BLE+Beacon: Hows and Whats
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BLE and beacon technology allow devices to communicate wirelessly. Peripheral devices act as servers that broadcast information, while central devices act as clients that can subscribe to updates from peripherals. Beacons constantly broadcast small packets of data that can be picked up by nearby smartphones to trigger app actions. iBeacons use Apple's standardized format and can wake up apps even when closed if the phone detects the beacon. Developers can build beacon-responsive apps using Core Location APIs to detect iBeacons and other beacons for purposes like indoor navigation, proximity marketing, and more.
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BLE+Beacon: Hows and Whats
- 2. How BLE communication works? Peripheral Devices ● act like servers Central Devices ● act like clients Publish & Subscribe ● Peripheral publish ● Central subscribe, by reading or letting peripheral notify when changes happen
- 3. BLE: Advertise and Connect Advertising is one way: peripheral -> central Packets can be up to 47 bytes advertising communication channels the access address is always 0x8E89BED6
- 4. BLE: Advertise and Connect After peripheral is discovered, connection can be established Central can then read or write to peripheral (GATT) get temp/ humidity readings temp: x humidity: y set desired temp temp: x
- 5. Beacons only advertise Transmit packets of data in regular intervals, that gets picked up by devices like smartphones Data coming from an Estimote beacon: You can capture such data with PacketLogger (Download in Xcode/more developer tools
- 6. iBeacon advertisement format is fixed by Apple Data coming from an Estimote beacon: beacons in a chain of stores: same UUID beacons in one of the stores: same Major # in one store, every beacon has a different Minor # TX power is strength of signal used to estimate distance
- 7. Beacon? iBeacon?? Every iBeacon is a Beacon. iBeacon is built into iOS 7 that let devices constantly scan for nearby bluetooth devices. When iBeacon identifies a beacon, it can wake up an app even if app is closed. For this to work: ● bluetooth need to be on ● app using iBeacon needs to be downloaded ● need to accept location services in the app
- 8. Working with iBeacon Building apps that are responsive to iBeacon: Use Apple’s Core Location API iBeacon scanning apps: iOS: iB Locator Android: iBeacon Scanner These can be turned into iBeacon iPhone 4S+, Android 5.0, Bluetooth 4 laptops, Raspberry Pi
- 9. Beacon uses outside of marketing LA parking signs Cuseum
- 10. Beacon uses outside of marketing Beacons in SpaceWayfindr
- 11. Thank you! References: How do iBeacons work Tom’s BLE docs from the BLE workshop iOS Developer Library Core Bluetooth Programming Guide @OhJia
Editor's Notes
- peripheral: provide data from sensors as readable and provide read/writable chars to control motors, lights, etc (like a server) central: read and write data from peripherals (like a client) multiple centrals can read from same peripheral
- For advertisement communication channels, the access address is always 0x8E89BED6. For data channels, it is different for each connection. The PDU in turn has its own header (2 bytes: size of the payload and its type – whether the device supports connections, etc.) and the actual payload (up to 37 bytes). Finally, the first 6 bytes of the payload are the MAC address of the device, and the actual information can have up to 31 bytes
- GATT is an acronym for the Generic Attribute Profile, and it defines the way that two Bluetooth Low Energy devices transfer data back and forth using concepts called Servicesand Characteristics. It makes use of a generic data protocol called the Attribute Protocol (ATT), which is used to store Services, Characteristics and related data in a simple lookup table using 16-bit IDs for each entry in the table. GATT comes into play once a dedicated connection is established between two devices, meaning that you have already gone through the advertising process governed by GAP.
- For advertisement communication channels, the access address is always 0x8E89BED6. For data channels, it is different for each connection. The PDU in turn has its own header (2 bytes: size of the payload and its type – whether the device supports connections, etc.) and the actual payload (up to 37 bytes). Finally, the first 6 bytes of the payload are the MAC address of the device, and the actual information can have up to 31 bytes
- iBeacon prefix - proximity UUID: beacons in a chain of store -> same UUID - major number: group related set -> beacons in one store -> same major number - minor number: individual beacons - > where customer is in the store - TX power: strength of signal measured at 1 meter from the device, strength of signal decreases as get further, iOS calculate the distance obstacles such as furniture, people or communication congestion can weaken the signal. distance is estimate
- every iBeacon is Beacon, not every Beacon is iBeacon anyone can build Beacon device, need Apple certify to build iBeacon device any platform that support BLE can use Beacon and iBeacon purpose: Apple control end user experience of beacon-enabled apps on iOS and to market beacon tech as something Apple developed iBeacon is built into iOS 7 that let devices constantly scan for nearby bluetooth devices. When iBeacon identifies a beacon, can wake up app even if app is closed. iPhones and iPads can be beacons to wake up apps in other iPhones. iBeacons receive notification from downloaded apps and when bluetooth is turned on, also need to accept location services