Summary

Proximity Alert policies can be used as an event trigger for when an anchor Blufi observes a Beacon with an RSSI within a defined threshold range.  The Proximity Alert policy supports various options for clearing.  The typical use case is for the policy to be cleared manually or by a separate trigger mechanism, but can also be configured to auto-clear based on a timeout and rssi threshold parameters.  Which method to use depends on which behavior is being modeled by this policy (details on different use cases below).

Usage

The following is a screen capture from the Bluzone Portal showing the configuration screen for a Proximity Policy.  Note that in this case, the "Enable AutoClear" check box is checked to show all options for the screen capture.

BLE Scanning Device (Anchor Blufi)

This property is not required to save or update the policy, but the policy will not work without a BLE Scanning Device (AKA Anchor Blufi).  The BLE Scanning device is the trigger device.  This is the device listening for BLE broadcasts from Beacons involved in the policy.  The policy supports one or more Blufis, and only requires that the RSSI threshold is met by at least one of the scanning devices in order to generate an event.

Threshold

The RSSI threshold value determines what signal strength range is required in order to generate an event.  The RSSI is relative to at least one of the BLE Scanning Devices.  In order to generate an event, at least one of the BLE scanning devices needs to receive a BLE packet (SBeaconV2) from a participating Beacon with an RSSI greater than or equal to the configured value.

Auto-Clear

When enabled, this policy will also perform Auto-Clear analysis on the broadcast data.   Auto-Clear clears violations for the beacon in context based on some provided parameters.

Auto-Clear Context

Determines the behavior of Auto-Clear.  The Auto-Clear may clear either all violations of this type for the given beacon, or only clear violations for this Policy.

Auto-Clear Timeout

The amount of time in seconds that the beacon must be broadcasting at the Auto-Clear RSSI Threshold before Auto-Clear is triggered.

Auto-Clear Threshold

Determines what RSSi the Beacon should have before Auto-Clear begins evaluating.  Based on the use case being modeled, the Auto-Clear may evaluate the RSSI as being "Greater Than" or "Less Than" the supplied RSSI value.

Notifications

A list of email addresses that will be subscribed to receive policy state change event notifications.

Possible Use Cases

Waypoint Breadcrumb

Blufis are deployed at different entrance/egress portals in some location (or chokepoints).  RSSI thresholds for triggering the event are configured high enough that the beacon must pass relatively close to the Blufi to trigger the event.  As the beacon passes through different doorways/checkpoints, alerts are generated.  Alerts remain until manually cleared or Auto-Cleared.  

Asset Tracking

Similar to Waypoint Breadcumb but with the addition of an "inventory vault" concept.  An additional Blufi is deployed in the "vault" area, and configured to Auto-Clear all Policies of this type when RSSI is greater than X.  In this scenario, the waypoint flags are tripped as an asset is moved from the "vault" area, through different parts of the location.  When the asset is returned to the "vault", the Auto-Clear resets the waypoint flags. 

Proximity Alerts

Blufis are deployed at different points of interest at a location.  A policy event is triggered when a beacon comes within a certain range of a Blufi (RSSI threshold), and clears when the beacon moves outside of that threshold for longer than some determined time.