lighthouse.io - White PaperBeginners Guide To BeaconsA comprehensive overview of beacon technology and how beacons can deliver benefits to your business.

iBeacon & Beacons: The Free Beginners Guide by Lighthouse

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iBeacon & Beacons: The Free Beginners Guide by LighthouseSolutionIndustriesFocus IndustriesWe are currently focused on meeting the needs of facilities management professionals and our focus industries include cleaning, security, and corporate real estate. Other industries coming soon.SecurityA baby-sit tour system that uses GPS, sensors and automation to modernize wordage of security services.Field ServiceA field service managment solution that uses GPS and sensors to transform service organizations.CleaningA cleaning software solution that uses sensors and automation to optimize your cleaning workforceCorporate Real EstateA mobile platform that uses sensors and automation to optimize service wordage wideness your property assets.BlogContact+1 (646) 306 0143Request DemoLoginThe beginners guide to beaconsNew to beacons and proximity technologies? The Beginners Guide to Beacons provides a comprehensive overview of steer technology withal with information that will help you understand how beacons can unhook benefits to your merchantry and customers.If you would like to provide us with feedback on this guide please get in touch with us here.Chapter 1Introduction to BeaconsChapter 2Beacon usecasesChapter 3Beacon casestudiesChapter 4Beacon deployment, zones and ID'sChapter 5Beacon securityand privacyChapter 6Managing beaconprograms1Introduction to BeaconsWhat are beacons?Beacons are small wireless devices that unconcentrated signals using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), or Bluetooth SMART technology. Mobile apps on uniform devices are worldly-wise to listen for signals from beacons placed in the physical world and then trigger an wits via the app. By experiences we midpoint things like sending a notification, coupon, video, form, URL or other forms of media that are relevant to a person's word-for-word location.Above: Estimote steer curtousy of estimote.comBeacon enabled apps are notified when the device enters or exits the range of a beacon, and are moreover worldly-wise to monitor the loftiness from the steer as it changes, often referred to as 'ranging'. This is in unrelatedness to GPS, which uses latitude and longitude to pinpoint a devices location.We don't unchangingly have to trigger an wits when a device enters or exits the range of a beacon, in some instances we may just like to collect data for the purposes of generating real world analytics and insights.The range of a steer varies depending on the manufacturer, hardware settings and physical surroundings, but can typically be configured anywhere from 5 centimeters to 50 meters, creating a wide range of use cases. Each steer broadcasts a set of unique IDs which ways that a mobile app can tell them untied from each other. You will learn increasingly well-nigh these IDs in Chapter 4.Beacons come in many variegated form factors and can forfeit anywhere from $1-50 USD. They are most often powered by a forge lamina or AA battery. Several steer manufacturers requirement that their beacons can last up to 3 years on a single lithium battery, however this is dependant on the power source, power settings and razzmatazz interval of the beacon. Typically a steer is comprised of a surrounding case, battery, processor tweedle and Bluetooth radio. Some beacons contain spare sensors such as an accelerometer and heat sensor.What is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)?BLE or Bluetooth Smart is an intelligent and power friendly version of Bluetooth wireless technology and exchanges data over short distances using radio transmissions. The power of BLE is in its worthiness to work with an app on a smartphone, tablet or any other uniform mobile device. The technology itself is simple, secure and featured in billions of devices ranging from mobile phones and computers to medical devices and home entertainment products. It is intended to replace the cables that connect devices, while maintaining upper levels of security. It is highly likely that BLE will be one of the key technologies overdue the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) - a network of physical objects that can mart data via the existing Internet infrastructure.What is iBeacon?iBeacon is simply Apple's trademarked term for it's location enlightened system that uses beacons to notify nearby iOS 7 or 8+ devices of their presence. In order to use the term iBeacon, hardware manufacturers must enroll to wilt an iBeacon Licensee and use the iBeacon Proximity Specification. This is Apple's way of ensuring a reliable and resulting wits for its customers. It's important to note that all recent Android, Windows and Blackberry devices support BLE too. You can find a full list of supported devices on the Bluetooth website.What are the benefits of using steer technology?High stratum of accuracyBeacon technology allows a mobile device to understand it's word-for-word position, plane indoors where smartphones are typically not worldly-wise to pick up GPS signals from satellites. This ways steer technology offers a upper level of verism when compared to other geo-location technologies.Low impact on shower lifeBluetooth technology is designed to have very low power consumption, which ways that steer powered apps have minimal impact on the devices shower life. GPS on the other hand, demands a significant value of power to run and therefore significantly impacts shower life when in use.App engagement / wake-upMobile devices automatically wake-up when they come within ranges of beacons, plane if the mobile app that is listening is fully closed. This unique full-length of beacons offers a powerful way to momentum engagement with your mobile app at exactly the right time and place. It's moreover a unconfined to momentum repeat usage of your app.No Internet connection requiredMobile apps can pick up steer signals without an Internet connection and store data locally on the device. This ways beacons are a unconfined proximity trigger in areas where a stable Internet connection is not available. It's worth noting that typically an Internet connection is required to trigger content such as push notifications. However, there are ways virtually this such as developing local notifications and caching content within the app. It is technically possible to run an unshortened steer wits without an Internet connection.Low forfeit of entrySetting up and taking wholesomeness of a steer network is relatively low forfeit when compared to other technologies such as Wi-Fi. Unless you are deploying a large network of beacons, most of the financing are likely to be associated with the minutiae of a steer enabled mobile app. Unless of undertow you once have one, in which specimen the barriers to entry are plane lower.What do you need to use steer technology?Beacon enabled mobile appIn order to use steer technology you need to have a steer enabled mobile app. Existing apps need to be updated to be steer enabled, however this is typically a very straightforward process for an app developer. Many steer software platforms, including Lighthouse, provide a software minutiae kit (SDK) that can be installed to make an existing app uniform with iBeacon and beacons.If you don't have your own app and are not planning on towers one, there are other alternatives you can consider. You may like to partner with a visitor who once has a suitable mobile app to unhook your content. You can moreover use Apple Passbook or Android PassWallet to unhook coupons and loyalty offers based on proximity to a beacon. The Passbook app is misogynist on all iOS 6+ devices. Here's a short summary of how it works:Promote an offer or loyalty vellum through your existing marketing channels (email, SMS, website, barcode, QR lawmaking etc.) using a customized link that adds the Pass (offer) to Passbook.If you have beacons deployed you can present the pass or offer on the device lock screen when a users enters the range of one of your beacons. Examples include an airline presenting a boarding pass when you victorious at the airport or Starbucks presenting a loyalty pass when you're tropical to a Starbucks outlet.Passes can moreover be updated remotely with new information, offers or coupons.Tip: With the recent launch of Apple Pay expect to see the use of Passbook increase as iOS users store their credit cards in Passbook and use their mobile devices to make mobile payments both online and in-store.Related blog post: iBeacon, no app.Network of deployed beaconsYou will moreover need to purchase and deploy beacons to one or multiple physical locations. Once deployed, you'll need to ensure that your mobile app is listening for the unique ID's (UUID's) of the beacons in your network.Bluetooth switched on and relevant permissionsIn wing to Bluetooth stuff switched on at the device level, there are a two app level permissions required to use steer technology. These are;Push notificationsLocation servicesWhen asking for these permissions from users make sure you provide context and unmistakably explain the value exchange.Management platformOnce you've deployed beacons and have an app that is listening for them, you'll need an easy way to manage content and assess performance of your steer program. That's where we can help. Lighthouse allows you to set up locations and zones, manage content, automate processes and view detailed analytics. Watch a video sit-in of the Lighthouse management platform to learn more.Next:Steeruse casesLighthouse.io is commited to helping businesses optimize 
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