BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY (BLE)
What makes BLE stand out amongst other ‘Internet of Things’ technologies is the global adoption of its standards, and the fact it is built in to almost all smart phones as standard. They can therefore be used as both a ‘beacon’ and a ‘receiver’. The cost of a BLE based reader infrastructure can therefore be relatively low, but since BLE tags contain a battery they have a finite lifetime before they must be re-charged or replaced. Battery management must therefore be built into any business case considering this technology. Solar powered tags are beginning to appear on the market, which do away with the battery. They can function off indoor lighting down to 200 lux, but the slower beacon rate under these conditions must be taken into account.
BLE beacons are becoming smarter, and are beginning to incorporate sensors – movement and temperature for example. The additional data is delivered in a data 'payload' as part of the beacon message.
Integration with Lime - eVantage
Codegate's eVantage software can be used to collect tracking data from BLE-tagged assets. We offer eVantage embedded hardware in the form of low cost anchors and a rugged Autonomous Gateway which is suitable for vehicle installation. These solutions offer zonal based location only, siting it relative to the nearest anchor point.
Codegate’s Lime Asset Inventory software can be used on Android devices to inventory and locate assets tagged with BLE beacons.
eVantage BLE
datasheet
Lightricity - BLE tags
Lightricity has produced the 4EverTrack ultra-low power autonomous BLE sensing and tracking hardware platform. 4EverTrack is powered by a sustainable solution of photovoltaic energy harvesting and can be used to wirelessly monitor the location, movement and temperature of assets. The 4EverTrack can be used with a wide range of Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) and customisable with a wide range of sensors for maintenance-free asset monitoring.
The information gathered from these BLE sensors can be fed into the Lightricity app and can also be used with our asset management software Lime.
