Beacon In Personal Items finding solution

As BLE beacon technology becomes prevalent, it brings new innovative ways for personal item finding easily and quickly. It’s easy to locate your valuables within a physical space with beacons, whether indoor or outdoor. They are more efficient in indoor navigation than the previous location technology, especially GPS.

The Working Mechanism of Beacon Personal Item Tracking

You can use different ways to find personal items like cars and valuables in fixed places using BLE beacons. The two ways you can use to find them are:

Roaming Smart phone with fixed listeners

In this approach, you use beacons to locate personal items that are in a fixed place. For instance, you can fix different tags on your computers. When a person with a Bluetooth-enabled device comes close to them, the beacons send a prompt message to the user. This is a convenient way of locating personal items in a fixed location.

Roaming Smart phone with fixed listeners

Beacons Items Location Tracking With fixed beacons

In this approach, you install BLE beacons in a fixed position. You then attach different tags on the items you want to monitor, for instance, your car. When that vehicle gets close to the beacons, the fixed BLE receivers transmit some information to them. The beacons will then send more information about the car to the receiver. This makes it easy to track your car, especially if stolen.

Beacons Items Location Tracking With fixed beacons

Features & Benefits of Beacon Tracking on Personal Items

Cost-effective

Beacons are quick and easy to install and uses low energy. Therefore, they are more cost-effective when locating personal items, unlike GPS, which drains Smartphone’s batteries within few minutes.

Reduced Accidents

You can effectively and timely detect when a person gets near your valuables that can cause accidents, especially children. These things include complex and dangerous equipment.

Reduced Theft Risks

When you attach beacons to your fixed personal items, you can timely detect when they’re in motion. This can help you reduce the risk of theft and improper handling of your things.

Increase Operational Efficiency

With beacons installed in your house or office, you can easily and quickly trace the things you want to use by knowing their real-time location.

Challenges of Beacon Asset Tracking & Personal Item Finding

Although BLE beacons provide significant benefits in tracking personal items, various challenges are facing the technology. Read on.

Deployment Challenge

Beacons are small and simple to understand. However, it’s complicated and tedious to deploy and manage them. For this reason, not everyone can afford to use them in tracking and monitoring personal items and assets. Although technologists predicted that beacon technology would be more prevalent from 2015, this hasn’t been achieved yet.

Beacons Alone Cannot Track Items

Even if you install beacons in your home or business premises, assets and items tracking is quite challenging. First, you need to research and consult an appropriate enterprise offering mobile app development services. This will help you get an appropriate app on your Smartphone that can effectively interact with beacons.

 Also, the tracking can only work if you switch on the device, WIFI, and Bluetooth. Additionally, you cannot locate your items and assets without installing additional sensors in your device.

Power Challenges

Real-time tracking of assets in railways, airports, and parking lots can be challenging due to power problems. This is because tracking in these areas requires hard-wired BLE receivers, which don’t rely on batteries. Therefore, beacons in these areas can only be mounted where power is available.

Security and Physical Issues

Beacons are small in size, and you can install them anywhere around the house or business premises. You can stick them on walls, ceilings, and other hidden locations. This poses various challenges like;

  • An attacker can steal or remove them and access the stored information
  • Their color may not match the surroundings
  • They may not stick properly on those surfaces

Application of Beacons on Finding Personal Items

BLE beacons in schools

BLE beacons in schools

Students, tutors, and staff members can use beacons to find their belongings quickly when around the school compound. Most learning institutions are installing them in all corners of the school, which helps reduce theft cases. By attaching tags on laptops/computers and personal vehicles, users can locate them quickly and easily.

In businesses

Most businesses are installing BLE beacons to help them track the following;

  • Valuable business assets
  • Personal items
  • Goods on transit
  • Personal and business vehicles

This helps in quick access to personal things and anti-theft protection.

beacons in businesses
beacons in Health centers

Health centers

It’s not easy for doctors and patients to take care of their belongings, especially during emergencies. However, with beacons installed in hospitals, nurses, patients, and other staff members can effectively locate their things around the premises. They only need to attach different tags on these items for more straightforward navigation.

Hospitality sectors

It’s challenging to locate your car and other belongings in big restaurants. Finding the room you left your luggage in or the exact position of your vehicle in a hotel parking lot is more complicated than you think. However, the presence of beacons in this sector can make navigation quick and easy.

beacons in Hospitality sectors
beacons in cities

In cities

Locating your car in a large town is not an easy task. But if the city council installs BLE beacons everywhere around the municipality, navigation will be an easy undertaking.

In homes

Having beacons in your house can help reduce theft and accident cases. By placing tags on personal belongings in fixed positions, beacons will send you a notification whenever they move. As for dangerous equipment at home, you’ll receive a warning message when people get close to them. You can also track and locate other valuable items in the house if you misplace them.

beacons in house

How to Pick the Right Beacon to Find Your Items

To choose the right one for locating personal items, consider the following:

  • If you choose a battery-powered beacon, ensure it has a long lifespan. Do not choose this type if you want to use it in extreme temperatures.
  • Use USB-powered beacons in places where batteries aren’t available.
  • For convenient and highly portable beacons, choose ambient electromagnetic wave-powered beacons.
  • For effective indoor and outdoor use, choose all-weather beacons.

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