Beacons
This page / section pertains to BrightAuthor Classic, our legacy app. BrightSign Author is our latest app for managing content and players.
Development of BrightAuthor Classic has largely ceased and the app will eventually be deprecated and replaced with BrightSign Author.
Use this tab to add BLE beacons to your presentation.
To configure persistent beacons (i.e. beacons that are enabled for all presentations), add the beacons during the player setup processplayer setup process.
A maximum of five beacons can be active simultaneously (each beacon broadcasts on an interval of 1 second). Up to two persistent beacons can be set on a player, so three to five presentation beacons can be active at any one time. If more than this number is active, priority is determined by descending order.
Presentation beacons can be enabled and disabled using commandscommands.
Click the Add Beacon button to add a beacon to the presentation:
- Name: Enter a name for the beacon.
- Type: Use the dropdown list to select the beaconing mode/format:
- iBeacon: A simple beaconing format
- Automatically start with presentation: Check this box to activate the beacon when the presentation begins. You can use commandscommands to enable or disable beacons while the presentation is running.
- UUID: A string representation of a UUID, which can be in 16-bit, 32-bit, or 128-bit format. A 16-bit UUID must be exactly four hex digits with no punctuation; a 32-bit UUID must be exactly eight hex digits with no punctuation; and a 128-bit UUID must be punctuated exactly as follows: "cd7b6f81-f738-4cad-aebf-d2a2ea36d996".
- Major: An integer specifying the 2-byte Major value (0 to 65535)
- Minor: An integer specifying the 2-byte Minor value (0 to 65535)
- TxPower: An integer value that corresponds to the measurement of the Tx power level (in dBm) at 0 meters. The default value is -19, which corresponds to a level of -60dBm at 1 meter. The recommended calibration practice is to measure the RSSI in a circle at 1 meter from the beacon, then add 41 to the average measured signal strength to get the TxPower value: For example, measuring a -65dBm RSSI at 1 meter yields a TxPower value of -24.
- Automatically start with presentation: Check this box to activate the beacon when the presentation begins. You can use commandscommands to enable or disable beacons while the presentation is running.
- URL: The URL to encapsulate in the advertisement packet.
- TxPower: An integer value that corresponds to the measurement of the Tx power level (in dBm) at 0 meters. The default value is -19, which corresponds to a level of -60dBm at 1 meter. The recommended calibration practice is to measure the RSSI in a circle at 1 meter from the beacon, then add 41 to the average measured signal strength to get the TxPower value: For example, measuring a -65dBm RSSI at 1 meter yields a TxPower value of -24.
- Automatically start with presentation: Check this box to activate the beacon when the presentation begins. You can use commandscommands to enable or disable beacons while the presentation is running.
- Namespace: A 10-byte value expressed as 20 hexadecimal digits
- Instance: A 6-byte value expressed as 12 hexadecimal digits
- TxPower: An integer value that corresponds to the measurement of the Tx power level (in dBm) at 0 meters. The default value is -19, which corresponds to a level of -60dBm at 1 meter. The recommended calibration practice is to measure the RSSI in a circle at 1 meter from the beacon, then add 41 to the average measured signal strength to get the TxPower value: For example, measuring a -65dBm RSSI at 1 meter yields a TxPower value of -24.
The TxPower value does not modify the power level of the Bluetooth transmitter (this requires physical attenuation). Rather, the TxPower value is transmitted to Bluetooth clients in the BLE advertisement. Clients can then compare this value to the current RSSI of the signal to determine their approximate distance from the beacon.