Presented at CodeMash 2015. By William Klos. On your way to work one morning, you walk by your favorite coffee shop. As you walk by, you notice a sign in the window with the day's specials: $1 off Lattes today! That's nice, but maybe Latte isn't your favorite… Now imagine this... Same scenario, but as you approach the coffee shop (let's say 100 feet away), your phone suddenly notifies you with the following message: "Good Morning, Chris. Your favorite Cookie Crumble Mocha is only a few steps away. Stop in and we'll take $1 off your total!" This is a much more direct, targeted, and context-aware approach! By using Beacons you can make a huge impact on customer engagement and revenue generation.

1. Micro-­‐location
with
Beacons
:
Navigating
the
way
with
Mobility,
Big
Data,
and
the
Cloud

2. About
Me
• Bill
Klos
• Sr.
Architect
w/Centric
Consulting
(12
years)
• National
Lead
for
Cloud
Computing
• Foci:
Cloud,
mobility,
IoT
architectures,
&
any
randomly
arcane
technologies
no
one
under
40
has
heard
of.
• Languages
of
Choice:
Go,
Ruby,
and
TBD
for
2015
• bill.klos@centricconsulting.com
• @williamklos

3. www.centricconsulting.com
$82 million
2013 revenue
1999
year founded
500+
employees
10
•
Cleveland
• Columbus
•
Indianapolis
•
Louisville
• Miami
•
St.
Louis
•
Tampa
locations
2
•
Energy
&
Utilities
•
Oracle
national practices
1
bold vision that spans 100 years
Our culture
is built on our passion for
our work
and driven by
our values.
• We work to understand your needs and
act as a true partner.
• We selectively hire people who have a track
record of delivering exceptional results.
• We value hard work and temper that work
with humility, respect
and collaboration.
• We are committed to making a positive
difference in the communities we serve.
• We are unconventional, loyal, smart
and fun.
We strive to manage a work-life balance
that makes us better professionals and
better people.
•
Boston
•
Chicago
•
Cincinnati-­‐
Dayton
You’ve
found
your
most
reliable
partner.
We’re
a
business
consulting
and
technology
solutions
company
that’s
been
around
for
14
years
and
we’re
building
a
company
that
will
be
here
for
100
more.
3
July 2014

4. Agenda
• A
common
scenario
• What
are
beacons?
• How
do
beacons
work?
• What
should
I
do
about
beacons?
• Which
industries
will
beacons
affect?
• Development
considerations
• A
typical
beacon
influenced
architecture
• Code
samples

5. Imagine
this…
On
your
way
to
work
one
morning,
you
walk
by
your
favorite
coffee
shop.
As
you
walk
by,
you
notice
a
sign
in
the
window
with
the
day’s
specials:
$1
off
Lattes
today!
That’s
nice,
but
maybe
Latte
isn’t
your
favorite…

6. Now
imagine
this…
Same
scenario,
but
as
you
approach
the
coffee
shop
(let’s
say
100
feet
away),
your
phone
suddenly
notifies
you
with
the
following
message:
“Good
Morning,
Bill.
Your
favorite
Grande,
Soy,
Chai
Tea,
No
Water,
Extra
Hot
is
only
a
few
steps
away.
Stop
in
and
we’ll
take
$1
off
your
total!”
This
is
a
much
more
direct,
targeted,
and
context-­‐aware
approach!

7. What
changed?
Three
key
things
have
changed:
1. The
customer
has
the
coffee
shop’s
mobile
app
on
his/her
phone
2. The
coffee
shop
has
installed
a
few
beacons
around
the
store
3. The
coffee
shop
understands
the
power
of
“the
Cloud”
and
“Big
Data”
Huge
implications
for
CUSTOMER
SERVICE,
REVENUE
GENERATION,
and
OPERATIONAL
EFFICIENCY

9. What
are
beacons?
Beacons are
• Small
• Battery-powered
• Transmitters
• Bluetooth Low Energy
• Compatible with most newer phones
• Apple iPhone and iPad iOS 7+
• Android 4.0+
• Windows Phone 8+
• Micro-location
• A few inches to ~150 feet
• Low
• Cost
• Profile
• Maintenance
• Part of the Internet of Things (IoT)
• RFID and NFC replacements?

10. – They
are
typically
dumb.
Zero
smarts.
• i.e.
They
are
not
tracking
you.
– Vendors
may
jazz
them
up
for
differentiation.
• Different
form
factors,
battery
life,
extra
security,
custom
APIs
or
payloads.
10
What
are
beacons?
(cont.)

11. Do
Beacons
replace
GPS?
NO
• GPS is for MACRO-location
• Miles and Kilometers
• Beacons are for MICRO-location
• Inches, Feet and Meters
• GPS is great for OUTDOOR use,
terrible for INDOOR use
• Beacons work both INDOORS and
OUTDOORS
• GPS requires satellites, VERY
EXPENSIVE to deploy new ones
• Beacons cost about $5-$10
The best solutions use BOTH

12. How
do
beacons
work?
• At
the
heart
of
any
solution
that
deals
with
micro-­‐location
are
the
beacons
that
broadcast
their
position.
Beacons
provide
a
different
service
than
does
GPS.
A
GPS
signal
is
reliable
in
most
outdoor
situations
in
the
10-­‐15
foot
range
but
is
very
unreliable
indoors.
Beacons,
using
a
Bluetooth
LE
signal
can
be
accurate
to
within
a
few
inches
to
a
a
few
feet.
Using
the
triangulation
of
multiple
beacons
within
range
of
each
other,
more
precise
locations
can
be
calculated.
Distances
&
Usage
The
context
of
a
beacon
can
change
based
on
its
distance.
While
essentially
all
tasks
can
be
performed
at
all
distances,
some
tasks
have
more
practicality
than
others.
-­‐ Immediate
(within
a
foot)
-­‐ Near
(Up
to
8
feet)
-­‐ Far
(Up
to
150
feet)

13. Ping.

14. • Immediate
(<
1ft)
– Purchases,
Security
Access,
Marking
Progress
• Near
(<
8
ft)
– Throwing
Offers,
Information
on
Nearby
Sites
• Far
(>
8
ft)
– Turn-­‐by-­‐Turn
Directions,
“Barker”
Ads,
Broadcast
Alerts
14
Uses

15. The
convergence
of
beacons,
mobile
apps
and
cloud
services
has
all
the
makings
of
a
paradigm
shift.
Here
are
some
of
the
areas
that
WILL
BE
AFFECTED:
• Cloud
• Big
Data
• Marketing
• Security
What
should
I
do
about
Beacons?

16. • Always
Connected
• Real-­‐Time
Updates
• Dynamic
Content
• Personalized
Content
• Scalability
• Redundancy
Implications
-­‐
Cloud

17. • 10%
of
the
VALUE
of
a
Beacon
solution
is
the
APP,
the
other
90%
is
the
DATA
• Data
aggregated
will
enable
faster
decision-­‐making
• Predictive
trends
modeling
• Sales
forecasting
• Discovery
of
hidden
relationships
between
seemingly
independent
factors
Implications
–
Big
Data

18. • Direct
• Context-­‐aware
• Targeted
• Micro-­‐location
(Proximity)
• Driven
by
Analytics
Implications
-­‐
Marketing

19. • Beacons
are
UNSECURE
and
that’s
OK
• Beacon
payload
contains
NO
SENSITIVE
DATA
• SITA
and
other
Beacon
Portals
• Cloud
and
App
security
is
IMPERATIVE
Implications
-­‐
Security

20. Which
Industries
will
Beacons
affect?
Although
the
pace
of
adoption
may
vary,
many
industries
such
as
Retail,
Healthcare
and
Travel
&
Transportation
will
be
most
affected
by
beacons
and
indoor
location
awareness.
Retail
Healthcare
Travel
&
Transportation
Sports
&
Entertainment
Venues
Self-­‐Guided
Tours
Home
automation
Geo-­‐fencing
Banking
Education

21. Retail
1. Proximity
Marketing
– Enticing
Window
Shoppers
– Matching
Demographics
2. Entering
the
Store
– Offer
a
coupon
for
check-­‐out
3. Gathering
Information
– Targeted
offers
– Product
information
4. Contactless
Payment
– Automatically
charge
the
customer’s
credit
card
for
items
purchased

22. Healthcare
1. Turn-­‐by-­‐Turn
Directions
– GPS
doesn’t
work
indoors
– Hospitals
are
large,
unfamiliar
buildings
2. Asset
Tracking
– Durable
Medical
Equipment
(DME)
– Wheelchairs
to
MRIs
3. Patient
Records
– Integrate
with
EHR/EMR
– Doctor/Nurse
rounds

23. Travel
&
Tourism
1. Guest
Experience
– Self-­‐Service
– Turn-­‐by-­‐Turn
Directions
2. Revenue
Generation
– Proximity
Alerts
– Unused
Capacity
3. Operational
Efficiency
– Know
where
guests
are
– Deploy
resources
4. Analytics
– Guests
prefer
the
Spa
on
Saturday
– The
pool
gets
crowded
on
Sunday
afternoon

24. Other
Industries
1. Sports
and
Entertaining
Venues
• MLB:
At
Bat
(20
stadiums
so
far…)
• NFL
:
Miami
Dolphins
at
Sun
Life
Stadium
in
2013
• NBA:
Orlando
Magic
2. Self-­‐Guided
Tours
• Museums
• Zoos
• Art
Galleries
• Parks
3. Home
Automation
• Turning
lights
ON/OFF
• Locking/Opening
doors
as
your
leave/return
• Temperature
control
4. Banking
• Branch
customer
service
• ATM
location
5. Education
• Taking
attendance
6. Geo-­‐fencing
• Making
sure
something
(someone)
is
where
it
should
be

25. Beacon Payload
• UUID
• Usually the same across a manufacturer, can be set.
• Major #
• Used to help group beacons. Can be set.
• Minor #
• Used to address a specific beacon. Can be set.
• That’s it!

26. Reading Beacons
• The monitoring device (phone, tablet, or some custom
equipment) estimates proximity based on the power of the
signal from the beacon.
• If multiple beacons can be seen simultaneously, then
this process is repeated for each.
• Local rules (or cloud rules) will dictate what action should
be taken based on the final proximity calculations.

27. Two Ways of Working w/
Beacons

28. Active Monitoring
• Application is Distributed, Individual Users
• Application Moves, Beacons are Stationary
• Application Moves, Beacons can Move
• Uses
• Turn-by-Turn Directions
• Actuations
• Offer Presentment

29. Passive Monitoring
• Application is Central, Shared
• Beacons Move, Application is Stationary
• Scanning for Roving UUIDs
• Uses
• Tracking Equipment Coming/Going
• Monitoring Traffic/Movement Patterns

30. In either case, an application of
some sort is required to make
use of the signal.

31. Overall Architecture of a
Beacon Application

32. Beacon
Beacon
Beacon
Beacon
Beacon
Application API Queue
Queue
Queue
Queue
Queue
Data Store
Management
Application
Data Store

33. Information Progression
ProducersData Acquisition/Collection
Data
Acquisition
Generate
API Logs
Process
Cloud Data
Process
Data Locally
Generate
Sub
Transactions
Generate
API Errors
Submit Data
to Cloud API
Execute
Long Jobs
Generate
System
Tasks
Consumers
Deplete
Beacon
Queue
Deplete Log
Queue
Deplete
Error Queue
Deplete
Secondary
Queue
Deplete Long
Job Queue
Deplete
System
Queue
Analysis Presentation
TBD TBD

34. Responsibilities of the Mobile
Piece

35. • Provide the interface for the user.
• Download master data for caching. This includes the
beacon & location correlations. Sync data as necessary. A
constant connection should not be required.
• Keep track of data that doesn’t need to and/or shouldn’t
live in the cloud. PII for example, account information, etc.
• React to beacon signals immediately, especially those in
immediate proximity or when throwing coupons.
• Do local calculations to turn-by-turn directions.

36. What Data is Captured
Locally?

37. • Beacon & Environmental Data
• Lat/Long
• Visible Beacon Array
• Beacon UUID, Major, Minor, Signal Strength
• App Specific Data
• User ID
• Demographics & Preferences

38. Notice What Isn’t In the
Beacon Data?

39. • SSN
• Current and past arrest warrants.
• Where you “were” last night.
• All the credit card charges from that place you weren’t at last night.
• Your phone records.
• Your school records, especially the black marks on them from the 8th grade.
• Your medical records.
• Your old LP records - except for the White Album.

40. What Data is Stored Locally
on the Mobile Device?

41. • Locations (including hours of operation)
• Beacon Definitions
• Coupon Definitions
• Group Assignments
• Turn-by-Turn Route Edges and Path Weights
• Generated Transactions
• For store and forward needs.

42. How Often is Data Captured?

43. • Polling frequency by the application can affect battery life.
• Goal is to determine a material change of status, and only
report that.
• How quickly is the target moving?
• Is there anything of note potentially around the target?
• Who is making the processing decisions? App? Cloud?
• If the cloud, will the information be relevant by the time
it’s processed?

44. What Data is Sent to the
Cloud?

45. • Potentially…
• Everything captured by the application, and…
• Everything enriched by the application (context)

46. Therefore, *I*, as the cloud
developer knows…

47. • SSN
• Current and past arrest warrants.
• Where you “were” last night.
• All the credit card charges from that place you weren’t at last night.
• Your phone records.
• Your school records, especially the black marks on them from the 8th grade.
• Your medical records.
• Your old LP records - except for the White Album.

48. Apple
iOS
Frameworks
and
Key
Classes
• iBeacon
supported
via
CoreLocation
Framework
• Key
classes
• CLLocationManager
/
CLLocationManagerDelegate
• CLRegion
• CLBeaconRegion
• CLBeacon
• CLProximity
• Key
methods
in
CLLocationManagerDelegate
• didRangeBeacons
• didStartMonitoringForRegion
• didEnterRegion
• didExitRegion

49. Apple
iOS
Code
Sample
-­‐(void)locationManager:(CLLocationManager
*)manager
didRangeBeacons:
(NSArray
*)beacons
inRegion:(CLBeaconRegion
*)region
{
for
(CLBeacon
*
beacon
in
beacons)
{
if
(beacon.proximity
==
CLProximityImmediate)
{
//
you’re
right
on
top
of
me!
UIAlertView
*alert=
[[UIAlertView
alloc]
initWithTitle:@”Alert"
message:
[NSString
stringWithFormat:
@"You
are
standing
on
beacon
%@”,
beacon.
proximityUUID]
delegate:self
cancelButtonTitle:@"OK”
otherButtonTitles:nil];
[alert
show];
}
}
}

50. Google
Android
Frameworks
and
Key
Classes
• No
iBeacon
support!
• Lots
of
Bluetooth
Low
Energy
(BLE)
support
• Create
a
separate
service
for
(background)
scanning
• Key
classes
• android.bluetooth.BluetoothAdapter
/
LeScanCallback
• android.bluetooth.BluetoothDevice
• android.bluetooth.BluetoothManager
• android.bluetooth.BluetoothGatt
/
BluetoothGattCallback
• android.bluetooth.BluetoothGattService
• Key
methods
in
BluetoothAdapter.LeScanCallback
• onLeScan

51. Google
Android
Code
Sample
public
void
onLeScan(final
BluetoothDevice
device,
int
rssi,
byte[]
scanRecord)
{
long
msb,
lsb,
iBeaconID;
UUID
uuid;
int
major,
minor;
byte
txPower;
ByteBuffer
bufferScanRecord;
//
Extract
the
advertisement
payload.
bufferScanRecord
=
ByteBuffer.wrap(scanRecord);
bufferScanRecord.position(1);
iBeaconID
=
(bufferScanRecord.getLong()
&
0x00FFFFFFFFFFFFFFL);
bufferScanRecord.position(9);
msb
=
bufferScanRecord.getLong();
lsb
=
bufferScanRecord.getLong();
//
Extract
iBeacon
fields
uuid
=
new
UUID(msb,
lsb);
major
=
bufferScanRecord.getShort()
&
0x00FFFF;
minor
=
bufferScanRecord.getShort()
&
0x00FFFF;
txPower
=
bufferScanRecord.get();
}

52. Deployment
Checklist
• Building
the
App
• Features
• Platform(s)
• AppStore(s)
• Custom
Integration
• Site
visit
• Site
mapping
• Beacon
placement
• Beacon
classification/
configuration
• Data
Analytics
• What
data
to
collect
• What
and
When
to
push
proximity
alerts
• Which
user
preferences
to
store
• Testing
• Multiple
Devices
• Pilot?
• Training
• Document
new
processes
• Go
live
• Place
all
configured
beacons
• Test
all
beacons
are
active
and
discoverable
• Confirm
all
features
of
the
app
• Ongoing
maintenance
/
Retirement
• Lost,
stolen,
damaged
beacons
• App
updates

53. Questions
bill.klos@centricconsulting.com