IoT – BeaconZone Blog

MQTT vs HTTP for Bluetooth WiFi Gateways?

Bluetooth WiFi gateways offer MQTT and/or HTTP for sending data to servers/cloud services. We are often asked which should be used. HTTP is what’s used by your web browser to fetch and send data to web servers. In very high level terms, MQTT accomplishes a similar thing but is better optimised for mobile devices and the Internet of Things.

HTTP is very ‘chatty’ which means it’s more complex, code wise, to implement at the sending end and wastes a lot of data and processing power getting information from sender to receiver. You can think of HTTP as wrapping the data within lots other data that gets sent backwards and forwards. MQ Telemetry Transport Protocol (MQTT) came out of IBM, is now an ISO standard and uses lightweight publish/subscribe messaging. It requires a smaller code footprint at the sender and uses less network bandwidth. This matters most when you are trying to get the maximum transactions per second or are being billed for data use.

Bluetooth WiFi gateways are powered via USB and have reasonably powerful microcontrollers so MQTT’s efficient processing doesn’t matter that much. The more efficient processing is more applicable to apps running on mobile devices.

However, being lightweight, MQTT offers faster response times and lower data use than HTTP that, while not necessarily being of much of an advantantage for the BLE WiFi gateway, benefits the communications medium and server side. The communications medium, that can sometimes be cellular or be data constrained, uses (and possibly bills) less data. More crucially, the server can process more requests in less time. MQTT tends to be better when connectivity is intermittent, bandwidth is at a premium and throughput is critical.

In summary, MQTT has lower latency and is more efficient. Whether these are required advantages depends on your actual project. If you need more help, consider our development services.

Devices That Can See Beacons

When people think about beacons they often imagine them being detected in smartphone apps. This post explores other devices that can also see beacons allowing for different interaction possibilities and new scenarios.

Apps – Apps aren’t limited to just smartphone apps. You can run apps on TV boxes that run Android. Just make sure they have Bluetooth 4.3 or later.

Gateways – Gateways are small single pupose devices that look for beacons and send the information on via MQTT or REST (HTTP) to any server. This allows web servers to see beacons.

Desktops and Laptops – PC/Mac devices with built-in Bluetooth or dongles can see beacons.

Walky Talkies – Motorola manufacture the MOTOTRBO range of digital radios that can detect iBeacons and show their location on a map.

Raspberry Pi – This has Bluetooth and can be used to detect beacons.

Arduino – Arduino boards often have Bluetooth and can do things based on the presence of beacons.

Pixl.js – The manufacturer of the Puck.js also supplies a device with a screen that can detect and interact with beacons.

Single Board Computers (SBC) have an advantage over gateways in that data can be cached locally when there isn’t an Internet connection. They can also make decisions locally and send out alerts directly rather than having to rely on a server. This is so called ‘IoT Edge’ computing.

Bluetooth in the IoT Ecosystem

The great new paper titled Evolution of Bluetooth Technology: BLE in the IoT Ecosystem provides a comprehensive review of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), tracing its development from its origins to its role in the modern Internet of Things (IoT). The authors outline the historical evolution of Bluetooth, starting with its initial release in the late 1990s through to the latest version, Bluetooth 6.0, introduced in 2024.

BLE, introduced in Bluetooth 4.0 in 2010, was designed as a low-power alternative to Bluetooth Classic, making it ideal for IoT applications where energy efficiency is critical. The paper discusses BLE’s technical characteristics, such as its reduced power consumption, moderate data rates, mesh networking support, and robust security features and highlights the differences from Bluetooth Classic.

The review details the progression of BLE through its successive versions, each introducing improvements in range, throughput, latency, and security. It also explores the integration of BLE in various IoT contexts, including smart homes, healthcare, automotive, retail, industrial automation, and smart cities. Several case studies are used to illustrate real-world BLE implementations, demonstrating its utility across multiple sectors.

The paper considers BLE’s alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in promoting energy efficiency, sustainable urban development, and climate action. BLE’s role in enabling sustainable technologies, such as solar-powered IoT devices and low-power smart infrastructure, is also discussed.

Finally, the article reviews current technical challenges, such as power management, interference, scalability and security. It proposes potential solutions and anticipates future directions involving BLE’s integration with artificial intelligence, enhanced privacy protocols and expanded functionality in next-generation IoT ecosystems.

Matching Industrial Assets and Their Operators

Recent research looks into a new method for linking industrial assets, like power tools, with their operators using low-power Internet of Things (IoT) devices based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Despite the wide adoption of asset-tracking technologies, there’s still no widely used solution for dynamically identifying which worker is using which tool. This is important for improving safety, maintenance, and asset utilisation, especially in complex and fast-paced environments like construction sites.

The proposed system includes wearable devices for workers and beacons tags attached to tools. These beacons broadcast data about their usage status, which is picked up by the wearables. The system uses signal strength (RSSI) to estimate the proximity between workers and tools. Since RSSI data is noisy and imprecise, an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is employed to improve distance estimation accuracy. A cloud-based algorithm then analyses this data to identify the most probable asset-user matches.

The researchers implemented and tested this system using prototypes in both indoor and outdoor construction settings. The system achieved a median distance estimation error of 0.49 metres and up to 98.6% accuracy in matching tools to their users. The devices were optimised for low energy consumption: wearable devices could run for nearly a month on a single charge, and tags could last for years on small batteries.

The study concludes that the proposed system is a viable and scalable solution for enhancing digitalisation in industrial environments, particularly construction.

Filtering Beacons at Bluetooth Gateways

When using Bluetooth gateways, it is usual to reduce the number of Bluetooth devices that are sent to the server. This is because gateways do not just pick up the beacons you intend to monitor. They can also detect smartphones, vehicles, fitness trackers and a range of other Bluetooth devices. Although it is possible to ignore unwanted beacons at the server side, filtering them out at the gateway itself is a much more efficient approach. Doing this helps to reduce network bandwidth usage and places less strain on your server, allowing it to provide greater throughput, from multiple gateways, and just handle the meaningful data.

Another key advantage of filtering at the gateway is that it simplifies debugging and ongoing support. When there are fewer devices being reported, there is less data to sift through, making it quicker and easier to identify and solve any issues that may arise.

Most Bluetooth gateways offer the option to configure a whitelist based on advertising patterns. This allows you to instruct the gateway to block other devices before the data ever reaches your server. The challenging part lies in identifying exactly what a beacon is advertising. To tackle this, we recommend scanning for your Bluetooth beacons using a smartphone app that captures the raw advertising packets. Our blog post goes into greater detail about scanning for beacons and explains some of the nuances.

Once you have captured and analysed the advertising data, you can use the findings to set up an appropriate whitelist pattern on your gateway.

Bluetooth Sensor Tags

Bluetooth sensor tags and sensor beacons are essentially the same, with the difference in terminology largely depending on how they are used. When these devices are fixed in place, they are typically referred to as beacons. When they are attached to assets or people, they are more commonly called tags, as they are being used to ‘tag’ items or individuals. Despite these naming conventions, the terms are interchangeable and can be used regardless of the specific application.

The use of the term tags also comes from the use in RFID, barcode and UWB devices that can also be used to uniquely identify devices.

Bluetooth sensors can be used in two ways, either via connection-less advertising or having another Bluetooth device connect and examine values. This is explained further in our article on Using Bluetooth Wireless Sensors.

Tagging implies locating. However unlike other technologies, devices can do a lot more than just locating and can detect movement (accelerometer), temperature, humidity, air pressure, light and magnetism (hall effect), proximity, heart rate and fall detection.

Beacon Proximity and Sensing for the Internet of Things (IoT)

Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring

In a previous post we asked ‘What is Productivity?’ and shared how the first wave of IT productivity related to cloud computing, customer relationship management (CRM) systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) was only taken up by the top 5% frontier companies.

We explained how IoT, 4IR and AI machine learning will improve productivity but again, likely only for frontier companies. The difference this time is that the newer technologies will have more far reaching consequences. The frontier companies will further extend their reach over the laggards. The majority of the 5% are large companies with large budgets who are able to engage consultances such as IBM, Deloitte, Atos, PwC, WiPro, Accenture and KPMG. But what of the small to medium enterprises (SMEs)? Can they compete?

In most countries, a large proportion of companies are small to medium size. For example, in the UK, the Office for National Statistics says 98.6% of manufacturers are (SMEs). These organisations are more price sensitive and usually don’t have the luxury of significant financial resources for engaging the top consultancies and implementing their expensive solutions. Small and medium sized organisations have previously found it difficult to digitise due to the lack of availability of reasonably priced solutions.

However, solutions doesn’t have to be expensive. Low cost sensors such as Bluetoooth beacons, motion cameras, consumer AR can be combined with affordable cloud services to create solutions on a ‘shoestring’ budget. This is the aim of the University of Cambridge and University of Nottingham’s ‘Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring’ initiative. The Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) is helping manufacturers benefit from digitalisation without excessive cost and risk. View the project’s latest news.

Read about Beacons in Industry and the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)

Value in the Mundane and the Internet of Diversity

The Internet of Things (IoT) is often considered a nebulous and expansive concept, encompassing numerous specialist areas and industries. A more fitting description might be an “Internet of Diversity” rather than an Internet of Things, reflecting its vast array of applications and unique scenarios.

Consider a real-world use case discussed at an IoT Meetup we attended. A US company provides rodent control as a service, deploying thousands of traps across tens of retail sites, primarily in the food sector. Traditionally, their process required personnel to physically inspect traps daily, incurring substantial costs in manpower and vehicle deployment. However, by integrating IoT, the company outfitted traps with sensors that notify when intervention is required. This has significantly reduced operational costs by eliminating unnecessary site visits.

This example illustrates two key observations. First, value can be found in usecases that might initially seem mundane or low-tech. Second, the diversity of IoT applications means that one-size-fits-all solutions are often impractical. In this scenario, there is no off-the-shelf IoT solution for rodent control, nor is it cost-effective for a third party to develop and market one. Generic RTLS (Real-Time Location Systems) platforms might collect relevant data, but their dashboards and analytics are unlikely to meet the specific requirements of this application.

This highlights an emerging trend in the IoT ecosystem: the most effective IoT platforms are those that are both simple to adapt and flexible in their functionality. Platforms must be user-friendly enough to customise for a wide variety of unique use cases while also being robust enough to present data in a way that aligns with domain-specific needs. These attributes are critical for the IoT to continue thriving as a genuinely diverse and impactful technology space.

Beaconzone Consulting

Attendance Tracking Using Solar Bluetooth Beacon Badges

Recent research outlines the design and deployment of an attendance tracking system using battery-free photovoltaic Bluetooth beacon badges. These badges, powered by indoor light, transmit Bluetooth packets to stationary gateways for collection and upload to a cloud-based platform for real-time visualisation. The system addresses issues of environmental sustainability and maintenance by replacing traditional chemical batteries with light-harvesting technology, enabling operation even in low-light conditions (as low as 17 Lux).

The badges are compact, cost-effective (under $1 each), and incorporate a photovoltaic panel and an energy management circuit. This setup ensures that the devices accumulate and store energy efficiently before broadcasting signals via Bluetooth. Gateways equipped with Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities capture these signals and relay attendance data to a cloud service for analysis. The system’s applications include academic conferences and similar events requiring crowd tracking without privacy concerns associated with cameras or WiFi-based methods.

Field tests during a conference in Auckland validated the system’s functionality, demonstrating effective attendance monitoring in multiple rooms. This innovative approach reflects a move towards environmentally friendly and low-maintenance solutions in the growing field of ambient IoT.

New KKM Wireless Tilt Sensor K9AT

Our partner and supplier, KKM, has a new K9AT Wireless Tilt Sensor The K9AT Tilt Sensor is designed to convert accelerometer measurements into precise tilt angle detections. What makes it stand out is its ability to trigger advertisements once it detects an inclination beyond a pre-set value.

The sensor has an IP67 rating, ensuring it is both water-resistant and dustproof. One of the most impressive aspects of the K9AT Tilt Sensor is its longevity. Powered by an industrial-grade ER14505 battery, it offers an extended battery life of up to 8 years.

The applications of the K9AT are vast and varied. From construction and agriculture to automotive and shipping, this sensor can play a critical role in improving operational efficiency and safety. Its ability to provide real-time alerts on angle changes makes it an invaluable tool for monitoring equipment, cargo, and even structural integrity.

For more information or to discuss how it can benefit your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us.