Table 2 Summary of Estimote® and Sensefinity® main features, strengths and weaknesses

Features

• Wireless beacons;

• Based on BLE technology;

• Signals broadcasted are detected by applications installed on mobile devices;

• Main functionality is proximity detection;

• The app needs Wi-Fi or GSM to communicate over the Internet;

• Software Development Kit and example Demo app are provided.

• Wireless beacons and tags;

• Based on BLE technology and a proprietary protocol operating on the 2.4GHz frequency band;

• Provides a variety of functionality (proximity, direct location, etc.);

• Communicates over the Internet using gateways via GSM;

• Webservice provided to extract the data.

Strengths

• Not very expensive;

• Accurate when providing proximity.

• Not very expensive;

• Provides all necessary equipment to build an IPS;

• No need for an already existent network;

Weaknesses

• Need to buy other equipment, namely mobile devices;

• Demands the existence of Wi-Fi network or to use GSM;

• Not good for estimating direct distances;

• Very susceptible to interferences;

• Batteries levels decrease very fast.

• Demands the existence of GSM coverage;

• Hardware is very vulnerable to damage;

• Very susceptible to interferences;

• Beacons fall off frequently from their places.