This document discusses using beacons and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) with Android applications. It begins with an overview of beacons, how they work using BLE signals, and their importance. It then covers communicating between Android and beacons using BLE, relevant Android permissions and APIs, finding and connecting to BLE devices. Example code is provided for reading BLE attributes. It also discusses Android beacon libraries, building a sample app, and concludes with discussing a case study of an employee tracking app and some technical pitfalls.

1. Hack your Business with
android and beacons
Tushar Choudhary
Mobile consultant, Xebia

2. Agenda
Beacons- What, Why & How?
Communication between Android & Beacons
Android Libraries
Android code- How to make an app with beacons
Case Study- Employee Tracker
Technical Pitfalls

3. Beacons : What are they? How they
work? Why are they important ?

4. What are Beacons ?
• Beacons are small piece of hardware
devices that can emit and receive BLE
signals.

5. Beacons

6. Why are they so important?
• Broadcasting range
• proximity

7. Communication b/w Android &
Beacons

8. Communication between Android &
Beacons
• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

9. Using BLE in Android
•Permissions
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH"/>
<uses-permission android:name=“android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN"/>
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth_le" android:required="true"/>
// Use this check to determine whether BLE is supported on the device. Then
// you can selectively disable BLE-related features.
if (!getPackageManager().hasSystemFeature(PackageManager.FEATURE_BLUETOOTH_LE)) {
Toast.makeText(this, R.string.ble_not_supported, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
finish();
}

10. Using BLE in Android
•Setting Up BLE
// Initializes Bluetooth adapter.
final BluetoothManager bluetoothManager =
(BluetoothManager) getSystemService(Context.BLUETOOTH_SERVICE);
mBluetoothAdapter = bluetoothManager.getAdapter();
private BluetoothAdapter mBluetoothAdapter;
...
// Ensures Bluetooth is available on the device and it is enabled. If not,
// displays a dialog requesting user permission to enable Bluetooth.
if (mBluetoothAdapter == null || !mBluetoothAdapter.isEnabled()) {
Intent enableBtIntent = new Intent(BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_REQUEST_ENABLE);
startActivityForResult(enableBtIntent, REQUEST_ENABLE_BT);
}

11. Using BLE in Android
• Finding BLE Devices
/**
* Activity for scanning and displaying available BLE devices.
*/
public class DeviceScanActivity extends ListActivity {
private BluetoothAdapter mBluetoothAdapter;
private boolean mScanning;
private Handler mHandler;
// Stops scanning after 10 seconds.
private static final long SCAN_PERIOD = 10000;
...
private void scanLeDevice(final boolean enable) {
if (enable) {
// Stops scanning after a pre-defined scan period.
mHandler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
@Override
public void run() {
mScanning = false;
mBluetoothAdapter.stopLeScan(mLeScanCallback);
}
}, SCAN_PERIOD);
mScanning = true;
mBluetoothAdapter.startLeScan(mLeScanCallback);
} else {
mScanning = false;
mBluetoothAdapter.stopLeScan(mLeScanCallback);
}
...

12. Using BLE in Android
• Connecting to a GATT Server
/ A service that interacts with the BLE device via the Android BLE API.
public class BluetoothLeService extends Service {
// Various callback methods defined by the BLE API.
private final BluetoothGattCallback mGattCallback =
private final static String TAG = BluetoothLeService.class.getSimpleName();
private BluetoothManager mBluetoothManager;
private BluetoothAdapter mBluetoothAdapter;
private String mBluetoothDeviceAddress;
private BluetoothGatt mBluetoothGatt;
private int mConnectionState = STATE_DISCONNECTED;
private static final int STATE_DISCONNECTED = 0;
private static final int STATE_CONNECTING = 1;
private static final int STATE_CONNECTED = 2;
public final static String ACTION_GATT_CONNECTED =
"com.example.bluetooth.le.ACTION_GATT_CONNECTED";
public final static String ACTION_GATT_DISCONNECTED =
"com.example.bluetooth.le.ACTION_GATT_DISCONNECTED";
public final static String ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED =
"com.example.bluetooth.le.ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED";
public final static String ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE =
"com.example.bluetooth.le.ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE";
public final static String EXTRA_DATA =
"com.example.bluetooth.le.EXTRA_DATA";
public final static UUID UUID_HEART_RATE_MEASUREMENT =
UUID.fromString(SampleGattAttributes.HEART_RATE_MEASUREMENT);
new BluetoothGattCallback() {
@Override
public void onConnectionStateChange(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status,
int newState) {
String intentAction;
if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_CONNECTED) {
intentAction = ACTION_GATT_CONNECTED;
mConnectionState = STATE_CONNECTED;
broadcastUpdate(intentAction);
Log.i(TAG, "Connected to GATT server.");
Log.i(TAG, "Attempting to start service discovery:" +
mBluetoothGatt.discoverServices());
} else if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_DISCONNECTED) {
intentAction = ACTION_GATT_DISCONNECTED;
mConnectionState = STATE_DISCONNECTED;
Log.i(TAG, "Disconnected from GATT server.");
broadcastUpdate(intentAction);
}
}
@Override
// New services discovered
public void onServicesDiscovered(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status) {
if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) {
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED);
} else {
Log.w(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered received: " + status);
}
}
@Override
// Result of a characteristic read operation
public void onCharacteristicRead(BluetoothGatt gatt,
BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic,
int status) {
if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) {
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE, characteristic);
}
}
...
};
...
}

13. Using BLE in Android
• Reading BLE attributes
public class DeviceControlActivity extends Activity {
...
// Demonstrates how to iterate through the supported GATT
// Services/Characteristics.
// In this sample, we populate the data structure that is bound to the
// ExpandableListView on the UI.
private void displayGattServices(List<BluetoothGattService> gattServices) {
if (gattServices == null) return;
String uuid = null;
String unknownServiceString = getResources().
getString(R.string.unknown_service);
String unknownCharaString = getResources().
getString(R.string.unknown_characteristic);
ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> gattServiceData =
new ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>();
ArrayList<ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>> gattCharacteristicData
= new ArrayList<ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>>();
mGattCharacteristics =
new ArrayList<ArrayList<BluetoothGattCharacteristic>>();
// Loops through available GATT Services.
for (BluetoothGattService gattService : gattServices) {
HashMap<String, String> currentServiceData =
new HashMap<String, String>();
uuid = gattService.getUuid().toString();
currentServiceData.put(
LIST_NAME, SampleGattAttributes.
lookup(uuid, unknownServiceString));
currentServiceData.put(LIST_UUID, uuid);
gattServiceData.add(currentServiceData);
ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>
gattCharacteristicGroupData =
new ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>();
List<BluetoothGattCharacteristic> gattCharacteristics =
gattService.getCharacteristics();
ArrayList<BluetoothGattCharacteristic> charas =
new ArrayList<BluetoothGattCharacteristic>();
// Loops through available Characteristics.
for (BluetoothGattCharacteristic gattCharacteristic :
gattCharacteristics) {
charas.add(gattCharacteristic);
HashMap<String, String> currentCharaData =
new HashMap<String, String>();
uuid = gattCharacteristic.getUuid().toString();
currentCharaData.put(
LIST_NAME, SampleGattAttributes.lookup(uuid,
unknownCharaString));
currentCharaData.put(LIST_UUID, uuid);
gattCharacteristicGroupData.add(currentCharaData);
}
mGattCharacteristics.add(charas);
gattCharacteristicData.add(gattCharacteristicGroupData);
}
...
}
...
}

14. Beacons/BLE : How They Work ?
• BLE enabled devices or Beacons can
transmits small packets of data.
• This wakes up a “listener/receiver” to let it
know that it’s there.
• Which then lets you calculate the proximity
to the Beacon and show relevant
information to visitors.

15. Android Libraries

16. Android Beacons & Support Libraries
Android Beacon Library:
https://github.com/AltBeacon/android-beacon-library-reference
Smart Gatt Library:
https://github.com/movisens/SmartGattLib
Bluetooth LE Library Android:
https://github.com/alt236/Bluetooth-LE-Library---Android

17. Android code- How to make an
app with beacons

18. Building the Android App
1. Implement a broadcast receiver to catch
broadcasts for turning bluetooth on and off.
2. Start a service when bluetooth turns on.
3. Stop service when bluetooth turns off
4. Register a listener to listen for nearby beacon
devices

19. Implementing Broadcast Receiver
@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
if (BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_STATE_CHANGED.equals(intent.getAction())) {
int state = intent.getIntExtra(BluetoothAdapter.EXTRA_STATE, -1);
Intent i;
switch (state) {
case BluetoothAdapter.STATE_OFF:
if (MyBeaconService.isStarted) {
i = new Intent(context,
MyBeaconIntentService.class);
i.putExtra("StartBeaconService", false);
context.stopService(i);
}
Log.i(TAG, "Bluetooth State : OFF");
break;
case BluetoothAdapter.STATE_ON:
Log.i(TAG, "Bluetooth State : ON");
if (!MyBeaconService.isStarted) {
i = new Intent(context,
MyBeaconIntentService.class);
i.putExtra("StartBeaconService", true);
context.startService(i);
}
break;
}
}
}

20. Registering Ranging Listener in
Service’s onCreate() method
@Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
beaconManager.setMonitoringListener(new
BeaconManager.MonitoringListener() {
@Override
public void onExitedRegion(Region arg0) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
Util.postNotification(getBaseContext(),
"Alert Luggage Tracker",
notificationManager, 1,
AllDemosActivity.class);
}
@Override
public void onEnteredRegion(Region arg0, List<Beacon> arg1)
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}});
}

21. Connecting to BeaconManager’s Service
in Service’s onStartCommand()
@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
beaconManager.connect(new BeaconManager.ServiceReadyCallback() {
@Override
public void onServiceReady() {
try {
beaconManager.startMonitoring(BEACONS);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
Log.e(TAG, "Cannot start ranging", e);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
return START_NOT_STICKY;
}

22. Case Study

23. Xebia Employee Tracker
• Xebia Employee tracker maps real time positions of
my company’s employees on a 2d map
• Any employee at any time can see position of other
colleagues on the map
• Cool data analytics are applied to show interesting
results such as- max crowd time in cafeteria in a day,
An employee’s location heat map for a day :D

24. Xebia Employee Tracker
{{ Show Case Xebia Employee Tracker }}
{{ Show Source Code }}

25. Technical Pitfalls

26. Technical pitfalls of Android + Beacons ?
• Bluetooth must be turned on.
• Your app must be installed on users devices.
• You can't trigger mobile beacon or iBeacon to trigger
installation of an app.
• Location services must be enabled for the specific
application.
• To download real data we must have an app
connected via internet connection.

27. Thank You!