iBeacon, Eddystone, Bluetooth, IoT sensor beacons, apps, platforms
TRBOnet is control room software that allows locating of two way radios, such as Motorola MOTOTRBO, onto plans and maps. Indoor locating uses Bluetooth iBeacons.
Instead of entering the beacons one by one, it’s possible to import a file containing beacons.
TRBOnet is a 2-way radio dispatch system sold and supported by Motorola. It can use iBeacons to provide for locating where the Motorola radio GPS doesn’t work. This allows radios and hence people to be located indoors or undercover areas such as trees.
TRBOnet Plus will work with any iBeacons. The ones with higher battery capacity tend to be used so that batteries don’t have to be replaced for years.
The i3 is popular for use with TRBOnet as it takes AA batteries that can be easily sourced and the unit has screw tags for permanent mounting. Some sites also use USB beacons that can be powered from the mains via USB power supplies.
If you use the i3, or any beacon using AA batteries, we recommend you use lithium AA batteries rather than alkaline. This will not only provide a longer battery life but will also provide better resilience at lower temperatures.
A new version of TRBOnet has been released. TRBOnet is usually used with Motorola TRBO 2-way radio to provide control room facilities. Beacons can be placed across a site, the 2-radio detects them and TRBOnet plots them onto maps or plans.
This release additionally allows Android and iOS smartphones to be used as personal safety devices sending SOS to the TRBOnet control panel with location information. The app also allows push to talk (PTT) over cellular and sending of pictures to the control centre.
TRBO.SOS includes other advanced personal safety features, such as Man Down, Lone Worker and No Movement
TRBOnet is control room software for Motorola MOTOTRBO™ two-way radios. When used with iBeacons, it allows mapping of 2-way radio locations.
The location update rate depends on the degree of radio congestion. The more radios there are the greater the congestion. The use of iBeacons also increases radio congestion as they cause more location packets to be sent. This can become a problem in larger 2-way radio/beacon rollouts.
In cases where a 2-way radio can see more than one beacon, the TRBOnet server uses the relative signal strengths of the beacons to determine the nearest beacon. In the case of radio congestion, the location updates for the two or more beacons might be two far apart, in time, to allow an accurate location to be determined. In congested situations, location updates used for geofencing or man-down might also come in far too late, say 5 minutes late, to provide timely alerts that someone has entered/exited an area or has fallen.
Neocom Software, the authors of TRBOnet, have introduced an Option Board based solution (pdf), that fits in the 2-way radios, that solves these problems. It monitors beacons every 3-5 seconds instead of the standard 30 seconds. It does the comparing of beacon signal strength at the 2-way radio rather than at the server to reduce the number of sent location packets. It intelligently sends location packets as the user changes zone rather than continuously.
The configuration guide (pdf) explains how the option board can be set up to detect events such as man down, geofencing, lone worker (no activity), no movement, crash detection and speed limit.
Are you an established 2-way radio company?
Contact us for advice on which beacons we have supplied for use with TRBOnet.
There’s been an update to TRBOnet to allow DIMETRA Express to use iBeacon-based Indoor Location.
TRBOnet is the system used by Motorola for managing 2-way radios and pinpoints handsets on maps:
The 2-way radios upload GPS data but this obviously doesn’t work indoors where iBeacons are used instead. TRBOnet works with any iBeacons.
Are you an established 2-way radio company?
Contact us for advice on which beacons we have supplied for use with TRBOnet.
Motorola MOTOTRBO range two-way Radios can be used with the Motorola-supplied TRBOnet PLUS (pdf) control room software to show the location of workers with digital radios on maps and plans. The radios contain both GPS and iBeacon detection to allow locating indoors.
There are three places where iBeacons need to be set up in TRBOnet:
In the GPS profile:
Placing beacon on the map:
Are you an established 2-way radio company?
Contact us for advice on which beacons we have supplied for use with TRBONet.
Read the full User Guide
View compatible beacons
When people think about beacons they often imagine them being detected in smartphone apps. This post explores other devices that can also see beacons allowing for different interaction possibilities and new scenarios.
Apps – Apps aren’t limited to just smartphone apps. You can run apps on TV boxes that run Android. Just make sure they have Bluetooth 4.3 or later.
Gateways – Gateways are small single pupose devices that look for beacons and send the information on via MQTT or REST (HTTP) to any server. This allows web servers to see beacons.
Desktops and Laptops – PC/Mac devices with built-in Bluetooth or dongles can see beacons.
Walky Talkies – Motorola manufacture the MOTOTRBO range of digital radios that can detect iBeacons and show their location on a map.
Raspberry Pi – This has Bluetooth and can be used to detect beacons.
AndroidThings – This special IOT version of Android can run apps that detect beacons and store and/or forward information to other devices.
Arduino – Arduino boards often have Bluetooth and can do things based on the presence of beacons.
Pixl.js – The manufacturer of the Puck.js also supplies a device with a screen that can detect and interact with beacons.
Single Board Computers (SBC) have an advantage over gateways in that data can be cached locally when there isn’t an Internet connection. They can also make decisions locally and send out alerts directly rather than having to rely on a server. This is so called ‘IoT Edge’ computing.
Motorola manufacture the MOTOTRBO range of digital radios that can detect iBeacons.
Used together with the TRBOnet PLUS (pdf) control room software, the location of people with digital radios can be plotted onto maps:
Supported handsets currently include:
Motorola handsets work with any iBeacons. We recently supplied beacons to a power station for lone worker monitoring using TRBOnet PLUS. Buy from our wide range of iBeacons.
Are you an established 2-way radio company?
Contact us for advice on which beacons we have supplied for use with TRBOnet.