Technology has this power to change the entire system without having to change the exteriors a bit. The best example to portray this is wearable. Beacons are also one such example. They are just like the old watches that gives information and also the navigation on land and sea. Lighthouse is one such example for that. The newly developed beacon technology is inviting some innovation into the old world. Well, the concept is quite popular and if you ask anyone what is beacon technology? They will give reply something like this. It is a device, a small one which gives contextual experience in your area or nearby areas wherever they are installed.
What is the working mechanism of Beacon?
These are actually the minicomputers having the size of Wi-Fi router. It is an indoor positioning system which makes use of proximity tech for fetching the presence of the human around and do the already set actions to bring out the contextual, informational, and personalized experiences. When the user walks around the area where this indoor positioning system is set, the beacon will send the code to the mobile device of the user through a text message. Well, this message can only be sent in the form of push notification through the mobile app.
In the mobile app development sector, an app with beacon technology is indicated as an iBeacon app, indoor navigation app, or an Eddystone app. It is a mobile app which supports beacon tech which is installed in the mobile device having an operating system that supports these technology standards. In case of iPhones, the device with iOS 7 or higher supports beacon tech. In case of Android, the device with Android 4 or above will support beach tech. The general terminology for this tech is indoor navigation app. The user will get the coded message from the beacon through the BLE. BLE stands for Bluetooth Low Energy which is a power efficient tech developed IoT apps and devices similar to z-wave IoT wireless protocol. The best thing is that the app doesn’t even need to be running for getting the beacon signal.
Here is the list of things needed for using beacons:
1) Minimum one beacon device.
2) One mobile app which could also be a third party app.
3) Permission of the user.
Users generally confuse it with the RFID but it is different. Beacon gives private user experience and works only with the paired devices. A user can have total control over it and also have the choice of unpairing the same.
Types of Beacons
The concept came into inception since 2013 post-Apple came up with the iBeacon tech and communication standard. After that, the development framework came up with accounting for the new tech as an increased number of beacon devices are on the developing phase. Different beacon types are being evolved which depends on the battery life, size, and resistance factors. Here are some of them.
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Standard beacons
These beacons are of the size of the general Wi-Fi router.
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Small beacons
These beacons are quite portable but they are very effective. They are of the size of the credit card or even a big sticker.
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Parent beacons
These beacons help to track the other beacons. It also helps in accumulating data and storing it in the cloud and such other functions.
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USB beacons
These beacons are small in size, they are also portable, and are also easy and quick to deploy.
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Special beacons
Special beacons are those devices which are resistant to the external factors like water, UV rays, shattering, and dust. There are also video beacons and USB beacons which can be plugged into the screen’s back to give the visual information. Let me give you an example for better understanding. When any user gets to the screen in a restaurant, it will show the personalized offers to the user.
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