Category: Beacons

Node Beacon Scanner

If you are developing using Node, there’s a Node.js module, node-beacon-scanner, that allows you to scan Bluetooth beacon packets and parse the packet data.

While Node tends to be associated with Linux, servers and hence web sites, Node can also be used on small single board computers such as the Raspberry Pi. Hence, this module provides an easy way to scan for Beacons and other Bluetooth devices.

The module supports iBeacon and Eddystone and outputs the MAC address, local name, transmit power level, RSSI and the iBeacon/Eddystone specific attributes.

Bluetooth Detection Range

The BBC has an article on Coronavirus: Why are there doubts over contact-tracing apps? It says:

But critics warn this kind of system would be imprecise since some phones detect signals from up to 30m (98ft) away without being able to determine the distance.

The BBC took this from information in a Wired article that says:

… but with Bluetooth being able to ping other phones within a 30-metre range, without precision, there’s an increased chance of the app alerting you to false positives of people who have never even come into contact with you

This isn’t correct and misunderstands how the Bluetooth signal is being used. Receiving devices, such as smartphones, don’t just see the beacon signal but also have a received signal strength (RSSI) that can be used to infer distance. Our post on testing if a beacon is working explains and shows this value in the nRF Connect app running on Android.

While not fake news, the BBC and Wired are providing incorrect information. In these times, in the rush and panic, too many things are being written that aren’t thoroughly researched.

Startups, COVID-19 and Venture Capital

Many companies we work with are startups. A very recent survey by NfX shows founders are very worried, the main issues being venture capital drying up and sales declining:

Apart from cost saving actions, it’s interesting many founders are pivoting their product:

Talking to customers, we have seen an increase in the use of beacon technology in health (e.g. calling for help) and logistics (e.g. supermarket asset tracking). The use of technology and IT has the potential to reduce human effort, minimise human to human contact and provide for SOS solutions. Read our recent post on SOS type applications.

Founders are finding many VCs (41.9%) are taking much longer to respond and 15.5% of VC have gone ‘dark’:

All is not lost. Kanso have an Investor COVID19 spreadsheet that lists investors the status of European investors. Many are still accepting pitches and investing.

New Feasycom FSC-BP103

We have a new beacon, the Feasycom FSC-BP103 in stock. It’s a small beacon that transmits up to 10 channels simultaneously that can be Eddystone-UID, Eddystone-URL, iBeacon or AltBeacon.

This beacon uses the newer Texas Instruments CC2640R2F System on a Chip (SoC) that provides a longer battery life. Also, it can be set to advertise at +5dBm that provides a 100m+ range that’s unusual for a small battery beacon.

New Demonstration Video

We have a new demonstration video showing iBeacon and accelerometer sensor beacons, manufacturer setting apps and the raw Bluetooth advertising data in the Nordic nRF Connect app (Nordic is the manufacturer of the main chip in most beacons). The video also shows a Bluetooth-WiFi gateway, it’s setup and sending of advertising data to a server.

Best viewed full screen.

Monitor – Presence Detection Reported via MQTT

There’s a new Linux script called Monitor that scans for the presence of beacons and other Bluetooth devices and reports to a MQTT server.

The mechanism doesn’t just scan for beacons. It combines name requests, anonymous advertisements and beacon advertisements to determine when to issue a name request to determine if a device is present and when to issue a name request to determine if a device is absent.

The author, Andrew J Freyer, provides instructions how to set up on a Raspberry Pi Zero W.

The Demise of Unsolicited Marketing Using Beacons

There’s a new article at DIGIDAY on how Apple’s new privacy features have further rattled the location-based ad market. The iOS location and Bluetooth permission changes have caused users to opt-out of marketing messages:

Right now opt-in rates to share data with apps when they’re not in use are often below 50% … Three years ago those opt-in rates were closer to 100%

Benoit Grouchko, Teemo

80% of those users stopped all background tracking across their devices

Location Sciences

Google’s discontinuing support for Android Nearby notifications and Apple’s tightening of permissions have caused the demise of unsolicited marketing using beacons. This is understandable because unsolicited marketing is seen by end-users as intrusive and creepy.

However, the iOS and Android mechanisms are still there for more worthy applications such as visitor space usecases that need to provide location based information. For these types of application, there’s the need for good app onboarding explaining location and Bluetooth usage in order to provide the location-based information that the end-user is requiring.

While unsolicited marketing was the key benefit when iBeacon was first announced, the use of beacons has since diversified into less contentious and more practically useful areas such as real time locating (RTLS), IoT Sensing and insights through machine learning.

UPS Shipping Update

We have been using UPS shipping for just over a month now and have just refined our shipping options based on past customer orders and our costs. UPS offer two main services, UPS Standard that goes by road and UPS Express that goes by air.

We have found that UPS Standard to some European countries is taking 5 to 6 business days which we can now improve on for some countries. For Italy, Spain, Austria, Finland, Greece, Denmark and Sweden we now always send by UPS Express (by air) for a similar cost as was the case for UPS Standard. This has a delivery time of 1 to 2 days to most business areas.

UPS Standard goes via the new London Hub that shows as ‘Stanford Le Hope, United Kingdom’ in the tracking. This is UPS’s largest single infrastructure investment outside of the United States. View the video:

The London Hub is 32,000-square metres in size and has a capacity to process up to 28,000 packages per hour. It’s part of UPS’s $2 billion infrastructure investment programme in Europe.

UPS Express gets to via East Midlands airport by the evening of the day it is picked up from us and shows as ‘Castle Donington, United Kingdom’ in the tracking.

UPS Freight Flight from East Midlands Airport/Castle Donington

Freight flights leave every evening to Europe and North America that are delivered in 1 to 2 working days to Europe and 2-3 days to N America.

View the shipping page for a summary of delivery costs and time scales.

Bluetooth in Aviation

Bluetooth beacons are increasingly being used in the aviation industry to track pallets, unit load devices (ULDs) and audit temperature, humidity and shock levels.

Cargo Airports & Airline Service magazine has an article on the Bluetooth Revolution where it mentions ULD provider Unilode’s use of Bluetooth tags. Unilode is equipping its 125,000 ULDs with Bluetooth readers. This will take over two years but 80% should be fitted out within 18 months.

The most significant development recently in ULDs is the development of Bluetooth Low Energy tracking devices.

The article mentions how Unilode has been exploring the use of RFID over last 25-30 years. It says Bluetooth provides the solution to RFIDs limits of range, infrastructure cost and interference with aircraft systems. Bluetooth additionally allows monitoring of ambient shipment conditions, temperature sensitive cargo and shock sensitive cargo.

The key benefit of Bluetooth is knowing where units are, all the time, rather than relying on scanned updates. It provides for better utilisation of assets. This makes transport of freight easier, smoother and more efficient.

Real-time monitoring of assets allows the client to immediately know when assets are behind schedule, being routed inappropriately, or in poor conditions.

Bluetooth not only provides a scaleable and affordable way of tracking pallets and unit load devices but can also provide for tracking the status of smaller critical packages such as pharma and and cosmetics goods.

Here at BeaconZone, we have seen beacons used more for airline temperature sensing rather than tracking. For example, iB003N-SHT beacons are used by Qatar Airways to monitor the temperature of pre-flight cargo holding areas.