Configure Bluetooth Beacons
Bluetooth beacons can be used for positioning on the mobile client; respectively, for detecting proximity to an area, or even more detailed indoor positioning using trilateration.
Contents
Hardware requirements and installation
In order for beacon proximity to work, you require:
- A mobile device with bluetooth support
- One or multiple bluetooth beacons (UBIK® supports both standards, iBeacon and Eddystone)
- Technical details about the beacons (either from a data sheet or from a configuration app usually provided by the vendor)
Now for the installation; please apply for every beacon:
- Make sure the beacon works properly by testing them with the app presumably provided by the vendor.
- Note some technical details (see also SYSCLS PROXIMITY BEACON):
- The major and minor part of the beacon's ID, as well as the full UUID.
- The propagation factor depending on the environment, usually between 22 and 30.
- The transmission power of the beacon, usually somewhere between -10dBm and +8dBm.
- Find out where you want the beacon to be, i.e., the Geo coordinates of the beacon's position.
- Find out the proximity distance you want to have, i.e., how close to the beacon is close enough for the mobile device to be in range.
- Place the beacon in the target position, making sure it is powered and switched on.
Configuration of Proximity Beacons in UBIK®
Our target is to set up a beacon object that can be transmitted to the mobile client.
- Create a meta class implementing the SYSCLS PROXIMITY BEACON classification.
- Create one instance per beacon you're using. Fill in the properties with the values noted before:
- UUID: The uuid of the beacon.
- MAJOR: The major part of the beacon's ID.
- MINOR: The minor part of the beacon's ID.
- PROPAGATION_FACTOR: The propagation factor depending on the beacon's environment.
- TRANS_POWER: The transmission power of the beacon. It has to be between -10dBm and +8dBm. If the specification says otherwise, try 4dBm.
- PROXIMITY_DISTANCE: The distance threshold (radius) in Meters, within which the mobile device is close enough to the beacon to be in its proximity. Make sure it isn't too small or large.
- Now, make sure the beacon objects are transmitted to the mobile client, by creating a scope for it and adding them to the infrastructure of your ACM context (see also Make an Object appear on the Mobile Client).
- Test your setup by checking whether the beacon object is available on the client and whether your position is updated correctly when entering the circular area defined by the beacon's location and proximity distance.
Configuration of Trilateration Beacons in UBIK®
This works the same way as for proximity beacons (see above), but using a different classification, namely SYSCLS TRILATERATION BEACON.
Supported hardware
- Estimote Location Beacons (https://estimote.com/products/)
- Ecom Loc 1 or Loc Ex 1 (https://www.ecom-ex.com/products/mobile-computing/beacons/)
