Beacon Pairing – Overview and Key Information
1. What is a beacon?
Beacons are small credit card sized cards that emit low energy Bluetooth radiations. These cards are used for occupant recognition, i.e., they help you identify occupants within a vehicle in real-time.
Each beacon has a unique Serial Number and a MAC Address which is used to identify the driver inside the vehicle. Beacons can be carried around easily by drivers and they have a battery life approximately of 2-3 years. Beacons work as stand alone devices and do not require the use of a smartphone.
A beacon can be configured to be detected at:
- Trip Start - The OBD device scans for beacons in the vicinity when the ignition is turned ON and reports it to the Azuga servers.
- Trip End - The OBD device scans for beacons in the vicinity when the ignition is turned OFF and reports it to the Azuga servers.
2. How do I activate a beacon?
The beacon cards are pre-activated before it is shipped and can be used by the drivers instantly to get connected with the vehicle.
3. How does Azuga recognize occupants in a vehicle using beacons?
When a person (with a beacon) enters a vehicle, the OBD device captures the Bluetooth radiations emitted by the beacon. It then reports the details of the beacon to the Azuga server. It will also report the distance and location of the beacon from the logger. Azuga looks up these details in the back end and identifies the occupant who is using this beacon.
Details about the occupants can be obtained from Breadcrumb, Activity, and Summary reports.
4. I want to associate a driver with a beacon. How can I do this?
To associate a driver with a beacon:
1. Login to the Azuga Fleet Web application.
2. Navigate to the Devices page present under the ADMIN tab.
3. Select the Beacons tab. You will see the list of beacons present in your account.
- Click on the pencil icon corresponding to the beacon for which you wish to assign a driver. A form appears on the page.
5. Select the driver you wish to associate with the beacon from the Driver drop-down.
You do not have the provision to edit the Serial Number and Mac Address of the beacon.
6. Click on the Submit button to save the changes.
5. When does a driver get unpaired from his vehicle?
A driver gets unpaired if any of the events below take place:
- At ignition OFF - Drivers get automatically unpaired when the vehicle ignition is turned OFF. And the driver will no longer be recognized as an occupant of the vehicle.
- Multiple occupants detected - When another driver with a beacon enters the vehicle, the driver who was paired with the vehicle gets unpaired. In this case, none of the drivers will get paired with the vehicle.
6. What is the difference between “Occupants” and “Driver”?
In a multi-driver occupancy scenario during a trip, the beacon of the driver detected initially would be paired and reported as a driver, and the additional drivers carrying the beacon will be reported as occupants.
7. How soon does a driver get paired to a vehicle using a beacon card?
As soon as the vehicle ignition is turned ON, the driver will get paired with the vehicle on the very first ping from the device to the Azuga server (provided he is the only occupant in the vehicle with a beacon).
8. How many beacons can be detected at a time?
The Azuga device can only detect up to 4 beacons at once. So if there are 5 occupants in a vehicle, it’ll only recognize 4 of them based on randomness.
9. What happens when there is more than one occupant in my vehicle. Will Azuga recognize all the occupants?
Azuga will identify all the occupants in your vehicle provided that each of them carries a beacon. The OBD device detects all the beacons and reports them to Azuga. But it will not be able to determine who is behind the wheel.
Occupant recognition works best when there is only one driver-beacon pair present in the vehicle. When there is only one occupant in the vehicle, the beacon gets paired in the very first ping from the device.
10. What is the battery life of the beacon cards?
The average battery life of the beacon card is 60 Months.
11. How do I get a report of all the beacons present in my account?
1. Login to the Azuga Fleet Web application.
2. Navigate to the Devices page, under the ADMIN tab.
3. Select Beacons.
The data table will give you the list of all beacons present in your account. It contains the following information:
- Serial Number - Serial number of the beacon
- MAC Address - MAC address of the beacon
- Driver - Name of the driver paired with the beacon
- Last Detected At - Timestamp when the beacon was last detected in a vehicle.
- Last Vehicle Detected In - Vehicle where the beacon was last detected.