Try it: count event foot traffic with WiFi sensing

This is the working version of the tutorial: a simulated trade show floor with a WiFi doorway counter, two booth zones, and a live zone flow graph. Your browser cannot read real WiFi radio data, so every signal here is simulated, but the processing is the real thing: threshold crossings, trigger pairing for direction, and zone boundaries. The physical kit uses ESP32 boards that cost about $12 each. Simulation runs at 3x real time.

Attendees (20–150) 60 Rush mode (bunching) Bluetooth overlay Signal chart

Simulating…

Bluetooth: two halves, one honest

The beacons you deploy (B-01 at the entrance, B-02 and B-03 in the booths) broadcast stable IDs: reliable zone presence. Attendee phones randomize the address they show while probing, so passive sniffing cannot track a person across the day. Watch the phone addresses rotate below.

Device	Address seen	Stable?

Doorway counter

Links A and B sit about one meter apart. A disturbance spike crossing the threshold is a trigger; A-then-B means entering, B-then-A means exiting. Toggle rush mode and watch bunched groups cross as one trigger.

Entries: 0 Exits: 0 Inside now: 0

Booth zones and dwell time

Booth	Present	Visits	Median dwell	Longest dwell

Recent visits (entry to exit):

Zone flow graph

Zones are nodes, movements are edges weighted by crossings. This is the relationship graph of the event, drawn live.

Traffic report (simulated data)

Door	Entries	Exits	Net
Main entrance	0	0	0

Starter kit

The starter kit holds the aggregator sketch (Python: UDP listener, trigger pairing, CSV log), firmware pointers for the ESP32 boards, the placement guide, the calibration checklist, and the disclosure template. Drop in your email and the download link appears.