iBeacon, Eddystone, Bluetooth, IoT sensor beacons, apps, platforms
There’s a new app for iOS called Stepping In & Out that uses iBeacons to remind you when you move into or out of an area containing a beacon.
The source code is available on GitHub. It provides an example how to create an app using Swift that triggers when going into and out of zones. This can also be used for commercially oriented applications.
Moko has a new video showing the W2 wearable beacon being placed in water:
The W2 advertises iBeacon, Eddystone and acceleration. It’s rechargeable via USB and can be configured to provide continuous, button triggered or motion triggered advertising.
The acceleration sensor is the STMicroelectronics LIS3DH that’s configurable for scales of up to ±2g/±4g/±8g/±16g.
Bluetooth tags/beacons detect the position of people and assets. Software maps jobs, valuable tools, parts, sub-assemblies and people onto your floor plans or maps.
The main uses are:
Bluetooth LE is particularly suitable because it is:
The end result is reduced downtime, less time re-ordering or re-making things that have been lost, optimum productivity and better use of skilled staff doing their job rather than searching for assets and people.
Read about Beacons in Industry and the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)
Flutter is Google’s UI toolkit for building native applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase. There are plugins that add functionality to Flutter. One such plugin is the beacon_plugin that makes it easier to scan and range iBeacons on iOS and Android. The plugin is open source on GitHub.
Occasionally, our customers ask for things we didn’t expect, contradictory requirements or requests that require unusual solutions. Here are some examples:
These examples demonstrate what’s right for one project isn’t necessarily right for others. This is why we stock the widest beacon range in the World.
You might wonder whether USB beacons can be used to enable desktops/laptops or any USB device to receive beacon transmissions.
USB beacons don’t work this way and only use the USB connection for power. A few such as the Minew U1 have UART USB serial support that can be used to control the beacon but it still doesn’t detect beacons. It beacon only sends and doesn’t receive.
What you need is a ‘Sniffer’ such as the ABSniffer 528. It scans for Bluetooth devices and sends the data via USB to the device powering it.
Alternatively, look for a standard Bluetooth dongle that that supports Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) and an associated programming API for ESP32, Raspberry Pi, Windows or Linux.
We have the new MeeBlue W1 Bluetooth WiFi Gateway in Stock. It senses nearby Bluetooth beacons and send the data to your server as HTTP JSON data.
The gateway can filter by MAC address, Bluetooth Service Id or iBeacon (UUID, Major and Minor or subsets).
Gluon is a Java-based cross platform tool that creates applications for desktop, Android and iOS devices using the Gluon Scene Builder.
There’s a Beacons code sample that shows how to scan for beacons or broadcast as a beacon.
Beacons with an on off button are popular for product/app development because they allow testing of going into and out of range without actually physically doing so. They also allow the battery to be turned off to save power when the beacon isn’t being used for testing.
However, don’t solely rely on the button for testing the beacons as they go out of and into range. Actually do some tests at the edge of the detection area. Determine how your app behaves as it continually sees the beacon appear and disappear, particularly on Android where, unlike iOS in background, the OS doesn’t impose a period that a beacon has to be out of range before it’s considered seen again. On iOS, also test at the edge of detection when the app is in background or not.
Another way of hiding beacons is to use a Faraday bag:
We have a web store category for beacons with an on off button.
We often get asked the question which beacons are compatible with iOS and Android. All beacons, whether iBeacon, Eddystone or sensor beacons can be used with iOS and Android. The compatibility is achieved through the implementation of common Bluetooth standards on these mobile platforms.
However, there are some caveats:
Rather than beacons being compatible with iOS/Android, we find that there are more problems with particular Android devices not seeing beacons, when in background, due to some manufacturers killing background services.