http://www.infinit.dk/dk/hvad_kan_vi_goere_for_dig/viden/reportager/ibeacons-saetter-qr-koden-paa-hjul.htm

1. Dynamic Bluetooth beacons
Smarter than iBeacons
Alexandre Alapetite (Alexandra Institute)
2015-04-16
InfinIT iBeacon seminar, Aarhus

2. iBeacons
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3. iBeacons
• Subset of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy)
• Broadcast a (cryptic) number
• Apple proprietary convention
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Data
(up to 31 bytes)
iBeacon prefix
(9 bytes)
Proximity UUID
(16 bytes)
Major
(2 bytes)
Minor
(2 bytes)
TX power
(1 byte)

4. BLE beacons (1/2)
• Still compatible with most modern mobile
devices (BLE)
• Using the full 32-byte payload
• Possible to advertise meaningful data
– Not limited to a cryptic UUID
• Dynamic payload:
– Sensor value
– Information fetched from network
– Time
– …
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5. BLE beacons (2/2)
• It is also a normal BLE peripheral
• Accept (or not) incoming BLE connections
– GATT (generic attribute profile)
– More…
• Two-way data exchange
• Actuate (switches, motors, lamps, sound…)
• Gateway (Internet, radio, mesh network, I2C…)
• Can be implemented with any BLE chip
– Bluetooth 4 USB dongle
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6. Implementation example
• RFduino
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7. Audio-beacon demo
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• E.g. for blind persons 
• Easy to find source of sound
• Triggered by incoming BLE connection

8. Broadcasting sensor values
• Dynamic advertisement packet
– temperature value, state of a switch…
• Many BLE devices can listen at the same
time
– For larger data, BLE connections are 1:1
• Link to existing electronics, e.g. via I2C
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9. Broadcasting sensor values demo
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10. Same story than 2D-barcodes?
• Several standards
• War between:
– Proprietary IDs
• Required custom apps
– Meaningful data
• Plain text
• Web address (URL)
• E-mail address
• Telephone number
• Geo code
• …
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Shotcode: 40 bits
Aztec Code: ~2kB
Data Matrix: ~1.5kB
QR Code: ~3kB

11. Google Physical Web
• Open Source
• Meaningful data
– Advertise short URL
• UriBeacon
– Short URL
– UUID URN (128 bit)
• No need for custom apps (eventually)
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12. Questions?
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