A crash course in iBeacon technology
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Interested in iBeacon technology but have no idea what it is or how it works? This presentation aims to give a quick insights to this technology by explaining how it works and how it can be applied to create location-aware mobile apps.
A crash course in iBeacon technology
- 2. A crash course in iBeacon technology Tyson Bradford Mobile Lead at Klyp
- 4. Who is Klyp?
- 5. What do we know about iBeacons? ? Working with iBeacons since June 2014 ? Delivered Australia¡¯s largest iBeacon roll-out (70+ retail stores) ? 4x Klyp iBeacon apps in App Store and Google Play
- 6. What are iBeacons? ? Small devices that emit a bluetooth signal ? This signal can be received by smartphones ? Allows smartphones to gain micro-location context awareness ? Opens the door for many new innovative apps
- 7. What are iBeacons? ? Come in various shapes and sizes ? iBeacon protocol developed by Apple ? Released with iOS 7 September 2013
- 8. What are iBeacons? Semantics & Confusion ? ¡°iBeacon¡± is Apple TM ? Refers to the software protocol ? Entire technology now referred to as ¡°iBeacons¡± or ¡°beacons¡± ? Apple does NOT manufacture iBeacon hardware
- 9. Beacon hardware Estimote ? Most popular amongst developers ? Polish company ? $35/beacon
- 10. Beacon hardware BlueCats ? Australian company ? Replaceable AA batteries ? $30/beacon
- 11. Beacon hardware Other popular devices ? Gimbal (by Qualcomm) ? Kontact.io ? White label (Alibaba)
- 12. How do iBeacons work? What's under the hood?
- 13. Bluetooth Low Energy ? Underlying technology of iBeacons ? Bluetooth variant with ultra-low power consumption ? Also known as ¡°Bluetooth Smart¡±, ¡°Bluetooth LE¡± and ¡°BLE¡± ? Merged into main Bluetooth standards in v4.0
- 14. BLE with iBeacon ? iBeacon acts as a BLE protocol ? Particular packet message format ? What do these packets look like?
- 15. BLE with iBeacon ? Estimote default settings: ProximityUUID = B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6D MajorID = 1 MinorID = 1 ? Why not just have a single ID? Store Location San Francisco Paris London UUID D9B9EC1F-3925-43D0-80A9-1E39D4CEA95C Major 1 2 3 Minor Clothing 10 10 10 Housewares 20 20 20 Automotive 30 30 30
- 16. Apps ? Beacons are purely broadcasters ? Apps are the bridge between beacon and smartphone ? All logic is handled by the smartphone using apps ? No app = no action
- 17. Minimum specifications Apple ? iOS 7.0+ ? iPhone 4S, iPad 3rd Gen, iPad Mini, iPod Touch 5th Gen ? Macs with OS X Mavericks + BLE ? Bluetooth enabled ? Custom app (or Passbook) ? Location services enabled
- 19. Minimum specifications Android ? Android 4.3+ ? BLE compatible device ? Bluetooth enabled ? Custom App ? No official support for iBeacons* ? BLE still unstable*
- 20. Beacons vs. GPS ? Power consumption ? Indoor accuracy
- 21. How do apps interact with iBeacons? What information can apps use?
- 22. Region monitoring ? App can subscribe to pings ? Ping sent from OS when region is entered or exited ? This can occur whilst app is closed ? App can then perform an action
- 26. Ranging ? Receive approximate distances between device and beacons ? Polling occurs at 1Hz ? Distance calculated using RSSI ? Only available while app is in foreground
- 27. Shortcomings ? Crude distance calculations: ¡À50% ? Very sensitive to environment ? Limited maximum range ? High barrier to opt-in
- 28. iBeacons at work How are they being used today?
- 29. Micro-location
- 30. Micro-location ? Provide location specific information ? Notifications for passive use ? Custom in screen displays for active use
- 31. Micro-location Marketing ? Special offers ? Limited time discounts
- 33. Micro-location Informational ? Galleries ? Museums ? Exhibitions ? Zoos ? Retail
- 35. Business intelligence Bringing web-like analytics to the physical world Entering iBeacon area Time in store Customer movement Purchase
- 36. Business intelligence ? Not only useful for marketers ? Improve user experience based on findings
- 37. Wayfinding
- 38. Wayfinding Meridian and MLB.com Ballpark
- 39. Wayfinding Limitations ? Trilateration is difficult with noisy signals ? Discreet grid system more robust ? Calibration required
- 41. Electronic leashing ? Make use of the ¡°exit¡± notification ? Become aware when you are separated from a beacon
- 42. Electronic leashing Nivea Sun Kids
- 43. Electronic locks
- 46. Security ? iBeacon IDs are easy to sniff ? Other apps can use your IDs ? Other beacons can pretend to be yours ? Some beacon suppliers provide option for rotating IDs ? Avoid using default IDs that are shipped with beacons
- 47. Case studies Some of Klyp¡¯s iBeacon work
- 49. NightOwl Convenience Challenges ? Live store notification messages ? Installation ? Battery life
- 50. NightOwl Convenience Outcomes ? 35,000 app downloads in 3 months ? Top 10 in "Food and Drink" category ? 55,000 beacon interactions in first 12 weeks
- 51. Find My Things
- 52. Find My Things Challenges ? Hardware selection ? Range filtering (low-pass)
- 54. Predictions ? IoT will have strong links to iBeacon and BLE ? Improved range reliability ? Android support
- 55. Final note Provide value to users/customers
- 56. Any questions? Come and see me afterwards for a Find My Things beacon