Presentation about iBeacon for Developers. Fundamentals, iBeacon CMS setup, iBeacon Application flow and trilateration.

1. Whats New in iBeacon
Rob Amos

2. iOS 8
• Introduced at WWDC (June 2014)
• New Location Services Capabilities:
• Floor Detection
• Indoor Positioning System
• Lock Screen Store Proximity

3. Brand Name Deployments
• Duane Read trialling in New York
• Virgin Atlantic @ London Heathrow Airport
• ANKAmall in Istanbul, Turkey
• US baseball games
• US grocery chains (Giant Eagle, Safeway, Walgreens and Walmart)

4. iBeacon Fundamentals
Rob Amos

5. iBeacon Fundamentals
• Available Information
• CMS-backed Applications
• Trilateration / Indoor Positioning

6. Far
Near
Immediate
Available Information
• One second averages
• Beacon details:
• Unique Identifier (Manufacturer)
• Major Number (Series, Site,
Location)
• Minor Number (Beacon Number)
• Proximity (Immediate, Near, Far)
• Accuracy (Distance)
• RSSI (Relative Signal Strength)

7. RSSI Proximity Accuracy
03:54:21 -53 near 2.260
03:54:22 -53 near 1.983
03:54:23 -58 near 2.068
03:54:24 -53 near 1.816
03:54:25 -49 near 1.364
03:54:26 -49 near 1.129
03:54:27 -53 near 1.174
03:54:28 -55 near 1.292
03:54:29 -54 near 1.337
03:54:30 -54 near 1.367
03:54:31 -53 near 1.350
03:54:32 -51 near 1.266
03:54:33 -51 near 1.212
Example

8. AWS Cloud
CMS Database
CMS Setup
• Changes are specific to each CMS
• Tie iBeacon to Content
• Simple WordPress Example:
• Add Page
• Set Permalink to /UUID-major-minor/
• Strip unnecessary HTML, show just
content.

9. Application Flow
Ignore Broadcast
Receive iBeacon
Broadcast
http://yourcms.com/
UUID-major-minor/
iBeacon within
range?
Page exists?
Already displaying
content?
Fetch page for iBeacon Display page

10. Other Tips
• Report last seen time for each beacon
→ maintenance.
• Don’t rely on accuracy setting for point
in time distance.
• Data smoothing improves accuracy but
reduces responsiveness.
• Context-aware is just the beginning,
use your imagination.

11. Trilateration
(Indoor Positioning)
• Device coordinates on an x,y grid.
• Accurate to within 1-3m.
• Use device sensors (accelerometer,
gyroscope) to improve accuracy.
• Calculated using signal strength and
approximate distance to multiple beacons.
• At least three beacons required to be
visible.

12. Trilateration Example
1m1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5

13. Proximity RSSI Accuracy
Beacon1 Near -65 2.83
Trilateration Example
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5

14. Trilateration Example
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5
Proximity RSSI Accuracy
Beacon1 Near -65 2.83
Beacon2 Near -65 3.61
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5

15. Trilateration Example
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5
Proximity RSSI Accuracy
Beacon1 Near -65 2.83
Beacon2 Near -65 3.61
Beacon3 Near -57 3.61
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5

16. Trilateration Example
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5
2, 2
Proximity RSSI Accuracy
Beacon1 Near -65 2.83
Beacon2 Near -65 3.61
Beacon3 Near -57 3.61
Beacon4 Far -66 4.24

17. Trilateration Example
But it’s never that accurate!
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5
2, 2
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5
2, 2

18. Trilateration Example
Indoor Positioning is messy.
!
But usable.
1m
0, 0 0, 5
5, 0 5, 5
2, 2

19. Questions?