Usage

Different projects require different setups. Some may require many MetaSensors, Apps or Hubs.

There are endless configurations for MetaSensors. You should pick the usage mode and infrastructure you need for your project.

MetaSensors can be used three ways:

  1. Beaconing/Advertising - Sensor data is advertised to be aggregated by any device in the world.

Note

Useful for cases where either the sender or the receiver is roaming and information is being “broadcasted” to all compatible devices. For example, in a hospital, a patient’s wristband broadcasts the patient’s location every 30 seconds to all available hub devices, effectively using geolocation to track the patient.

  1. Streaming - Sensor data is sent live to your Smartphone while connected.

Note

Useful for cases where high frequency data needs to be collected in large quantities. For example, we may want a live data stream from a boxing glove to a hub device during a boxing match. This allows us to monitor interesting data in real time and do more advanced analysis using a powerful computer/server.

  1. Logging - Sensor data is kept in the MetaSensor memory to be downloaded at a later time.

Note

Useful for cases where data storage without a hub devices or extremely high frequency data is needed. For example, we want to track a shipment from United States to Canada, measuring temperature, humidity, and shock every minute. We won’t have access to a hub device during the shipment, so we log this data (over a couple of days) to the internal memory of the MetaSensor device.

Disconnected: Beaconing

Bluetooth beacons transmit a universally unique identifier picked up by a compatible App or Device. The identifier and several bytes sent with it can be used to determine the device’s physical location, track customers, or trigger a location-based action on the device such as a check-in on social media or a push notification.

All MetaSensors can be turned into Beacons using our SDKs.

Beacon do not connect to Devices such as a MetaHub or MetaBase, they only send out Bluetooth packets to be picked up by any nearby Device(s).

A doctor wearing a smart Bluetooth badge beaconing can be used to alert patients when the doctor has left or entered the building and let nurses find the professional quickly in case of an emergency.

iBeacon is Apple’s version of the Bluetooth-based beacon, which allows Bluetooth devices to broadcast or receive tiny and static pieces of data within short distances.

Eddystone is a Bluetooth advertising protocol (“packet”) designed by Google.

Disconnected: Advertising

Same as Beaconing above but the sensor is either advertising connectivity or advertising a custom packet that isn’t of the beacon variety.

Connected: Streaming

Set your MetaSensor to continuously send data via the Bluetooth Link:


The data is live and constantly sent out via the Bluetooth link.

Connected: Logging

Set your MetaSensors to record data for minutes, hours, even days and download the data from memory at your convenience:


The data is stored in memory to be retrieved at any time.