I adapted slightly the Accelerometer sample from the SDK to save the readings, and it looks like every other reading gives x:0, y:0, z:0... is that to be expected?
Will there be an option to specify a sample time, so I can get readings every n milliseconds, for instance?
What platform are you using the SDK with?
As for different polling intervals, that is not exposed currently. You can add feature requests for future Microsoft Band SDK versions at: http://microsofthealth.uservoice.com/
Related
I have a task where I need to read 2 parameters from a BLE Beacon. The documentation was seriously lacking and after a fair amount of effort, I managed to get some basic information about reading the data from the BLE Beacon.
The parameters to read are
1) Battery Voltage of the sensor
2) Temperature the beacon has a built in temperature sensor.
I think I have tried almost every popular Python BLE library out there but I just can't seem to get the temperature reading out of the beacon. "I think" I am able to read the voltage. The reason why I said "I think" is because the value seems to match what was provided in the minimal document. And also when I put the beacon into the charger, I can see the value go up - an indication that it is the voltage reading. As I could not read the temperature ( because the UUIDs that are mentioned in the document, the value doesn't seem to change ). I have tried enabling the sensor in every possible way and method described - by writing 01:00 etc. I spent a fair amount of time to reverse engineer the thing. I ran a packet sniffer and managed to capture the data that was being transferred between the beacon and the mobile app ( They have a mobile app ). But then again I am not able to figure out how the temperature readings are being communicated between the beacon and the app. Let me break the whole stuff in smaller blocks.
Hardware: BLE beacon from which voltage and temperature can be read. The temperature sensor is built into the beacon. And the beacon itself is from Texas Instruments but the temperature, voltage sensing part is done by a third party. They provided us with some minimal information and it was difficult to make sense of some of the sentences as they have trouble communicating in English.
The sequence to get the data goes like this
Scan for beacons
When the beacon is found then connect to it
Enable notification
Set notification interval
Get the voltage and temperature reading.
I have been able to do the first 4 real fast, and "half" of No. 5, i.e getting the voltage part. When I say real fast I mean I got that stuff with nearly no documentation available at that time.
As per the info that I have the data resides in these characteristics/UUIDs. Also please note that the UUID are not standard 128 bit and this caused me issues when using certain libraries. But after some tries I got to read/write to them using handles etc. The handles and other stuff I printed are ones that I read using PYGATT (A Python wrapper for gatttool).
The UUIDs are marked as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th parameters and it has the following to say about the parameters
- A: 1 byte (2nd Param)
- B: Maj + Min values, 4 bytes (4th Param)
- C: 4 bytes (3rd Param)
- D: Enable/disable notification ( I have been able to turn this on )
- E: Set notification interval ( I have been able to set this and can notice the change in notification interval )
This is minimal so as to not have a large file. All it does is this - the mobile app connects to the beacon, then the notifications start and the temperate readings are retrieved by the mobile app. Like I had mentioned, I don't seem to have problem reading the voltage, it's only the temperature that I am getting stuck at. I have been at it for a week now. I think I have tried nearly everything that I could think of. I even enumerated all the writable characteristics and tried writing numbers like 1 ( enables the sensor? ). I could have offered a bounty for this straight away if it were possible. I rarely get stuck for so long with a problem. This is driving me a little crazy. I am getting close to my wits end - I guess it's time for a super hero - anyone out there? :) I can provide for every bit of information needed if someone could indicate what is wrong. I even wrote a cordova app ... and tried a bunch of stuff from my Android phone. I can connect ... write to characteristics, read stuff etc but temperature ready, nah!!! It just won't budge. All I get is the same set of values ( I used a JSON.stringify to display A, B and C). I can bother about the byte order later. I guess that is a smaller problem.
The communication between the beacon and a third party mobile app is fine, it is able to read the temperature info just fine.
I have been looking at wireshark data and I am fairly sure that the temperature data is being communicated at this stage. But then when I decode the "value", it looks like it's the voltage. It mentions l2cap but I am not sure how that is being used here to send the temperature readings ( if it is using that in the first place ).
Update: Wrote to every writable characteristics. Wrote values like 1, 0100, 2, 7 on every writable characteristics. At the same time I was reading every readable characteristic ( in a loop ) and doing a comparison (just true/false) with the previous set of values. This seemed like a quick and easier way to know if something changed. Didn't want to take chances with converting the hex to a float. I can figure out the byte order later.
From the sniffed data (wireshark) I can only see 3 writes happening on the beacon.
I am not fully sure, even after a long discussion, but it seems that the four bytes of the notification are used for the voltage as well as the temperature, since the temperature can most probably be derived from the voltage.
From the values it seems that those four bytes represent the voltage in float (if you ignore the absurd factor of 10^-38 that comes in because only 4 bytes instead of 8 bytes are used).
Since typically the temperature T is derived from a resistivity measurement, where the resistivity R is proportional to the voltage U (if the current is constant), you can in principle calculate the temperature T from the voltage U.
The problem is that T(R) is relatively linear, but not perfectly (in contrast to U(R) which is assumed to be U=RI). So you may need to plot the values for T(U) to find out the curve that they are using.
To add to the confusion, I got the best results when only using the first five bits of the third byte and the eight bits of the fourth byte. I am not aware why this is the case, and it might point to some trouble still.
The best option is to ask for their function T(U) that they are using. If they can and will provide it for you...
I have several Microsoft bands, to be used as part of a group health initiative. I intend to develop a single app on a tablet which will pull the data from the bands. This will be a manual process, there will not be a constant connection to the tablet and no connection to Microsoft Health.
Does anyone know if this is possible?
Thanks
Emma
The general answer is no: Historical sensor values are not stored or buffered on the Band itself.
It does however depend on what sensors you are interested in. The sensor values are not buffered, so you can only read the current (realtime) value of the sensors.
But sensors such as pedometer and distance are incrementing over time, so these values will make sense even though you are only connected once in a while. Whereas for, e.g., the heart rate and skin temperature, you will only get the current (realtime) value.
So it depends on your use case.
I want to develop a software and in the next month hardware for receive Microsoft Band data, specifically from GPS, but I need the datasheet or fabricant of Band's GPS
You might be able to find some of that information in a teardown or fix guide.
eg This one or this one
You'll have to be more specific about the information you want when you say "datasheet or fabricant of Band's GPS" but, in any case, the current Band SDK (v1.3.10702) does not expose a means of streaming GPS sensor data from the Band.
I have no hands on experience with BLE and beacons at this point, and am having a hard time figuring out the viability of using them in a particular manner. Wondering if anyone can provide some high level feedback about the viability of this use case:
The goal is to use beacons to track a running race. Runners with their smartphones would be able to log times when they hit various beacons spread throughout an indoor course. Pretty simple scenario.
The problems that I foresee are 1) the ability to continuously scan for beacons at sub second intervals, and 2) the ability to then determine closest range to the beacon at sub second intervals.
I've tried parsing through the estimote and kontakt.io SDKs and am not certain that what I want to do is entirely possible or feasible with these particular beacons (or any for that matter). Further, would there be any device (the smartphones) specific limitations that would apply?
Thanks!
If you are using Estimote SDK you can set this property on BeaconManager.
See BeaconManager#setForegroundScanPeriod. SDK Docs
The following quote is from this link: http://apidocs.meego.com/1.2-preview/qtmobility/qgeopositioninfosource.html#createDefaultSource
Creates and returns a position source
with the given parent that reads from
the system's default sources of
location data, or the plugin with the
highest available priority.
What and where are the system's default "sources of location data"? Any examples?
And what do I need to read to understand these concepts?
The default source depends on the Device.
As to the question regarding what the sources might be , here is an extract from forum.nokia documentation regarding symbian phones , although this is mostly true in reference to other devices and platforms as well
GPS based: It can provide location estimation with accuracy from 10 to 30 meters. Depending on the actual technology and the state of GPS module, time to first fix varies from several seconds to minutes. Time to next fix is normally 1 second. It may not work indoor. The GPS module, which makes location estimation, may reside internally (e.g. integrated GPS) or externally (e.g. Bluetooth GPS) of the terminal.
Assisted GPS: Assisted GPS technology improves performance (i.e. time to first fix and sensitivity) by acquiring assistant data from an assistance server. The mobile phone receives the assistant data from wireless network. Depends on the operator and subscription, end user may have to pay for receiving assistant data.
Network based: It can provide location estimation with accuracy from a hundred meter to several kilometers. Time to first fix and time to next fix is normally within 10 seconds. It works also indoor. It normally requires support from operator.