beaconsok

Beaconsok is an open standard and ecosystem for low-power beacon signaling and data exchange, intended to enable interoperable beacon networks across public safety, logistics, and smart-city applications. The specification defines a common data format, security model, and API surfaces that allow devices, gateways, and applications from different vendors to interoperate.

Technical overview: beaconsok payloads are compact and include beacon_id, timestamp, approximate location, battery level, and sensor readings. Messages are transmitted over low-power wireless interfaces such as BLE and sub-GHz ISM bands, with region-specific radio parameters. The protocol supports end-to-end authentication via digital signatures and privacy controls such as ephemeral identifiers and access-controlled fields.

Architecture: Networks comprise beacons, gateways, and clients. Beacons broadcast, gateways collect and forward data to back-end services, and clients subscribe to data streams via a standard API. The stack supports offline operation, cache-enabled gateways, and optional mesh communication for resilience.

Origins and adoption: The concept emerged from an industry and research consortium in the early 2020s, with open-source reference implementations and hardware support from multiple vendors. It has been piloted in municipal utilities, disaster drills, and large facilities.

Applications: asset tracking, environmental sensing, wildfire and flood response, maritime beacons, indoor navigation in large venues, and integration with emergency management systems.

Governance and standards: Maintained by the BeaconsOK Foundation, with working groups, conformance testing, and guidance on regulatory compliance. Adoption considerations include spectrum rules, security risks, and privacy requirements. Critics point to fragmentation risks and deployment costs.