best practices in deploying and managing aruba bluetooth low energy (ble) beacons

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Best practices in deploying and managing Aruba BeaconsNick NewtonDirector, Product Management – Mobile Engagement

March 8, 2016 @ArubaNetworks |

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• Configuring Beacons• Beacon Deployment Examples• Beacon Deployment Considerations• Testing Campaigns• Customer Case Study: Box

Agenda

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Mobile EngagementA “Full Stack” to enable Digital User Experiences with Location

Meridian-Powered Mobile

AppWhite-label or

custom app w/ SDK

Aruba BeaconsBlue dot directions and notifications

based on real-time position

Aruba AP w/integrated Beacon

Communicates with Aruba Beacons and Meridian

Platform

Meridian PlatformLocation-based and personalized

content for appsMonitor and manage beacon battery

level, operating mode / firmware

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Configuring Beacons

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Configuring Beacons

• Aruba Beacon • iOS device • Aruba Beacons app• Meridian Account

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A beacon can be configured as:

1.Location beacon: For blue dot tracking

2.Proximity beacon: For push notification purposes

To fully configure location beacons, only the Beacons app is required

Proximity beacon configuration follows a two-step process:

1. Use Beacons app to configure Aruba beacon2. Use Meridian Editor to attach a campaign to the beacon

Configuring Beacons

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1.

Open the App Store and search for Aruba Beacons

3. Enter your Meridian

login credentials

2. Install and launch the

Beacons app

Configuring Beacons

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2. Verify that locations from your Meridian account show up

1. Tap on the “Accounts” tab

3. Select the location where you want to deploy the beacon

Configuring Beacons

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Configuring Beacons

• Confirm correct map• Tap on map symbol

to change maps

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Configuring Beacons

Choose unplaced beacon

Select location for “blue dot”

Select proximity for “push and triggers

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Configuring Campaigns

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Configuring Beacons

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Welcome Notification

Configuring Beacons

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Configuring Beacons

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Beacon Deployment Examples

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Beacon Deployment ConsiderationsBeacon Deployment Considerations

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Deployment Considerations• Battery-powered Aruba beacons are adhesive and can

be mounted in different ways• Most common mounting techniques: Wall mount and

ceiling mount• Keep beacons out of reach

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Deployment Considerations• In environments such as malls with open atriums, beacon signals may bleed across floors

• Result: Blue dot is inaccurate or shows up on the wrong floor

• Proper planning and custom deployment design may be required

Shop

Shop Shop

Shop

ShopShop

60 6163

65

3837 36

3433

3230 29

2827

503

502

501

500

Location Tag

Proximity Tag

ATRIUM TOP-VIEW ATRIUM FLOORS: SIDE-VIEWSlide courtesy: Wee Keng Tong

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Deployment Considerations• Placing beacons on both sides of the hallway has shown to give the best blue dot experience

• Placing beacons closer to the ground (<=3 ft) and facing upwards reduces the chances of signal bleeding across to the lower floors

• Floor placing may not be secure or realistic.

NEAR SHOPS

NEAR GLASS RAILINGS

SHOPS

12 ft

12 ft

• Area model used, in order to focus blue dot in the center of the walkway

• Path model with ceiling mounted beacons in the center would have worked, if not for signals bleeding across the atrium floors, resulting in blue dot on the wrong floor.

22mm glass railing

Slide courtesy: Wee Keng Tong

WALK WAY TOP-VIEW

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Deployment Considerations• Beacons may be placed on the outer side of glass railings to keep them out of reach of people

• The thickness of glass might attenuate the beacon signal

• Beacons could possibly be placed inside shop windows

WALK WAY TOP-VIEW

SHOPS

22mm glass railing


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Deployment Considerations

Back and sides of beacons can be RF shielded (RF shielding paint)

SHOPS

SHOPS

Signal bleed

ATRIUM TOP-VIEW


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Testing Beacons and Campaigns

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Troubleshooting Campaigns

• Reset Campaigns• At the top of the Campaigns screen, tap Reset

Campaigns to reset all of your Campaign cooldowns.

• When you reset your Campaigns, devices within range of Proximity Beacons will receive those push notifications again.

• Device Status• If INTERNET is Disconnected, make sure your

device is connected to the internet through a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.

• If BLUETOOTH is Off, turn on Bluetooth on your device.

• If LOCATION is Denied, give Beacons app permission to use your location on your device.

• If NOTIFICATIONS is Disabled, give Beacons app permission to send you notifications on your device.

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Troubleshooting CampaignsInformation Displayed:

• Campaign Title• Campaign ID• Campaign Action or Type• Message or 3rd-party endpoint notification• Message or URL• The message being send or the URL being

notified• Campaign status• Active or Inactive• Campaign schedule• Always or a specific date and time range• The last time the Campaign was triggered• Maps for every Beacon assigned to the

Campaign• The complete activity log for the Campaign

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Aruba Beacon Deployment at Box Marc Fenner

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Box - Overview

Box is the modern content management platform for the enterprise supporting secure and effortless collaboration from any devices

– 50,000 paying customers globally

– 52% of the Fortune 500 are Box customers

– 1,300 employees

– Offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia

– Headquartered in Redwood City, California

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Aruba Beacon Deployment Objective

1. Deliver a way-finding solution for Box’ new HQ enabling all Box employees to easily find conference rooms and desks

• Reduce time spent on finding meeting locations

• Enhance user experience

2. Leverage proximity beacons to deliver targeted messages, streamline badging process, simplify conference room check ins

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Box HQ Building in Redwood City, CA

• Brand new location

• 7 floors

• Over 100 conference rooms

• Over 800 desks

• 330,000 sqft

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Approach - Overview

1. Added Placemarks and Routing to maps

2. Ran small scale pilot: temporarily deployment of ~13 battery powered beacons through a section of one floor. 2 pilot users

3. Extended pilot: permanent deployment of USB and battery powered beacons throughout one floor. 15-20 pilot users

4. Deployed USB and battery powered beacons throughout all 7 floors

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Small Scale Pilot on 7th FloorApproach • Test space: open office• Placed battery powered beacons on desks• Area Model (test 1): 20 – 25 feet apart• Path Model (test 2): 25 – 35 feet apart• Used the app to navigate from a desk location to a conference

room• Insignificant difference between test 1 and 2• Level of effort: 1.5 hrs, two people

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Extended Pilot on 7th Floor

• Deployed USB beacons first (plugged into Aruba APs)• 15-20 Pilot users• Pursued iterative approach (based on user feedback) - to

augment USB deployment with battery powered beacons:• Leveraged implementation reference guide• Asymmetrical vs. symmetrical placement• Max distance between beacons approx. 25 ft.• Also considered design factors when placing beacons

(minimize impact on paint and aesthetics) • Lessons learned: beacon placement is not a science

but a journey• Deployed 2 proximity beacons to pilot campaigns• Level of effort: 3 hours, 2 people, 1 ladder• Pilot duration: 5 weeks

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Building-Wide Deployment

• Worked with contractor to install USB and battery powered beacons

• Replicated 7th floor beacon placement

• LOE: 2 days, 2 people

• Total location beacon deployment: 80 USB, 150 battery powered beacons

• Used XML feed to update placemark meta data

• White-label app distribution via app stores

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Screenshots

Thank youMarc [email protected]

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best practices in deploying and managing aruba bluetooth low energy (ble) beacons

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