Understanding ibeacon distancing

Question

Trying to grasp a basic concept of how distancing with ibeacon (beacon/ Bluetooth-lowenergy/BLE) can work. Is there any true documentation on how far exactly an ibeacon can measure. Lets say I am 300 feet away...is it possible for an ibeacon to detect this?

Specifically for v4 &. v5 and with iOS but generally any BLE device.

How does Bluetooth frequency & throughput affect this? Can beacon devices enhance or restrict the distance / improve upon underlying BLE?

ie

               | Range       | Freq       | T/sec      | Topo       |      
               |–—–––––––––––|–—––––––––––|–—––––––––––|–—––––––––––|
Bluetooth v2.1 | Up to 100 m | < 2.481ghz | < 2.1mbit  | scatternet |
               |-------------|------------|------------|------------|
Bluetooth v4   |     ?       | < 2.481ghz | < 305kbit  | mesh       |
               |-------------|------------|------------|------------|
Bluetooth v5   |     ?       | < 2.481ghz | < 1306kbit | mesh       |

user_923743 · Answer

iBeacon uses Bluetooth Low Energy(LE) to keep aware of locations, and the distance/range of Bluetooth LE is 160ft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_low_energy).

user_294949 · Answer

It's possible, but it depends on the power output of the beacon you're receiving, other rf sources nearby, obstacles and other environmental factors. Best thing to do is try it out in the environment you're interested in.

Understanding ibeacon distancing

7 Answers