The Internet of Things is making the physical world more connected—a mission very dear to us here at Estimote. This is why yesterday in London, we were proud to share our latest innovation with the TechCrunch Disrupt crowd. And today, we’re even more happy to reveal it to everyone: the world’s first, truly low-energy BLE mesh networking.
Estimote Location Beacons can now pass data between one another, and they will still last several years on batteries. Combined with 200 m range, GPIO ports, and our mobile SDKs, this ushers in a new era of connected objects. Just put up a few wireless beacons, and your smartphone app can now reach where it couldn’t before.
Say goodbye to cords and hubs
Connected devices come in all shapes and sizes. However, to stay connected, they all require you to [a] be physically present nearby, [b] be plugged in and have access to WiFi/LTE, or [c] be in range of a gateway that does. This either limits usability (you can’t access beacons/devices you’re not in range of), or makes deployment a hassle (you need to plan for power, WiFi, and gateway coverage).
With Estimote mesh networking, we’ve evolved past these restrictions. You just put up a bunch of small, wireless, battery-powered beacons, and they will relay data from one to another, allowing easy access to remote areas. No hubs, no cords—which means super simple installation and management, ultimately saving time and money.
100% battery-powered, no latency-degrading tricks
Mesh networking in Estimote Beacons uses very little energy, which enables the whole thing to be fully wireless and battery-powered. No need to fiddle with an external power supply, recharge often, or use custom light bulbs to act as the mesh nodes. And the batteries in beacons will still last several years. Because, what good is “wireless mesh” when you still have to plug some things in?
Most importantly, it works 24/7, with latency that doesn’t limit its usability. We don’t hold back like the other “low-power” mesh implementations, which only turn mesh on once a day for a few minutes. With Estimote mesh, data starts flowing right away.
Mesh that’s just a mobile app away
Estimote mesh is a software update for existing Estimote Beacon hardware. This means that, like the beacons themselves, it works over Bluetooth Low Energy, and is compatible with any modern smartphone or tablet. Mobile apps can communicate directly with the mesh network, feeding it with or consuming data.
It’s a big advantage over mesh implementations that use custom protocols, which requires special control panels or smartphone bridges (more hubs, huh).
Send data to mesh from your smartphone, and it starts syncing right away
Boosting remote beacon management
More than a year ago, we introduced Fleet Management API. With mesh networking, we’re adding new remote beacon management powers. Want to enable Estimote Here & Now or Beacon Health Check in your already-deployed beacons? Apply the changes to one beacon, and they will automatically propagate to the rest. Even if there’s nobody physically present in range of them! It makes configuration changes quicker and more robust, and slashes the maintenance costs. Imagine effortless firmware updates, too.
Or, with user-defined packets, you can make your entire beacon mesh network broadcast any data you want, and control that data from anywhere covered by the network. In a subway station, for example, a staff member could use a tablet to control custom packets with service disruption info.
Mesh + GPIO = remote access to 3rd party devices
Combine the settings-syncing powers of the beacon mesh with the general-purpose ports in Estimote Beacons, and … you can control 3rd party devices from any corner of the mesh network!
Say you’re using the GPIO ports to connect to holiday lights in your garden. You can wirelessly turn them on via GPIO settings in one beacon, and the mesh will automatically propagate this command to every other beacon. Within seconds, everything lights up!
Try it now!
Mesh networking is available today, for Long Range Location Beacons, via an over-the-air firmware update. Check out our Mesh tutorial on the Estimote Developer Portal.
Buy Long Range Location Beacons w/ mesh
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