An Introduction to Bluetooth Beacon Technology - Part I

© 2014 Statler Consulting LLC
Statler Consulting
www.statlerconsulting.com/#beacon-training

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Statler Consulting @stevestatler www.statlerconsulting.com
• Currently
− www.GtC.cards
− Statler Consulting: Carbon Offset Systems, Beacon Training
• Qualcomm - 7 Years
− Snr. Director or Strategy and Solutions Mgmt. – Qualcomm Retail Solutions
− Responsible for the division’s annual strategic planning process
− Working with retailers, payments companies, appliance manufactures … on designing solutions with beacons
…
• Previously
− IBM, Intel (PassEdge), Volantis (mobile software), Sequent, SCO, Logica, BT Research Labs
− Training, consulting, sales, marketing, engineering, strategy, product management
Introductions – Steve Statler

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Role, hopes, fears

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• Orientation & Market
• Core Concepts
− Standards
− The Operating System
− Signal and Placement
− Beacons
− Hands-on
− Analytics
• Networks
• Alternative Technologies
• Applications
• Strategy
Structure

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Stop me if needed

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• Building blocks for the experience
• Workshop scope
• Digital to physical convergence
• Why Bluetooth Vs …
• Applications
• Vision
• Market maturity
• Addressable market
Orientation

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A Simple Beacon
No connection, one way communication

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Amazing experiences from simple building blocks
http://www.lego.com/en-us/movie

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There’s more to these bricks …
Architects need to understand their materials

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Under the Hood + The User Experience

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• Disruptive
• Digital to Physical Convergence
Why Beacons?

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Digital Physical Convergence
Input - Signal strength, status and identity … no connection

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http://www.control4.com/blog/2014/03/the-
internet-of-things-and-the-connected-home

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http://www.control4.com/blog/2014/03/the-internet-of-things-and-the-connected-home

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Output – The phone … and wearables

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Output - Wearable and fashionable?

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Output - Wearable and fashionable - Beacon and Lively

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Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality

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Output – Vending, Kiosks, Displays

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• Momentum
• Balance between standards and innovation
• VC Money
• Unencumbered by Banks, Telcos
• Low cost
• Ubiquity …. Phones/OS/other devices
• Flexibility
− Distances
− Background processing
Why Bluetooth Beacons
Rather than RFID, NFC, VLC …

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Applications
Blush – Enabling intuitive in store browsing – Hatch Labs Inc. - Gimbal

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• Tag manager associates beacons with
images, URLs and text
• Bubble browser promotes images/info
based on proximity
Applications
Bubbles + Bubble Tag Manager by Kinwa - Estimote

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eCommerce meets bricks
and mortar
Vision

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Indoor mapping++
Google maps to the rest room, gate,
coffee machine
Vision

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Next gen e911
Vision

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Your environment adapts to you
Vision

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In-app advertising that is
location and context aware
Vision

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Maturity - Congratulations
You are visionaries and early adopters
You are here
Crossing the Chasm
chasmgroup.squarespace.com
http://smile.amazon.com/dp/0060517123

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Land Rush
Fast Moving
Risk
Opportunity

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Smartphone ownership in 2014
http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/
Smartphone owners
Feature & no phones
Pew Internet Project research from May 2013 found that 91% of US adult
had a cell phone, while 56% have a smartphone.
74% of adult smartphone owners ages 18 and older say they use their
phone to get directions or other information based on their current location

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• > 81% Gen Y, 73% of Gen X used
smartphones for shopping
• 45% of shoppers use their mobile for
mobile coupons, representing a 7 percent
increase from last year
Smartphone Usage
Shoppers use their Phones
The shopper survey was completed by 1,371 respondents without knowledge of Motorola Solutions’ sponsorship.
Gen Y shoppers represent people between the ages of 18 and 34.
Gen X shoppers represent people between the ages of 35 and 49.
Boomer shoppers represent people between the ages of 50 and 64.
Pre-Boomer shoppers represent people older than age 65.
http://newsroom.motorolasolutions.com/Press-Releases/Retailers-Technology-Investments-Leading-to-Better-In-Store-Experience-Shopper-Satisfaction-Up-23-
4870.aspx?utm_medium=PublicRelations%20&utm_source=Newsroom&utm_campaign=2014_Q2_mpact&utm_term=survey&utm_

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Smartphones are part of shopping
Phones more informative than shop assistants
Tradedoubler report
http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/retailers-lose-32pc-of-shoppers-to-in-store-mobile-use-tradedoubler

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OS Market Share
http://www.comscore.com/Insig
hts/Data-Mine/Smartphone-
Market-Led-by-Android-in-
Software-iPhone-in-Hardware
(April 2014)

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OS Fragmentation
http://gigaom.com/2013/12/04/fragmentation-lives-ios-7-now-on-74-of-iphones-while-kitkat-has-only-reached-1-of-android-devices/ 12/4/2013

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Smartphones Usage
Forrester Research
http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/01/despite-
googles-gains-iphone-still-edges-out-
android-devices-in-app-and-overall-
smartphone-usage-says-forrester/

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Beacon System Framework
Standards
Bluetooth Chipsets
Beacon OEMs
Management Analytics
Campaign Management
Beacon Networks
Applications
Ad Networks
Handset Operating Systems

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• Standards
− Bluetooth
− iBeacon
• Signal strength and distance
• Chipset vendors
• Beacon vendors
• Operating systems
• Placement
• Frequency
Core Concepts

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Standards
Bluetooth 4.0

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Lots of Bluetooth devices
… no …
http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/SIG-Membership.aspx
Watch the full movie on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsgXsrxPmxs
• 9 Billion Bluetooth enabled devices shipped by 2013
• Total Bluetooth 4.0 devices will grow to 2.9 billion per year by 2016.

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Ten of thousands of Bluetooth products
48,000+ Product models –20,000 SIG Members
http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/Product-Directory.aspx

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• Invented by telecom vendor Ericsson in 1994
• Named after medieval King of Denmark Harald Bluetooth
• Nokia identified Bluetooth use-cases gaps 2001
• Nokia releases Wibree in October 2006
• Bluetooth SIG agreed to include Wibree in Bluetooth
• Bluetooth Smart formally adopted into the Bluetooth v4.0
core specification in June 2010
• iPhone 4S first Bluetooth Smart Ready device October 2011
History
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8915
720/Why-we-need-to-talk-about-history.html

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• Was IEEE 802.15.1
• Now managed by Bluetooth Special Interest Group
• 2.4 to 2.485 GHz
• 40 channels
• Frequency-hopping spread spectrum
• 4.0 – Additional low energy protocol for rapid connection and simple messages
over same spectrum
• Dual mode chipsets and single mode chipsets
Bluetooth 4.0 Standard

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Health care profiles
• HTP — Medical temperature measurement devices
• GLP — Blood glucose monitors
• BLP — Blood pressure measurement
Sports and fitness profiles
• HRP — Heart rate measurement
• CSCP —Bicycle or exercise bike cadence and wheel speed
• RSCP — Running speed and cadence profile
• CPP — Cycling power profile.
• LNP — Location and navigation profile.
Proximity sensing
• FMP — Find Me Profile — allows one device to issue an alert on a second misplaced device
• PXP — Proximity Profile — allows a proximity monitor to detect whether a proximity reporter is within a close range
Alerts and time profiles
• The phone alert status profile and alert notification profile allow a client device to receive notifications such as incoming call alerts from
another device
• The time profile allows current time and time zone information on a client device to be set from a server device, such as between a
wristwatch and a mobile phone's network time
Bluetooth 4.0
Profiles

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Bluetooth Smart
Smart Ready hubs talk to everything Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.0 aka Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) aka Bluetooth Smart
http://www.bluetooth.com

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Standards
iBeacon

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iBeacon Logo on signage at a venue obtain an iBeacon logo license
https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/
apply for a license to use the iBeacon logo
iBeacon

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• Set (or not) within beacon configuration
utilities
• First standardized by Open Software
Foundation
• UUIDs can be generated by using the
uuidgen command line utility in OS X
Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID)
Identifies the iBeacon maker or application

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iBeacon Identification
Example: D9B9EC1F-3925-43D0-80A9-1E39D4CEA95C Major 3 Minor 10

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Spoofing
− Mapped UUIDs + Major / Minor numbers can be replayed
− Scavenger hunts from your desk
− Offers and incentives misappropriated
Loss of opportunity for analytics
Loss of control of user experience
Loss of value creation
iBeacon is unsecured
https://svpply.com/item/1306210/Creepy_Blank_Female_Mask__Scary

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• RSSI = Received Signal Strength Indicator
• an abbreviation for the power ratio decibels
(dB) of the measured power referenced to
one milliwatt (mW).
• 1 watt = 1000 mW
• 0 dBm corresponds to a power of 1 milliwatt
RSSI
Power of the radio signal
-30dBm = Awesome
-60dBm = Good
-80dBm = Meh
-90dBm = Bad

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• Not a linear relationship
• Environment matters
Distance Vs RSSI
http://www.nten.org/articles/2014/science-experiment-a-semi-technical-lowdown-on-working-with-ibeacons

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• Phone, beacon, OSs
are all factors
• Triangulation helps but
doesn’t come out of the
box
Distance Vs RSSI
http://www.nten.org/articles/2014/science-experiment-a-semi-technical-lowdown-on-working-with-ibeacons

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• Timing of TX v sample ,
frequency hopping and
environmental factors result in
fluctuations
• Smoothing / averaging helps
− Introduces delay
• Background processing is less
accurate
Distance v RSSI
Signal fluctuation
www.nten.org/articles/2014/science-experiment-a-semi-technical-lowdown-on-working-with-ibeacons
Rolling average of 3 seconds

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Frequency
Higher frequency is necessary to catch faster moving subjects

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• Configure Estimote
beacons: UUID, Major
Minor, signal strength,
frequency
• Turn iPhone into beacon
Applications
Estimote

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Operating Systems

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• Support of Bluetooth Smart hardware with proximity profile
• Support for wearables
• Balance
− Battery use with responsiveness
− RSSI fidelity with smoothing
− Privacy management with opportunity
− Scheduling and exhuming background and killed processes with resources
− Notifications with user experience
Role of the Mobile OS

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Ranging: Immediate, Near, Far, and Unknown

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Ranging: Immediate, Near, Far, and Unknown
Immediate = 0.5m
Near = 2m
Far = 30m
Unknown

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The Background is Important

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iOS Notifications

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iOS Notifications

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• Signal strength
• Frequency of broadcast
• Battery size
• Beacon efficiency
Battery Life
Beacon battery life - considerations
Phone battery life may suffer

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• Rotating MAC address
• Indoor mapping / wayfinding
− https://mapsconnect.apple.com for venues interested in mapping
− Floor location
• Relevant apps on the lock screen based on proximity
− Interaction within notifications
• Opt-in for background location tracking
iOS 8
Coming this Fall

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• filter on advertising packet attributes - service UUID and service
data
• duplicate in a battery efficient way the IOS capabilities of
CLBeaconRegion
• key attribute of IOS’s support for beacons.
• efficiently scan in the background for beacons and show
a notification or trigger something in an app
Android support
Coming in L - Lollipop – developer release

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Support since
iPhone 4S
2012
iOS 6
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
Mid 2013
Basic driver support
Version you really want
7.1.2 L release 4.5
June 2014
Efficient management of
Bluetooth triggers
Mobile Operating System Support
Average phone replacement rate in the US – 2 years

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Signal Propagation
and Placement

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Placement
Theft is an issue

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Signal shape
Taming this thing can be harder than it looks

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Signal Shape
Typical dipole
shape of the
electromagnetic
field from a beacon

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• BLE at 2.4 GHz is subject to attenuation
− Walls, doors, water/people
• Implications
− Variations in visibility and trigger points
• Mitigation
− Site survey, calibration, placement, power
Signal Absorption

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Signal Bounce
Unexpected results can be avoided with care – closer triggers and site surveys

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Signal Shape
Can be problematic depending on use-case

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Signal shape
Shielding Options
Trigger based
on tap or
Near-er
Additional
shielding
Use the
properties of
the dispenser
People make
great shields

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+
• Maximize coverage
• Minimize interference
• Mitigate tampering
-
• Lack of signal fidelity
• Cost of installation, maintenance
Application
Beacon to confirm presence e.g. gas station
canopy
Location Location
Height has its advantages and disadvantages
20 foot ceiling
5 feet 5 feet
20.6 feet

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• Display an interface that highlights
information about nearby beacons
• Let the user choose the item that would be
most relevant to them
Dealing with ambiguity
When its not clear which beacon to act on

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Statler Consulting @stevestatler www.statlerconsulting.comsignup.skyeye.co

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Beacons
and Chips

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• Single Mode
− AMICCOM
− Cambridge Silicon Radio
− Nordic Semiconductor
− STMicroelectronics
− Texas Instruments
• Dual Mode
− Broadcom
− Qualcomm
Bluetooth Chipset Vendors
Beacon vendors tend to use chipsets from third party vendors

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iBeacon Architecture
iBeacon with no cloud service

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Non-iBeacon Architecture
Beacon with cloud service
Beacon with cloud
based resolution
?

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Beacon Architecture
Crowd sourcing find my …
Beacon with cloud
based resolution
? ?

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Non-iBeacon
Using Hubs for find my
Beacon with cloud
based resolution
?
Hub

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Criteria for beacon vendor selection
IMDb: The Maltese Falcon (1941)
http://www.imdb.com/rg/em_share/title_web/title/tt0033870?ref=ext_shr_eml_tt
• Power: Battery
• Antenna design, power, frequency
controls
• Embedded software
• Management tools
• Packaging options
• Value added services and software
• Ecosystem: openness and adoption
of proprietary APIs
• Network strategy
• Corporate viability
• Reliability
• Relationship with OS vendors
• Support
• Responsiveness
• Costs and revenue

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Beacon vendors
A small subset of the beacons available
PayPal
Apple
Gimbal EstimoteShopKick
Swirl ByteLight Radius Networks

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Beacon Vendors
Dolphin Ultrasonic Stick-n-Find
Sonic Notify Tile
inMarket Kontakt
GPShoper GeLo

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• WiFi and Bluetooth SMART
• Modes: iBeacon, battery save or Mpact mode
• Presence, Zone and Position using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Smart to
pinpoint the exact location of customer devices in relation to the
merchandise they are looking at.
− Bluetooth Smart beacons, which transmit radio signals to smart
phones/tablets, can operate in various modes including Apple’s
iBeacon®.
− Apple® iOS and Android® client software development kits (SDK) for
integration into loyalty applications for shopper smart phones/tablets.
− An installation application and cloud-based server software with floor
plan views, shopper traffic flow insight with analytics and Bluetooth
Smart beacon management capabilities.
Beacons - Motorola Solutions
MPact

90
Location
− Development and support – Poland, BD / deployment - New York and Bay Area, local executive in San Diego
Pricing:
− $99 developer pack of 3 beacons / sticker beacons pack of 10 - volume pricing available
Pros
− Agile first mover – First to 20,000 developer milestone
− Elegant industrial design and user interface
− Started with open iOS only iBeacon SDK, now offer proprietary API with many additional features
− Private access, accelerometer, temperature
− Work with multiple ad networks
Cons
− Have lagged in terms of back-end and network features
− Quality issues
Customers:
− Virgin Airlines, Air New Zealand, Air France, Harrods, Google, Los Angeles, Tesco, M&S ….
Beacon Vendors
Estimote

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Location
− La Jolla
Pricing:
− Free developer pack of 3 beacons – S10s $5, S20s $10-$20
Pros
− Broad context features – Interest Sensing, GPS,, WiFi + BLE
− Built with the network in mind: conditional access, public network deployed in NYC
− Robust hardware, multiple antenna, hubs + big battery S20
− Work with multiple ad networks
Cons
− High overhead, thus aggressive revenue goals, difficult to do business with at time
− S20s hard to get
− Designed by engineers for engineers, Late on Android support
Customers:
− Apple, MLB, NFL, NHL, Sea World, SD Conference Center, Staples Ctr., DHHS,
SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival, LACMA, NY Metro, London City Airport
Beacon Vendors
Gimbal (ex-Qualcomm)

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• Detect beacons
• Update beacon software and
configuration
Gimbal Beacon Manager
Gimbal Inc.

93
• Register your Beacon
− Go to www.gimbal.com - Developer
− Register as a developer
− Open your beacon
− Go to Proximity
− Click on Register beacon at a Gimbal Beacon
• Experiment with
− Measure the signal strength and temperature in My Beacons on the app
− Make the signal Red, Amber and Green
Gimbal Beacon Manager
Exercise

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Don’t Forget the Back-end

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Don’t Forget the Back-end
Security
Inventory
Location
Management
Battery
Management
Analytics
Metadata
Management
Configuration Management
Advertising
Brokering
Conditional
Access

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• Inventory: type and location
• Battery monitoring
• Software version tracking
• Software update pushes
• Changing parameters: signal strength, frequency
• Health
• Approach
− Crowd sourcing monitoring
− Over The Air Updates Vs Physical Vs WiFi Hub
− Lack of integration with other management tools e.g. SNMP MIB
Beacon Management
Logical

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• Deployment
− Battery devices mitigate union issues
− USB/PLC powered devices becoming more
common
• Maintenance
− Consider physical maintenance, battery
replacement
− Be skeptical about battery lifetime claims
− Some beacons considered disposable
− Rapid evolution of hardware – Expense rather
than capitalize
Beacon Management
Physical

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Analytics
iBeacon – The “analytics tool almost
completely devoid of … analytics”
“Where’s the beef?”

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Bluetooth Beacons
Digital Cookies in the Physical World

Gimbal’s vision of Analytics

103
• Computer vision is very
effective at tracking
movements in stores
• But it doesn’t distinguish
between staff and employees
• Giving a beacon to
employees and using hubs to
triangulate can make the
movement data more useful
Removing Employees from Machine Vision Analytics
Enriching data
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-retailers-track-shoppers-in-heat-maps-2014-1
https://www.prismskylabs.com

104
Type Description Example
Beacon Dashboard High level activity monitoring Gimbal Dashboard, QlickView
Campaign management tools Urban Airship
Retail Analytics Multi-technology – Vision, BLE,
WiFi
RetailNext, BrickTrends, Scopix,
Prism Skylabs
Specialist Beacon Analytics Works with third party hardware Lighthouse, Phunware
Ad network analytics Dashborads that show advertising
metrics
iAD, Adwords
General Purpose Analytics OLAP, data warehouse, data
mining tools
SAS, SAP/Business Objects,
MicroStrategy, EMC, Oracle, IBM
(Cognos, SPSS)
Types of Analytics Companies
Specialist tool providers

105
Data ware housing
Ensure you have a strategy for mining the data
Facts
App registrations
Active users
Messages sent
Messages opened
App opens
Visits
Dwell time
Conversion
Time
Years
Place
Location name
Beacon
Geofence
Hierarchy of places
Hierarchy of
organizations
Proximity to the
above
People
Segmentation
Demographics

106
• Orientation & Market
• Core Concepts
− Standards
− The Operating System
− Signal and Placement
− Beacons
− Hands-on
− Analytics
• Networks
• Alternative Technologies
• Applications
• Strategy
Structure

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