% based on some tests I've done in the past) but as long as you position it properly, you should hopefully get a good enough signal. I have used this same brand of modules in a brass shark-nosed loco and have gotten a pretty strong signal.
@@BlueRailTrains Thanks for the info
The range for bluetooth are different from outside and inside buildings. Can you provide more about the specs in terms of version that you are using? The BlueRailTrains site says the app works on IOS9 which is 2015. Also since bluetooth is bi-directional communications, would it be possible to add feedback from the locomotive such as locomotive motor diagnostics (temperature, speed etc) This might require some cooperation with the manufacturers. This would really be a nice plus.
In this demo I am using an iPad Air 2 (released 2014). I am running the latest iOS version supported (15.5) - You always want whatever device you have to be updated to the latest iOS it can. Yes, everything is bidirectional, and the parameters you mention are all sent as constant telemetry to the app from the decoder.
You don’t explain how the control actually works. Does it replace your throttle ?
I posted a video (link below) that details the control app. You can also control the loco with a standard DCC cab.
czcams.com/video/ZwKzTVrm_6E/video.html
Note that the loco never moves. A better demo would start moving the loco and then stop it. This would require multiple number of commands sent to the loco almost continuously. This would be a much better test of signal.
This is not a good demo of signal range because it does not reflect realistic situations. Specifically, there is nothing between the train and the ipad. On a layout a train will go into a tunnel, perhaps made of casting powder. The tunnel will weaken the signal. Also their are obsticals such as other trains and buildings so there is not a direct signal.. Finally according to searching the internet bluetooth is limited to about 30 ft.
I use it all the time indoors and out, and from multiple rooms away. It has great signal strength and latency is not an issue. When it travels through a long underground tunnel (which I test it on) the loco reconnects when it nears the exit of the tunnel (so you never notice). Your research about “30 feet” is for classic Bluetooth, not Bluetooth low energy (which this is)
Here is a test with a loco moving from 100+ feet away. czcams.com/video/yFDXC0WDqT4/video.html