Bluetooth Beacons
Twinview support Bluetooth beacons technology that can be installed in each space making Twinview location aware.
By deploying a Bluetooth beacon in each space it allows the facilities ans maintenance teams on site to locate and view asset data quickly and easily using the native Twinview iOS and Android mobile apps.
Supported Beacon Types
Twinview will work with any type of beacon and supports iBeacons, Eddystone Beacons as well as generic BLE Beacons.
The Beacon relationship is to the Room and not the asset, this means only one beacon per space is needed (depending upon space area) and this makes deploying this technology on the building is affordable compared to other solutions where the beacon is associated to each assets.
Because the beacon relationship it is the Room it is also possible that your buiding may already have bluetooth beacons installed in each space if you are using the latest generation Cisco or Meraki wifi access points.
Step 1 - Configuring the beacons
We need to configure the beacons UUID's and and their Major and Minor values. You should follow your Beacons manufacturers instructions on how to set these values. And this can be done as a desktop exercise on all your beacons before deploying them to site.
Step 1.1 - Setting the Beacons UUID.
All beacons on your project should be configured to have the exact same Beacon UUID. You should make the beacon non-descriptive. An example of a good UUID would be :
We highly recommend using an online UUID generator tool like https://www.uuidgenerator.net to generate the UUID.
If you already have Beacons in your building you may want to use their current UUID.
Step 1.2 - Setting the Beacons Major and Minor values.
The beacons Major and Minor values are what makes each beacon unique to its location, similar to an IP address. We recommend using the following methodology for assigning the Major and Minor Values.
Major Value = Floor Level (e.g. 1)
Minor Value = Room Number (e.g. 10)
*Try and keep a spacing of 10 between any Minor vales, this will allow for expandability future.
Examples Beacon List below:
001
01
cJ456
c09f75e1-c3a1-4a1a-84de-07a872740a92
1
10
002
01
bK457
c09f75e1-c3a1-4a1a-84de-07a872740a92
1
20
101
02
df763
c09f75e1-c3a1-4a1a-84de-07a872740a92
2
10
110
02
kr356
c09f75e1-c3a1-4a1a-84de-07a872740a92
2
100
112
02
pR840
c09f75e1-c3a1-4a1a-84de-07a872740a92
2
120
827
08
aS679
c09f75e1-c3a1-4a1a-84de-07a872740a9
8
80
While we recommend planning your Major and Minor values to reference the location as above, in reality as long as no devices have the same major and minor it will work.
Once you have configured the beasons we recommend producting a schedle as above to help you when it comes to installing the beacons on site.
Step 3 - Enabling Beacons and assigning the beacons to a Room/Space in Twinview
Firstly we need to tell Twinview what our Beacon UUID is for the projec. This is the UUID we created at Step 1.1 above.
While in the project click on the 'Project Settings' menu item on the main-left menu.
On the 'General Settings' tab there is a field called 'Beacon UUID'. Add your the beacon UUID and them click 'Save'
Now we need to associate each individual device to each corresponding room. To do this open the Setting dialoge back up and click the 'Room / Spaces' tab then click the 'Beacons' button.
Here you can start adding your beacons by clicking the 'Add' button in the top right.
You can now gibe the beacon a name, select the associated room and enter the Major and Minor values that you configured earlier. Once done click 'Save'.
Step 4 - Installing the Beacons on site
Once you have added all the beacons to Twinview, the next step is to install the beacons in their corrisponding rooms in the building. Its importan that you try to locate the beacons as close to the centre of the room as possible. Above ceiling tiles or hidden away in floor boxes make an ideal location.
Stage 4.1 - Fine Tuning
Although the integration and functionality should work straight away without much tweaking there are some scenarios when adjusting some of the beacons settings will be required.
RF Transmission Power - This is how for the transmission signal will transmit. The larger the RF Power the faster the battery will be consumed. Think of this a a sphere around the beacon, The stronger the RF value the larger the sphere. For small rooms where having a larger value would not make a difference you can reduce this value to save battery. For large rooms you may want to increase the RF value instead of adding an additional Beacon to the space.
You adjust the RF value in your beacons settings. Follow manufacturers instructions for your specific beacons.
Polling Frequency - This is how frequently the Beacon checks for presence (in milliseconds). Many beacons have this value set to have a vey high polling frequency by default. For the purpose of Twiview we don;t necessarily need a very high poll rate for base functionality and the higher the poll rate the faster the battery is consumed. A poll rate of 625milliseconds (about half a second) is what we would recommend for most scenarios.
You adjust polling frequency value in your beacons settings. Follow manufacturers instructions for your specific beacons.
Step 5 - Using the 'find assets near me' feature in the Twinview mobile application.
When on a list view, in the mobile app, such as the Maintainable Asset list just click the 'Near Me' button to filter the results to items in your space.
Need Beacons?
Twinview will work with any iBeacon or Eddystone compatable beacon, however we have partnered with Kintakt.io to supply quality Beacons for any scenario or location (including external).
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