Category: Beacons

Mr Beacon Podcast with Minew

There’s a new Mr Beacon podcast with Eason Huang of Minew. It describes how Minew focus mainly on hardware rather than full solutions and how they provide re-branded hardware for many platforms and beacon providers. Steve Statler (Mr Beacon) provides the insight that many of those platforms don’t really want to sell hardware and they are often focussing on software their customers might not necessarily want.

The conversation turns to the growth and challenges of IoT. The main challenges are lack of clarity of return on investiment (ROI), proof of concepts (POC) taking too long and end results not being scalable. Eason identifies that better preparation is required before starting. Steve suggests projects should initially bring in consultants to provide expert and neutral advice.

The podcast resonates with what we do at Beaconzone. We set up Beaconzone because we identified the reliance on subscription-based cloud platforms and beacons locked to platforms was limiting the available information, products and solutions. We set up BeaconZone in 2015 to provide for standalone solutions, using original manufacture beacons, not locked to subscriptions. We use and stock Minew and tens of other manufacturers’ beacons and gateways.

The issues of IoT projects also resonates with what we have seen through providing consultancy. Too many people come to us, too late, with projects that shouldn’t have been started because they had obvious technical limitations or have been developed in a direction that makes them technically or financially non-viable. A small amount of expert advice, early on, can make a huge difference and reduce risk.

Even when organisations know they should seek initial help and contact us, we sometimes find they are reticent about investing what is a relatively small amount of money compared to a failed POC cost. The reason is that these organisations have no experience of using Bluetooth for IoT so don’t know the unknown unknowns. Everything looks feasible until they are deep into the POC. It’s for these situations that we also offer quick, low priced Micro Consultancy.

How to Set Up the FSC-BP103

Feasycom have a new video showing how to set up the FSC-BP103:

The FSC-BP103 is popular for use on a key ring or lanyard due to its small size (37.8mm x 33.8mm x 7.9 mm).

It’s also relatively inexpensive allowing it to be rolled out to a large number of people. For example, we have London Queen Mary University Barts Cancer Institute using this beacon with BeaconRTLS to audit room occupancy for Covid. The button is also used as an SOS in the case of lone working.

View Wearable Beacons

Semiconductor Price Increases

Many of our suppliers have notified us the current global shortage of chips is starting to hit the Beacon ecosystem. While there isn’t currently a shortage of beacons, semiconductor prices are causing Bluetooth beacon prices to increase.

Factories are having to plan the purchase of components 6-12 months ahead rather than buy just in time. If components don’t arrive in time, they have to be purchased last minute on the more expensive spot market.

Stocks we already have in the UK won’t increase in price until we re-stock. We are experiencing special and custom orders being higher in price and/or having longer lead times, depending on the manufacturer. This is a short term problem for 2021 and 2022. Some in the industry predict it could be two years before new manufacturing facilities can ease supply concerns.

Bloomberg has a great in-depth article The Chip Shortage Keeps Getting Worse. Why Can’t We Just Make More? if you wish to learn more.

Flutter Beacon Plugin

Flutter is a UI software development platform created by Google used to develop cross platform applications for Android and iOS.

There’s a recent plugin flutter_beacon that scans for beacons and can also act as a transmitter. It supports Android API 18+ and iOS 8+. Features include permission management, iBeacon ranging, iBeacon monitoring and transmitting as iBeacon. This plugin is open source on Github.

Nordic Semiconductor Wireless Q Magazine Out Now

Nordic Semiconductor, the manufacturer of the System on a Chip (SoC) used in many beacons, has published the latest online issue of Wireless Quarter Magazine. It showcases the many uses of Nordic SoCs.

The pandemic has increased the use of Nordic Semiconductor chips in health oriented devices such as the Warmie continuous infection monitoring device, the AppSens 7 Smart Heart Sensor and the Ellume COVID-19 home testing kit.

Asset tracking market will double from $17 billion in 2020 to $34 billion by 2026

Research&Markets quote in Wireless Quarter Magazine

Tracking highlights include:

  • Tracking elephants with collars
  • IOSEA’s proprietary AoA/AoD direction finding platform
  • How asset trackers are moving beyond location monitoring to sensing

Track Bluetooth Low Energy Devices Using ESP32

ESP32 are small, low cost Bluetooth/WiFi boards that can be programmed using Arduino IDE. Shogunxam has a project, ESP32 BLETracker that detects Bluetooth LE devices and sends the information to a MQTT server.

The software provides a web interface that allows setting of the devices to be tracked, the scan period, MQTT parameters and viewing of the logs.

The project is open source on GitHub.

View Bluetooth Gateways

W2 Waterproof Test Video

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.

View wearable beacons

View sensor beacons

Unexpected Beacon Solutions

Occasionally, our customers ask for things we didn’t expect, contradictory requirements or requests that require unusual solutions. Here are some examples:

  • We were once asked for the beacons we considered to be least attractive. The idea was that they were going to be rolled out into a busy public space and would otherwise easily get spotted and stolen. Small, black beacons turned out to be the solution.
  • We are often asked what’s the best beacon for Android (or iOS) development. There actually isn’t a best one as they all advertise similar data. Instead, the best beacons are those that can be easily turned on and off to test triggering.
  • Some people ask for mains powered beacons. We aren’t aware such products exist. Instead look at USB beacons that can be powered by USB mains adapters.
  • It’s often the case people want the longest possible battery life and the smallest possible beacon. These two factors are mutually exclusive because a large battery is required for a long battery life. It’s necessary to either decide which is the most important or compromise on both factors.
  • We are sometimes asked to recommend beacons that have the best iOS and/or Android SDK. In these cases the best SDK is no SDK.

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.

Which Beacons are Compatible with iOS and Android?

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:

  • Android only supported Bluetooth LE as of Android 4.3. Older devices can’t see Bluetooth beacons. Over 95% of users are on Android 4.3 or later so most people can see beacons.
  • Apple iOS doesn’t have background OS support for Eddystone triggering. While iOS apps can scan for, see and act on Eddystone beacons, the iOS operating system won’t create a notification to start up your app when there’s an Eddystone beacon in the vicinity.

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.

Also see Which Beacon’s Are the Most Compatible?

View iBeacons