ESP32 BLE Beacon: Room Presence Tracking for Home Assistant

ESP32 BLE beacons for room presence tracking in Home Assistant provide the most accurate and privacy-preserving indoor location system available for Indian home automation. By placing small ESP32 beacons (or using phones/smartwatches as beacons) and fixed BLE scanners (ESPHome Bluetooth proxies) in each room, Home Assistant knows which room each family member is in – enabling truly intelligent automations like auto-adjusting the AC temperature as you move from bedroom to living room.

Table of Contents

• How BLE Beacon Room Tracking Works
• Hardware: ESP32 Beacons and Bluetooth Proxies
• Setting Up ESPHome Bluetooth Proxy
• ESP32 as iBeacon Firmware
• Bermuda Integration for Room-Level Tracking
• Room Presence Automations for Indian Homes
• Using Smartwatch/Phone as Beacon (No Extra Hardware)
• Frequently Asked Questions

How BLE Beacon Room Tracking Works

The system uses three components:

1. Beacon: A small BLE device (ESP32, coin-cell badge, or your phone/smartwatch) that broadcasts a unique BLE advertisement packet every 100-500ms
2. Proxy scanners: ESP32 devices with ESPHome Bluetooth proxy firmware, one per room, that receive the beacon signal and report RSSI (signal strength) to Home Assistant
3. Bermuda integration (HA): Calculates which scanner is closest to each beacon using RSSI, thereby determining room location

Accuracy in typical Indian homes: ~1-3 metres. Enough to distinguish bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom reliably. Not precise enough for corner-vs-centre-of-room detection.

Hardware: ESP32 Beacons and Bluetooth Proxies

Recommended hardware (India prices 2025):

For a 2BHK Indian flat, you need 4-5 proxy scanners (one per room: bedroom 1, bedroom 2, living room, kitchen, bathroom). Each scanner costs approximately Rs 400, total infrastructure Rs 2,000.

Setting Up ESPHome Bluetooth Proxy

esphome:
  name: bedroom-bt-proxy
  friendly_name: Bedroom BT Proxy

esp32:
  board: esp32dev
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

bluetooth_proxy:
  active: true  # active proxy can request more device data

api:
  encryption:
    key: !secret api_key

logger:
ota:

Flash this ESPHome config to one ESP32 per room. In Home Assistant Settings -> Integrations -> Bluetooth, each proxy appears as an additional Bluetooth adapter. HA automatically uses the closest proxy for device tracking.

ESP32 as iBeacon Firmware

#include "BLEDevice.h"
#include "BLEUtils.h"
#include "BLEBeacon.h"

#define BEACON_UUID "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012"

void setup() {
    BLEDevice::init("Bedroom-Beacon");
    BLEServer* pServer = BLEDevice::createServer();
    
    BLEAdvertising* pAdvertising = BLEDevice::getAdvertising();
    
    BLEBeacon oBeacon;
    oBeacon.setManufacturerId(0x4C00);   // Apple iBeacon format
    oBeacon.setProximityUUID(BLEUUID(BEACON_UUID));
    oBeacon.setMajor(1);     // Floor number
    oBeacon.setMinor(101);   // Room number (1=bedroom, 2=living, etc.)
    oBeacon.setSignalPower(-59);  // Calibrated TX power at 1m
    
    BLEAdvertisementData oAdvertisementData;
    oAdvertisementData.setFlags(0x04);  // BR_EDR_NOT_SUPPORTED 0x04
    oAdvertisementData.setManufacturerData(oBeacon.getData());
    pAdvertising->setAdvertisementData(oAdvertisementData);
    pAdvertising->setAdvertisementType(ADV_TYPE_NONCONN_IND);
    pAdvertising->start();
    
    // Deep sleep between advertisements to save power
    esp_deep_sleep(100000);  // 100ms on, then sleep
}

void loop() {}

Bermuda Integration for Room-Level Tracking

Install the Bermuda integration from HACS (Home Assistant Community Store):

1. In HA: HACS -> Integrations -> Search “Bermuda BLE Trilateration” -> Install
2. Settings -> Integrations -> Add Integration -> Bermuda
3. In Bermuda configuration, assign each BT proxy to a room: bedroom-bt-proxy -> Bedroom 1, living-bt-proxy -> Living Room
4. Bermuda creates a device_tracker entity for each tracked beacon, showing which room it is in

Bermuda uses a combination of signal strength averaging, Kalman filtering, and room boundary logic to determine location. It handles the case where a person sitting near a room boundary shows up in the adjacent room by applying a configurable hysteresis (default: beacon must be 3dB closer to new room for 30 seconds before switching).

Room Presence Automations for Indian Homes

With room-level tracking, write HA automations that follow each family member:

# Automation: AC follows person
id: ac_follows_person
alias: AC adjusts when person changes room
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: device_tracker.ravi_beacon
action:
  - choose:
    - conditions:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: device_tracker.ravi_beacon
        state: bedroom
      sequence:
        - service: climate.set_temperature
          target:
            entity_id: climate.bedroom_ac
          data:
            temperature: 24
        - service: climate.turn_off
          target:
            entity_id: climate.living_room_ac
    - conditions:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: device_tracker.ravi_beacon
        state: living_room
      sequence:
        - service: climate.set_temperature
          target:
            entity_id: climate.living_room_ac
          data:
            temperature: 25
        - service: climate.turn_off
          target:
            entity_id: climate.bedroom_ac

Using Smartwatch/Phone as Beacon (No Extra Hardware)

You can use existing devices as beacons without any additional hardware:

• iPhone/Android with Home Assistant app: Enable Bluetooth in HA Companion app settings. Your phone broadcasts BLE advertisements tracked by ESPHome proxies. Works with iPhone 12+ and most Android 10+ phones.
• Mi Band 4/5/6 (popular in India, Rs 1,500-2,500): Broadcasts BLE advertisements passively. Add its MAC address to Bermuda’s tracked devices. No app needed.
• Noise, boAt, and Realme smartbands: Most Indian budget smartbands broadcast passive BLE – check with a BLE scanner app (nRF Connect) to verify your specific model is advertising.
• Titan, Noise Colorfit (smartwatch): Most actively advertise BLE – add to Bermuda’s device list after finding the MAC address in nRF Connect app.

Frequently Asked Questions

How accurate is room-level BLE tracking in Indian concrete homes?

Typically 80-90% accurate for room determination in a standard 2BHK or 3BHK. Accuracy drops near room boundaries (2-3m from doorways) and when concrete walls cause multipath reflections. Using 3+ proxies per room improves this significantly through signal triangulation.

Does BLE beacon tracking drain phone battery?

The HA Companion app’s BLE advertising uses approximately 3-5% extra battery per day. Using a dedicated ESP32 beacon (CR2032 coin cell) avoids any phone battery impact while providing 6-12 months of battery life.

How do I prevent the system from losing track when I go to sleep?

When you put your phone face-down or plug it in, BLE advertisements continue. However, if your phone’s Bluetooth is turned off (common practice in some Indian households to save battery), tracking stops. Use a dedicated wearable beacon (nRF51822 module in a small printed case) for always-on tracking.

Can I track multiple family members simultaneously?

Yes. Each person carries a unique beacon (different UUID, or different phone). Bermuda creates separate device_tracker entities for each beacon. A 4-person Indian family would have 4 device_tracker entities, each showing which room that person is in.

What happens when guests visit?

Untracked devices (guest phones) simply are not tracked by Bermuda. Automation triggers based on tracked family members still work normally. For guest-aware automations, have guests install the HA Companion app temporarily or carry a spare ESP32 beacon programmed as a guest device.

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