Android beacon library oscillates between on and off with a fast pace

I used the android beacon library to do the following action:

I switched on and off with a fast pace. On and off, on and off, and so on for 8-9 times.

However, the beacon then lost the signal for about 10 seconds and then the signal started to be received again.

Also, I tried an Android API function, "lescan", which resulted in the same situation.

Does anyone know why this happens?

MY testing device is:

Samsung S6 7.0

override fun onResume()
beaconManager = BeaconManager.getInstanceForApplication(this)
beaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(IBEACON_LAYOUT))
beaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(EDDYSTONE_UID_LAYOUT))
beaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(EDDYSTONE_URL_LAYOUT))
beaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(EDDYSTONE_TLM_LAYOUT))
beaconManager.bind(this)

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M)
val permissions = ArrayList<String>()
if (PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED != ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION)) permissions.add(Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION)
if (permissions.size != 0)
ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this, permissions.toTypedArray(), 100)





override fun onBeaconServiceConnect()
beaconManager.addRangeNotifier beacons,region ->
Log.d("addRangeNotifier",beacons.size.toString())

try
beaconManager.startRangingBeaconsInRegion(Region("com.gigabyte.testkotlin", null, null, null))
catch (e: RemoteException)
e.printStackTrace()


override fun onPause()
super.onPause()
beaconManager.unbind(this)



1 Answer
1

It's hard to say exactly what you are witnessing without seeing exact code to reproduce, but turning scanning on and off quickly is not necessarily a problem on all devices.

By default, the Android Beacon Library uses a foreground scan period of 1100 ms and a between scan period of 0ms, so it effectively turns scanning on and off 9 times in just over 10 seconds -- similar to what you describe.

I have never noticed these symptoms in normal use of the library on Samsung devices or the Huawei P9, so something else must be triggering this behaviour in your test case.

EDIT: The posted code indicates that the activity itself is what is started and stopped rapidly, and because it binds and unbinds to the beaconManager as it starts and stops, it also starts and stops the Android service that scans for beacons. These are heavy weight data structures that are not designed to be started and stopped rapidly. Short answer: don't do this. If you really need to start and stop your activity rapidly, bind to the beaconManager outside the activity lifcycle, perhaps only one at app startup in the onCreate method of a custom Android Application class.

beaconManager.setBackgroundBetweeenScanPeriod(999999999)

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