When using Bluetooth gateways, it is usual to reduce the number of Bluetooth devices that are sent to the server. This is because gateways do not just pick up the beacons you intend to monitor. They can also detect smartphones, vehicles, fitness trackers and a range of other Bluetooth devices. Although it is possible to ignore unwanted beacons at the server side, filtering them out at the gateway itself is a much more efficient approach. Doing this helps to reduce network bandwidth usage and places less strain on your server, allowing it to provide greater throughput, from multiple gateways, and just handle the meaningful data.
Another key advantage of filtering at the gateway is that it simplifies debugging and ongoing support. When there are fewer devices being reported, there is less data to sift through, making it quicker and easier to identify and solve any issues that may arise.
Most Bluetooth gateways offer the option to configure a whitelist based on advertising patterns. This allows you to instruct the gateway to block other devices before the data ever reaches your server. The challenging part lies in identifying exactly what a beacon is advertising. To tackle this, we recommend scanning for your Bluetooth beacons using a smartphone app that captures the raw advertising packets. Our blog post goes into greater detail about scanning for beacons and explains some of the nuances.
Once you have captured and analysed the advertising data, you can use the findings to set up an appropriate whitelist pattern on your gateway.