iBeacon – facts, architecture and applications - summary on Apple's iBeacon technology and how to buld fancy indoor location based services

1. Content
iBeacon – facts, architecture and applications
Mirko Ross, CEO echolot digital worx, m.ross@digital-worx.de
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

2. About beacons
"Beacons" help guide navigators to their destinations
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Small devices (beacons) are placed as signal transmitters in space
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Smartphones in the range of a transmitter can be identified
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The location of the smartphone in space can be calcuated by trilateration
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Information and interaction can be triggered depending on the location of
the smartphone.
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

3. About beacons
Transmitter are based on BLE 4.0 (Bluetooth Low Energy)
Bare BLE Transmitter
estimote iBeacons
Gimbal Beacons
Paypal Beacon
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Transmitter can be special units, smartphones, tablets, pc's, bluetooth dongles...
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Beacon are only sending units – that's different to NFC two way communication
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BLE signal range from 0 up to 30m
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Proprietary standards by Apple (iBeacon), Qualcomm (Gimbal), Paypal...
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

4. iBeacon standard
iBeacon by Apple
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Indroduced by Apple Inc. with iOS 7
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Location based indoor services rolled out at US Apple Stores in Dec. 2013
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Jan. 2014 CES fair established an indoor scavenger hunt
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More roll outs expected in 2014: Grocery Stores (US), Safeway Stores (US)...
Supported platforms:
Apple IOS 7
Android 4.3
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

5. iBeacon range
iBeacon range
Signal zones of iBeacon:
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0 – 0.5m Immediate
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0.5 – 2m Near
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2 – 30m Far
Device can track if it enters
or leaves a signal zone
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

6. iBeacon signal
Receiving an iBeacon signal
Signal transmitting: UUID of the Service Provider, Beacon Group ID (Major), Beacon
ID (Minor), Signal strength, Energy Level, Proximity level (Zones)
Beause it's low energy the signal can be muted by interior (e.g. windows, curtains)
and human bodies. Position of the transmitter is important for accuracy.
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

7. iBeacon locations
Placing Beacons for indoor services
By placing beacons transmitters
the receiving unit can be tracked
and guided indoor.
Position can be calculated by
overlapping Zones.
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

8. iBeacon locations
Placing Beacons for indoor services
Beacon Group tracking the
entrance area: entering / leaving
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

9. iBeacon locations
Placing Beacons for indoor services
Single Beacons
on POI / POS
for push services
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

10. iBeacon locations
Placing Beacons for indoor services
Beacon Group tracking
areas: e.g. heat maps
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

11. iBeacon applications
Indoor services and applications
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

12. iBeacon applications
Proximity Push
Identify nearby devices
and send a notification to
the smartphone
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

13. iBeacon applications
Track an trace heatmaps
Identify POI / POS traffic
and create heatmaps
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

14. iBeacon applications
Scavenger hunt
Define waypoints and
push hints for the the next
point to establish an
Indoor gaming experience
Start
Goal
Waypoint 1
Waypoint 2
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de

15. iBeacon applications
Beacon → APP ↔ Server Communication
App
- Trace beacons
Server
- Trace apps
- Send / receive server data
- Display push information
- Controls for user interaction
- Send / receive app data
- Check Beacon Database
- Check Content Database
- Push information to smartphones
5
1
2
Beacon
Transmitting (BLE 4.0)
3
Beacon DB
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de
4
Content DB

16. Thanks for your attention
Contact
Mirko Ross
CEO / echolot digital worx GmbH
Founder Personal Cyber Protection Institute
Member IoT Council
m.ross@digital-worx.de
More about iBeacon:
http://www.ibeacon-navigation.com
echolot digital worx GmbH - Germany - www.digital-worx.de