Dynamic Bluetooth beaconsSmarter than iBeacons

Alexandre Alapetite (Alexandra Institute)

2015-04-16

InfinIT iBeacon seminar, Aarhus

iBeacons

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iBeacons

• Subset of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy)

• Broadcast a (cryptic) number

• Apple proprietary convention

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Data(up to 31 bytes)

iBeacon prefix(9 bytes)

Proximity UUID(16 bytes)

Major(2 bytes)

Minor(2 bytes)

TX power(1 byte)

BLE beacons (1/2)

• Still compatible with most modern mobile devices (BLE)

• Using the full 32-byte payload• Possible to advertise meaningful data

– Not limited to a cryptic UUID

• Dynamic payload:– Sensor value– Information fetched from network– Time– …

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BLE beacons (2/2)

• It is also a normal BLE peripheral

• Accept (or not) incoming BLE connections– GATT (generic attribute profile)

– More…• Two-way data exchange

• Actuate (switches, motors, lamps, sound…)

• Gateway (Internet, radio, mesh network, I2C…)

• Can be implemented with any BLE chip– Bluetooth 4 USB dongle

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Implementation example

• RFduino

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Audio-beacon demo

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• E.g. for blind persons

• Easy to find source of sound

• Triggered by incoming BLE connection

Broadcasting sensor values

• Dynamic advertisement packet– temperature value, state of a switch…

• Many BLE devices can listen at the same time– For larger data, BLE connections are 1:1

• Link to existing electronics, e.g. via I2C

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Broadcasting sensor values demo

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Same story than 2D-barcodes?

• Several standards

• War between:– Proprietary IDs

• Required custom apps

– Meaningful data • Plain text

• Web address (URL)

• E-mail address

• Telephone number

• Geo code

• …

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Shotcode: 40 bits

Aztec Code: ~2kBData Matrix: ~1.5kB

QR Code: ~3kB

Google Physical Web

• Open Source

• Meaningful data

– Advertise short URL

• UriBeacon

– Short URL

– UUID URN (128 bit)

• No need for custom apps (eventually)

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Questions?

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