Uploaded byDavid Jones
Why Streethawk re-wrote ibeacon handling on Android
The document discusses the challenges and solutions related to implementing iBeacon technology on Android, which differs from iOS due to Bluetooth-level complexities. It highlights StreetHawk's development of its own beacon parser to address issues with existing libraries like Radius, particularly around stability and compatibility. The presentation concludes with concerns about future API support from Google and the potential for retailers to deploy separate beacons for iOS and Android devices.
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Why Streethawk re-wrote ibeacon handling on Android
- 1. Why we rewrote iBeaconhandling on Android iBeacon is Trademark of Apple Inc!
- 2. Agenda •Streethawk’s story forBeacons •Choosing Radius library •Problems with Radius SDK •Apple’s plays it’s IP card •Altbeacons •Streethawk’s solution
- 3. A Quick Noteon why this is relevant “iBeacons” on iOS are pretty easy (special case of location services) …easy if you only have 20 regions…. Beacons are harder on Android its at a lower Bluetooth level iBeacon is Trademark of Apple Inc!
- 4. Streethawk’s need/use-case for“Beacons” • Independent of GPS, best for indoor scenarios. • Highly accurate location based campaigns • Notifies when a user enters or exits beacons region. • Detects user’s distance from beacons • Server/Cloud based personalisation • For our customers needs are proximity & distance - not to many other fancy features are needed
- 5. First we choseRadius library • Open source library for Beacons (yay!) • Works with all kinds of Beacons (yay!) • Active developer community (yay!) • Great support, lots of Q&A on Stack overflow (yay!)
- 6. Problems with Radiuslibrary Background mode wasn’t working as per our expectations. Nexus 4/5 problems Wifi signal dropped continuously. When BLE scans occur - below the HAL layer - unfixable Distribution with Streethawk SDK JAR dependency issues
- 7. Radius & AppleLegal Requirements
- 8. Radius introduce Altbeacons Radiussolution to: iBeacon brand issues (e.g Android devices) Library still under development Too many Library updates (impact our SDK) Altbeacon adoption as a “standard” is uncertain Wifi dropping problem still exists iBeacon is Trademark of Apple Inc!
- 9. What Why We wroteour own parser ✓ Solved the distribution problem for jars and aars Same beacon detected for iOS and Android ✓ Simple deployment and Cost of Ownership Nexus 4/5 Glitches solved ✓ Nexus has a huge installed base carefully scheduling task for scanning beacons background/foreground different intervals SDK compatible with other third party beacons SDKs e.g Bluecat Secure Mode realistically you need to co-exist Streethawk’s solution
- 10. The Logic •Scan foravailable BLE devices •Extract UUID,Major and Minor numbers •Compare with list of beacons that customer has registered in Streethawk’s console •Notify server for the matched beacon •Repeat the above process. Ignore beacons which were detected in previous scans •Notify server when beacon is no longer visible
- 11. Summary 1. Implementing Beaconparser in Android is not as straight forward as in iOS. 2. The old fragmentation issue is everywhere (Nexus) 3. Risk: Will Google release APIs for handling Beacons? 4. Will retailers place separate Beacons for iOS and Android?
- 12. Thanks & Questions? www:http://streethawk.com SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/dj-streethawk iTunes: http://bit.ly/MobileEngagementPodcast Blog: http://streethawk.com/blog/ Twitter: @streethawkapp, @djinoz