What is the suggested way to place an iBeacon ?
I have tried all 3 methods, and all of them seem to have lot of difference in signal strength coverage.
Other than horizontally placed on a table parallel to the floor, rest of the placements are not working well.
any thoughts out of experience would be helpful.
Thanks.
Hi Coimsat,
We have had a few issues with beacon positioning too so thought we would share some things we found. The estimote beacons broadcast in a cone (as in this diagram http://antennadesignassociates.com/PCAAD6.JPG) so if you want the device to get the best signal then you need to aim the beacons with this in mind. For our scenario we ended up attaching the beacons to the walls mounted on a metal wedge to aim the cone at a specific area. There are other issues con consider whenever placing the beacons though, such as the position of the person holding the device (as their own body will block a lot of the signal) and the position of the bluetooth antenna on the device relative to the beacon.
We plan to write a new post with much more information on http://www.thetalkingllama.com soon, but hopefully this will give you something to get started until then.
Best of luck.
LLama Team,
Thanks for the explanation, that's a great peace of work! Looking forward for your blogpost, let us know when it will be live :)
Coimsat,
Taking under consideration physics behind beacons, the ideal placement might be a challenge. In most cases it's better to place the beacon above the crowds, to ensure clear line of sight between a beacon and a mobile device (as you know some materials can interfere with beacon signal as well as human bodies, as there are mostly consist mostly of water they can totally block the signal).
Additionally the best beacon alignment is vertical, with the little dot facing upwards - this way beacon broadcasting signal in most effective way.
For more information please refer to this article: https://community.estimote.com/hc/en-us/articles/202041266-Ideal-Beacon-Placement
