Tiny bluetooth beacons withstand weather & over-air attacks

Readily certified and available in a qualified and convenient housing, the EMBC01 enables rapid and easy deployment into any beacon solution.

Due to its unique design, EMBC01 consumes less than 25µA average current in a typical application, resulting in more than 12 months operation from the built-in single CR2032 battery. The beacon embeds EM’s renowned ultra-low-power EM6819 MPU, allowing it to achieve over a year of autonomy for applications operating with long beaconing intervals. EMBC01 also contains a built-in mode switch, thus guaranteeing that beacons have a full charge when they are deployed. Integrated red and green LEDs provide users with feedback about the device’s operating mode.

The EMBC01 includes a miniature antenna which is designed to maximise communication range. At the 0dBm output power setting, EM beacons can be detected 75m away by an iPhone 5S. At maximum output power, that distance extends up to 120m.

Due to EMBC01’s optimised circuit architecture, it is immune to over-the-air attacks, meaning that a well-placed beacon is very secure. Without complete physical access, the device’s settings cannot be altered.

EMBC01 is shipped pre-programmed, complete with a Renata CR2032 battery and an IP-64 certified, weatherproof plastic enclosure for easy deployment, making it suitable for use at outdoor music festivals, sporting events and arenas.

Though EMBC01 is nominally shipped pre-programmed and packaged in a standard housing, the EMBC01 is easily modified to fit most applications. At the most basic level, it is easy to change the UUID, MAJOR ID, MINOR ID for adapting to the smartphone’s software application that is being used. Output power and beacon interval may also be changed for optimised battery lifetime, based on the desired use case.

Should more extensive firmware modifications be desired, EM offers a complete dev kit that includes five EMBC01 beacons, programming board and software development tools. This enables customers to control firmware and to create bespoke Bluetooth Smart advertising packets in order to transmit real-time sensor data such as temperature, light level, battery voltage, or other physical phenomena.

The EMBC01 enclosure can be customised to sport any embossed logo desired and is available in a number of colours. More specific enclosure customisations may be discussed with EM Microelectronic.

Thanks to its tiny size, the EMBC01 can be used almost anywhere. To assist in attaching EMBC01, EM offers a suite of ‘snap-over’ accessories such as key fob, wrist-band for easy-to-wear products, or wall mount accessories for easy-to-deploy solutions.

“The EMBC01 is the first EM product to achieve FCC/CE/IC certification, and this is a significant milestone for EM’s wireless product line. Customers receive a high quality, high performance Bluetooth beacon that is easy to deploy right out of the box,” commented Michel Willemin, CEO, EM. “EMBC01 offers versatility at low overall cost to all beacon users for paving the way to a truly pervasive IoT.”