https://github.com/rroemhild/ubeacon
MicroPython library for encode and decode BLE beacons
https://github.com/rroemhild/ubeacon
altbeacon beacons ble bluetooth eddystone ibeacon lintech micropython mikrotik ruuvitag
Last synced: about 1 month ago
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MicroPython library for encode and decode BLE beacons
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/rroemhild/ubeacon
- Owner: rroemhild
- License: mit
- Created: 2022-07-18T20:36:22.000Z (about 3 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-07-01T19:41:02.000Z (3 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-08-16T16:02:11.612Z (about 2 months ago)
- Topics: altbeacon, beacons, ble, bluetooth, eddystone, ibeacon, lintech, micropython, mikrotik, ruuvitag
- Language: Python
- Homepage:
- Size: 118 KB
- Stars: 18
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 3
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE.md
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README
# uBeacon
__uBeacon__ is a simple Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon library for MicroPython. It can be used to create beacons for BLE advertisement or to decode advertised beacons. It does not handle the advertisement or scanning part directly, as different MicroPython forks handle Bluetooth in various ways.
Supported BLE beacons:
* AltBeacon
* Eddystone-UID
* Eddystone-URL
* iBeacon
* LinTech
* MikroTik (decode only)
* RuuviTag (decode only)
* SG Wireless CAP/T (decode only)
## Installation
### Install with mip
You can install __uBeacon__ with mip using the following command:
```
mpremote mip install github:rroemhild/ubeacon
```
### Copy files
You can also manually copy the files from the `ubeacon` directory to your MicroPython device. You may exclude the beacon types that are not required for your project, ensure to keep the *\_\_init\_\_.py* file as it is mandatory.
```sh
mpremote mkdir lib/ubeacon
mpremote cp ubeacon/* :lib/ubeacon
```
## Usage
The __uBeacon__ library provides several examples in the `examples` directory, where you can find examples on how to advertise a beacon and decode beacons scanned by your device.
### Advertise Beacon
To advertise a beacon, you first need to create a beacon object using one of the provided classes. For example, to create an iBeacon object:
```python
from ubeacon.ibeacon import IBeacon
beacon = IBeacon(
uuid="acbdf5ff-d272-45f5-8e45-01672fe51c47",
major=42,
minor=21,
)
```
Once you have created a beacon object, you can start advertising it using i.e. the `bluetooth.BLE` module:
```python
import bluetooth
ble = bluetooth.BLE()
ble.active(True)
ble.gap_advertise(250_000, adv_data=beacon.adv_data, resp_data=beacon.resp_bytes, connectable=False)
```
### Decode Beacon
To decode a beacon, start by extracting the payload data from a scan result. For most beacon types supported by this library (with the exception of the Eddystone class), you need to pass the manufacturer data to the corresponding beacon class. In MicroPython, you can retrieve this data using `result.manufacturer()`.
#### Async Scan Example
For a complete example that demonstrates asynchronous scanning, see `examples/sync_async.py`.
```python
import aioble
import asyncio
async def scan():
async with aioble.scan(10000, interval_us=30000, window_us=30000, active=False) as scanner:
async for result in scanner:
for mfg_id, mfg_data in result.manufacturer():
print(f"MAC:{result.device.addr_hex()} MFG_ID:{mfg_id} MFG_DATA:{mfg_data}")
asyncio.run(scan())
```
#### Decode Example: AltBeacon
The following example shows how to decode an AltBeacon by passing the extracted mfg_data to the AltBeacon class:
```python
from ubeacon.altbeacon import AltBeacon
payload_data = b'\xbe\xac=\xf9=Z\xa1\xf2G\xbb\xa3\xcf>I\xe6\xa8\x9b\xb6\x00\x11\x00*\xbb#' # Example mfg_data from ADV
beacon = AltBeacon(data=payload_data)
print(f"{beacon,!r}")
```
### Filter Beacon
The __uBeacon__ library provides a `BeaconFilter` class that allows you to filter beacons based on their UUID, Major, and Minor. For example:
```python
from ubeacon import BeaconFilter
# Initialize the filter object to filter by uuid and major
beacon_filter = BeaconFilter(
uuid="7dc04cb6-ed25-420a-ae02-f31674a1f946",
major=1337,
)
if not beacon_filter.match(beacon):
print("Beacon does not match filter.")
```
## Beacon Naming
The beacon name is included in the response data.
To ensure compatibility with different MicroPython forks, __uBeacon__ utilizes `micropython.unique_id` to obtain a unique ID based on the Wi-Fi MAC address. To change the beacon name, it can be set after instantiation. For example, to use the last 2 bytes from the Bluetooth MAC address:
```python
import bluetooth
from ubeacon.eddystone import EddystoneUID
NAMESPACE = "85b9ae954b59c3d6f69d"
INSTANCE = "000000001337"
ble = bluetooth.BLE()
beacon = EddystoneUID(NAMESPACE, INSTANCE)
beacon.name = b"ubeacon " + hexlify(ble.config("mac")[1][4:]).upper()
```