Bluetooth support on Android Emulator - bluetooth

I want to know if the developer team which made the emulator have some information to make bluetooth work in the Android emulator, indicate some links about it, if they have some date for release or if they'll make it works in the future.

as far as I know there is no support in the emulator for bluetooth. And I will have to teach android and bluetooth in some classes. And the students will need to code stuff and test (guess it) in the android emulator.
So I came up with a bare-bone reimplementation of the android bluetooth API on top of tcp. You can find it on here on github.
Basically, you run a tcp-server on your machine, and the emulators will connect through it.
Instead of using the classes in the package android.bluetooth, you just need to use the classes in the package dk.itu.android.bluetooth (and other 2 little modifies).
As for now it supports:
switch on/off the "radio"
discovery devices (only other android emulators)
creating bluetooth services
connecting to bluetooth services
It's not much, but until we got some more from the android guys, I guess there is nothing else around.
Hope it'll be useful, cheers!

The documented bluetooth limitation appears inconsistent with the qemu -bt option. So, how is bluetooth enabled in the emulator so the -bt options can be used, or at least to know that bluetooth is supported?
The target/board/.../BoardConfig.mk having "BOARD_HAVE_BLUETOOTH := true" doesn't provide a bluetooth icon or enable bluetooth. So, how do we turn on bluetooth on the android qemu emulator?
What does it mean that bluetooth is not supported given the -bt option for emulating USB devices that were provided in 2008? The post and limitations are outdated.
The functional limitations of the emulator include:
No support for placing or receiving actual phone calls. You can simulate phone calls (placed and received) through the emulator console, however.
No support for USB connections
No support for device-attached headphones
No support for determining network connected state
No support for determining battery charge level and AC charging state
No support for determining SD card insert/eject
No support for Bluetooth
http://developer.android.com/tools/devices/emulator.html#limitations

Related

Android Things and Bluetooth

As far as I read about the dev boards, every SoC is capable to use Bluetooth.
I didn't tested it yet, but can I use Android Things with a Bluetooth connection? My question is, how can I enable Bluetooth without an input device? If I want to enable Bluetooth on my phone (with code), I had to confirm it, but this can't be possible on Android Things.
Update: Since the release of Android Things developer preview 3, Bluetooth and BLE are now available.
Old Answer
No. You can not use Bluetooth with the current version of AndroidThings (developer preview 1).
It is said in the known issues part of the release notes that Bluetooth is currently disabled (and so is USB).
It is supposed to be included at some point, but at the moment if you try to get a BluetoothAdapter it does return null.
Android Things will use the latest version of Bluetooth called Bluetooth Low Energy and the only similarity between the two is that they have Bluetooth in the name!
Can I use Android Things with a Bluetooth connection?
Yes, well a Bluetooth Low Energy connection
https://www.link-labs.com/bluetooth-vs-bluetooth-low-energy/
In summary, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) are used for very different purposes. Bluetooth can handle a lot of data, but consumes battery life quickly and costs a lot more. BLE is used for applications that do not need to exchange large amounts of data, and can therefore run on battery power for years at a cheaper cost. It all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.
Everything you need to know about BLE is written here:
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/bluetooth-le.html
how can I enable Bluetooth without an input device?
You do not pair BLE devices like you used to with the older Bluetooth (but you can use Bonding). Check this out:
Android Bluetooth Low Energy Pairing
https://stackoverflow.com/a/20093695/413127
But as stated by #shalafi Android Things doesn't currently support Bluetooth

BLE on Android as Peripheral

I am developing an app that controls a product's operation. The communication is via BLE. My configuration is
App - Peripheral (iOS, Android)
Product - Central (uses Laird BT900 module)
iOS as a peripheral works fine (pairing and bonding) ; Android PIN pairing works fine, but subsequent bonding (or reconnect when in range) there are a lot of issues and termination of connection. I am using the supported list of devices for Android BLE and I also understand that there are many known issues that come with different manufacturers/chipset vendors
The issue I am getting is, as seen by nrfConnect, is with descriptors. Android app doesnt show descriptors when seen in nrfConnect whereas iOS shows. I do not know what is the difference
Is it a common practice to use a phone as a peripheral ? Or is it a risk - because this is a medical device.
Are there any best practices for Android as a peripheral ?
I have following back up plans in case Android issue is not resolved. I think following would work on any BLE supported phones without having any issues with the variability.
Plan A : PIN pairing on every connection with the product. This is the most secure and most annoying
Plan B : Implement just works pairing with a app layer password before taking control of the product.
Question : Is just works safe and encrypted ? Is it snoop-safe or MITM-safe ?
Thanks in advance!
A few thoughts from your questions:
1a. (From my Android experience) I think its uncommon to have the phone be the peripheral. To my knowledge all iOS devices support peripheral mode but only a very small subset of Android devices are able to support it. I say this because I've been experimenting with BTLE beacons using the AltBeacon library. From this work I have discovered that only certain Android phones can broadcast BTLE advertise packets. Given that BTLE advertising is the first step in initiating a BTLE session I imagine that this prevents many Android phones from being compatible with peripheral mode.
If all of your users can use an iOS device, then you're set, otherwise this may be a problem.
1b) I can't speak to the specific risk of using a mobile device with your medical device, that depends on what the medical device is doing and how you're using the mobile app.
2) See 1a
3) The specific encryption scheme you used is also based on your product's risk profile. I would say that Just Works is not an ideal solution. The just works pairing process is not snoop-safe and can be re-initiated via a MITM. Other than that I can't speak to the strength of BTLE encryption.

Does the Universal Windows Application infrastructure support any Serial Port communications?

I have a WPF desktop application that would make a good candidate as a Universal Windows App. The application has a must-have dependence on USB or Bluetooth devices that act as a Serial Port.
In all my reading I've yet to discover whether there is any access to a SerialPort API in a UWA.
I suspect the answer is 'No support'. If so, does anyone know of a USB or Bluetooth GPS that supports whatever APIs the UWA has for that sort of thing. I have to be able to read things like ground speed, elevation, rate of climb, etc.
If the answer is 'Supported', could you point me to some documentation.
For the "Bluetooth devices that act as a Serial Port", I assume you mean the RFCOMM. They are both supported on Windows Runtime since Windows 8.1 and you can also use them in the Universal Windows Application.
namespace: Windows.Devices.Usb and Windows.Devices.Bluetooth.Rfcomm.
About the Bluetooth GPS, I'm not sure if it uses RFCOMM or not (it depends on the devices), and it is also possible to use the GATT.
Code Sample: Custom USB device access sample

Bluetooth tethering

I have Quectel M66 modem which is bluetooth enabled. I need some hints about how can I provide internet to my embedded device (which has M66 as a peripheral) using Android or iOS, or other device which supports bluetooth tethering.
I believe Android has that feature by default. Take a look at this link:
https://www.androidpit.com/share-wifi-over-bluetooth
I believe you can just approach the tethering device as a wifi acces point following the above guide.
This link sheds some light on choosing what tethering approach is appropriate:
http://m.pocketnow.com/2014/03/21/tethering-methods
My initial thought was "why would you want to tether through Bluetooth?" but looking at the power consumption, it might be a good choice for an embedded system, or if Wi-Fi is not available on the board.

Windows 8.1 Bluetooth searching issue

I have a windows 8.1 based lap top which supports Bluetooth.
I wrote a java based bluetooth server which gets connections from Android.
The issue is, the device sometimes get invisible(or to say not shown) on android devices.
I've tried with other laptops or Android phones, but sometimes it just doesn't get searched.
I think it's not about my java server program. Even if there's a problem with my program, it should at least be shown on the bluetooth search list of other devices.
I found a very crude solution about this issue.
Always running the 'change pc settings(not the exact name)' app of windows 8.1, and going to 'PC, devices' -> Bluetooth makes it always searchable. If I turn this off(I mean the 'change pc settings' app, not turning off bluetooth), the bluetooth cannot be found by other devices.
Why is this happening? My purpose is, bluetooth server must be turned on automatically after boot, but the reliability of the bluetooth device is failing my intention. However, since my crude solution above is temporarily solving my issue, I do not think it's a hardware issue.
So, my question is :
1) Why is this happening? And how can I mend this?
2) How can I run windows metro app through windows shell? If I can't find any other solution about this, I will have to write a batch script to always run the solution thing above.
Going to Change PC Settings>PC and devices>Bluetooth is initiating a Bluetooth device search. As a side effect, the Bluetooth is also made Discoverable (pairing mode). However, this Discoverable setting is temporary, only while the PC is searching for remote Bluetooth devices.
If you wish to keep Bluetooth Discoverable at all times, you need to check the "Allow Bluetooth devices to find this PC" button box, found in Bluetooth Settings. I found Bluetooth settings by right clicking the Bluetooth system icon. Can also be found in Devices and Printers, by right clicking the Bluetooth adapter icon.

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