iBeacon, Eddystone, Bluetooth, IoT sensor beacons, apps, platforms
We recently came across node-eddystone-beacon that advertises Eddystone using node.js (Javascript). It works across MacOS, Linux (including Raspberry Pi) and Windows but obviously requires the device to have a Bluetooth adapter.
The open source code advertises Eddystone-URL, Eddystone-UID and Eddystone-TLM. Examples are provided.
Our previous post mentioned node-beacon-scanner that provides for node.js Bluetooth scanning.
One of our customers McPartners in the Netherlands has been using piBeacon with Indigo to provide for home automation on the Mac. You can read their success story on the Indigo forums.
They started using beacon instead of RFID because RFID cards they were using were becoming more expensive than iBeacons and becoming scarce. They wanted tags they could second source, have a long battery life, long range and easy setup.
They have found the Indigo/piBeacon combination reliable, fast and have told us it works with all the Axaet, AnkhMaway and Minew beacons purchased from us.
We have recently come across Beacon Server, a useful application for Raspberry Pi 3 and OS X, by Yannick Weiss in Switzerland, that detects beacons and calls webhooks, for example IFTTT when a beacon enters or leaves the area. It’s controlled via a web interface:
There’s a new GitHub Swift source code project, cbeacon, that implements a command line program that transmits iBeacon advertisements. It works on macOS 10.12 or greater.
The author is also the author of another application, BeaconFinder, written in objective-c, that provides GUI tool for detecting iBeacons:
Want to experiment with beacons without buying one? There’s a new command line tool mBeacon that allows you to set up your Mac to advertise iBeacon.
You use by typing the following command:
$ mbeacon -uuid "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX" -major 0 -minor 0
The ability to easily change the UUID, major and minor is also useful for development purposes where you wish to test, for example, an app that’s looking for lots of different beacons.