How to detect Eddystone-Compatible Beacons
In order to detect Eddystone-compatible beacons, you simply need to add new BeaconParsers for each frame type you wish to detect and decode. Do this the first time you access the BeaconManager in your Application, Service or Activity like so:
BeaconManager beaconManager = BeaconManager.getInstanceForApplication(this.getApplicationContext());
// Detect the main identifier (UID) frame:
beaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(new BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(BeaconParser.EDDYSTONE_UID_LAYOUT));
// Detect the telemetry (TLM) frame:
beaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(new BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(BeaconParser.EDDYSTONE_TLM_LAYOUT));
// Detect the URL frame:
beaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(new BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(BeaconParser.EDDYSTONE_URL_LAYOUT));
Getting Notified When Beacons Appear in the Area
You can use monitoring APIs to detect when beacons are in the area using the Monitoring APIs. Each time a beacon matching the defined Region identifiers below is first detected, the didEnterRegion callback is made.
public class MyActivity extends Activity implements BeaconConsumer, MonitorNotifier {
private BeaconManager mBeaconManager;
public void onResume() {
super.onResume();
mBeaconManager = BeaconManager.getInstanceForApplication(this.getApplicationContext());
// Detect the main Eddystone-UID frame:
mBeaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(new BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(BeaconParser.EDDYSTONE_UID_LAYOUT));
mBeaconManager.bind(this);
}
@Override
public void onBeaconServiceConnect() {
// Set the two identifiers below to null to detect any beacon regardless of identifiers
Identifier myBeaconNamespaceId = Identifier.parse("0x2f234454f4911ba9ffa6");
Identifier myBeaconInstanceId = Identifier.parse("0x000000000001");
Region region = new Region("my-beacon-region", myBeaconNamespaceId, myBeaconInstanceId, null);
mBeaconManager.addMonitorNotifier(this);
try {
mBeaconManager.startMonitoringBeaconsInRegion(region);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void didEnterRegion(Region region) {
Log.d(TAG, "I detected a beacon in the region with namespace id " + region.getId1() +
" and instance id: " + region.getId2());
}
public void didExitRegion(Region region) {
}
public void didDetermineStateForRegion(int state, Region region) {
}
@Override
public void onPause() {
super.onPause();
mBeaconManager.unbind(this);
}
Getting Ranging Updates from Nearby Beacons With Telemetry
The Ranging APIs work similarly to the Monitoring APIs, but you get a callback approximately once per
second (configurable) with a distance estimate to the beacons matching the defined region for the full time it is visible.
The example below also shows how to access fields from the Eddystone-TLM frame.
public class MyActivity extends Activity implements BeaconConsumer, RangeNotifier {
private BeaconManager mBeaconManager;
@Override
public void onResume() {
super.onResume();
mBeaconManager = BeaconManager.getInstanceForApplication(this.getApplicationContext());
// Detect the main Eddystone-UID frame:
mBeaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(new BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(BeaconParser.EDDYSTONE_UID_LAYOUT));
// Detect the telemetry Eddystone-TLM frame:
mBeaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(new BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(BeaconParser.EDDYSTONE_TLM_LAYOUT));
mBeaconManager.bind(this);
}
public void onBeaconServiceConnect() {
Region region = new Region("all-beacons-region", null, null, null);
try {
mBeaconManager.startRangingBeaconsInRegion(region);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
mBeaconManager.addRangeNotifier(this);
}
@Override
public void didRangeBeaconsInRegion(Collection<Beacon> beacons, Region region) {
for (Beacon beacon: beacons) {
if (beacon.getServiceUuid() == 0xfeaa && beacon.getBeaconTypeCode() == 0x00) {
// This is a Eddystone-UID frame
Identifier namespaceId = beacon.getId1();
Identifier instanceId = beacon.getId2();
Log.d(TAG, "I see a beacon transmitting namespace id: "+namespaceId+
" and instance id: "+instanceId+
" approximately "+beacon.getDistance()+" meters away.");
// Do we have telemetry data?
if (beacon.getExtraDataFields().size() > 0) {
long telemetryVersion = beacon.getExtraDataFields().get(0);
long batteryMilliVolts = beacon.getExtraDataFields().get(1);
long pduCount = beacon.getExtraDataFields().get(3);
long uptime = beacon.getExtraDataFields().get(4);
Log.d(TAG, "The above beacon is sending telemetry version "+telemetryVersion+
", has been up for : "+uptime+" seconds"+
", has a battery level of "+batteryMilliVolts+" mV"+
", and has transmitted "+pduCount+" advertisements.");
}
}
}
}
@Override
public void onPause() {
super.onPause();
mBeaconManager.unbind(this);
}
Working With Eddystone URL
When working with Eddystone URL, you generally want to detect all beacons regardless of the URL it is transmitting. Since the Android Beacon Library treats the URL as the beacon’s unique identifier, you should use the ranging APIs and define a region that matches all identifiers.
public class MyActivity extends Activity implements BeaconConsumer, RangeNotifier {
private static String TAG = "MyActivity";
private BeaconManager mBeaconManager;
@Override
public void onResume() {
super.onResume();
mBeaconManager = BeaconManager.getInstanceForApplication(this.getApplicationContext());
// Detect the URL frame:
mBeaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(new BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(BeaconParser.EDDYSTONE_URL_LAYOUT));
mBeaconManager.bind(this);
}
public void onBeaconServiceConnect() {
Region region = new Region("all-beacons-region", null, null, null);
try {
mBeaconManager.startRangingBeaconsInRegion(region);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
mBeaconManager.setRangeNotifier(this);
}
@Override
public void didRangeBeaconsInRegion(Collection<Beacon> beacons, Region region) {
for (Beacon beacon: beacons) {
if (beacon.getServiceUuid() == 0xfeaa && beacon.getBeaconTypeCode() == 0x10) {
// This is a Eddystone-URL frame
String url = UrlBeaconUrlCompressor.uncompress(beacon.getId1().toByteArray());
Log.d(TAG, "I see a beacon transmitting a url: " + url +
" approximately " + beacon.getDistance() + " meters away.");
}
}
}
@Override
public void onPause() {
super.onPause();
mBeaconManager.unbind(this);
}