Automatic Attendance Tracking in Education

Advantages of using Bluetooth beacons for automatic attendance tracking in education include:

  • Improved accuracy: Bluetooth beacons can accurately detect the presence of students in the classroom, reducing the likelihood of errors in attendance tracking.
  • Time-saving: Automating attendance tracking with Bluetooth beacons can save time for teachers and administrative staff, as they do not need to manually record attendance.
  • Real-time tracking: Bluetooth beacons can provide real-time attendance tracking data, allowing teachers and administrative staff to monitor attendance in real-time.
  • Safety and security: Alerts can be provided when students enter prohibited areas.

Bluetooth beacons can be used for automatic attendance tracking in education by placing them in the classroom or lecture hall and configuring them to detect the presence of students’ Bluetooth-enabled devices such as smartphones or tablets. When a student enters the range of the beacon, the beacon sends a signal to their device, which can then be used to record their attendance. The main problem with this setup is that students might accidentally disable detection. Not all smartphones/tablets work the same and there can be incompatibilities and the requirement for high levels of support. Also, a detection app needs to be created and distributed. The scanning for beacons can also reduce smartphone/tablet battery life.

An alternative setup is to have the students carry the beacons and use gateways to detect attendance. Data is set to a server running software such as BeaconRTLS™ or BeaconServer™. Attendance reports can run against the historical RTLS data.

Which Beacons to Buy?

There’s an old, yet pertinent, post at Hotel Online, by Dr. Michael Arner is the Chief Technology Officer of RoamingAround, on How Do You Choose Which Beacons to Have Faith In? The article questions the merits of being tied in to a particular supplier’s hardware or software features.

The article gives the opinions:

“If you’re a beacon merchant, I suppose it’s great to have clients that are willing to shackle themselves to your super-special hardware, but if you’re the consumer, it’s usually best to avoid doing so when you can.”

“In reality, iOS and Android devices can both speak to both protocols and there are very few reasons why you shouldn’t be choosing a solution that’s beacon agnostic.”

Regarding security:

“There exist beacons which maintain proprietary end-to-end encryption, and these should be purchased, in the very rare case they’re needed”

On Customer service:

“Multiply-source your vendors and then you’ll discover that the decisive factor ends up being not the device stats but the customer service”

There’s also the issue of longevity. Since the article was written, many beacon SAAS platforms with tied hardware have ceased to be in business.

Summarising the advice in the article, look beyond what’s being offered or promoted by vendors. They will always be promoting their unique selling points but those might not actually be the decisive factors for your project.

Read about the advantages of generic beacons

Beacons for Smart Space Management

Smart space management refers to the use of technology to optimise the use and efficiency of physical spaces such as buildings, offices, factories, and other facilities. This involves integrating various systems such as lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), security, and occupancy sensors, to create a more intelligent and responsive environment that can adapt to the needs of users and the environment.

The benefits of smart space management include improved energy efficiency, reduced operating costs, enhanced security and safety, increased productivity and employee satisfaction, and better utilisation of resources. By using real-time data from sensors and other devices, smart space management systems optimise the use of space, automate routine tasks, and provide valuable insights into how spaces are being used, enabling better decision-making and resource allocation.

Bluetooth beacons can be used for smart space management by providing a way to track and monitor the location of people and assets within a space. Beacons are small, low-cost devices that use Bluetooth technology to communicate with other devices such as smartphones, WiFi gateways, and other connected devices. By placing beacons throughout a space, it’s possible to track the movements of people and assets, and gather data on how spaces are being used.

For example, beacons can be used to track occupancy of employees within an office building, enabling more efficient use of meeting rooms and other shared spaces. They can also be used to monitor the movement of equipment, machinery, goods and materials. Additionally, beacons can be used for indoor navigation, providing visitors with directions to specific locations within a building and helping to improve the overall user experience.

View beacons

Using Beacons to Mitigate Staff Duress

Staff duress, also known as employee duress or worker duress, is where employees may feel threatened, intimidated, or unsafe while performing their job duties. This can occur in a variety of industries, including healthcare, education, retail, hospitality, and security.

Problems associated with staff duress include:

  • Employee safety: If employees feel threatened or unsafe, it can have a negative impact on their well-being, job satisfaction, and productivity.
  • Employer liability: Employers have a legal obligation to provide a safe working environment for their employees. Failure to do so can result in legal action and financial penalties.
  • Costly incidents: If an employee is injured due to a safety issue, it can result in costly workers’ compensation claims, lawsuits, and reputational damage to the employer.

Beacons with buttons, used with real time locating systems, can help mitigate staff duress by providing a quick and effective way for employees to signal for help in an emergency situation. These devices have a wearable or handheld button that employees can press to trigger an alert. The alert is then sent to a designated response team, who can quickly assess the situation and provide assistance as needed.

Beacons with buttons can be especially useful in industries where employees work alone or in remote locations. They can also be helpful in schools and universities, where teachers and staff members may be at risk of violence or other safety threats.

Beacons with buttons

Using Beacons for Intelligent In-Room Presence Detection

Most Beacon usecases involve putting beacons on things or in places and triggering notifications on users’ phones. There’s a paper by Yang Yang, Zhouchi Li and Kaveh Pahlavan of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Worcester, MA that instead proposes Using iBeacon for Intelligent In-Room Presence Detection.

Their system records users in a room for applications such as graduate seminar check-in, security and in and out counting. It recognises in room presence by analysing path loss and door motion readings to decide whether a person is inside the room. Their custom app receives the beacon data and sends it to a server for analysis. They experimented using two iBeacons, one attached to the outside of the door with another mirroring at the inside and also as single iBeacon implementation that still performed well.

presencedetection

The paper also a useful chart showing the variation of RSSI with how a phone is held:

rssivspostion

The iBeacon Protocol

iBeacon is a protocol developed by Apple that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to transmit a signal that can be picked up by nearby devices, such as smartphones. The iBeacon protocol format is based on the standard BLE advertising packet, which is a small amount of data that is broadcast at regular intervals.

The iBeacon protocol format includes the following components:

  • Proximity UUID: This is a unique identifier that is used to identify a group of beacons. It is typically a 128-bit value.
  • Major and Minor: This is a 16-bit value that is used to identify a specific beacon within a group of beacons.
  • Measured Power: This is a value that is used to indicate the expected signal strength of the beacon at a distance of one meter. This value is used to estimate the distance between the device and the beacon.

Together, the Proximity UUID, Major, and Minor values make up a unique identifier for each beacon, which can be used to determine the beacon’s location or trigger an action on a nearby device.

It’s worth noting that the iBeacon protocol is one of the many implementations of BLE beacons, and other protocols and vendors have different formats.

Beacon Advertising Cheat Sheet

Radio RSSI

RSSI stands for Received Signal Strength Indicator. It is a measure of the power level of a radio signal being received by a device, for example a smartphone, in dBm (decibel-milliwatts). The RSSI is accessible to receiving devices via APIs such as the standard iOS and Android Bluetooth libraries.

The RSSI value is typically used to get an indication of the distance between a device and a beacon. A higher RSSI value indicates a stronger signal and therefore a closer proximity to the beacon, while a lower RSSI value indicates a weaker signal and a farther proximity to the beacon. Note that RSSI is usually -ve so a larger negative more usually indicates the beacon is further away.

RSSI is not a perfect measure of distance, as it can be affected by factors such as the environment and the type of device that is receiving the signal. However, by comparing the RSSI value of a beacon’s signal with the known transmission power of the beacon, it is possible to estimate the distance between the device and the beacon.

RSSI is commonly used in wireless communications such as WiFi, Zigbee, Bluetooth and cellular networks to measure the signal strength of the received signal. It is also used to estimate the quality of the signal, and to determine if the signal is strong enough to maintain a reliable connection.

RSSI is not a standard or a regulated measure and varys depending on the technology and the manufacturer of the device.

The relationship between RSSI and distance is not linear, and can vary depending on the environment and the type of device that is receiving the signal. In general, as the distance between a device and a beacon increases, the RSSI value decreases. However, the rate at which the RSSI value decreases with distance can vary depending on factors such as the environment and the transmission power of the beacon.

In free space, the RSSI value decreases at a rate of approximately 6 dB per doubling of distance. This is known as the inverse square law, which states that the power of a signal decreases proportionally to the square of the distance from the source.

Inverse square law

However, in a real-world environment, the rate of decrease can be affected by factors such as walls, obstacles, and interference from other devices, which can cause the signal to weaken faster or slower than expected.

It’s also worth noting that the RSSI value can vary depending on the type of device that is receiving the signal, as well as the type of radio technology used. The sensitivity of the device’s radio receiver will also affect the received RSSI value, a more sensitive device will be able to detect weaker signals at farther distances than a less sensitive device.

While equations can be used to infer distance from RSSI, the above factors mean the most accurate way to determine distance is to compare with previously measured RSSI-distance values.

If accurate distance is essential, up to about 3m, consider using a beacon such as the iBS03R that uses a time of flight (ToF) sensor rather than using RSSI.

What is a Bluetooth WiFi Gateway?

A Bluetooth WiFi gateway is a device that connects Bluetooth devices to a WiFi network. It allows Bluetooth devices, such as sensors, beacons, or other IoT devices, to communicate with a WiFi network and exchange data with other devices on the network or remote servers or the cloud.

Bluetooth WiFi gateways have both Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities and are able to bridge the communication between these two technologies. They are often used in IoT (Internet of Things) applications, where they can be used to connect a variety of Bluetooth devices to a WiFi network, allowing them to communicate with each other and exchange data.

Bluetooth has a relatively short range of up to 100m, so using a Bluetooth WiFi gateway can allow Bluetooth devices to originate data over longer distances. Bluetooth WiFi gateways are easy to set up and configure, making them a convenient solution for connecting Bluetooth devices to a larger network.

View Bluetooth WiFi Gateways

Eddystone URL

Eddystone-URL is a format for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon advertisements. It is an open format developed by Google and designed to be transmitted by beacons to nearby devices, such as smartphones and tablets. The format allows beacons to broadcast a URL which can be used to direct users to a specific web page.

In other words, Eddystone-URL is a way for ‘things’ with attached beacons to communicate with nearby devices and provide them with a link to a webpage. This can be used for a variety of purposes, such as providing location-based information, coupons, or other types of content to users. It can be used in a wide range of applications, including retail, transportation and tourism.

Eddystone-URL works by broadcasting a URL in a Bluetooth advertisement packet. When a device with a compatible BLE receiver, such as a smartphone, comes within range of the beacon, it can receive the advertisement packet and decode the URL. The user can then open the URL in a browser on the device.

An app is needed on iOS and Android such as Beaconstac NearBee, the Physical Web Association app or your own custom app. If you create your own app, consider using iBeacon instead of Eddystone URL advertisements for easier processing on iOS (also works on Android). The iBeacon ids can be mapped to URLs in the app. This is often better because the mapping can be changed, for example on a server, rather than having to physically access the beacon to change the URL.

Read about Using Beacons for Marketing