Advanced Beacon Capturing Configuration
Beacon List Settings after FW ver. 3.27.07.Rev.00
This page is dedicated for explanation of Bluetooth settings and also Beacon parameters in FMB device configurator. A more extensive guide can be found How to start with FMB devices and Beacons?.
Beacon Settings
Starting with "Beacon Detection" settings (Disabled / All / Configured):
- Disabled – Functionality disabled.
- All – All visible beacons are detected (Max. 100).
- Configured – Only beacons from the list are sent to server
Beacon Mode
- Simple – When simple mode is selected beacon parsing is done automatically (Eddystone and iBeacon protocols are supported) (AVL ID 385).
- Advanced – When advanced beacon mode is selected, beacon data capturing can be configured manually (AVL ID 548).
Beacon Record
- On Change – On change mode - device will not create Beacon record after every scan procedure is completed unless scanned Beacon list will change.
- Periodic – All beacons are sent to the server. (Record will be saved according to configured period).
Beacon Record Priority - Beacon record saving period:
- None - No records will be generated
- Low - Beacon record will be generated and sent once link with the server is established
- High - Beacon record will be generated and sent immediately
While selecting the Beacons Detection as All, the device will detect all beacons which are located around the device. Select Beacons Detection as the Configured, in this case, the beacons will only be detected and send if they were added to the Beacons List.
Advanced Beacon Mode (Universal Beacons)
In advanced mode device can detect any Beacon type, the device can be configured to capture data from Universal beacons as seen in the configured in table (The fields in the Beacons Capturing Configuration will be empty), for example this configuration is set to detect iBeacon and EddyStone Beacons, also with additional data(in this case whole packet).
Beacon are sent to server in a new variable length Beacon IO (AVL ID 548) (Different from Simple mode!).
Beacon ID source can be selected.
- When Beacon ID is used, source is used as configured in Beacon ID offset and Beacon ID size columns. When Beacon MAC address is selected.
- Beacon ID will be replaced with MAC address. IO structure remains the same, but Beacon ID size will always be reported as 0x06.
Parsing Advanced Beacon data from record (AVL ID 548)
| Beacon data | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unparsed Beacon data | ||
| 01360001b10110f34b6f6aa38255aa9ef619154e2d0055021f0201060303aafe1716aafe0002f34b6f6aa38255a a9ef619154e2d00550000360001ab0110e987706aa38255aa94321b154e2d0055021f0201060303aafe1716aafe0 002e987706aa38255aa94321b154e2d00550000360001a801101e74706aa38255faabcd000000000000021f0201060303aafe1716 aafe00021e74706aa38255faabcd0000000000000000360001a201100c8c6f6ba38255aab7361a164e2d0055021f0201060303aafe171 6aafe00020c8c6f6ba38255aab7361a164e2d00550000 | ||
Beacon Parameters
The below table represents possible Beacon Parameters.
| Parameters | |
|---|---|
| 00 | RSSI |
| 01 | Beacon ID |
| 02 | Additional beacon data |
| Parsed Beacon data | ||
|---|---|---|
| Parsed Beacon data part | HEX Code Part | |
| (Constant) | 01 | |
| 1st Beacon data length | 36 | |
| RSSI (Parameter 00) | 00 | |
| RSSI length | 01 | |
| RSSI value | B1 | |
| Beacon ID (Parameter 01) | 01 | |
| Beacon ID length | 10 | |
| Beacon ID | F34B6F6AA38255AA9EF619154E2D0055 | |
| Additional data (Parameter 02) | 02 | |
| Additional data length | 1F | |
| Additional data | 0201060303AAFE1716AAFE0002F34B6F6AA38255AA9EF619154E2D00550000 | |
| 2nd Beacon data length | 36 | |
| RSSI (Parameter 00) | 00 | |
| RSSI length | 01 | |
| RSSI value | AB | |
| Beacon ID (Parameter 01) | 01 | |
| Beacon ID length | 10 | |
| Beacon ID | E987706AA38255AA94321B154E2D0055 | |
| Additional data (Parameter 02) | 02 | |
| Additional data length | 1F | |
| Additional data | 0201060303AAFE1716AAFE0002E987706AA38255AA94321B154E2D00550000 | |
| 3rd Beacon data length | 36 | |
| RSSI (Parameter 00) | 00 | |
| RSSI length | 01 | |
| RSSI value | A8 | |
| Beacon ID (Parameter 01) | 01 | |
| Beacon ID length | 10 | |
| Beacon ID | 1E74706AA38255FAABCD000000000000 | |
| Additional data (Parameter 02) | 02 | |
| Additional data length | 1F | |
| Additional data | 0201060303AAFE1716AAFE00021E74706AA38255FAABCD0000000000000000 | |
| 4th Beacon data length | 36 | |
| RSSI (Parameter 00) | 00 | |
| RSSI length | 01 | |
| RSSI value | A2 | |
| Beacon ID (Parameter 01) | 01 | |
| Beacon ID length | 10 | |
| Beacon ID | 0C8C6F6BA38255AAB7361A164E2D0055 | |
| Additional data (Parameter 02) | 02 | |
| Additional data length | 1F | |
| Additional data | 0201060303AAFE1716AAFE00020C8C6F6BA38255AAB7361A164E2D00550000 | |
Beacon List
List of authorized beacons, Eddystone and iBeacon protocols are supported*. Example of the configured beacons detection in the List:
*Beacon Ids can be entered the following way: Namspace:CompanyID, UUID:Major:Minor. Any of the ID parts can be omitted ex., Namespace:. UUID::, UUID::Minor, etc
The Beacons settings are configured as showed. The iBeacon or Eddystone is added to the list with the following structure:
- iBeacon – 20 Bytes (UUDI (16-bytes : Major(2-bytes) : Minor (2-bytes))
- Eddystone – 16 Bytes (Namespace (10-bytes) : Instance ID(6-bytes))
There is a possibility to detect the devices just by UUID or Namespace (see the 2 and 6 elements in the list).
Or by the Major/Minor for iBeacons and Namespace for Eddystone. (see the 3 and 7 elements in the list).
There is also possible to select Beacons Detection as the Configured, in this case, the beacons will only be detected and send if they were added to the Beacons List.
From 3.27.07.Rev.00 Beacon list is expanded to support 50 beacons IDs.
Beacon On Change
New functionality Beacon On Change has been implemented from 03.27.07.Rev.00 firmware version. The purpose of it is to create Beacon records only when there are changes in Beacon List. The parameter Beacon Record (Parameter ID: 136) has two possible settings: On Change (0) and Periodic (1). When On Change is selected, Beacon records are generated only when there are changes in the Beacon list. When Periodic is selected records will be saved according to configured period:
Beacon On Change Scenarios:
Example 1.
Non-Stop Scan is Disabled. Scan starts. Beacon is detected and added to the list. Scan ends and Beacon records are created.
- The second scan starts. The same Beacon is still present. Scan ends and the Beacon record is not created because the list has not changed.
- The third scan starts. The same Beacon is still present but disappeared during that scan. Scan ends and Beacon record is not created because it is still considered that this Beacon is valid thus Beacon List hasn’t updated.
- The fourth scan starts. The same Beacon is not present from the start of the scan. Scan ends and Beacon is removed from Beacon list. Record is created since Beacon List has changed.
Example 2.
Non-Stop Scan is Disabled. Scan starts. Beacon is detected and added to the list. Scan ends and Beacon records are created.
- The second scan starts. The same Beacon is still present but is lost during that scan. Scan ends and the Beacon record is not created because the list has not changed.
- The third scan starts. At the start of the scan, Beacon was not present but during that scanning period, it has been detected again. At the end of the scan, the Beacon record is not created since Beacon List has not changed.
Example 3.
Non-Stop Scan is Enabled. Beacon Timeout is set to 10s. Beacon is detected and added to the list. Beacon record is created immediately after it is detected. The scan continues and during that time Beacon is lost. After 10s if Beacon has not been detected anymore Beacon record will be created. If that Beacon reappears after the set Beacon Timeout (in this case 10s) period has passed for that particular Beacon, a new Beacon record will be created. If That Beacon reappears before set Beacon Timeout (in this case 10s) period has passed. Beacon record will not be created.
