Bluetooth Location Services Infographic
What are Beacon OTA Updates?
Beacons are small computers that run software, more specifically firmware. Beacon manufacturers write the firmware that uses Bluetooth software libraries to send out iBeacon, Eddystone and/or sensor data advertising.
When a beacon supports over-the-air (OTA) update, it allows that firmware to be updated without physically connecting to the beacon with wires. A smartphone app, such as the manufacturers’ app or the generic Nordic nRF Toolbox is used to connect to the beacon via Bluetooth and update the firmware.
In practice, manufacturers never update their firmware so whether a beacon supports OTA update or not isn’t usually an issue.
A further use of OTA is the facilitation of custom firmware when the standard firmware needs to be updated to provide for specially required functionality. This is non-trivial and ideally needs to be performed by the original manufacturer because they have the original source code. We have arranged this for a few customers but it tends to only be financially viable for large orders.
It’s also possible to completely replace the software in some beacons, something we provide via custom solutions and used in our social distancing and mesh solutions. In these cases, OTA tends to be too slow so wired programming jigs are sometimes used instead.
Porter Tracking and Job Allocation
GoPorter is an ibeacon-based solution for hospitals, shopping malls and hotels that provides automatic job allocation, real time indoor tracking, business analytics and reporting.
Systems such as GoPorter allow facilities management to learn about service request trends thus allowing the deployment of the optimum number of staff to improve efficiency.
Adding an IoT Protocol to Beacons
There’s new research by Department Computer Science, Universidad Técnica de Machala, Ecuador on Design and Practical Evaluation of a Family of Lightweight Protocols for Heterogeneous Sensing through BLE Beacons in IoT Telemetry Applications.
The researchers explain how standard beacon advertising works and documents the existing iBeacon and Eddystone protocols.
New protocols, LP4S-6 (for resource-constraint beacons), LP4S-X (for more powerful beacons) and LP4S-J (for beacons able to run complex firmware) are proposed that can be used to allow IoT telemetry systems to discover new nodes and to describe and auto-register the sensors and actuators connected to a beacon.
The paper describes the resultant JSON, shows how a new protocol can be added to an Eddystone beacon and proves how the new latency and power consumption remain low.
Note that updating the firmware of a beacon is non-trivial because it requires the implementation of what’s already on the beacon without access to the original source code.
Time Guard iOS App Uses iBeacons
We recently came across Time Guard, an app that logs working time, holiday and flexi time and provides notifications when you go over a set daily and maximum allowed working time.
The app can use iBeacons to automatically detect when you enter or leave locations. Data can be viewed in Excel (.csv) or as monthly time sheets.
What’s the Best Beacon?
Too many potential customers contact us asking what’s the least expensive beacon that provides the best range, the best battery life and the smallest size. Unfortunately, all these things are related. You need a larger battery to provide enough power for a longer range. A large battery implies a larger beacon size. A larger battery and case implies a more expensive beacon. The choice of ‘best’ beacon usually involves some sort of compromise.
It’s also often the case that customers focus on price, range, battery life and size without considering other factors such as:
- Visual appearance – Good-looking beacons can sometimes be counter-productive as they can be attractive to thieves.
- App – Some manufacturer configuration apps are easier to use than others.
- Waterproofing – Some unexpected scenarios need waterproofing due to high humidity.
- Motion triggering – Some beacons provide motion triggering to significantly increase battery life.
- On-off button – It’s sometimes desirable to be able to turn the beacon on and off without having to remove the battery.
- Attachment options – Some beacons include strong double sided stickers, tabs for screws or holes for fastening.
Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) for The Fourth Industrial Revolution
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as 4IR and Industry 4.0, improves manufacturing through the use of technology. The end-aims are to significantly improve productivity, reduce production delays and, for example, avoid penalties or future lost orders due to delayed work.
A key part of The Fourth Industrial Revolution is asset tracking that provides faster and more accurate stock control, item picking, job tracking, capacity measurement, demand analysis and product protection through sensing and automatic auditing.
It’s important that asset tracking is continuous because merely scanning things in/out using barcodes is open to human error and location is otherwise only as good as the last scan. Historical data is also important because it identifies blockages allowing processes to be refined.
When evaluating asset tracking systems consider:
- Scalability and Performance – How many things do you need to track today and into the future?
- Flexibility – Many of our customers initially buy an RTLS for one urgent purpose but later end up use the system system for additional needs.
- Security – Where is your data stored and where does it go?
Look for a stand-alone solution rather than SAAS for greater performance, flexibility and longevity. While SAAS based systems can be a quick way into RTLS, they soon become limiting because you are sharing a platform with other customers. SAAS platforms usually don’t scale well technically and financially and don’t have efficient, direct access to the data for efficient ad-hoc reporting. They also pose potential security and reliability risks as you don’t own your data. The ultimate limitation comes when the SAAS provider, usually a startup, eventually increases costs, get’s bought out by its largest customer or goes out of business.
Using Beacons in Clinical Trials
There’s recent research by Roche Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED), Switzerland on a Beacon-Based Remote Measurement of Social Behaviour in ASD Clinical Trials: A Technical Feasibility Assessment.
Beacons were used to determine the location of participants in an observational Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) clinical trial designed to assess social behaviour. Beacons were placed by the participants or caregivers in separate rooms in the household and a smartwatch used to detect the beacons as the participant moved from room to room. A smartphone app was used to map each beacon with each room.
A key aspect of the study is that it was conducted with no participant training and without the supervision of a technical person.
The study also provides a comparison with prior work and a comparison of locating technologies:
The researchers provide some good practice guidelines for using beacons for indoor locating:
- Set the beacons to have the same transmission power to allow the signals to be comparable
- Beacons should be placed in an open area in each room that is close to the activity centre of the room to minimize interference
- Beacons should ideally have line of sight and face toward the participant and not considerably higher than the receiving smartwatch
The study achieved an accuracy of 97.2% proving that beacons have the potential to provide deep insights into in-home behaviour. This provides more objective data than would be the case with commonly used questionnaire-based studies.
PubNub Android Tutorials
We recently came across a great resource on PubNub that shows how to use Android to detect beacons and also transmit as a beacon.
The tutorial is in three parts that 1) Describes beacon advertising and how to scan for beacons 2) How to filter detected beacons 3) Setting up Android as an emitter.
There’s also a related PubNub article by the same author on how to Create a Tessel Beacon with a BLE Module.
Indoor Navigation Using Bluetooth LE
There’s a new article from the Icontech International Journal of Surveys, Engineering, Technology on Indoor Position Routing (IPR) and Data Monitor Using Bluetooth Low Energy Technology by researchers at the Hasan Kalyoncu University, Institute of Science, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Gaziantep, Turkey.
This article is different because it considers navigation as opposed to just locating. It explains the advantages of Bluetooth LE over WiFi and also compares with RFID:
Trilateration, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and Decibel-milliwatts (dBmW) are explained and how these fit into locating position.
The article describes a system created for navigation that uses iBeacon sensor nodes, an Android device and app.
Read Determining Location Using Bluetooth Beacons
Read Using Beacons, iBeacons for Real-time Locating Systems (RTLS)