InsteonNut Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Hi folks, I'll have a more formal announcement of MobiLinc for iOS 4.5 later, but I wanted to let you know that the next version (4.5) will support iBeacons. If you are interested in beta testing iBeacons with MobiLinc and your ISY and wanted some lead time to pick up a few before the beta is released, consider yourself warned If you'd like to test this next version of MobiLinc and have iBeacons, please send me a quick email to: support@mobilinc.com with: - Confirmation that your iOS device is running the latest iOS 8.3. - iPhone or iPad or Both. - Using MobiLinc Connect or Direct IP. - iBeacon manufactor and the UUID the iBeacons use if it's defaulted or fixed from the manufacture. I'm targeting having a beta ready in the next two to three weeks. I'm personally using iBeacons from Estimote in my testing and my home, but any iBeacon(s) will work so long as it confirms to the iBeacon protocol from Apple. This is just one feature of the next release. More on 4.5 in a few weeks as I near completion. Wes
Teken Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Hello Wes, Will this Beta support this device: http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/14730-add-ibeacon-support-to-your-isy/?hl=ibeaconI have five of these devices but to date have not had very much success in deploying it via the RPi. If this Beta is a much better solution please do let me know and would be happy to Beta test it.
andyf0 Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 This sounds like fun. I've ordered 3 of the Estimote beacons. Will notify when they are in hand.
InsteonNut Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 Hi Teken, The way I implemented the iBeacon feature in MobiLinc is that it will work with any iBeacon that supports the Apple iBeacon protocol. If your iBeacon supports UUID, Major, and Minor numbers than it almost certainly will work with iOS. The reason I'm looking for UUID numbers is so I can build in pre-filled out UUIDs for the common iBeacons that are out there, but you'll be able to enter in any UUID, major, and minor iBeacon numbers. Just to close the loop on your above topic reference, MobiLinc has an option to update an ISY variable with the iBeacon region direct to the ISY via MobiLinc Connect or direct IP as well as other features not yet announced. Wes Thanks Andy! (Oh, it is fun). Wes
Teken Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Hi Teken, The way I implemented the iBeacon feature in MobiLinc is that it will work with any iBeacon that supports the Apple iBeacon protocol. If your iBeacon supports UUID, Major, and Minor numbers than it almost certainly will work with iOS. The reason I'm looking for UUID numbers is so I can build in pre-filled out UUIDs for the common iBeacons that are out there, but you'll be able to enter in any UUID, major, and minor iBeacon numbers. Just to close the loop on your above topic reference, MobiLinc has an option to update an ISY variable with the iBeacon region direct to the ISY via MobiLinc Connect or direct IP as well as other features not yet announced. Wes Thanks Andy! (Oh, it is fun). Wes Hello Wes, The Bleu Station iBeacon's do in fact have UUID, Major, Minor numbers. I believe your method just might help me bridge this whole *Home / Away* that I have been desperately trying to make work. Along with room, zones, floor, presence detection. I'm in . . .
InsteonNut Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 Hi Teken, Excellent! I think you'll also really like what else I'm doing with iBeacons...but more on this later as it's not yet finalized. Wes
Teken Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Wes, I'll send over a PM with the UUID for the units in a little bit. Do you require the major / minor values also? Ideals are peaceful - History is violent
elvisimprsntr Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 I would like to test iBeacons, I think. Can someone give me a use case scenario? Lights, locks, alarm? What do I need to buy, how many, and what are the typical locations?
InsteonNut Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 Hi Teken, Just the UUID is perfect. I'm building in a known set of UUIDs just so you don't have to type in that long number. Don't need major/minor numbers. From what I've seen, these are fairly random from the manufacturer, but the UUIDs (at least initially) are usually fixed to a known UUID the manufacturer set that I can prefill in MobiLinc. Some manufacturers, like Estimote, allow you to change the UUID of their beacons to whatever you like. Hi elvisimprsntr, The range on beacons is up to the manufacture, but most allow you to fine tune the power output to target anywhere from a single room-ish to several rooms or areas of a home. So, use cases could be to auto-unlock the front door when approaching. You could use this in tandem with Geofences so that you only unlock if you just got home. Same with Security or anything else you'd like more fine-grain control of in terms of location. iBeacon will give you a 10x resolution improvement over the large geofences. More use cases will follow with the full feature announcement. Wes
Teken Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Hi Teken, Just the UUID is perfect. I'm building in a known set of UUIDs just so you don't have to type in that long number. Don't need major/minor numbers. From what I've seen, these are fairly random from the manufacturer, but the UUIDs (at least initially) are usually fixed to a known UUID the manufacturer set that I can prefill in MobiLinc. Some manufacturers, like Estimote, allow you to change the UUID of their beacons to whatever you like. Hi elvisimprsntr, The range on beacons is up to the manufacture, but most allow you to fine tune the power output to target anywhere from a single room-ish to several rooms or areas of a home. So, use cases could be to auto-unlock the front door when approaching. You could use this in tandem with Geofences so that you only unlock if you just got home. Same with Security or anything else you'd like more fine-grain control of in terms of location. iBeacon will give you a 10x resolution improvement over the large geofences. More use cases will follow with the full feature announcement. Wes Just awesome mail coming now. I would like to test iBeacons, I think. Can someone give me a use case scenario? Lights, locks, alarm? What do I need to buy, how many, and what are the typical locations? Perfect example is when a motion sensor activates a light in a room. Using the iBeacon and the iPhone it would know a sitting person was still present and activate a variable to disable the light from turning off until such time as they left. I am also using it for a method to detect my presence to turn on computer systems in my secure room.
MFBra Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Very interesting, but I believe apple restricts up to 15 simultaneously UUID monitoring, so it may be important to utilize the minor/major. In my trials I have all of them with same UUID, but hopefully I can adjust if necessary. Enviado do meu iPhone usando Tapatalk
InsteonNut Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 Hi MFBra, Yes, there are some limits. Any given app can monitor up to 20 regions. If you have multiple iBeacons and they all essentially perform the same function, IE you are "here", then you can setup MobiLinc with just the UUID and wildcard the major/minor numbers. Multiple beacons, one monitored region in MobiLinc. If each beacon needs to be unique (IE you want to know independent location), then you can set the minor number or major number or both to be independent. Or use a different UUID. In any case, this will create a separate monitored region and use up another of the 20 slots. Wes
MFBra Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Thanks. I was considering to have just one UUID believing That the limit was per device (due to battery constraints), so my idea was to have just one uuid and distinct major/minor (per room for instance) and the decision could be taken on the app. MF_Bra
elvisimprsntr Posted June 29, 2015 Posted June 29, 2015 Wes, I'm in! Received 3 Geohoppers yesterday. Used Beacon Ranging by ERi, Inc. https://appsto.re/us/7eLWR.i to adjust TX power to report NEAR only within each room. Signal attenuation between floors is enough to only report NEAR for the iBeacon above when I stand under the iBeacon and hold my iPhone above my head. FYI, the Geohopper allows you to change the UUID, but I left them as the default.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.