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[on:]

so, i figured a few people here may have experience using wireless bluetooth keyboards, and was wondering if anyone knows what a typical response time would be for keystroke data to be received by the OS.

why do i ask?  i'm working on a musical instrument design that involves a wireless pedal/button interface.  i need a solution that is very cheap and suitable for use in a stage environment at a distance of about 5-7 meters.  i also need one that has a fast response time to minimise "latency".  ideally i would like keystroke data to have a maximum 1ms transmission time.

is this possible with a bluetooth interface?  i seems quite easy to find relatively cheap wireless BT keyboards these days, so i thought i'd give it a go.

cheers,

jon.

[Reply #1 on:]

Typically, bluetooth operates at 115200 baud. That allows you to transmit 11,500 characters per second. I think your requirement is covered.

[Reply #2 on:]

Also for a musician to use the repeatability of latency is probably more important that actual latency - for instance the latency of a piano keyboard is probably a lot more than 1ms...

[Reply #3 on:]

i need a solution that is very cheap and suitable for use in a stage environment at a distance of about 5-7 meters

Is there a clear line of sight?  Even though BT is RF, anything between the devices will significantly reduce the range.  Also, 5-7 meters feels like a long range for a keyboard, a device typically less than 1 meter away from the host.

[Reply #4 on:]

now this is a bit old, but how about slapping an external antenna on the bluetooth module?

[Reply #5 on:]

great... thanks for the ideas guys.

the link for the BT dongle external antenna (thanks bigphish) is slightly corrupt - correct address is:
http://www.pentest.co.uk/documents/bt_dongle_mod/bt_dongle_mod.html
i'm using my laptop's internal BT receiver so not sure i can do that - but actually i think 5-7 meters is an absolute maximum distance for me - normally it should be round 1-2meters...

think i'll have a go hacking a BT keyboard and hopefully post findings here...