Mist's Virtual Bluetooth Beacons Get a Try-out

Mobile and cloud-based technology startup Mist Systems has developed a solution that creates "virtual Bluetooth Low Energy (vBLE) beacons" by using software algorithms and steerable antennas to identify the location of a user's BLE-enabled mobile phone. The system features what Mist calls a Dynamic BLE Array, incorporated into a device that functions as multiple BLE beacons. The device, which the company refers to as a BLE access point, can typically cover a 2,500-square-foot area—which, according to Sudheer Matta, Mist's product VP, equates to the same amount of coverage provided by eight physical beacons in the same area.