BEACON TECHNOLOGY

A beacon is a small Bluetooth radio transmitter. It's kind of like a lighthouse: it repeatedly transmits a single signal that other devices can see. Instead of emitting visible light, though, it broadcasts a radio signal that is made up of a combination of letters and numbers transmitted on a regular interval of approximately 1/10th of a second. A Bluetooth-equipped device like a smartphone can-see‖ a beacon once it's in range, much like sailors looking for a lighthouse to know where they are. Beacons are very small, simple devices. If you crack one open, you won't find thirty motherboards and oodles of wires. You'll find a CPU, radio, and batteries. Beacons often use small lithium chip batteries (smaller and more powerful than AA batteries) or run via connected power like USB plugs. They come in different shapes and colors, may include accelerometers, temperature sensors, or unique add-ons but all of them have one thing in common-they transmit a signal. It's not throwing just any old message into the air. It's transmitting a unique ID number that tells a listening device which beacon it's next to.