Category: BleuIO firmware updates

The BleuIO team is excited to announce the release of their latest firmware version, v2.2.2, packed with new features and improvements for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) developers. This firmware update aims to provide an enhanced development experience and empower developers with more control over their BLE applications.

What’s new in this firmware :

One of the notable additions in this release is the inclusion of a new command that allows developers to set or query the maximum MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) size used in MTU negotiation upon connecting to a device. This feature provides flexibility in adjusting the MTU size, enabling better optimization and efficiency in data transmission between devices.

Additionally, the BleuIO firmware v2.2.2 introduces a powerful filtering mechanism for scan results. A new command has been added to apply filters on the outcomes from AT+FINDSCANDATA and AT+GAPSCAN commands. This feature allows filtering based on three different parameters: Local Name, Service UUID, and Manufacturer Specific ID.

It enables the flexibility to activate one filter, two filters in combination, or all three filters simultaneously. Results will only be displayed if the selected filter value is present in the advertising or scan response data. For example, a filter can be set to exclusively show data packets from devices with the Local Name “BleuIO” (either Complete or Shortened) by executing the command AT+SCANFILTER=NAME=BleuIO.

By leveraging these filtering capabilities, developers can easily focus on specific devices or data packets that meet their criteria, streamlining the development and testing process.

To explore the full range of features and improvements introduced in BleuIO firmware v2.2.2, developers are encouraged to visit the official BleuIO documentation at https://www.bleuio.com/getting_started/docs/firmware/. The comprehensive documentation provides detailed information on firmware updates and guides on how to leverage these new features effectively.

The BleuIO team is committed to continuously enhancing the BLE development experience and providing tools needed to build robust and innovative applications. With each firmware release, BleuIO demonstrates its dedication to empowering developers and enabling seamless Bluetooth Low Energy development.

Stay tuned for future updates from the BleuIO team, as they continue to introduce new features and improvements to meet the evolving needs of the BLE developer community.

BleuIO Python library is updated and supports firmware version 2.2.1 .This update utilizes the new Verbose mode of the dongle and make it a lot simpler to work with Bluetooth Low Energy with Python.
Now the AT commands returns an object with 4 members

• Command
• Acknowledge
• Response
• End

Each contains a JSON object, except Response. The Response contains a list of JSON objects since a command can have several responses.

This new update of the library makes it easier to get the relevant information without building your own parser.
Status variables : Helpful status variables has been added which helps to keep track of the dongle status ; whether it is scanning, advertising or connected along with the dongle role.
Callback function : A callback function should be registered for both scan results and events. The callback functions will run every time a new event or scan result is detected.

Using the library

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

and how to access these AT commands using python library can be found at
https://pypi.org/project/bleuio/

Before starting to install our library, make sure you have the latest python installed on your system.

If you have never installed a library from PyPI, you must install the pip tool enabling you to download and install a PyPI package. There are several methods that are described on this page.

Now Install the library by running

pip install bleuio

pip automatically downloads and installs the most recent library on your system in the correct directory. To check that the installation went well, you can launch a Python interpreter and run the following lines:

from bleuio_lib.bleuio_funcs import BleuIO
my_dongle = BleuIO()
print(my_dongle.ati().Rsp)

Good luck on creating amazing Bluetooth Low Energy application using BleuIO and Python.

A new AT command has been added that allows the user to see detailed response for every AT commands. This level of details can be helpful for troubleshooting problems as it explains the different error codes, disconnection reason codes and event codes. For that reason, users can take advantage of verbose mode for troubleshooting purposes and turn it off when it’s not needed.

This new mode changes the output to a more structured and unified format which includes command IDs for all command-related messages. The command-related outputs are more easily separatable from the event outputs. The idea is to make the BleuIO output more consistent, easier to use in scripts and generate more useful error messages.

The command to turn this new feature on and off is: ATV1 (on) ATV0 (off).

List of response format and code list is given below.

Response Format

Error Code List

Event Code List

Disconnection Reason Code List

List of AT commands and their sample output can be found at Our Getting Started Guide.

BleuIO continues to release firmware versions and adds new features regularly. Therefore, it is important to keep the dongle updated.

BleuIO users were able to update the dongle from Windows and Linux system. This new updater allows updating the dongle from Mac as well.

The BleuIO comes with a bootloader to allow us to update the firmware or flash our own application to the dongle. To flash the dongle we will need an image file containing the new firmware or our own application and the updater script.

How to update a dongle

Requirements:

• Python >=3.5
• pyserial 3.5

Steps

• Download and extract the updater zip file.
• Place the firmware image file into the same folder. (list of firmware image files are available here).
• Open the command prompt and go to the extracted folder where bleuio_fw_updater.py is available.
• Run: python bleuio_fw_updater.py image_file_name.img
• “Success” message along with the updated firmware version will be shown on the screen once the process is completed.

BleuIO continues to release firmware versions and adds new features regularly. Therefore, it is important to update our dongle regularly.

The BleuIO comes with a bootloader to allow us to update the firmware or flash our own application to the dongle. To flash the dongle we will need an image file containing the new firmware or our own application and a host USB loader application.

To update the firmware, we need to select the correct COM port where the BleuIO dongle is connected. Keep in mind that the bootloader only opens for about 10 seconds after inserting the Dongle, then it switches to the main app and the COM port number changes. We cannot use the main app’s Serial Port number to flash the dongles!

To overcome this COM port selection process while updating a firmware, BleuIO team has developed an auto updater. This updater selects the right COM port for the dongle before updating. All we need to do is, run the updater and follow the instructions on the screen.

How to update a dongle using Auto Updater

• Download and extract the auto updater zip file.
• Place the firmware image file into the same folder. (list of firmware image files are available here).
• Open the command prompt as Administrator.
• Go to the extracted folder where bleuio_auto_updater.py is available.
• Run: python bleuio_auto_updater.py image_file_name.img
• Insert dongle when prompted to.
• “Update done” will be shown on the screen once the process is completed.

Protection of private information is essential for every wireless low energy device, from fitness bands to payment systems. Privacy mechanisms prevent devices from being tracked by untrusted devices.

Secure communications keep data safe while also preventing unauthorized devices from injecting data to trigger the system’s unintended operation.

In Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), devices connected to a link can pass sensitive data by setting up a secure encrypted connection, which means making the data unreadable to all but the Bluetooth master and slave devices. 

A BLE connection is said to operate at a specific Security mode. Within each mode are several security levels. The required security mode/level of a connection may change from time to time, leading to procedures to increase that level.

To keep it simple, when two devices that initially do not have security wish to do something that requires security, the devices must pair first. This process could be triggered, for example, by a central device that is attempting to access a data value (a “characteristic”) on a peripheral device that requires authenticated access. 

Pairing involves authenticating the identity of two devices, encrypting the link using a Short-Term Key (STKs), and then distributing Long-Term Keys (LTKs) (for faster reconnection in the future, i.e., bonding) used for encryption.

The new security level of the connection is based on the method of pairing performed and this is selected based on the I/O capabilities of each device. The security level of any subsequent reconnections is based on the level achieved during the initial pairing.

Each device’s role is defined in the Security Manager (SM) portion of the BLE stack. They are:

• Initiator: Always corresponds to the Link Layer Master and the GAP central.
• Responder: Always corresponds to the Link Layer Slave and the GAP peripheral.

Security by means of encryption contains four levels

• Level 1: No Security (No authentication and no encryption)
• Level 2: Unauthenticated pairing with encryption
• Level 3: Authenticated pairing with encryption
• Level 4: Authenticated LE Secure Connections pairing with encryption

BleuIO has introduced a security feature into its latest release (firmware v2.1.1 ) which handles all four security levels to establish a secure BLE connection. Users can now use Numeric Comparison, Just Works or Passkey Entry to make data transmission more secure when working with Bluetooth low energy applications using BleuIO. 

• Numeric Comparison: In this scenario, both devices have a display unit capable of displaying a six-digit number. Both displays output the same number, and the user is asked to confirm that these numbers match. 
• Passkey Entry: The Passkey Entry is primarily intended for the case that one device has a keyboard, but no display unit and the other device has at least a display unit, for example, a PC and a BLE keyboard scenario. The user is shown a six-digit number (from “000000” to “999999”) on the device with a display and then is asked to enter the number on the other device. If the value entered on the second device is correct, the pairing is successful.
• Just Works: This model is primarily intended for the most constrained devices in I/O. The Just Works association model uses the Numeric Comparison protocol, but the user is never shown a number, and the application may ask the user to accept the connection. This method doesn’t offer protection against a Man in the Middle (MITM) attack, but it provides the same protection level against passive eavesdropping as the Numeric Comparison.

The table below is a reference for determining the pairing method based on the two devices I/O capabilities and each device’s role in the process.

Source : https://microchipdeveloper.com/wireless:ble-gap-security

Use the following AT commands to make your BLE connection more secure.

AT Commands :

• AT+SETPASSKEY for setting or querying set passkey for passkey authentication.
• AT+SECLVL for setting or querying minimum security level used when connected to other devices.
• AT+NUMCOMPA accepts a numeric comparison authentication request or enables/disabling auto-accepting numeric comparisons.
• AT+GAPADDRTYPE Sets or queries what address type the dongle will use. Changing address type cannot be done while advertising or while connected to other devices. Read more at https://www.bleuio.com/getting_started/docs/commands/#atgapaddrtype

BleuIO Javascript library is updated and supports firmware version 2.1.0 

Now you can easily access all the BleuIO AT commands from web browser using this library.

Before starting to install our library, make sure you have Chrome 78 or later version installed on your system. You will also need to enable the #enable-experimental-web-platform-features flag in chrome://flags.
To do that, Open chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features in Google Chrome browser and enable this feature.

You can use chrome.serial to create web apps that can access the BleuIO AT commands easily using this library.

Now Install the library by running

npm i bleuio

npm automatically downloads and installs the most recent library on your system in the correct directory. To check that the installation went well, follow the simple readme file from

https://www.npmjs.com/package/bleuio

Follow this video if you find any difficulties.https://www.youtube.com/embed/MZfeV61gjeY?feature=oembed

Good luck on creating amazing Bluetooth Low Energy application using BleuIO