A Classification Framework for Beacon Applications

Beacons have received considerable attention in recent years, which is partially due to the fact that they serve as a flexible and versatile replacement for RFIDs in many applications. However, beacons are mostly considered from a purely technical perspective. This paper provides a conceptual view on application scenarios for beacons and introduces a novel framework for characterizing these. The framework consists of four dimensions: device movement, action trigger, purpose type, and connectivity requirements. Based on these, three archetypical scenarios are described. Finally, event-condition-action rules and online algorithms are used to formalize the backend of a beacon architecture.