Feasibility of Bluetooth Data as a Surrogate Measure of Vehicle Operations : Technical Summary

The widespread use of portable electronic devices among consumers has allowed new opportunities for traffic data collection. Many of these devices contain short-range Bluetooth radios in addition to other electronic equipment. The included Bluetooth radio on each device is intended to provide a low-power communications protocol to connect devices such as cell phones, headphones, music players, and more to each other. The presence of a unique identification number when activated can be discovered electronically which unintentionally creates anonymous probes in the traffic stream.