A crash course in iBeacon technology

Tyson Bradford Mobile Lead at Klyp

Who is Klyp?

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

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

What are iBeacons?

• Come in various shapes and sizes

• iBeacon protocol developed by Apple

• Released with iOS 7 September 2013

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

Beacon hardware

Estimote

• Most popular amongst developers

• Polish company

• $35/beacon

Beacon hardware

BlueCats

• Australian company

• Replaceable AA batteries

• $30/beacon

Beacon hardware

Other popular devices

• Gimbal (by Qualcomm)

• Kontact.io

• White label (Alibaba)

How do iBeacons work?What's under the hood?

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

BLE with iBeacon

• iBeacon acts as a BLE protocol

• Particular packet message format

• What do these packets look like?

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

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

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

Minimum specifications

Android

• Android 4.3+

• BLE compatible device

• Bluetooth enabled

• Custom App

• No official support for iBeacons*

• BLE still unstable*

Beacons vs. GPS

• Power consumption

• Indoor accuracy

How do apps interact with iBeacons?

What information can apps use?

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

Region monitoring

Region monitoring

Region monitoring

Ranging

• Receive approximate distances between device and beacons

• Polling occurs at 1Hz

• Distance calculated using RSSI

• Only available while app is in foreground

Shortcomings

• Crude distance calculations: ±50%

• Very sensitive to environment

• Limited maximum range

• High barrier to opt-in

iBeacons at workHow are they being used today?

Micro-location

Micro-location

• Provide location specific information

• Notifications for passive use

• Custom in screen displays for active use

Micro-location

Marketing

• Special offers

• Limited time discounts

Micro-location

Shopkick

Micro-location

Informational

• Galleries

• Museums

• Exhibitions

• Zoos

• Retail

Micro-location

The Rubens House

Business intelligence

Bringing web-like analytics to the physical world

Entering iBeacon area

Time in store

Customer movement

Purchase

Business intelligence

• Not only useful for marketers

• Improve user experience based on findings

Wayfinding

Wayfinding

Meridian and MLB.com Ballpark

Wayfinding

Limitations

• Trilateration is difficult with noisy signals

• Discreet grid system more robust

• Calibration required

Electronic leashing

Electronic leashing

• Make use of the “exit” notification

• Become aware when you are separated from a beacon

Electronic leashing

Nivea Sun Kids

Electronic locks

Electronic locks

Bitlock

Electronic locks

UniKey's Kevo

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

Case studiesSome of Klyp’s iBeacon work

NightOwl Convenience

NightOwl Convenience

Challenges

• Live store notification messages

• Installation

• Battery life

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

Find My Things

Find My Things

Challenges

• Hardware selection

• Range filtering (low-pass)

Future of iBeacon

Predictions

• IoT will have strong links to iBeacon and BLE

• Improved range reliability

• Android support

Final noteProvide value to users/customers

Any questions?Come and see me afterwards for a Find My Things beacon