Bluetooth Low Energy and IBeacons With Tessel

Tessel is a microcontroller you program in JavaScript. It's like Arduino, but designed to be easier to use and web-friendly.

Bluetooth Low Energy is a communication protocol that's designed to use very little energy, transferring small packets of data relatively slowly. This is good for battery-powered applications that stay in one place for a long period of time, for example emitting sensor data.

I recommend you read Evan Simpson's beginner guide to BLE if you're interested in learning more about the protocol and its uses.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to get a Bluetooth Low Energy module up and running with a Tessel, then show you how to make it into an iBeacon.

Here's what you need:

Tessel
Bluetooth Low Energy module
Another Bluetooth Low Energy device, like a newer smartphone (or another BLE module) for your Tessel to talk to

Step 1: Install Tessel

If you haven't used Tessel before, you should go install it.

Step 2: Plug the Module Into Tessel's Port A

It's best to unplug Tessel from power while plugging in modules.

Plug the BLE module into Tessel port A with the hexagon/icon side down and the electrical components on the top, then plug Tessel into your computer via USB.

Step 3: Install the Module

Install by typing

npm install ble-ble113a

into the command line.

Step 4: Code

Save this code in a text file called ble.js:

// Any copyright is dedicated to the Public Domain.
//  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0
*********************************************
This Bluetooth Low Energy module demo scans
for nearby BLE peripherals. Much more fun if
you have some BLE peripherals around.
*********************************************/
var tessel = require('tessel');
var blelib = require('ble-ble113a');
var ble = blelib.use(tessel.port['A']);
ble.on('ready', function(err) {
  console.log('Scanning...');
  ble.startScanning();
});
ble.on('discover', function(peripheral) {
  console.log("Discovered peripheral!", peripheral.toString());
});

Step 5: Push the Code

In your command line,

tessel run ble.js

Set a Bluetooth Low Energy device nearby to advertising and see if Tessel can find it!

Bonus: Change the code to print out only the IP address of discovered peripherals.

To see what else you can do with the BLE module, see the module docs here.

Step 6: Make a IBeacon

Now that you have your BLE module working, try making it emit data as an iBeacon.

An 'iBeacon' is a very specifically formatted advertising data packet. Evan Simpson wrote a very nice blog post explaining iBeacons, their merits, downfalls, and alternatives: You Probably Don't Need an iBeacon. I recommend you read it.

But in the meanwhile, here's the code to make your Tessel BLE module into an iBeacon:

var tessel = require('tessel');
var bleLib = require('ble-ble113a');
var bleadvertise = require('bleadvertise');
 
var uuid = 'D9B9EC1F392543D080A91E39D4CEA95C'; // Apple's example UUID
var major = '01';
var minor = '10';
 
var iBeaconData = new Buffer(uuid+major+minor, 'hex'); // Create data Buffer
 
var packet = {
  flags: [0x04], // BLE only
  mfrData : iBeaconData
}
 
var ad = bleadvertise.serialize(packet);
 
var beacon = bleLib.use(tessel.port['A'], function(){
  beacon.setAdvertisingData(ad, function(){
    beacon.startAdvertising();
    console.log('Beaconing');
  });
});

Again, run with