Can not advertise as beacon

[RazaGR]

I am trying to advertise ESP32 as beacon But the issue is I don't seems to find more info on nRF connect app, it shows it as a bluetooth device and there is no data I am setting for major and minor, please see below image, "ESP32 as iBeacon" is my device and above "Beacon" is some other which is showing proper beacon data:

Here is my code:

#include "sys/time.h"
#include "BLEDevice.h"
#include "BLEUtils.h"
#include "BLEServer.h"
#include "BLEBeacon.h"
#include "esp_sleep.h"

#define GPIO_DEEP_SLEEP_DURATION     10  // sleep x seconds and then wake up
RTC_DATA_ATTR static time_t last;        // remember last boot in RTC Memory
RTC_DATA_ATTR static uint32_t bootcount; // remember number of boots in RTC Memory

// See the following for generating UUIDs:
// https://www.uuidgenerator.net/
BLEAdvertising *pAdvertising;   // BLE Advertisement type
struct timeval now;

#define BEACON_UUID "CB10023F-A318-3394-4199-A8730C7C1AEC" // UUID 1 128-Bit (may use linux tool uuidgen or random numbers via https://www.uuidgenerator.net/)

void setBeacon() {

  BLEBeacon oBeacon = BLEBeacon();
  oBeacon.setManufacturerId(0x4C00); // fake Apple 0x004C LSB (ENDIAN_CHANGE_U16!)
  oBeacon.setProximityUUID(BLEUUID(BEACON_UUID));
  oBeacon.setMajor(0x007B);
  oBeacon.setMinor(0x01C8);
  BLEAdvertisementData oAdvertisementData = BLEAdvertisementData();
  BLEAdvertisementData oScanResponseData = BLEAdvertisementData();

  oAdvertisementData.setFlags(0x04); // BR_EDR_NOT_SUPPORTED 0x04

  std::string strServiceData = "";

  strServiceData += (char)26;     // Len
  strServiceData += (char)0xFF;   // Type
  strServiceData += oBeacon.getData();
  oAdvertisementData.addData(strServiceData);

  pAdvertising->setAdvertisementData(oAdvertisementData);
  pAdvertising->setScanResponseData(oScanResponseData);
  pAdvertising->setAdvertisementType(ADV_TYPE_NONCONN_IND);
}

void setup() {

  Serial.begin(115200);
  gettimeofday(&now, NULL);
  Serial.printf("start ESP32 %d\n", bootcount++);
  Serial.printf("deep sleep (%lds since last reset, %lds since last boot)\n", now.tv_sec, now.tv_sec - last);
  last = now.tv_sec;

  // Create the BLE Device
  BLEDevice::init("ESP32 as iBeacon");
  // Create the BLE Server
  BLEServer *pServer = BLEDevice::createServer(); // <-- no longer required to instantiate BLEServer, less flash and ram usage
  pAdvertising = BLEDevice::getAdvertising();
  setBeacon();
  BLEDevice::startAdvertising();

  char advert[20] = "my-device";
  BLEAdvertisementData pAdvertisementData;
  pAdvertisementData.setManufacturerData(advert);
  pServer->getAdvertising()->setAdvertisementData(pAdvertisementData);

  // Start advertising
  pAdvertising->start();
  Serial.println("Advertizing started...");
  delay(60000);
  pAdvertising->stop();
  Serial.printf("enter deep sleep\n");
  esp_deep_sleep(1000000LL * GPIO_DEEP_SLEEP_DURATION);
  Serial.printf("in deep sleep\n");
}

void loop() {
}

what am I missing?

[chegewara]

You do not follow example: https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/blob/master/libraries/BLE/examples/BLE_iBeacon/BLE_iBeacon.ino

This code is your problem:

  char advert[20] = "my-device";
  BLEAdvertisementData pAdvertisementData;
  pAdvertisementData.setManufacturerData(advert);
  pServer->getAdvertising()->setAdvertisementData(pAdvertisementData);

[RazaGR]

@chegewara I copied exact example but still there is no data for beacon, could you please guide me what I am missing here, thanks :

This what I see:

the code ( which is exact copy from example):

/*
   Based on Neil Kolban example for IDF: https://github.com/nkolban/esp32-snippets/blob/master/cpp_utils/tests/BLE%20Tests/SampleScan.cpp
   Ported to Arduino ESP32 by pcbreflux
*/

/*
   Create a BLE server that will send periodic iBeacon frames.
   The design of creating the BLE server is:
   1. Create a BLE Server
   2. Create advertising data
   3. Start advertising.
   4. wait
   5. Stop advertising.
   6. deep sleep

*/
#include "sys/time.h"

#include "BLEDevice.h"
#include "BLEUtils.h"
#include "BLEBeacon.h"
#include "esp_sleep.h"

#define GPIO_DEEP_SLEEP_DURATION     10  // sleep x seconds and then wake up
RTC_DATA_ATTR static time_t last;        // remember last boot in RTC Memory
RTC_DATA_ATTR static uint32_t bootcount; // remember number of boots in RTC Memory

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif

uint8_t temprature_sens_read();
//uint8_t g_phyFuns;

#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

// See the following for generating UUIDs:
// https://www.uuidgenerator.net/
BLEAdvertising *pAdvertising;
struct timeval now;

#define BEACON_UUID           "8ec76ea3-6668-48da-9866-75be8bc86f4d" // UUID 1 128-Bit (may use linux tool uuidgen or random numbers via https://www.uuidgenerator.net/)

void setBeacon() {

  BLEBeacon oBeacon = BLEBeacon();
  oBeacon.setManufacturerId(0x4C00); // fake Apple 0x004C LSB (ENDIAN_CHANGE_U16!)
  oBeacon.setProximityUUID(BLEUUID(BEACON_UUID));
  oBeacon.setMajor((bootcount & 0xFFFF0000) >> 16);
  oBeacon.setMinor(bootcount&0xFFFF);
  BLEAdvertisementData oAdvertisementData = BLEAdvertisementData();
  BLEAdvertisementData oScanResponseData = BLEAdvertisementData();

  oAdvertisementData.setFlags(0x04); // BR_EDR_NOT_SUPPORTED 0x04

  std::string strServiceData = "";

  strServiceData += (char)26;     // Len
  strServiceData += (char)0xFF;   // Type
  strServiceData += oBeacon.getData(); 
  oAdvertisementData.addData(strServiceData);

  pAdvertising->setAdvertisementData(oAdvertisementData);
  pAdvertising->setScanResponseData(oScanResponseData);
  pAdvertising->setAdvertisementType(ADV_TYPE_NONCONN_IND);

}

void setup() {

  Serial.begin(115200);
  gettimeofday(&now, NULL);

  Serial.printf("start ESP32 %d\n",bootcount++);

  Serial.printf("deep sleep (%lds since last reset, %lds since last boot)\n",now.tv_sec,now.tv_sec-last);

  last = now.tv_sec;

  // Create the BLE Device
  BLEDevice::init("Esp32 Raza");

  // Create the BLE Server
  // BLEServer *pServer = BLEDevice::createServer(); // <-- no longer required to instantiate BLEServer, less flash and ram usage

  pAdvertising = BLEDevice::getAdvertising();

  setBeacon();
   // Start advertising
  pAdvertising->start();
  Serial.println("Advertizing started...");
//  delay(100);
//  pAdvertising->stop();
//  Serial.printf("enter deep sleep\n");
//  esp_deep_sleep(1000000LL * GPIO_DEEP_SLEEP_DURATION);
//  Serial.printf("in deep sleep\n");
}

void loop() {
}

[chegewara]

Now what you can see is "issue" with iOS. When you check with android nRF connect you can se iBeacon (i tested your code earlier). iBeacon is Apple proprietary standard and there is very strict specification and i am missing 1 small detail.

Another thing is that you cant use iBeacon in commercial device unless you pay fees to Apple.

PS it may be for example advertising interval issue or the fact that advertising should use private address

[RazaGR]

@chegewara thanks for checking, I have setup using Eddystone, and it seems better compared to complexity and commercial issues involved with iBeacons.