Casambi nodes can act as iBeacon senders
Did you know that Casambi’s wireless lighting control system can enhance customer experience, not only in terms of lighting but also in helping with location-based services and proximity marketing?
Imagine you’re in a supermarket and have the store’s app installed on your mobile phone. While passing through the beverage section, the app displays a discount on a special wine or an ad for a drink’s new flavor. Or imagine you’ve just arrived at a new stadium to support your football team during an away match… and the app on your smartphone guides you to find your seat, then offers a real-time seat upgrade to an area from where you can have a better view and sends coupons during half-time for discounted snacks and sporting goods.
These situations are already a reality in some places and are fast becoming common place thanks to beacon technology. Have you ever heard about beacons? Here’s a simple lowdown:
A beacon is a small wireless device used to broadcast Bluetooth radio signals to nearby tablets and smartphones. Within the detectable range of the beacon, the signal emitted can be picked up by a mobile app to trigger an action based on the user’s location.
Here’s how a beacon transmitter works to send push notifications:
- The beacon transmitter is deployed. This device is placed in a location where it can get maximum coverage in the desired area.
- BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) signals are transmitted by the beacon within its range. The broadcasted signal has a serial ID number composed of three codes: The Universally Unique Identifier (UUID), Major and Minor values.
- The signals are detected by a mobile device that is capable of receiving BLE signals from beacons.
- The mobile device then sends the ID number attached to the signal to the cloud server.
- The action assigned to that ID number is checked by the server and it responds accordingly.
- The app receives the information and displays the assigned notification – this could be a discount, a product launch, or simply a greeting.
Beacons perform best among other technologies used for client-based indoor positioning systems to cover a large indoor space.
Essentially, beacon transmitters can be placed anywhere, but it is quite logical to place them inside luminaires – given that lighting is customarily installed in ceilings or places that allow maximum reach to cover the whole area people move around in.
So, why are we talking about beacons? Because any Casambi node can work as a beacon sender with no additional investment in devices. All Casambi’s products have embedded iBeacon technology. iBeacon is a trademarked term used by Apple to describe its own implementation of beacons based on Bluetooth Low Energy, but this name is synonymous with the general term BLE beacon.
If you already have a Casambi control system or plan to implement one, you can easily set a Casambi node to act as an iBeacon sender. You just need to enable the iBeacon interface in the Casambi App and configure iBeacon for the network. You can set Major and Minor codes as well as the distance, and the maximum range within which the iBeacon signals can be received by a mobile device.
It is important to note that Casambi only provides the beacon, the signal transmitter. To use the iBeacon functions as desired, a third-party app (not available from Casambi) will be required – this is where the push notifications will be sent to.
So, Casambi’s wireless lighting control system can enhance customer experience, not only in terms of lighting but also in helping with location-based services and proximity marketing.
Here’s a fantastic example of how iBeacon technology has been incorporated into a Casambi project: The Terrace in Berlin.
In this smart office building, iBeacons enable real-time location tracking and indoor navigation, providing employees and operators with the possibility to easily view and adjust the heating and lighting scene options within their immediate vicinity. It adds a totally new dimension to customer experience. Upon entering the underground parking garage, an iBeacon can connect to your mobile and trigger an action to automatically call the elevator for you with your destination floor pre-selected.
Beacon technology is relatively simple yet its potential is vast. Beacons can truly boost customer experience, improve business processes, reduce costs, and even generate more revenue.
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