Learn how to deploy hundreds of Aruba Beacons, powered by Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and manage them centrally or via a mobile app. We'll also discuss how your business partners can take advantage of the Aruba Meridian platform to kick start their mobile engagement efforts and personalize the customer Wi-Fi experience using a custom-branded mobile app and indoor location services.
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Best practices in deploying and managing aruba bluetooth low energy (ble) beacons
1. #ATM16
Best practices in deploying
and managing Aruba Beacons
Nick Newton
Director, Product Management – Mobile Engagement
March 8, 2016 @ArubaNetworks |
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Mobile Engagement
A “Full Stack” to enable Digital User Experiences with Location
Meridian-
Powered Mobile
App
White-label or
custom app w/ SDK
Aruba Beacons
Blue dot directions
and notifications
based on real-time
position
Aruba AP w/
integrated Beacon
Communicates with Aruba
Beacons and Meridian
Platform
Meridian Platform
Location-based and personalized
content for apps
Monitor and manage beacon battery
level, operating mode / firmware
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A beacon can be configured as:
1.Location beacon:
For blue dot tracking
2.Proximity beacon:
For push notification purposes
To fully configure location beacons, only the Beacons app is required
Proximity beacon configuration follows a two-step process:
1. Use Beacons app to configure Aruba beacon
2. Use Meridian Editor to attach a campaign to the beacon
Configuring Beacons
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1.
Open the App Store and
search for Aruba Beacons
3.
Enter your Meridian
login credentials
2.
Install and launch the
Beacons app
Configuring Beacons
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2. Verify that locations from your Meridian account
show up
1. Tap on the “Accounts” tab
3. Select the location where you want to deploy the
beacon
Configuring Beacons
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Deployment Considerations
• Battery-powered Aruba beacons are adhesive and can
be mounted in different ways
• Most common mounting techniques: Wall mount and
ceiling mount
• Keep beacons out of reach
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Deployment Considerations
• In environments such as malls with open atriums, beacon signals may bleed across floors
• Result: Blue dot is inaccurate or shows up on the wrong floor
• Proper planning and custom deployment design may be required
Shop
Shop Shop
Shop
Shop
Shop
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65
38
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34
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32
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503
502
501
500
Location Tag
Proximity Tag
ATRIUM TOP-VIEW ATRIUM FLOORS: SIDE-VIEW
Slide courtesy: Wee Keng Tong
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Deployment Considerations
• Placing beacons on both sides of the hallway has shown to give the best blue dot experience
• Placing beacons closer to the ground (<=3 ft) and facing upwards reduces the chances of signal
bleeding across to the lower floors
• Floor placing may not be secure or realistic.
NEAR
SHOPS
NEAR GLASS
RAILINGS
SHOPS
12 ft
12 ft
• Area model used, in order to focus blue dot in the center of the walkway
• Path model with ceiling mounted beacons in the center would have worked, if not for
signals bleeding across the atrium floors, resulting in blue dot on the wrong floor.
22mm
glass
railing
Slide courtesy: Wee Keng Tong
WALK WAY TOP-VIEW
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Deployment Considerations
• Beacons may be placed on the outer side of glass railings to keep them out of reach of people
• The thickness of glass might attenuate the beacon signal
• Beacons could possibly be placed inside shop windows
WALK WAY TOP-VIEW
SHOPS
22mm
glass
railing
Slide courtesy: Wee Keng Tong
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Troubleshooting Campaigns
• Reset Campaigns
• At the top of the Campaigns screen, tap Reset
Campaigns to reset all of your Campaign
cooldowns.
• When you reset your Campaigns, devices
within range of Proximity Beacons will receive
those push notifications again.
• Device Status
• If INTERNET is Disconnected, make sure your
device is connected to the internet through a
Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
• If BLUETOOTH is Off, turn on Bluetooth on
your device.
• If LOCATION is Denied, give Beacons app
permission to use your location on your device.
• If NOTIFICATIONS is Disabled, give Beacons
app permission to send you notifications on
your device.
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Troubleshooting Campaigns
Information Displayed:
• Campaign Title
• Campaign ID
• Campaign Action or Type
• Message or 3rd-party endpoint notification
• Message or URL
• The message being send or the URL being
notified
• Campaign status
• Active or Inactive
• Campaign schedule
• Always or a specific date and time range
• The last time the Campaign was triggered
• Maps for every Beacon assigned to the
Campaign
• The complete activity log for the Campaign
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Box - Overview
Box is the modern content management platform for the enterprise supporting secure and
effortless collaboration from any devices
– 50,000 paying customers globally
– 52% of the Fortune 500 are Box customers
– 1,300 employees
– Offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia
– Headquartered in Redwood City, California
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Aruba Beacon Deployment Objective
1. Deliver a way-finding solution for Box’ new HQ enabling all Box employees to easily find
conference rooms and desks
• Reduce time spent on finding meeting locations
• Enhance user experience
2. Leverage proximity beacons to deliver targeted messages, streamline badging process,
simplify conference room check ins
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Box HQ Building in Redwood City, CA
• Brand new location
• 7 floors
• Over 100 conference rooms
• Over 800 desks
• 330,000 sqft
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Approach - Overview
1. Added Placemarks and Routing to maps
2. Ran small scale pilot: temporarily deployment of ~13 battery powered beacons through a
section of one floor. 2 pilot users
3. Extended pilot: permanent deployment of USB and battery powered beacons throughout one
floor. 15-20 pilot users
4. Deployed USB and battery powered beacons throughout all 7 floors
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Small Scale Pilot on 7th Floor
Approach
• Test space: open office
• Placed battery powered beacons on desks
• Area Model (test 1): 20 – 25 feet apart
• Path Model (test 2): 25 – 35 feet apart
• Used the app to navigate from a desk location to a
conference room
• Insignificant difference between test 1 and 2
• Level of effort: 1.5 hrs, two people
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Extended Pilot on 7th Floor
• Deployed USB beacons first (plugged into Aruba APs)
• 15-20 Pilot users
• Pursued iterative approach (based on user feedback) - to
augment USB deployment with battery powered beacons:
• Leveraged implementation reference guide
• Asymmetrical vs. symmetrical placement
• Max distance between beacons approx. 25 ft.
• Also considered design factors when placing beacons
(minimize impact on paint and aesthetics)
• Lessons learned: beacon placement is not a science
but a journey
• Deployed 2 proximity beacons to pilot campaigns
• Level of effort: 3 hours, 2 people, 1 ladder
• Pilot duration: 5 weeks
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Building-Wide Deployment
• Worked with contractor to install USB and battery powered
beacons
• Replicated 7th floor beacon placement
• LOE: 2 days, 2 people
• Total location beacon deployment: 80 USB, 150 battery
powered beacons
• Used XML feed to update placemark meta data
• White-label app distribution via app stores
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Join Aruba’s Titans of Tomorrow
force in the fight against network
mayhem. Find out what your
IT superpower is.
Share your results with friends
and receive a free superpower
t-shirt.
www.arubatitans.com
Partha – and not only Aruba technology but HPE includes consulting, program development and operational services. So we clearly can offer customers a “Full Stack”
Coop – so we have all heard about Levi Stadium and how Aruba enabled the user experience.
But, what example can you give us for the average Corporate Customer
Partha – well as you know HPE showed the Smart Conference room at Discover and again at MWC. Using Aruba technology we can automate items in the typical office that employees do every day.
Partha – Coop didn’t you tell me you had some Grad students looking a potential packaged Location based Services.
Coop – Yes, and while they have been interviewing different businesses they have identified some interesting ideas.
So how does it work? Aruba provides standalone beacons (2+ year battery life), beacons that plug into USB ports, or 802.11 ac Wifi with an integrated beacon that communicates with the Meridian Platform. The Aruba Beacons provide blue dot directions and notifications based on real-time position.
The ArubaMeridian-Powered Mobile App can be White-label or custom app w/ SDK. The Meridian Platform can provide location-based and personalized content for apps as well as monitor & manage beacon battery level, operating mode / firmware.
We differentiate from other vendors by how we adopted, manufactured a technology, ran several major deployments before we are announcing our solution
Realization: Beacon placement not a science but involves trial and error – especially when dealing with large open spaces and reflective walls
Contest Overview
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- Go to arubatitans.com to take a quick quiz to discover your superpower.
- Share your results with friends and encourage others to play the game
- Once you share, go to the Social and Community Hub, Gracia Commons, 3rd fl to pick up your free superpower shirt.
FAQ
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Share your IT superpower results with friends and encourage them to play the game. Then come to the Social & Community Hub, 3rd Floor Gracia Commons to pick up your shirt. We just need your name and badge for verification.
2. Where do I get my shirt?
Come to the #ATM16 Social & Community hub located at Gracia Commons on the 3rd Floor
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Unfortunately not. We encourage your colleague to participate so that they can win a shirt for themselves.
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