Getting Started with iBeacons (Designers of Things 2014)

Getting Started with iBeacons

Get started by building.

�What they are �How they talk �How to work with them �What this means for designing things


� Transmitters that notify devices of their presence � They can notify about other things too

� Enabling technology: Bluetooth Low Energy � iBeacon, AltBeacon, maybe more to come � Lots of creative potential:

� Context-‐aware applications � High-‐fidelity positioning (“Indoor GPS”) � “Smart” (or at least identifiable) objects


Getting Started with iBeacons: Estimotes

!

It’s not just about the beacons !

It’s about the devices that sense and communicate with them too

Going Beyond the Phone


� Is there a future for single-‐purpose devices? � Of course, that’s why we’re here � At a minimum, there’s a “movement” worth of people who seem to think there’s room to make new things

� Robots, drones, toys, appliances, tools, personal trackers…

� It doesn’t matter—it’s still a great way to learn and explore


!!“Node.js® is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications. Node.js uses an event-‐driven, non-‐blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-‐intensive real-‐time applications that run across distributed devices.”

—nodejs.org

Application Platform: Node.js

http://nodejs.org

1 2 3 4 5

var noble = require('noble')noble.on('discover', function(per){ console.log(per.advertisement.localName+' '+per.uuid) }) noble.startScanning()

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14

var noble = require('noble') noble.on('discover', function(per){ console.log(per.advertisement.localName+' '+per.uuid) per.on('connect', function(){ per.on('servicesDiscover', function(sers){ sers.forEach(function(ser){ if(ser.name) console.log(' '+ser.name) }) }) per.discoverServices() }) per.connect() }) noble.startScanning()

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

var noble = require('noble') noble.on('discover', function(per){ console.log(per.advertisement.localName+' '+per.uuid) per.on('connect', function(){ per.on('servicesDiscover', function(sers){ sers.forEach(function(ser){ if(ser.name) console.log(' '+ser.name) ser.on('characteristicsDiscover', function(chs){ chs.forEach(function(ch){ if(ch.name) console.log(' '+ch.name) }) }) ser.discoverCharacteristics() }) }) per.discoverServices() }) per.connect() }) noble.startScanning()

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

var noble = require('noble') noble.on('discover', function(per){ console.log(per.advertisement.localName+' '+per.uuid) per.on('connect', function(){ per.on('servicesDiscover', function(sers){ sers.forEach(function(ser){ if(ser.name) console.log(' '+ser.name) ser.on('characteristicsDiscover', function(chs){ chs.forEach(function(ch){ if(ch.name) console.log(' ‘+ch.name) ch.on('descriptorsDiscover', function(descs){ descs.forEach(function(desc){ if(desc.name) console.log(' '+desc.name) }) }) ch.discoverDescriptors() }) }) ser.discoverCharacteristics() }) }) per.discoverServices() }) per.connect() }) noble.startScanning()

Callbacks

� Programming for iBeacons, or any similar technology, is inherently asynchronous � Programs respond to changes in the environment

� It’s the appropriate mental model—set up handlers for particular scenarios

� The structure of programs have lessons to teach beyond their technical details

Callbacks

� Peripheral broadcasts advertisement � Central receives advertisement, discovers services

� Peripheral reports services � Central discovers characteristics

� Peripheral reports characteristics � Central reads value � Central discovers descriptors

� Peripheral reports descriptors � Central reads value(s)

Callbacks in Plain Language

� Finding the Raspberry Pi (nmap) � Lists the local IPs of available devices

� Connecting to the Raspberry pi (ssh) � Creates a secure tunnel for controlling another computer

� Turning on Bluetooth (hciconfig) � Enable connections through the Bluetooth USB dongle

� Running our program (node)

Talking to Our Thing

$ nmap -‐sn 10.0.1.0/24

Starting Nmap 6.46 ( http://nmap.org )... ...at 2014-‐09-‐05 17:38 EDT Nmap scan report for 10.0.1.1 Host is up (0.0026s latency). Nmap scan report for 10.0.1.3 Host is up (0.047s latency). Nmap scan report for 10.0.1.18 Host is up (0.00011s latency). Nmap scan report for 10.0.1.24 Host is up (0.0058s latency). Nmap done: 256 IP addresses (4 hosts up)... ...scanned in 3.08 seconds

Finding the Raspberry Pi

$ !!

ssh [email protected] [email protected]'s password: !Linux raspberrypi 3.10.25+ #622... ... Last login: Mon Jun 30 00:12:34 2014 from 10.0.1.18

Connecting to the Raspberry Pi

$ !!

sudo hciconfig !hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB BD Address: 00:1B:DC:06:5D:2A... DOWN RX bytes:1150 acl:0 sco:0 events:58... TX bytes:788 acl:0 sco:0 commands:57...

Turning on Bluetooth

$ $ !

sudo hciconfig hci0 up sudo hciconfig !hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB BD Address: 00:1B:DC:06:5D:2A... UP RUNNING RX bytes:1703 acl:0 sco:0 events:86... TX bytes:1182 acl:0 sco:0 commands:85...

Turning on Bluetooth

$ !!

node index1.js !scanning... estimote 5404e4f46332620002f4 ...

Running Our Program

� Adafruit Blue&White 16x2 LCD+Keypad Kit

Having Our Thing Talk to Us

!

This is still all text

!

Things are interesting because they can talk in other ways too

� ThingM blink(1) mk2 USB RGB LED

Having Our Thing “Talk” to Us

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11

var detector = new Detector({},{noble: noble})var blinker = new Blinker({},{blink1: new Blink1()}) var display = new Display() !var app = require('./lib/app').create({},{ detector: detector, display: display, blinker: blinker }) !app.run()

Having Our Thing “Talk” to Us

Dependency Injection

1 2 3 4 5 6

exports.Detector = function(options, injected){ this.options = options this.noble = injected.noble this.noble.on('discover', this.discover.bind(this)) ... }


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11

var expect = require('expect.js'), sinon = require('sinon'), Detector = require('../lib/detector').Detector !describe('new Detector()', function(){ it('calls noble#on', function(){ var noble = {on: sinon.spy()} var detector = new Detector({}, {noble: noble}) expect(noble.on.called).to.be.ok() }) })


!

This is still an extension of my computer

!

Things are interesting because they can live on their own too

� Setup script (bash/shell) � Ensures environment is properly configured

� Process launcher (init.d) � Kicks off application and process monitoring

� Process monitor (forever) � Keeps application running if something goes wrong

Having Our Thing Do Its Own Thing

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

#! /bin/sh !sudo npm install forever -‐g sudo rm -‐rf /usr/local/ibeacon-‐detector sudo ln -‐s `readlink -‐m .` /usr/local sudo rm -‐rf /etc/init.d/ibeacon-‐detector sudo cp ibeacon-‐detector /etc/init.d/ibeacon-‐detector sudo update-‐rc.d ibeacon-‐detector defaults

Setup Script

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14

# /etc/init.d/ibeacon-‐detector !### BEGIN INIT INFO # Provides: ibeacon-‐detector # Required-‐Start: $all # X-‐UnitedLinux-‐Should-‐Start: # Required-‐Stop: $all # X-‐UnitedLinux-‐Should-‐Stop: # User: root # Default-‐Start: 2 3 4 5 # Default-‐Stop: 0 1 6 # Short-‐Description: iBeacon Detector autostart # Description: iBeacon Detector autostart... ### END INIT INFO

Process Launcher

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

case "$1" in start) /usr/local/bin/hciconfig hci0 up /usr/local/bin/forever start… ;; stop) /usr/local/bin/forever stopall ;; *) echo "Usage: /ibeacon-‐detector {start|stop}" exit 1 ;; esac exit 0

Process Launcher

$ /usr/local/bin/forever start \ -‐al /var/log/forever.log \ -‐o /var/log/ibeacon-‐detector.log \ -‐e /var/log/ibeacon-‐detector-‐error.log \ —sourceDir=/usr/local/ibeacon-‐detector index.js

Process Monitor

System Utilities

Learn by building?

• Things can both produce and consume context

• Things can communicate in new and different ways

• Things can exist autonomously

Observations

• Think in callbacks • Program with dependency injection (and mocked interfaces)

• Get familiar with relevant system utilities (and help others to as well)

Advice

Code: github.com/dluxemburg/ibeacon-‐detector GitHub: dluxemburg Twitter: @dluxemburg

Thanks!

http://github.com/dluxemburg/ibeacon-detector

Technology

Getting Started with iBeacons (Designers of Things 2014)