BLE IoT Beacon

Fixed beacons (e.g. mounted on walls) are generally utilized in consumer-focused applications such as indoor navigation and proximity marketing in shopping malls, and fixed-point explanations at museums.

Movable/wearable beacons are typically used in conjunction with Bluetooth gateways to assist organizations or enterprises in achieving management goals such as hospital patient management (see Bluetooth roaming gateways), student management in schools, asset tracking, and so on.

BLE beacons broadcast UUID, Major, Minor, RSSI, battery level, Bluetooth name, Bluetooth MAC address, and other information to the surrounding environment on a regular basis, with UUID, Major, Minor, and Bluetooth name configurable through the mobile APP.

The firmware is classified as connectable or non-connectable. The connectable kind allows the Bluetooth beacon’s settings to be changed at any moment via a mobile phone connection. The non-connectable kind can only be linked and changed settings after 30 seconds of turning on the Bluetooth beacon.

1. The horizontal distance between Bluetooth beacons should be evenly kept to a maximum of 6-10m.
2. The vertical height of the Bluetooth beacons from the ground should be kept to around 3m; too high will affect the signal strength.
3. Bluetooth beacons are not often installed on the ceilings of structures with excessive vertical height. Bluetooth beacons may be placed up to 6m away along a wall or on the ground.
4. The width of the corridor should be considered while deploying Bluetooth beacons in interior corridors. For short corridors, deployment along the corridor’s centerline might be considered; for broader corridors, two columns should be spaced to ensure the density of deployment.
5. The entire space shall be covered in a triangular grid-like staggered distribution to assure the Bluetooth beacons’ signal strength.
6. The density of Bluetooth beacons can increased or reduced based on the deployment demands of the site, but normally maintain a distance of 6m to achieve better positioning accuracy.
7. Bluetooth beacons should avoid being deployed at corners and barriers.

Apple’s iBeacon, Google’s Eddystone and Radius Network’s AltBeacon are the three mainstream Bluetooth beacon protocols. Each protocol embeds their own format and data within the BLE broadcasting framework.

When a BLE beacon device advertises, the same packet is often delivered on all three advertising channels, increasing the likelihood that it will be received by a BLE receiver/scanner (explore Bluetooth beacon gateways). Bluetooth beacons deliver advertising packets on channels 37, 38, and 39 using GATT profiles (Discover Bluetooth GATT gateways). When a packet is received, the scanner determines if the contents are decodable, and take corresponding actions.