Eddystone Devices

Eddystone is a protocol specification that defines a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) message format for proximity beacon messages. It describes several different frame types that may be used individually or in combinations to create beacons that can be used for a variety of applications.

In particular, we support the Accent Systems iBKS 105 https://accent-systems.com/product/ibks-105/ beacon (based on Nordic Semiconductors nrf51822 chipset) with a CR2477 coin cell battery.

Properties

Property	description	range of values	operations
Advertised Tx Power	A value that shall be used as the Tx power that is advertised in the Eddystone-UID, -URL, and -EID frame types.		read, write
Advertisement data	Reads the data set in the active slot, and sets the data/parameters to be broadcast	depends on frame type	read, write
Advertising Interval	the advertising interval in milliseconds	depends on the beacon	read, write
Lock State	Reads a byte value that indicates the current lock state. Status values are: 0: LOCKED, 1: UNLOCKED, 2: UNLOCKED AND AUTOMATIC RELOCK DISABLED	0-2	read
Public ECDH KEy	Reads the beacon's 256-bit public ECDH key (little-endian)		read
Radio Tx Power	reads and writes the desired radio Tx power for the active slot	depends on beacn	read, write

For in depth descriptions of these characteristics, see the Eddystone Configuration GATT Service description

Advertisement data

The data set in the active slot can be of 3 different frame types. To make the outputs of BLAST's blocks more useable, it differs slightly from the Eddystone spec:

Frame type	Output in Eddystone spec	Block output
UID	Frame Type, TX Power at 0 m, UID[^1]	UID
TLM	Frame Type, TLM Version, Battery Voltage, Beacon Temperature, PDU count, Time since reboot[^2]	Temperature
URL	Frame Type, TX Power, URL Scheme, Url[^3]	URL

Setup

1. Connect to the Eddystone beacon by clicking the Things and Resources category and then connect via WebBluetooth.
2. Select the beacon and click Pair.
3. (optional) Give the beacon a name.
4. The device is now selectable on the webBluetooth device block in the Things and Resources category.

Notes

The iBKS Config Tool, an app on iPadOS 15.1, connects (via GATT?) to paired iBKS 105 beacons after the user clicks on the devices. Once connected in the app, the pairing is not possible in BLAST running in Chromium.

Conversely, you have to close Chromium to be able to reconnect to the device in the app.

In the IBKS Config Tool app, you can give the beacon a name that persists even if the beacon battery is removed for a while.