[Term of the Day]:Beacon

[Term of the Day]:Beacon

Term of the Day 
 

Beacon 

 

Definition — What is a Beacon? 


Beacon is a small device that alerts mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, of its presence through radio waves under the Bluetooth protocol well known as Bluetooth Smart or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Beacon constantly transmits radio signals to nearby smart devices, containing a small amount of data. The signal strength and time between each signal can be configured to give the desired coverage. Beacons can only disclose information to the smart devices however cannot read; hence they operate in one direction. Most modern portable tech items, including smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches have BLE chips. The mobile apps in these smart devices can listen for the signals being broadcast and, when they hear a relevant signal, can trigger an action on your smart devices. Beacons are usually powered by coin batteries, they have a powerful ARM processor, memory, Bluetooth Smart module, and motion sensors. They can be attached to walls or objects in the environment.


The Beacon technology is widely been used in various industrial sectors like transit systems, enterprises, educational institutions, event organizing, finance, travel, and more. They are immensely used in retails sectors, where a brand or retailer identifies the present location of a potential consumer in the physical world and sends him/her specific promotional or contextual messages befitting the situation. Google's Eddystone and Apple's iBeacon are the two most commonly implemented Beacon protocols.

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