Fun With iBeacon

http://andreamazz.github.io/blog/2014/07/01/fun-with-ibeacon/

by knowbody • 12 years ago

73 49 12 years ago

andreamazz.github.io

Great to see some more public development around the iBeacon. Yesterday, Panic, showed us their project for a "punch clock" system: http://www.panic.com/blog/punchclock-fun-with-ibeacons/

I am very excited to see where this development proceeds. The usefulness is somewhat like geofencing but for smaller areas and much more accurate since the range of the iBeacon is so small (vs GPS).

keehun• 12 years ago

It'd be cool if Panic could clarify a point made in this article which states that delay of detecting whether or not the device has left a region is around 10-15 minutes. Seems like a sizable chunk of time for a clock-in-out app.

caruana• 12 years ago

The article was pointing out that was one of the cons to iBeacon with iOS 7.0 but seems to have been upgraded to a few seconds in iOS 7.1 ... maybe panic requires iOS 7.1?

jimiasty5• 12 years ago

Based on our experience at Estimote entering the region is triggering iOS action much faster than leaving the region and this is how it works for iOS at the moment (probably phone battery optimization).

Entering region is super responsive (aprox. few seconds). Exit the region might take up to a minute+.

If you are building smart alarm-clock it is much better to detect if you entered the bathroom or kitchen than detecting if you left bedroom.

chuck8088• 12 years ago

So, if I build something using iBeacon, what do I for android users, laugh?

Ysx• 12 years ago

iBeacon is an Apple-defined BLE protocol - there's no reason you can't use it on Android, and we build apps that do exactly that.

fuziontech• 12 years ago

Estimote has an android API that is very similar to their iOS implementation.

https://github.com/Estimote/Android-SDK

andreamazz2• 12 years ago

Hi, I'm the author of the blog post. We also developed an Android client using the Estimote open source SDK, we're planning to pubblish that on Github as well. Since iBeacon is just a fancy word for saying B4LE, Android devices that ship with Bluetooth 4 chips work just fine.

MrQuincle2• 12 years ago

I am actually surprised that the Bluetooth consortium just lets Apple re-brand a very limited use of BLE. Namely sending an ID, not really such a feat... Let say it like this: If you buy a development kit from, say, Nordic, their example applications have more functionality.

Especially that Apple is licensing this technology, https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/, is totally ridiculous! Moreover, they are patenting this kind of stuff: http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2014/05/apple-gr.... It's a sad world. I'm glad I've already demonstrable some code online: https://github.com/mrquincle/bluenet which dates from before these patents.

vinhboy• 12 years ago

Does Apple sell any transmitters?

GuiA• 12 years ago

Not at the moment.

Linell• 12 years ago

I recently read an article about a university using iBeacons to help fans navigate their way around stadiums, among other things. The possibilities for stuff like this are just really cool.

http://msbusiness.com/blog/2014/07/08/ole-miss-offering-new-...

jimiasty5• 12 years ago

We curate a list of applications and case studies of beacon deployments: https://community.estimote.com/hc/en-us/sections/200364446-V...

There is fun stuff from quadrocopter 3d positioning till contact-less payments.

razrunelord• 12 years ago

Does this only work from an iOS test device? Not from the simulator?

andreamazz2• 12 years ago

Yes, you need a device to test this out. You can emualte a beacon with your Mac (there's a link to the app on the blog post) and that's about it.

filleokus• 12 years ago

No, Apple dropped BLE support from the simulator with iOS 7. It was really quite flaky and quite cumbersome to set up, so mostly I just used the device any ways.

jimiasty5• 12 years ago

You can also simulate Estimote Beacons just by downloading the app from App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/estimote/id686915066?mt=8

Tap "beacons" and hit "turn this device into an iBeacon". Works for any BLE-enabled iDevice which is iPhone4S+

localhost30004• 12 years ago

Been doing some iBeacon dev and deployments for about 8 months. The estimote hardware is just outrageously expensive compared to what you can source from China with little effort. As in, 3-4x the cost. If you're just doing simple BTLE proximity I don't know why you'd need a $30 beacon (I guess they have some other sensors built into their beacon as well?)...if you're making a toy, fine, but if your intent is to deploy thousands (or even dozens, really) of beacons it just doesn't make any sense. I suspect in a year's time generic hardware will be had at < 1/10th the price of an estimote.

roberthahn4• 12 years ago

One reason why people continue to use $30 beacons is marketing. The companies selling it for that much are clearly explaining what their tech is, and assures us that it works with iPhones.

For a lot of us (myself included), this is new stuff. Unlike you, we wouldn't have a clue what part to search for, nor could we be sure that whatever we do get is guaranteed to work. I've looked around, and this article is the first I found that clearly connected iBeacon to BTLE.

Even with that, I still have no idea what exactly I'd be looking for in a cheap iBeacon hotspot - would it be a BTLE chipset attached to an ARM? Do I need to install an OS? Should I look for something with an SD card?

Those aren't stupid questions - they're the questions anyone would ask if they're not sure where to start. So those $30 beacons start looking like a pretty good value now.

So you've been working on this for 8 months? Quit holding out on us and write something up! :) If the comments here are any indication, there's a need.

localhost30004• 12 years ago

That's a valid point re marketing, education, support... I'll write something once we're a bit further along.

jimiasty5• 12 years ago

Hi, this is Jakub, co-founder & ceo of Estimote. Yes, you are right - there are additional sensors into each Estimote Beacon like temperature & accelerometer. You can read more about them here: http://blog.estimote.com/post/87918401035/firmware-update-ac...

The challenge with cheap, Chinese beacons is that beacon deployments in general are site-specific at the moment. They require configuration, enabling security, calibration, etc.

We sell currently Dev Kits that consist of 3 beacons as well as free iOS & Android SDK, responsive support, 20K+ developers community portal, cloud-based fleet management tool and more.

Each beacon is in fact tiny computer with ARM processor, flash memory and sensors. Thanks to our iOS app you can configure range of the beacon, optimize battery life and security. We update our firmware on monthly-basis so even if you bought beacons 6 months ago you can download the latest version over-the-air and enable sensors and new tech and there is more to come soon.

We all agree that beacons will be everywhere in the future and deployed at scale. The fact is that beacons cost will be still tiny part of the budget dedicated to build the context-aware app. We have partnered with many companies like Knoll to build such apps (http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/17/estimote-knoll-partner-to-b...) and believe the value is in the underlying software delivered together with high quality hardware.

roberthahn4• 12 years ago

I checked out your site - how come there's no tech specs page? This is good info to have, but it's still incomplete. I'm still wondering: how much flash memory? Can a mobile app send messages to the mote to write data, or are the motes read-only points of contact?

localhost30004• 12 years ago

I appreciate what you guys are doing and get that you're here to make a profit etc but even now at this super early stage the market for beacon hardware is so competitive that you've totally priced yourself out for people like me. I'll be deploying >1000 beacons this year. Beacons take about 30 seconds to configure using a configuration app (of which there are many). The biggest cost in doing a deployment is literally transporting the thing to it's location and placing it. The hardware should cost next to nothing (which it will pretty soon). The real value, like you've said, is in the services running atop the hardware. Just my opinion... That said, I'm interested in hearing what a partnership looks like w/ you guys since, as I said, I am deploying many beacons this year and for the foreseeable future.

chintanp• 12 years ago

Could you recommend other cheaper options which you have tried?

stenito• 12 years ago

Hi there! When we take a look at customers interests in total cost of ownership (TCO) of iBeacons in a production environment, we find that they the purchase price of the beacon is never an issue if you explain why they should not buy cheap iBeacons. Here's a post with clear figures explaining the difference in TCO between beacons. http://www.marconilabs.com/?p=1214

lnanek2• 12 years ago

For Android people, there's a very good library here: http://developer.radiusnetworks.com/ibeacon/android/index.ht...

And here is an example of using it on Google Glass to trigger various experiences at Airport beacons like parking, security, and checkout that I wrote for a hackathon: https://github.com/lnanek/WearableTraveler

Some of the American Airlines employees at the event mentioned installing hundreds of iBeacon in a terminal, so you can expect them to actually be out in the wild.

yresnob• 12 years ago

we use these primarily but have used others including estimote since 2013...

https://www.gimbal.com/gimbal-proximity-beacons

less than 5 dollars each for series 10 and a security model that folks should seriously look into IMO...or u can use iBeacon configuration.

Originally by Qualcomm so u know the hardware is solid.

bhowden• 12 years ago

Interesting discussion. If you're looking for a software platform that sits over your hardware you should check out Lighthouse: http://lighthousebeacon.com.au/ - allows you to control content delivery and includes advanced analytics.

sos100• 12 years ago

I think it's important (for everyone) to clarify that Beacon DevPacks (typically 3 Beacons, SDK, etc.) are different to Beacon Production Orders (I'd like 2000 beacons for my set of stores). Pricing for the former is generally around $20 or so per beacon, while the 1000's tend to drop off rapidly. Just my 2 cents. (Sean @localsocial)

Fun With iBeacon

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