1.
St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences
Platzhalter für möglichen
Bildeinsatz
Bluetooth Beacons
Bluetooth 5, iBeacon, Eddystone, Arduino,
Windows 10 Creators Update & More
Version 2.0 – June 21st, 2017
Andreas Jakl, Twitter: @andijakl, Blog: andreasjakl.com
Lecturer, Digital Healthcare, FH St. Pölten
Platzhalter für möglichen
Bildeinsatz

2.
BLUETOOTH BEACON OVERVIEW
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl

3.
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Transmit small packets of data
e.g., ID & transmission power
Up to ~70m
No back communication channel
Wake up listening device.
Notification / app launch based on ID.
Calculate distance through signal power.
Your App

4.
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Battery
1-4 years
Bluetooth chipset

5.
Beacon Use Cases
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Indoor navigation & localization
- Industry (e.g., maintenance)
- Airports, shopping malls
- Automated check-ins
Augment shopping experience
- Ads relevant to location, coupons
- Open customer card when
approaching cash register
Museums & Events
- Location info
- Welcome note
Asset tracking
- Security monitoring: tool
not allowed to leave room
- Locate (misplaced) tools
Public transport
departure information

6.
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
GPS
▪ Worldwide, outdoors
▪ Uni-directional
▪ Localization
Beacons
▪ Also indoors, 0-70 m
▪ Uni-directional
▪ Proximity information
NFC
▪ Contact
▪ Bi-directional
▪ Pay, Access, Trigger
Now with iPhone support!

7.
Bluetooth LE ->
▪ New
▪ 2x Bandwidth (2 Mbps) without increased energy consumption
▪ 4x Range (allows whole home wireless)
▪ 8x Broadcasting Message Capacity
▪ Beacon frame size: 31 bytes -> 255 bytes
▪ Bluetooth 4 LE = feature within Bluetooth 5
▪ Bluetooth LE / Smart is no more!
▪ Backwards Compatible
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Samsung Galaxy S8

8.
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
0.00
1,000.00
2,000.00
3,000.00
4,000.00
5,000.00
6,000.00
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Bluetooth enabled device shipments (in Millions)
Cellular PCs/Peripherals Mobile Devices Networking Connected Home Smart Home Automotive Wearables and Healthcare Devices Beacons
Source: Bluetooth e-Guide “Rethinking the future: Bluetooth 5,
beacon technology and the Internet of Things”, https://www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth-5-guide
Based on ABI Research
8.2 Million
beacons
565.3 Million
beacons

9.
BEACON FLAVORS
iBeacons, Eddystone, Web Blueooth, Physical Web & more!
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl

10.
iBeacon™ & Eddystone™
iBeacon
UUID, major &
minor ID
Proprietary specification
https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Eddystone
Beacon
Eddystone-UID
Beacon ID, Tx power
level
Eddystone-TLM
Battery, temperature,
sent frames, time
running
Eddystone-URL
URL, Tx power level
Open beacon format from Google
https://github.com/google/eddystone
Eddystone-EID
Ephemeral Identifier,
Tx power level

11.
LOW LEVEL BEACON INFO
Arduino / Genuino 101
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl

12.
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Arduino / Genuino 101
Integrated
Bluetooth

13.
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
1. Install Curie Board and
CurieBLE Library
Warning: Windows Store version of Arduino IDE does not install all the necessary drivers for Intel Curie boards. Use standalone IDE from https://www.arduino.cc/ instead.

14.
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
2. Open CurieBLE > Central >
Scan example

15.
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
3. Extend code to print
manufacturer data

16.
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
4. Run and test
FEAA = Eddystone service UUID
4C = Apple Manufacturer ID
iBeacon UUID
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.alea.beaconsimulator

17.
BEACON APP DEVELOPMENT
Windows 10
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl

18.
Universal Beacon Library
https://github.com/andijakl/universal-beacon
Parse & create
Beacon frames
Assigns received
frames to individual
beacons
Fully documented.
Includes Windows 10 example app.
Open Source license
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl

19.
Windows 10 Example
_beaconManager = new BeaconManager();
_watcher = new BluetoothLEAdvertisementWatcher();
_watcher.Received += WatcherOnReceived;
_watcher.Start();
1 Initialize Beacon scanning
API documentation: bit.ly/ProximityAPI
private async void WatcherOnReceived(
BluetoothLEAdvertisementWatcher sender,
BluetoothLEAdvertisementReceivedEventArgs eventArgs)
{
await _dispatcher.RunAsync(CoreDispatcherPriority.Normal,
() => _beaconManager.ReceivedAdvertisement(eventArgs));
}
2 Beacon advertisement frame received callback
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl

20.
Example
foreach (var bluetoothBeacon in _beaconManager.BluetoothBeacons.ToList())
{
Debug.WriteLine("Beacon: " + bluetoothBeacon.BluetoothAddressAsString);
Debug.WriteLine("Type: " + bluetoothBeacon.BeaconType);
foreach (var beaconFrame in bluetoothBeacon.BeaconFrames.ToList())
{
// Print a small sample of the available data parsed by the library
if (beaconFrame is UrlEddystoneFrame)
{
Debug.WriteLine("Eddystone URL Frame");
Debug.WriteLine("URL: " + ((UrlEddystoneFrame) beaconFrame).CompleteUrl);
} // ...
}}
3 Access Beacon Info
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl

21.
Bluetooth Beacon Interactor
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Windows 10 Library Example App = Free Bluetooth Beacon Interactor
https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9NBLGGH1Z24K
(Also available on HoloLens!)

22.
Buying Bluetooth Beacons
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Starting at $60 (3 pcs)

23.
BLUETOOTH GATT
Communication Without Pairing
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl

24.
Bluetooth Advertising
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Peripheral
Device
(e.g., beacon)
GAP = Generic Access Profile: makes devices visible, defines device interactions
Central
Device
(e.g., phone)
Central
Device
Central
Device
Central
Device
Peripheral is broadcasting.
Beacons: advertising package contains all data
(= 31 bytes for Bluetooth LE < 5)

25.
Bluetooth Communication
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Central /
GATT Client
(e.g., phone)
GATT = Generic Attribute Profile, data transfer through services and characteristics
Peripheral /
GATT Server
(e.g. sensors, smart
home components)
Peripheral /
GATT Server
Peripheral /
GATT Server
Peripheral /
GATT Server
After established connection: 2-way
communication.
(connection != pairing)

26.
Profiles / Services / Characteristics
▪ Profile
▪ Pre-defined collection of services
▪ E.g., heart rate profile, blood pressure profile
▪ https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/adopted-
specifications#GATT
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Profile

27.
Profiles / Services / Characteristics
▪ Service
▪ Data broken up into logical entities
▪ E.g., heart rate service, battery service
▪ https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/gatt/servic
es
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Profile
Service
Service

28.
Profiles / Services / Characteristics
▪ Characteristic
▪ Single data point
▪ E.g., Heart rate service
▪ Measurement
▪ Body sensor location
▪ Control point
▪ E.g., Battery service
▪ Battery level (read), percentage 0 – 100%
▪ Read & write access
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Profile
Service
Characteristic
Characteristic
Characteristic
Service
Characteristic

29.
Windows 10 Creators Update
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2017/01/13/new-bluetooth-features-in-creators-update-gatt-server-bluetooth-le/
NEW!

30.
Support?
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
var localAdapter = await BluetoothAdapter.GetDefaultAsync();
Debug.WriteLine("Low energy supported? -> " +
localAdapter.IsLowEnergySupported);
Debug.WriteLine("Central role supported? -> " +
localAdapter.IsCentralRoleSupported);
Debug.WriteLine("Peripheral role supported? -> " +
localAdapter.IsPeripheralRoleSupported);

31.
Support?
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
var localAdapter = await BluetoothAdapter.GetDefaultAsync();
Debug.WriteLine("Low energy supported? -> " +
localAdapter.IsLowEnergySupported);
Debug.WriteLine("Central role supported? -> " +
localAdapter.IsCentralRoleSupported);
Debug.WriteLine("Peripheral role supported? -> " +
localAdapter.IsPeripheralRoleSupported);New APIs!

32.
Read Battery Level of Bluetooth Beacon
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
using (var bluetoothLeDevice =
await BluetoothLEDevice.FromBluetoothAddressAsync(bluetoothAddress))
Access Bluetooth device1
Query GATT services2
var gattServices = await bluetoothLeDevice.GetGattServicesAsync();
00001800-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
00001801-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
0000180a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
0000180f-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[…]
https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/gatt/viewer?attributeXmlFile=org.bluetooth.service.battery_service.xml

33.
foreach (var curService in gattServices.Services)
{
var gattCharacteristics = await curService.GetCharacteristicsAsync();
Read Battery Level of Bluetooth Beacon
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Query characteristics3
Characteristic Handle: 20
UUID: 00002a19-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/gatt/viewer?attributeXmlFile=org.bluetooth.characteristic.battery_level.xml

34.
Read Battery Level of Bluetooth Beacon
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl
Process characteristics4
foreach (var curCharacteristic in gattCharacteristics.Characteristics)
{
if (curCharacteristic.CharacteristicProperties.HasFlag(
GattCharacteristicProperties.Read))
{
var result = await curCharacteristic.ReadValueAsync();
64 (Hex) -> 100% (Decimal)

35.
THANK YOU!
Andreas Jakl
@andijakl
andreasjakl.com
Bluetooth & The Very Latest Windows – Andreas Jakl