Month: January 2022

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a low power wireless technology used to connect devices. It is a popular communication method, especially in the Internet of Things era. Several devices around the house have a built-in Bluetooth transceiver, and most of them provide useful capabilities to automate jobs. This technology is widely used in the healthcare, fitness, beacons, security, and home entertainment industries. For that reason, it is really interesting to create a desktop application using C# that access BLE device data around the house.

In this example, we will create a simple C# windows form application to get real-time HibouAir environmental data using BleuIO. 

This script can be used to connect and view other BLE devices data.

Let’s start

First, let’s create a new project in visual studio and select C# windows form application from the list.

Choose a suitable name for your project.

Once the project is created, we will see a blank form screen where we will add buttons and labels to communicate with BleuIO graphically.

The application will connect to the BleuIO dongle to its given COM port from the script. You can change the port easily by going to line number 18.
We will have a disconnect button to disconnect BleuIO from the COM port.

The button Scan for HibouAir devices will look for nearby HibouAir devices and store them in an Array. The Combobox (dropdown item) next to it will load the stored device from where we can select a device to get its data.

The Get data button will show the real-time environmental data of this device.

The form will look like this.

The .cs file associated to this will have the following code.

Source code is available at https://github.com/smart-sensor-devices-ab/bluetooth_realtimedata_csharp

using System;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Collections;
using System.Threading;


namespace WindowsFormsApp1
{
    

    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        //Connect to Serial port
        //Replace port number to your comport
        SerialPort mySerialPort = new SerialPort("COM18", 57600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
        ArrayList device = new ArrayList();
        string ScannedData = "";
        public string selectedDevices = "";
        string advData = "";

        // HibouAir Advertise data decrypt and show output
        public String ParseSensorData(string input)
        {
            int counter = 17;
            string theData = " SensorID : " + input[counter + 1] +
              input[counter + 2] +
              input[counter + 3] +
              input[counter + 4] +
              input[counter + 5] +
              input[counter + 6] + "\n\n " +
              "Pressure : " + Convert.ToInt32(input[counter + 13].ToString() + input[counter + 14].ToString() + input[counter + 11].ToString() + input[counter + 12].ToString(), 16) / 10 + " mbar\n\n " +
              "Temperature : " + Convert.ToInt32(input[counter + 17].ToString() + input[counter + 18].ToString() + input[counter + 15].ToString() + input[counter + 16].ToString(), 16) / 10 + " °C\n\n " +
              "Humidity : " + Convert.ToInt32(input[counter + 21].ToString() + input[counter + 22].ToString() + input[counter + 19].ToString() + input[counter + 20].ToString(), 16) / 10 + " %rH\n\n " +
              "VOC : " + Convert.ToInt32(input[counter + 25].ToString() + input[counter + 26].ToString() + input[counter + 23].ToString() + input[counter + 24].ToString(), 16) / 10 + "\n\n " +
              "ALS : " + Convert.ToInt32(input[counter + 9].ToString() + input[counter + 10].ToString() + input[counter + 7].ToString() + input[counter + 8].ToString(), 16) + " Lux\n\n " +
              "PM 1.0 : " + Convert.ToInt32(input[counter + 29].ToString() + input[counter + 30].ToString() + input[counter + 27].ToString() + input[counter + 28].ToString(), 16) / 10 + " µg/m³\n\n " +
              "PM 2.5 : " + Convert.ToInt32(input[counter + 33].ToString() + input[counter + 34].ToString() + input[counter + 31].ToString() + input[counter + 32].ToString(), 16) / 10 + " µg/m³\n\n " +
              "PM 10 : " + Convert.ToInt32(input[counter + 37].ToString() + input[counter + 38].ToString() + input[counter + 35].ToString() + input[counter + 36].ToString(), 16) / 10 + " µg/m³"
              ;

            sensor_op.Text = theData.ToString();
            return theData;
        }


        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();    
            mySerialPort.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(mySerialPort_DataReceived);
            mySerialPort.Open();
            ArrayList device = new ArrayList();

        }

        
        //Store response from the dongle
        private void mySerialPort_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
        {
            
            SerialPort sp = (SerialPort)sender;
            string s = sp.ReadExisting();
            if (s.Contains("RSSI") && s.Contains("(HibouAIR)") )
            {
                device.Add(s);
                
            }
            if (selectedDevices != "")
            {
                label1.Invoke(new EventHandler(delegate { label1.Text = selectedDevices.Remove(0, 3); })); 
           
                if (s.Contains("[ADV]"))
                {
                    ScannedData=s;
                    
                   // output_data.Invoke(new EventHandler(delegate { output_data.Text += "TT: " + s + "\r\n"; }));
                }           
             }
            //output_data.Invoke(new EventHandler(delegate { output_data.Text += s + "\r\n"; }));


            //lbl_output.Invoke(this.myDelegate, new Object[] { s });
        }


       
        // Disconnect from COM port
        private void btn_disconnect_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            mySerialPort.Close();
            Environment.Exit(0);
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }



        private void pictureBox1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        private void btn_deviceList_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            var inputByte = new byte[] { 13 };
            byte[] dualCmd = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("AT+DUAL");
            dualCmd = dualCmd.Concat(inputByte).ToArray();
            mySerialPort.Write(dualCmd, 0, dualCmd.Length);

            byte[] gapScanCmd = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("AT+GAPSCAN=2");
            gapScanCmd = gapScanCmd.Concat(inputByte).ToArray();
            mySerialPort.Write(gapScanCmd, 0, gapScanCmd.Length);
            

        }

        private void label1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        // Load devices on dropdown
        private void dropdown_device_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if(dropdown_device.Text == "Load Devices")
            {
                
                foreach (var a in device)
                {
                    dropdown_device.Items.Add(a);
                }
            }
            else
            {
                selectedDevices = dropdown_device.Text;
                string[] selectedDeviceID = selectedDevices.Split(' ');
                selectedDevices = selectedDeviceID[2];
                btnGetData.Visible = true;
            }
            
        }

        //get advertised data of selected device
        private void btnGetData_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {


            var inputByte = new byte[] { 13 };
            byte[] gapScanCmd = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("AT+FINDSCANDATA=FF5B07");
            gapScanCmd = gapScanCmd.Concat(inputByte).ToArray();
            mySerialPort.Write(gapScanCmd, 0, gapScanCmd.Length);
            Thread.Sleep(500);
            byte[] bytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("\u0003");
            bytes = bytes.Concat(inputByte).ToArray();
            mySerialPort.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
            var array = ScannedData.Split('\n');
            int i = 0;
            //filter selected device data
            foreach (var a in array)
            {
                string kk = (string)a;
                if (kk.Contains(selectedDevices.Remove(0, 3)))
                {
                    var bleData = array[i].Split(' ');
                    advData = bleData[4];

                    var toPrint = ParseSensorData(advData);

                    break;
                }

                i++;

            }
            
        }
    }

    
}

As you can notice, I wrote COM18 to connect to the serial port because the BleuIO device on my computer is connected to COM18.
You can check your COM port from the device manager.
Let’s run the project and click on scan for HibouAir devices.

Here is a demo of this sample application.

Bluetooth low energy technology offers a suitable way of connecting smart devices. The term IoT or Internet of Things brings new technologies to transform and make the world in the era of connectivity. The IoT says that everything is connected, and Bluetooth has made it much easier to work. One central device can initiate and maintain connections with multiple Bluetooth Low Energy peripherals devices. 

The BleuIO is a Bluetooth low energy solution that can create new BLE 5.0 applications fastest and easiest way. Using this BleuIO’s multi-connection feature, we can easily connect to multiple BLE devices and transfer data between them.

This article will explain how to use BleuIO’s multi-connection features, connect to multiple BLE devices and transfer data between them. We will use three BleuIO dongles for this project: one central and two peripheral. The central dongle will connect to peripheral and send data simultaneously. 

We will create a simple python script that will help us do the task.

Requirements :

1. 3 pcs BleuIO Dongle.
2. Python 2.7 or Python 3.4 and newer
3. pyserial 3.5

Task:

Step 1: 

Let’s create a python file called py_serial_transfer.py and copy the following code.

Source code is also available at GitHub

https://github.com/smart-sensor-devices-ab/ble_multi_connection_example.git

import serial
import time
import string
import random

target_dongle_mac_address = (
    "[0]40:48:FD:E5:2D:AF"  # Change this to the 1st peripheral's mac address.
)
target_dongle_mac_address2 = (
    "[0]40:48:FD:E5:2D:B5"  # Change this to the 2nd peripheral's mac address.
)
your_com_port = "COM7"  # Change this to the com port your dongle is connected to.

connecting_to_dongle = True
trying_to_connect = False
trying_to_connect2 = False

def id_generator(size=10, chars=string.ascii_uppercase + string.digits):
    return ''.join(random.choice(chars) for _ in range(size))

print("Connecting to dongle...")
# Trying to connect to dongle until connected. Make sure the port and baudrate is the same as your dongle.
# You can check in the device manager to see what port then right-click and choose properties then the Port Settings
# tab to see the other settings
while connecting_to_dongle:
    try:
        console = serial.Serial(
            port=your_com_port,
            baudrate=57600,
            parity="N",
            stopbits=1,
            bytesize=8,
            timeout=0,
        )
        if console.is_open.__bool__():
            connecting_to_dongle = False
    except:
        print("Dongle not connected. Please reconnect Dongle.")
        time.sleep(5)

print("Connected to Dongle.")

connected = "0"
connected2 = "0"
while 1 and console.is_open.__bool__():
    console.write(str.encode("AT+DUAL"))
    console.write("\r".encode())
    time.sleep(0.1)
    print("Putting dongle in Dual role and trying to connect to other dongle.")
    while connected == "0":
        time.sleep(0.5)
        if not trying_to_connect:
            console.write(str.encode("AT+GAPCONNECT="))
            console.write(str.encode(target_dongle_mac_address))
            console.write("\r".encode())
            trying_to_connect = True
        dongle_output2 = console.read(console.in_waiting)
        time.sleep(2)
        print("Trying to connect to Peripheral 1...")
        if not dongle_output2.isspace():
            if dongle_output2.decode().__contains__("\r\nCONNECTED."):
                connected = "1"
                print("Connected to 1st device!")                
                time.sleep(5)
            if dongle_output2.decode().__contains__("\r\nDISCONNECTED."):
                connected = "0"
                print("Disconnected!")
                trying_to_connect = False
            dongle_output2 = " "
    while connected2 == "0":
        time.sleep(0.5)
        if not trying_to_connect2:
            console.write(str.encode("AT+GAPCONNECT="))
            console.write(str.encode(target_dongle_mac_address2))
            console.write("\r".encode())
            trying_to_connect2 = True
        dongle_output2 = console.read(console.in_waiting)
        time.sleep(2)
        print("Trying to connect to Peripheral 2...")
        if not dongle_output2.isspace():
            if dongle_output2.decode().__contains__("\r\nCONNECTED."):
                connected2 = "1"
                print("Connected to 2nd device!")                
                time.sleep(5)
            if dongle_output2.decode().__contains__("\r\nDISCONNECTED."):
                connected2 = "0"
                print("Disconnected!")
                trying_to_connect2 = False
            dongle_output2 = " "
    while connected == "1" and connected2 =="1":        
        dongle_output3 = console.read(console.in_waiting)
        delay=10
        close_time=time.time()+delay
        i=0
        while True:
            myConIndex =  ('0000' if i%2 == 0 else '0001')
            console.write(str.encode("AT+TARGETCONN="))
            console.write(str.encode(myConIndex))
            console.write("\r".encode())
            console.write(str.encode("AT+SPSSEND="))
            console.write(str.encode(id_generator()+'-'+myConIndex))
            console.write("\r".encode())
            time.sleep(0.2)
            i+=1
            if time.time()>close_time:
                break
        console.write(str.encode("AT+SPSSEND=[DONE]\r"))
        time.sleep(0.2)
        print("Sending complete!\r\n")
        print("Exiting script...")
        exit()

This script will be used for the central BleuIO dongle. We need to find the port number of each dongle and the peripheral mac address.

Step 2:

Connect three BleuIO dongles on your PC. You can do the process on three different PC or Raspberry Pi.

I have connected both the central and the peripheral to one PC for this project.

After connecting the dongles, open device manager (windows) to find ports of each dongle.

On my PC, I have the BleuIO dongles connected on ports 7,8 and 18.

Let’s make COM7 the central , COM8 and COM18 as peripheral.

Now open the scripts and set the ports number on line 12. 

We also need to know the peripheral dongles mac address. 

To do that, we can simply advertise the dongle using AT+ADVSTART command .

• Go to https://bleuio.com/web_terminal.html
• Click on connect to BleuIO dongle
• Select your port for peripheral
• Type AT+ADVSTART

Do the same process for the other peripheral dongle.

Now both the peripheral dongle is advertising. We can do a gap scan from central to find their mac address. 

• Go to https://bleuio.com/web_terminal.html
• Click on connect to BleuIO dongle
• Select your port for central
• Type AT+DUAL (This will put the dongle in dual role)
• Type AT+GAPSCAN

Now look for the dongle called BleuIO.

Update the script with the peripheral mac address (line 6,9)

Step 3 :

Now lets run the script.

Go to the script folder and type python py_serial_transfer.py

It will connect to both the peripheral dongles and send data randomly. 

You will see the responses on the web terminal screen. 

Please follow the video to get better understanding.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a low power wireless technology used for connecting devices with each other. It is a popular communication method especially in the era of Internet of Things. Several devices around the house have a build-in buetooth transceiver and most of them provide really useful capabilitites to automate jobs. For that reason it is really interesting to create desktop application using C# that connects to the devices around the house and manage them.

In this example we are going to create a simple C# windows form application to communicate with BleuIO using SerialPort. This script can be used to create Bluetooth Low Energy application using C# with BleuIO.

Let’s start

As a first step lets create a new project in visual studio and select C# windows form application from the list.

Choose a suitable name for your project.

Once the project is created, we will see a blank form screen where we will add buttons and labels to communicate with BleuIO graphically.

We will have buttons that connects and disconnects from BleuIO. An input field that takes AT commands from the user and sends it to BleuIO using SerialPort. And a text area will display the response from BleuIO to the screen.

The form will look like this

The .cs file associated to this will have the following code.

Source code is available at https://github.com/smart-sensor-devices-ab/bluetooth_low_energy_csharp_WFA.git

using System;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsFormsApp1
{
    
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        SerialPort mySerialPort = new SerialPort("COM18", 57600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();            
            mySerialPort.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(mySerialPort_DataReceived);
            mySerialPort.Open();

        }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            
            
            lbl_test.Text = "Connected";
        }
        
        //print response from the dongle
        private void mySerialPort_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
        {
            SerialPort sp = (SerialPort)sender;
            string s = sp.ReadExisting();
            output_data.Invoke(new EventHandler(delegate { output_data.Text +=  s + "\r\n"; })); 

            //lbl_output.Invoke(this.myDelegate, new Object[] { s });
        }


        private void tb_cmd_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            
        }

        private void submit_cmd_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            output_data.Text = "";
            byte[] bytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(tb_cmd.Text);
            var inputByte = new byte[] { 13 };
            bytes = bytes.Concat(inputByte).ToArray();
            mySerialPort.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);           
        }

        private void btn_disconnect_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            mySerialPort.Close();
            Environment.Exit(0);
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        private void btn_stop_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            byte[] bytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("\u0003");
            var inputByte = new byte[] { 13 };
            bytes = bytes.Concat(inputByte).ToArray();
            mySerialPort.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
        }

        private void output_data_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        private void pictureBox1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }
    }
}

As you can notice I wrote COM18 to connect to serial port because BleuIO device on my computer is connected to COM18.

You can check your COM port from device manager.

Lets run the project and click on connect button.

Once we are connected to BleuIO, we will be able to write AT commands using the input filed.

List of AT commands are available at https://www.bleuio.com/getting_started/docs/commands/

There is a stop button that write control+c to dongle and cancels current execution.

Here is a demo of this sample app.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a low power wireless technology used for connecting devices with each other. It is a popular communication method especially in the era of Internet of Things. Several devices around the house have a build-in buetooth transceiver and most of them provide really useful capabilitites to automate jobs. For that reason it is really interesting to be able to create a main-device (like a PC) which will have an application that connects to the devices around the house and manage them.

In this example we are going to create a simple C# console application to communicate with BleuIO using SerialPort. This script can be used to create Bluetooth Low Energy application using C# with BleuIO.

Let’s start

As a first step lets create a new project in visual studio and select C# console application from the list.

Choose a suitable name for your project and paste the following code to Program.cs file.

The source code is available at github.

using System;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Text;

namespace SerialPortExample
{
    class SerialPortProgram
    {                
        static SerialPort _port;
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string portName;
            portName = SetPortName();
            _port = new SerialPort(portName,57600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
            // Instatiate this class
            SerialPortProgram serialPortProgram = new SerialPortProgram();
        }

        private SerialPortProgram()
        {
            _port.DataReceived += new
              SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(port_DataReceived);
            OpenMyPort();
            Console.WriteLine("Type q to exit.");
            bool continueLoop = true;
            string inputCmd;

            while (continueLoop)
            {
                inputCmd = Console.ReadLine();

                if (inputCmd == "q")
                {
                    continueLoop = false;
                    break;
                }
                else
                {
                    byte[] bytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(inputCmd);
                    var inputByte = new byte[] { 13 };
                    bytes = bytes.Concat(inputByte).ToArray();
                    _port.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
                }
            }
        }

        private void port_DataReceived(object sender,
          SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
        {           
            // Show all the incoming data in the port's buffer
            Console.WriteLine(_port.ReadExisting());
        }

        //Open selected COM port
        private static void OpenMyPort()
        {
            try
            {
                _port.Open();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error opening my port: {0}", ex.Message);
                Environment.Exit(0);
            }
        }

        // Display Port values and prompt user to enter a port.
        public static string SetPortName()
        {
            string portName;

            Console.WriteLine("Available Ports:");
            foreach (string s in SerialPort.GetPortNames())
            {
                Console.WriteLine("   {0}", s);
            }

            Console.Write("Enter COM port value (ex: COM18): ");
            portName = Console.ReadLine();
            return portName;
        }

    }
}

For this script a BleuIO dongle connected to the computer.

When we run the application, it suggests all the available ports on the computer and asks to write the com port number where the BleuIO is connected.

Once we write the correct port number, it starts communicating with BleuIO via SerialPort.

The response of AT commands from the BleuIO will be shown on the screen.

Find the list of available AT commands at BleuIO getting started guide.

The application will terminate with control+c or type ‘q’.