Under the hood

How does a beacon work? The principles are pretty easy. Under the silicone casing, there is small ARM computer, combined with a Bluetooth Smart connectivity module, powered by a battery. This little circuit board from Nordic Semiconductor is running Estimote firmware – the piece of low-level software installed on beacons, that makes sure they know exactly how to behave. While the computing power of the CPU and the amount of memory at its disposal are limited, it’s more than enough to handle tasks like processing sensor data or encrypting a beacon’s ID for improved security.