Recommendations / Configuration for Beacon Gateways (MQTT?)
Don't know about gateways, but there are quite a few tracking devices that support reporting nearby beacons.
That exactly is sth. we are going to be testing (using Teltonika trackers), Anton.
But the overall use case (CONTINUOUS tracking of ALL devices with Bluetooth Beacons) can not be fulfilled w/o either an App (pushed onto all Android devices of our user base, opened another thread for thats) and/or tracking/reporting of such assets while in depot or on one of our work yard using some form of Gateway reporting Beacon sightings towards Traccar (comparable to what some trackers, like those of Teltonika do).
Could Traccar act as the MQTT-target of such a gateway (the example mentioned above uses MQTT for reporting) and could those messages be decoded (theoretically)?
It depends. If you use one of the existing MQTT formats, then it should be possible. If not, it needs to be implemented.
We settled on just using Teltonika Trackers as 'gateways' in fixed places since this is the cheapest and best supported option. If you need to track > 100 beacons though this won't work.
OK, @Anton - thanks for the heads up - will test and document for others in case of success and might come back in case of failures/issues. Fully supporting such a device would probably be of use for a lot of other use cases.
The solution of Teltonika Trackers as "fixed installations" was in the back of my mind lready, @bluelaser.
But without even having had a look at the exact numbers, I cannot confirm that as the "cheapest" solution (w/o even looking at the full lifecycle from setup/deployment to retiremen - KKM KG02 even supports POE)
- The cost for the gateway is comparable (around 50 Euros) with probably a better reception (external antennas) compared to the respective trackers.
- The tracker solution needs M2M data cards that would be more expensive than already existing LAN/WLAN-Networks (and we have some areas where LTE is n/a. (but also some areas w/o LAN/WLAN, which probably will end us in a mixed environment or using the gateway in the also supported LTE mode)
- I would assume that such gateways support higher amounts of Beacons as the Teltonika trackers, as they are specialized in the task and are initially meant for industrial usage.
But thanks for the info on the number limitations,, will keep that in mind if we need to fall back to fixed installed trackers..
Before anybody asks regarding the KKM KG02 Iot Gateway:
A quick Google for KKM KG02 Iot Gateway will make you find the solution, vendor information and purchase sources (e.g. Alibaba). I am already in touch with KKM regarding successfull imnplementations using traccar for reporting and will share any information from them, here.
Do you guys have any recommendations for Beacon Gateways seamlessly working with Traccar and their configuration?
Use case:
We want to equip some of our material with Bluetooth Beacons, in order to continuously track / allocate them.
To also track them outside the construction areas (where we would like to do this with Apps & car based Teltonika trackers) we would like to add Beacon Gateways to our work yards and depots, in order to identify devices being stored there.
I found the KKM KG02 Iot Gateway, that would prrobably be able to do that, as this would be able to report beacons via MQTT. How should this need to be configured? Would Traccar be the MQTT Server these identified beacons are pushed to? Any real world config examples or alternatives?