ibeacon connectable transmission mode

0
votes

I recently bought an ibeacon from socialRetail with the specifications mentioning 'connectable and non-connectable transmission mode' as supported:

http://www.ibeaconstore.com/ibeacon-water-resistant-silicone

From the definition of connectable mode for beacons given in the following Texas instrument doc:

'The connectable beacon is a Bluetooth low energy device in peripheral mode, which means that it cannot only transmit, but also receive as well.'

(Source: http://www.ti.com.cn/cn/lit/an/swra475/swra475.pdf), this iBeacon should be capable of transmitting and receiving messages.

Now, iBeacon (not configured on an iDevice, just a standalone iBeacon like the one I bought) is supposed to be a transmit-only (or broadcast) device. So, what exactly does the 'connectable transmission mode' imply here? Can I somehow use this standalone iBeacon device to work in a half/full duplex mode?

1
iosbluetoothibeacon
A iBeacon shouldn't be by definition connectable, it only broadcasts, but I guess that is a mode where you can do the settings for it in BLE only (not necessary through a cable, like changing its Major/Minor, UUID). – Larme
Sounds to me like the device is a hybrid, operating as both an iBeacon and as a regular BLE device. – Duncan C

1 Answers

1
votes

Beacons should typically broadcast non-connectable advertisements as they are transmit only devices as you say. However, many vendors allow them to be configured by a Bluetooth connection. Establishing this connection requires devices seeing a connectable advertisement, so vendors can either send a second advertisement or modify the beacon advertisement to be connectable (even if this violates the spec.)

Because connectable adverts can case mobile devices to process them differently and in a less ideal way than non-connectable ones (some Android devices can receive only one connectable advertisement per Bluetooth scan), sending connectable advertisements should be avoided. For this reason, many beacon vendors have ways of switching this behavior.