iBeacon, Eddystone, Bluetooth, IoT sensor beacons, apps, platforms
GroupMe is Microsoft’s free messaging application that works across HoloLens, PC and mobile devices. GroupMe is published by the Skype part of Microsoft.
We recently learnt that it’s possible to use iBeacon to add members.
This is another example of an application adding iBeacon support as a side feature as opposed to using iBeacon to drive the main purpose of the application. Applications can gain ease of use by using iBeacons for locating.
Most of the time Bluetooth ‘just works’. However, if you need to diagnose interference problems or do site surveys then you will need a wireless spectrum analyser. Sparrow-WiFi is a spectrum analyser for Linux:
There’s a useful tutorial at Wonder How To.
Read What are Beacons?
Web Bluetooth allows you to view and control Bluetooth devices from a web page.
There’s a great introduction by Niels Leenheer at Smashing Magazine. Niels is heavily into browser based solutions and has also presented about Web Bluetooth at many conferences. Visit his talks page, scroll down to ‘Fun with Bluetooth’ and click on the presentation or video icons.
Web Bluetooth only works with some browsers:
While Niels concentrates on communicating with consumer goods such as lightbulbs, robots and drones, Web Bluetooth also has uses for businesses and organisations. Web interfaces can be used to control beacons or any Bluetooth LE devices.
On Android, when created as a Progressive Web App (PWA) it behaves like an app but is created using web technologies. There’s no app packaging or signing and it can work offline. It can be optionally installed in the mobile operating system where it will look and act like any other app.
Apple’s PWA implementation doesn’t (yet) work with Bluetooth. Indeed, Apple is behind when it comes to PWA.
The Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering of TJS Engineering College, Chennai, India has a new paper on Women Safety System using iBeacon Technology.
It describes a system that uses iBeacon to provide tracking of women when out alone. As it uses iBeacon, it is presumably for use where GPS doesn’t work. Also, while not mentioned, it might equally be used for all vulnerable people including lone workers, young, old and disabled.
The system consists of a wearable belt that tracks location and sends alerts via cellular connection. It uses heartbeat, sound and pressure sensors to detect abnormal situations.
Gartner has a recent update to their research of hype cycles that takes into account disruption caused by the Covid pandemic.
Five emerging trends have been identified:
Social distancing technologies, related to the COVID-19 pandemic, are taking the fast track through the Hype Cycle and have high impact. Technologies rarely enter the Hype Cycle at the point where social distancing technologies has entered it
Wearable devices provide more reliable performance than smartphone apps because smartphones’ transmit and receive capabilities vary considerably across types of device. Using defined, known wristbands or lanyard devices eliminate the variances.
Read about Beacons for Workplace Social Distancing and Contact Tracing
There’s new research by Guglielmo Marconi University and University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy on Indoor Localization System Based on Bluetooth Low Energy for Museum Applications.
The use of location in museums allows personalised tour guidance and on-demand exhibit information to be provided. Location also allows analysis of visitor flows to better design spaces through the identification of choke points and redundant areas.
The system had visitors emit Eddystone beacon advertising received by ESP32-based devices acting as gateways to a server.
The research is novel in that it uses AI machine learning on the received signal strength (RSSI) to infer location. This helps overcome the problems of variable signal strength experienced in indoor locations due to reflections and obstacles. It also prevents the need for fingerprinting the entire area which is time consuming and fails when the physical situation changes.
The method achieved accuracy of the order of 2m and this improved to 1m with the use of more receivers.
Read about Using Beacons, iBeacons for Real-time Locating Systems (RTLS)
There’s a new virtual Bluetooth Developer Meetup arranged for 15th October 2020. The first event will include talks from experienced Bluetooth developers from Google, Samsung, Foundries.IO and Bluetooth SIG.
It’s interesting how many of our clients come to us with a problem to solve and in talking through possible solutions they often suddenly have the thought, ‘That’s IoT isn’t it?’. They weren’t looking for an IoT or Industry 4.0 solution but they got there by a different route. Indeed, it’s always best to start by solving problems rather than trying to fit technology into existing processes.
So what are the typical problems in factories? While companies usually have systems to take orders and invoice for them, what goes on in between is often a manual paper process. Knowing where an order is physically and hence how far it has been completed often requires lots of ringing round. Similarly, there are usually problems finding parts for jobs. Parts arrive in boxes or in pallets and are stored somewhere pending jobs. Finding the right pallet or box on a large site can be a challenge. It might be in storage, already on the factory floor somewhere or in transit between areas. Sometimes, delicate parts might be left in the wrong places and spoil due to excess humidity or in some cases incorrect temperature. Expensive tools and equipment tends to be shared between work areas and this can also get mislaid, lost or stolen.
All these problems cause delays in production, reduced productivity, incur penalties or future lost orders due to delayed work and cause employee frustration.
The solution is to better track jobs, parts, sub-assemblies and shared valuable tools so that they can be located on factory plans. This tracking needs to be continuous and real-time because merely scanning things in/out using barcodes is open to human error and location is otherwise only as good as the last scan. Historical data shows where things have been in the past. Analysis of this data allows blockages to be identified so that the process as a whole can be refined to improve efficiency and production.
The result is reduced downtime, less time re-ordering or re-making things that have been lost, optimum productivity and better use of skilled staff doing their job rather than searching for things.
Read about Beacons in Industry and the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)
We recently came across a library ‘iBeacon scanner android’ for Android that allows you to scan for iBeacon and receive notifications when one or more specific beacons enter or exist range. The source code is on GitHub.
S Sindhumol of Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, India presents recent research into Implementation and Analysis of a Smart Team Management System using iOS Devices as iBeacon (pdf).
The key thing about this research is that it uses iOS rather than a beacon to advertise iBeacon. The system allows the entire team to determine the location of other members, perform location based tasks, receive announcements and communicate via instant chat.
The paper contains some useful analysis of accuracy of distance measurement on distance, interference, measured power and obstructions:
On iOS it’s only possible to advertise iBeacon if the app is in foreground:
The major limitation of the proposed app is battery drainage while keeping the app active all the time in the foreground
A more practical system would have been implemented by having the users carry a separate wearable beacon. This would have allowed presence to be detected when the app isn’t in foreground and there wouldn’t have been a problem with excessive iOS battery use.
