iBeacon
2015 Is the Year Beacons Break Through
2015 is predicted to be a big year for beacons, with some analysts suggesting that beacons could influence up to 7% of sales at US retail stores operated by the top 100 retailers this year. The Apple-owned iBeacon standard is the current market leader, with beacon suppliers like Estimote now established as approved hardware manufacturers, and […]
Determining Indoor Position using iBeacon
iBeacon provides a convenient solution for indoor proximity detection. Integrated within Apple’s Core Location framework, it supports the following modes: Monitoring – detects if the user is inside predefined region, covered by one or multiple beacons with the same identifier. Ranging – determines how far the user is from a beacon, providing output such as proximity (e.g. […]
7 things you probably didn’t know about iBeacons
Last year Apple announced iBeacons at the WWDC conference in June, and while most people know what it is, most have the wrong idea of what iBeacons can really do. You can also read the two earlier posts about iBeacons: part 1 and part 2 to learn more. My team and I decided to build […]
Mesh Networks in iOS7
One of the more interesting features to be released as a part of iOS7 was the Multipeer Connectivity framework. The framework allows for the creation of mesh networks through communication between multiple devices in close proximity without having to be connected via traditional wifi. The framework supports connectivity using Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), infrastructure wifi […]
iBeacon Primer Part II: iBeacon vs. Geofencing
In Part I of our iBeacon series my colleague Andy Hawkes introduced the concept of iBeacons. My team and I have also been playing around with the creative possibilities of this new technology and testing its technical limitations. On our floor we’ve configured a Raspberry Pi as an iBeacon and have been working with at least one […]
iBeacon Primer Part I: Mythbusting
Since Apple stealthily announced the inclusion of iBeacons as a part of iOS7 at WWDC in June 2013 there has been a lot of journalistic hyperbole about iBeacons revolutionising physical retail by sending offers and customised information direct to your phone. The truth is that iBeacons don’t actually transmit content – they transmit a location, enabling […]