8/10/2019 Innovative Advertising using BLE & Beacons

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Innovative Advertising using BLE & Beacons What is Beacon?Beacons are a low cost-effective piece of hardware which is small enough to puton a wall or counterpart and they utilize battery-friendly Bluetooth connections to transmit messages or prompts directly to a smartphone or tablet. They are composed to transform the communication of retailers, event organizers, transit systems, enterprises, and educational institutions with people indoors. It might also have an extended application in home automation systems. iBeacon is Apple s technology standard which allows Mobile Apps (running on both iOS and Android devices) to listen for signals from beacons in the physical world and react accordingly. Thus Beacon technology essentially allows Mobile Apps to understand their position at micro-local scale and deliver hyper-contextual content to users based on location. The underlying communication technology is Bluetooth Low Energy.

What is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)?As the name suggests, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is built explicitly for low energy consumption to make phone batteries last longer. It uses wireless personalarea network technology for transmitting data over short distances. But transfer

ring data through BLE has its limitations. BLE can function at small data ratesand it cannot stream audio data. It can be used to send small files. It can be efficiently used to send small data packets from wearable computing devices likesmart watches and fitness trackers.

How is BLE different from Regular Bluetooth?Low Power Consumption: Bluetooth LE, as the name implies, has low energy requirements. It can last up to 3 years on a single coin cell battery.Cost Effective: Compared to traditional Bluetooth, BLE is 60-80% cheaper.Application: In contrast to Classic Bluetooth which is preferred for more complex applications requiring consistent communication and more data throughput, BLEis quintessential for simple applications requiring small periodic transfers ofdata.

How does it work?Beacons are Bluetooth transmitters that are small as well as cheap. Apps installed on phone listen out for the signal transmitted by these beacons and respond accordingly when the phone comes into range. For instance, given that you have retailer's app installed in your phone and if you pass a beacon in the shop, the app could display special offer alert for you. Smartphones that are in beacon zone will benefit from personalized micro-location based notification and actions.Similarly, on a visit to museum, the museum's app could provide information about the nearest display using your distance from beacons placed near exhibits that can work out your position. Also, beacon could be a preferable option for in-door mapping which is difficult for GPS.