Bluetooth in paintball.

[Teamslayer76]

I was browsing the Face-Full website and noticed this large banner advertising a new technology in markers. It says Bluetooth, or the wireless format. I wonder what it could be? Bluetooth from gun to hopper? It also shows a picture of the new Angle with what looks to be a antenna.

Check it out www.face-full.com

Discuss. :)

[Toll]

If it works that'd be a neat little invention. Never have a misfeed/etc...Have people beam their settings to eachother...All sorts of fun stuff.

[warbeak2099]

No, the Bluetooth Angels are able to be messed with by people off of the field. A coach could change his players' settings and such from the sidelines. It's not a good idea nor is it safe.

[Teamslayer76]

There could be a replacement for updating software! No more wires and junk do it the bluetooth way! Lots of things could be done. I think it's gona be hoppers, like the intellifeed only wireless.

[onedude36]

No, the Bluetooth Angels are able to be messed with by people off of the field. A coach could change his players' settings and such from the sidelines. It's not a good idea nor is it safe.
Agreed.

Wasn't This was discussed a long time ago on here, no? I remeber a thread like this.

[warbeak2099]

It was discussed. That's when it came out that the Angels with Blue Tooth technology featured the ability to control the board's settings from off the field. Now I really never considered ramping as cheating. But this is something that cannot ever be allowed. I don't see any reason that this should become mainstream or acceptable.

On the other hand however, there may be acceptable uses for this technology. Perhaps and intellifeed system could be devised. The wireless board idea would not work however. I believe the emitters and receptors would be far too large to fit in a grip frame or to connect to small parts such as a micro switch or solenoid. The signals would also get quite criss-crossed in such confined spaces.

[Hexis]

On the other hand however, there may be acceptable uses for this technology. Perhaps and intellifeed system could be devised. The wireless board idea would not work however. I believe the emitters and receptors would be far too large to fit in a grip frame or to connect to small parts such as a micro switch or solenoid. The signals would also get quite criss-crossed in such confined spaces.

Clearly not familiar with bluetooth huh? BT uses a scattered spread spectrum pattern that's very resiliant to intereferance. The BT chips are tiny. Have you seen the USB BT modules for laptops, all packaged they are still smaller than a thumbnail. The actual BT chip inside is very small. I think the real issue would be the problems with security and lack of a real interface to correctly pair devices that would cause all kinds of problems.

[jenarelJAM]

The main problem I'm seeing with wireless paintball guns, is that people might start hacking them from the sidelines.

[tyrion2323]

Agreed.

Wasn't This was discussed a long time ago on here, no? I remeber a thread like this.

Yes it was.

[Teamslayer76]

I don't ever remember a topic like this, or a Angel with Bluetooth every coming out. If there was one, I would have purchased it! :)

[mobsterboy]

i think it would be good to have a bluetooth barrel tip to record and send exactly what speed paintball are being fired at and how fast they are shooting at any given second. Also, have a cutoff for ppl who are out, so the minute the ref pushes a button for a given player who's out, or maybe just a transponder for their armband, and if its pulled, the board goes to a "safe mode". Streaming data like this allows for out accuracy, less chances for cheating, more strickt bps ruling and less chances of a dead man getting someone else out on his last stream of paint before going to the dead box
now if only TK could start working on something like taht, because if he convinced NPPL, CFOA, NXL, and all the other leagues to use it, he'd be making big bucks. It would be owned by the leagues but rented out by the teams, and the teams would have no time to mess with it, just strap it on, test it and good to go. Comp terminals taking in data and highlighting spikes of bps/fps and disqualifying/point docking teams who do not abide by the rules. It would be an even playing field again. Now only if we could work on wiping...

[Cow hunter]

i think it would be good to have a bluetooth barrel tip to record and send exactly what speed paintball are being fired at and how fast they are shooting at any given second. Also, have a cutoff for ppl who are out, so the minute the ref pushes a button for a given player who's out, or maybe just a transponder for their armband, and if its pulled, the board goes to a "safe mode". Streaming data like this allows for out accuracy, less chances for cheating, more strickt bps ruling and less chances of a dead man getting someone else out on his last stream of paint before going to the dead box
now if only TK could start working on something like taht, because if he convinced NPPL, CFOA, NXL, and all the other leagues to use it, he'd be making big bucks. It would be owned by the leagues but rented out by the teams, and the teams would have no time to mess with it, just strap it on, test it and good to go. Comp terminals taking in data and highlighting spikes of bps/fps and disqualifying/point docking teams who do not abide by the rules. It would be an even playing field again. Now only if we could work on wiping...
the on barrel chrono idea has been tried, and as i remember it didnt work. also, this would mean having a wire down the end of the barrel, and for some who play rough, that wont wok out very well. the bps meter on the other hand, could be done in two ways, sound and "eyes". the sound would be sorta like a goldwave version, and the "eyes" for lack of a better term, would be like a system that counts using some sort of laser that counts bps. this however could be problematic with chops, and the idea of having delicate computerizred parts on the tip of a barrel isnt appealing to me.

[Alpha]

You may be on to something... If a ref sees something, all he has to do is push a button and the player's gun is locked onto safe mode.

[chemical x]

As a pump player this would be nice for me.

Just carry a blue tooth remote and set em down to 1bps. :D

[UTDragun]

or hack into someones gun and turn dwell to 0

or even better, get auto-aim! like in CS

[RavishingEddie]

i think it would be good to have a bluetooth barrel tip to record and send exactly what speed paintball are being fired at and how fast they are shooting at any given second. Also, have a cutoff for ppl who are out, so the minute the ref pushes a button for a given player who's out, or maybe just a transponder for their armband, and if its pulled, the board goes to a "safe mode". Streaming data like this allows for out accuracy, less chances for cheating, more strickt bps ruling and less chances of a dead man getting someone else out on his last stream of paint before going to the dead box
now if only TK could start working on something like taht, because if he convinced NPPL, CFOA, NXL, and all the other leagues to use it, he'd be making big bucks. It would be owned by the leagues but rented out by the teams, and the teams would have no time to mess with it, just strap it on, test it and good to go. Comp terminals taking in data and highlighting spikes of bps/fps and disqualifying/point docking teams who do not abide by the rules. It would be an even playing field again. Now only if we could work on wiping...


I like the last couple points you made there on using the new technology for anti cheating purposes. I am finishing my BA in management of network and communication systems and this whole idea of incorporating this technology fascinates me. It actually gives me the idea to create something that can prevent hacking from the sidelines. I however find it very difficult figuring out how they exactly will hack the guns. I am comparing this system to the new PS3 console coming out for video games and they also use the bluetooth standard. If the communication goes beyond gun to hopper then the exposure might prompt hackers to take advantage, but I think it would be very hard to try and hack a gun that is simply communicating to its hopper. They might have detection devices but how would you know who's gun you are hacking with all the players are using the same device? If however the data is well encrypted we will be 99% worry free.

[IcantBelieveit]

good thing i am back into woodsball/scenario play instead of the tourney scene....i don't see this bluetooth technology going anywhere good with the tourneyh scene....if in fact you CAN control settings from the sidelines...

[68magOwner]

ill just sabatoge everyone by putting a small EMP at the starting gate :clap:

mech revolution :ninja:

[Hexis]

I like the last couple points you made there on using the new technology for anti cheating purposes. I am finishing my BA in management of network and communication systems and this whole idea of incorporating this technology fascinates me. It actually gives me the idea to create something that can prevent hacking from the sidelines. I however find it very difficult figuring out how they exactly will hack the guns. I am comparing this system to the new PS3 console coming out for video games and they also use the bluetooth standard. If the communication goes beyond gun to hopper then the exposure might prompt hackers to take advantage, but I think it would be very hard to try and hack a gun that is simply communicating to its hopper. They might have detection devices but how would you know who's gun you are hacking with all the players are using the same device? If however the data is well encrypted we will be 99% worry free.

I would think somone finishing their BA in anything network related would know of the MAC address concept. Each bluetooth device has a, wait for it, wait for it: a Bluethooth Device Address. The BD_ADDR is a 48 bit address unique to each device (802 compliant even). A unique address on each device is pretty much manditory for any broadcast network, since you have to address the frames/packets/cells to somone. Anyone trying to hack to cause annoyance to a specific team would know the BD_ADDRs of the team they were not trying to mess with.

[magman007]

hopefully it isnt a dumb idea of using your palm pilot to load on settings again, because we all know how many people actually used that feature on the ir3....


what i think should happen utilizing this technology, is each gun should be monitered by a ultimate ref, if anything is cycling faster, or there is an odd dwell fluctuation occouring, bam gun is off, player is pulled.

there are many applications that could be used, it just depends of wdp will hog it all, or if other manufacturers will pick up on it as well, allowing progression of the sport.

[Hexis]

hopefully it isnt a dumb idea of using your palm pilot to load on settings again, because we all know how many people actually used that feature on the ir3....

Bluetooth is designed to be a cable replacement technology, so it's actually a far better option than a palm specific port. Since you could use any BT device (laptop, palm, whatever) that had a display interface to manage settings on the gun, it may actually provide some benefit. I'm sure some tech for teams would love to be able to push a config change to a group of guns at the same time.



what i think should happen utilizing this technology, is each gun should be monitered by a ultimate ref, if anything is cycling faster, or there is an odd dwell fluctuation occouring, bam gun is off, player is pulled.

The problem there is that you are trusting the gun to provide that information. There is no reason the software can't provide a clean signal to the big brother, and shoot using different settings.

[magman007]

thats where nppl style robots come into play, most players now arent alowed to touch their guns before they go out anyways, so why not bot em, make sure the blue tooth output matches the guns actual output. if it changes on the field, your done.