Is it possible to set up an Arduino as a "communication beacon" for smartphones?

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi everybody,
I hope I'm not wrong posting on this sub-forum, but it seemed that this was the right one. If it's not, my apologies.
My partners and I plan on starting a project that involves using smartphones' geolocation services. The idea is to send a message to the user's smartphone when they are close to those specific locations we are interested in.

For example:
I am walking down the street, and I pass by a McDonald's. I should get a notification on my phone that says "McDonald's" (this is created by the Android app we will develop).

Some ideas were put on the table, but the main issue was the battery and data usage. We also thought on using Arduino: the idea is to place microcontrollers on those specific spots and set them up to transmit a signal, so the smartphone app decodes and displays the message we want to show.
After some research, I stumbled upon some solutions, like the RF433 transmitter and Bluetooth implementation, but those are not applicable to this project, since the idea is to set up the microcontroller as a "beacon" that can communicate to several different Android devices at the same time when they are close, with no need to pair any of them.
I was hoping that I could find some guidance in this sub-forum, maybe the name of a module or sensor that can help get this job done, implementations or pages I can look for information. I even thought on InfraRed implementation but that would also be an obstacle. There's a high probability that what I want to achieve is not even possible :frowning:
Thank you in advance. Forgive my ignorance :confused:

2

Hello!

Though I've never worked on GPS projects, here's what I'm thinking about this project. What if your app did it all? In this project, I almost feel that it could be successful without an arduino. If your app compared the user's present location with a "location library", couldn't it work without any beacon? I'm just shooting in the dark. Of course you'd probably have to make a library cloud to prevent making the app too large. Hope it works out!

With this forum, pay attention to the good advice and pay no attention to the comments that shoot down your dreams.

Have fun!

-Englishscone

4

Is it possible to set up an Arduino as a "communication beacon" for smartphones?

Are you referring to the type of beacon that is produced by a BLE system?

If so an ESP32 would probably be the best module to use.

A comment to the people who have suggested using geo-location on a smart-phone ...

If the requirement is what I think it is then the whole purpose is that the person with the phone has no prior knowledge of any interest in that location - hence it cannot be pre-programmed into a phone database.

...R

5

Is it possible to set up an Arduino as a "communication beacon" for smartphones?

I hope not.

7

Delta_G:
But the user has to download some app from this guy right? And this guy knows what the points of interest he wants the phone to go off at are.

HE gave a McDonalds as an example. He could easily program an app with the locations of all McDonalds and then whoever downloaded that app could get a ding every time they pass a McDonalds (as if they can't just see the arches).

If he's talking about doing something that doesn't involve the user downloading some app then that's different. If this is something that is going to do something to my phone without my wanting it to then we should stop helping because that shit is beyond annoying.

OP does mention a smart phone app, so there is that.

OP as others have mentioned, there is no need to use a Micro-controller to do this, outside of the "I simply want to do it" mentality.

8

My phone is doing just that already... using location services it knows where I am, and if I stay at some place for a while a message from Google pops up "how was xxx, it is rated 3.5 stars, agreed?" where xxx is the place that I just was and that happens to be listed in Google.

And I thought Facebook was bad when it comes to tracking your every move!

9

Delta_G:
But the user has to download some app from this guy right?

I my well be wrong, but I don't think there is a need to download an app from the guy operating the beacon. I think all that is needed is that the BLE device on your phone is listening for beacons. If a beacon is transmitting it will include some sort of "advertising message"

I put that in quotes because it might be advertising in two senses - the technical one of making itself known to any device that is listening and the commercial one of telling the human that "XYZ is here"

BLE is very different from the older HC-05 type of Bluetooth and AFAIK it is not intended to replace the older variety.

...R

11

Well, we await illumination from the OP.

But if as mentioned these alerts are to be done from an app, that has presumably been installed with consent, then just give the app access to the phones location information. Notifications of nearby attractions can then be done from a database through the phones normal internet connection.

A 'beacon' does suggest a product whereby the purchaser\owner of the beacon can in some way send messages direct to a phone.

12

Englishscone:
If your app compared the user's present location with a "location library", couldn't it work without any beacon? I'm just shooting in the dark. Of course you'd probably have to make a library cloud to prevent making the app too large. Hope it works out!

Delta_G:
Use the location services on the phone. Your app will have a database of all the GPS locations of your points of interest and the phone checks it's current location against that list.

Robin2:
Are you referring to the type of beacon that is produced by a BLE system?

If so an ESP32 would probably be the best module to use.

We will have to decide between using location services and implementing BLE modules then, but I've had no experience developing solutions that use said module. I've used NFC, Bluetooth (not BLE) and remote connection as well, but those won't work in this project. That's why I asking for guidance.

Robin2:
A comment to the people who have suggested using geo-location on a smart-phone ...

If the requirement is what I think it is then the whole purpose is that the person with the phone has no prior knowledge of any interest in that location - hence it cannot be pre-programmed into a phone database.

...R

Yes, the user has no idea about those locations (please read below). So if the user WANTS to use the app but has location services disabled, the app will be pointless.

Delta_G:
If he's talking about doing something that doesn't involve the user downloading some app then that's different. If this is something that is going to do something to my phone without my wanting it to then we should stop helping because that shit is beyond annoying.

So... this is what the solution should achieve:
You download the mobile application.
The application will have an initial list of telephone carriers (our clients). You choose from this list your telephone carrier.
Those carriers have different benefits that you MAY or MAY NOT know about, for example, food discounts, cinema discounts, and so on.
The idea is to, as I stated, inform the user of discounts when he is visiting (or is nearby) some of those points of interest.

Robin2:
I put that in quotes because it might be advertising in two senses - the technical one of making itself known to any device that is listening and the commercial one of telling the human that "XYZ is here"

BLE is very different from the older HC-05 type of Bluetooth and AFAIK it is not intended to replace the older variety.

Apparently BLE is the way to go, if that doesn't work we will have to stick to location services.
How should I implement a BLE module in this case? or could you give me some guidelines, a place to go for research?

srnet:
But if as mentioned these alerts are to be done from an app, that has presumably been installed with consent, then just give the app access to the phones location information. Notifications of nearby attractions can then be done from a database through the phones normal internet connection.

A 'beacon' does suggest a product whereby the purchaser\owner of the beacon can in some way send messages direct to a phone.

Yes, the idea is to send users notifications about nerby attractions, and as I posted, we were considering geo-location and location services as the main approach. But the issue, and main concern, is battery usage and data consumption. The average use of the app is that you are walking in downtown at any time of the day, checking your location with the database... What if the app would check its location every 30 seconds, during the whole day? Personally, whenever my phone has GPS on for the whole day, the battery lasts 25% less than it should (this is of course a specific case, but we must consider all phones).
This concern is obviously related to the mobile side of the project, but it is the main reason why we are searching for alternatives.

Delta_G:
If this doesn't require me to "opt in" to receiving these notifications then please please please just don't.

All these intrusive marketers should be dragged out into the streets and hung. That goes triple for anyone making robo-calls or making my cell phone do things I didn't intend it to.

haha alright, fair enough. Now that I've provided more information about the project, or how it should work, I hope your doubts will be clarified.

I appreciate all the replies, and I hope I've answered your doubts. Thank you very much!

14

Delta_G:
If that's what you really want to achieve then the location services is the only way to go. You'll just have to let the user know that he has to turn them on for it to work. I've seen other apps that do this sort of AR thing and that's how they worked.

The problem with the BLE solution is that now you need every merchant on the list to buy (or you have to buy and give to them) and maintain this thing. You need one device or more per merchant. You'll have variable coverage like that. Lots of merchants will have the thing but it isn't working or whatever. That network of things will be a total nightmare to build out and maintain. It will become a mess and people won't use it.

Plus there's the coverage aspect. BLE gets you some room, but there's all sorts of interference issues. If there's a big wall nearby or a building situated just right then your signal gets all wonked and nobody picks it up. Now one merchant is mad because it doesn't work at his location because he installed it next to the safe. And even when it does work, you gotta walk right up on the place to hook up to bluetooth.

With location services and a database you can spot all the places on a map of nearby locations. I don't have to be right in front of the store, I might just be in the same shopping center. Your BLE would miss me there.

Indeed... I didn't account interefence and placement of the BLE device. That's true. It might work with the isolated stores, but if we set up those devices on 2 stores, one right next to each other, they might even see each other as well. Besides, correct me if I'm wrong, not every mobile device (iOS / Android / Windows, etc) has BLE built-in, right?

Thanks for the assist, @Delta_G

15

Delta_G:
Plus there's the coverage aspect. BLE gets you some room, but there's all sorts of interference issues. If there's a big wall nearby or a building situated just right then your signal gets all wonked and nobody picks it up. Now one merchant is mad because it doesn't work at his location because he installed it next to the safe. And even when it does work, you gotta walk right up on the place to hook up to bluetooth.

All that sounds very sensible. Using BLE would require the merchant to have sufficient IT competence to understand those problems so it might be viable for a big chain such as McDonalds or Tesco.

And, to answer an earlier question, I have no experience of BLE - I am slowly learning bits an pieces.

...R

PS ... rest assured that I will NOT be downloading an app that informs me about special offers when I walk past a building.

16

Robin2:
All that sounds very sensible. Using BLE would require the merchant to have sufficient IT competence to understand those problems so it might be viable for a big chain such as McDonalds or Tesco.

...and if you have to ask here, you don't have the channels to get into such chains :slight_smile:

17

wvmarle:
...and if you have to ask here, you don't have the channels to get into such chains :slight_smile:

I agree, but that is not what was in my mind.

Rather, I was thinking that it would be difficult for the OP to establish his own "chain" of small merchants as they are unlikely to have the necessary IT competence to deal with BLE beacons.

As has already been suggested a centralised system in which the OP is responsible for all the technology would be a better option.

...R

18

Yes... marketing is the big obstacle here. Not that I mind, there is more than enough tracking and intrusive advertising going on already.