BLE beacon

BLE beacons are tracking devices. They use Bluetooth to broadcast and can be used in a wide variety of use cases.

How does a BLE Beacon work?

A BLE beacon actively transmits permanently via Bluetooth. Its ID or MAC address is always included as basic information. Depending on the application, additional information can be determined by the BLE Beacon and also sent.

Such additional information are, for example, the temperature, the humidity or whether a door is open. This information can be sent to our servers via a GPS device or a gateway.

What is the difference between BLE beacons and GPS devices?

BLE Beacons and GPS devices are devices from different product worlds.

The beacon always sends its identifier via Bluetooth. If another device (smartphone or GPS device) reads the information from the beacon, then these devices can forward the information.

The beacon cannot send a GPS position or location information. This means that it is always dependent on another device.

If a mobile phone reads a Beacon, then it can guide the user to the Beacon via an app. The beacon usually sends a signal strength that allows the apps to perceive the distance or at least the change in distance. This makes a Beacon easy to locate indoors.

A GPS device can actively send its information (e.g. speed, altitude, timestamp, etc.) with a GPS coordinate to a server or into the software if it has a modem on board. Otherwise it is just a data logger. This means that a GPS device does not need any other devices to be found.

Size of the BLE Beacon

In simple terms, BLE beacons consist of a circuit board and a battery. This means that the smaller it is, the smaller the battery. The beacon broadcasts permanently via Bluetooth. Its ID or MAC address is always included as basic information. Depending on the application, additional information (e.g. temperature, humidity) can be determined by the BLE beacon and also sent.

Small beacons are very small, e.g. the size of a 2€ coin. Because of the small battery, they can usually only be detected over a short distance (a few metres), as they work with a low transmission power or the battery would run out after a short time.

Large beacons can transmit for several years and can be seen over 100 metres or further.

Movement profile of the beacons

Managing devices or small devices outside the warehouse is challenging. Our Beacon Monitoring makes this a breeze. Our software automatically creates a movement profile with GPS positions for you. This way you can always see where the BLE beacons have moved to.

Overview of the location of the beacons

As already known from the classic GPS positioning, you can see the last position of the beacons in the overview at a glance. This overview can be filtered by beacon groups, names and zones so that you can efficiently manage several thousand beacons.

If you need to search for a specific beacon, the search app on the mobile phone is automatically restricted to this beacon. This makes it easy for you to find the beacon again.

Warehouse management

BLE Beacons can be used very well for warehouse management. Via gateways, which are installed in the warehouse, we can show you the devices in stock. When the devices leave the warehouse, we show you a movement profile from where to where they were taken. This allows you to perfectly track where your equipment is.

Inventory at the touch of a button

Small equipment management is tedious and time-consuming. With BLE Beacons, we can show you the small appliances that are in stock at the touch of a button. This means that inventory is available at any time at the click of a mouse.

Automatic driver recognition

Our Plug&Play GPS devices can be used without installation effort in the vehicles to keep a driver’s log. They can use BLE beacons for automatic driver recognition. This makes this system ideally suited for use cases where drivers frequently change vehicles.

Temperature monitoring with beacons

The BLE Beacons are a plug&play solution for temperature monitoring. The BLE Beacon only needs to be installed in the vehicle’s cargo area and transmits the temperature constantly via Bluetooth to the GPS device.

If a GPS dongle is used as the GPS device, then you have a complete plug&play solution that usually requires no installation. Simply plug in the GPS device and attach the BLE Beacon and you are ready to use live tracking with permanent temperature monitoring.

Use cases

BLE Beacons can be used in a wide variety of use cases. We see the strength of the beacons as a supplement or stand-alone alternative to GPS tracking devices in the following areas:

→ Asset tracking

→ Movement profile of the beacons (machines, assets, …)

→ Warehouse management

→ Automatic driver recognition

→ Temperature & humidity monitoring