Nearby configuration for Physical Web

I'm starting a study about usability of Estimote beacons with PhysicalWeb.

Even if I well configured my beacons with an eddystone url : https://twitter.com, sometimes notifications don't show up or it takes few minutes. It seems that the trouble may come from Google Nearby.

From the Nearby developer FAQ they say :

• Nearby Notifications typically scans for beacons for a few seconds after the screen is turned on. If the screen has not been turned on for a while, the device won't discover new beacons.
• If the notification has been dismissed on a device recently, that device may not show another notification a period of time. The backoff policy is also reset if the user opens the Nearby section of Google Settings.

For the first point I wanted to know if this is configurable. Tablets are not always screen-on. What to do when the "device won't discover new beacons" to discover again beacons ?

For the second point, do we have the duration that the device "may" not show another notification ? Is it hardware specifications ?

No, it is NOT configurable. At least not at the moment. The scan is performed by Google Play Services and thus behavior can potentially change between versions.

"device won't discover new beacons" means that beacons are not discovered only while the screen is off. So when you get close to a beacon and then go away while the screen is off, then you miss this beacon. Once you turn the screen on, beacons that are around are discovered automatically. You don't need to do anything to start discovery after turning screen on again.

I don't know how long is the back off duration. But it is not defined by the beacon (so no hardware specifications). It is defined by Google Play Services and thus can change with every version.