mattrussmill / qplumbob

Qt/QML Android application and Arduino Nano IoT sketch to control a multi-functional RGB light-up object via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

QPlumbob Android Application and Arduino LED Controller

ABOUT:

The QPlumbob application and Arduino protype exists as proof of concept for learning the ins and outs of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication and QML mobile development. This project uses a Qt/QML Android application to scan for and authenticate with an Arduino based RGB LED controller via the BLE communication protocol.

BUILD ENVIRONMENT:

Qt Environment

The development envoronment consists of Qt Creator 4.13.0 using the Qt 5.15 framework. The application was built using the Android Clang (NDK 21.1) compiler packaged with Qt for Android 10.

Arduino Environment

The prototype environment uses version 1.8.13 of the Arduino IDE for the Arduino NANO IoT 33 device.

Notes

After importing the project or upgrading Qt if there are problems building or running the application on Android, try deleting and recreating the Android Manifest file.

CONTRIBUTIONS:

Currently Matthew R. Miller has been the only one to contribute to this project.

LICENSE:

QPlumbub is released under the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation (version 3 of the License). The appropriate licensing files for this and supporting software can be found in the LICENSE.txt file.

qplumbob's Issues

Service Disconnected

If the service becomes invalid (garment disconnects), the app does not free the memory allocated for BLE services and segfault occurs

Crashes on Android Back Button

Program segfaults when native navigation back button pressed

setup PWM on garment

https://www.arduino.cc/en/tutorial/PWM

for front and back regions

Redesign LED UI

Use a circular design easily controlled by a thumb instead of the current pages and sliders which are a remnant of a previous use case

add bluetooth support to windows for easier debugging

"Qt 5.14 adds a native Win32 port supporting Classic Bluetooth on Windows 7 or newer, and Bluetooth LE on Windows 8 or newer. It must be enabled at build time by configuration option -native-win32-bluetooth. The UWP backend is used by default if this option is not set and the Win32 target platform supports the required UWP APIs (minimal requirement is Windows 10 version 1507, with slightly improved service discovery since Windows 10 version 1607)."

Bluetooth scan after enabled

When bluetooth is disabled and app launched, then rescanned the app does not recognize that the adapter was enabled

Set Characteristic Descriptors for custom GATT service characteristics

https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/gatt/descriptors/

iOS cannot save device by address, use name

Due to iOS not exposing address, must remember by unique device name followed by a connection pin

Autoconnect to first discovered saved device when available.

in conjunction with Add Autoconnect Option #16

Service and Version Number for Garment

Need a way to detect hardware and firmware versions for the app.

Options:
*Use the UUID and have a header file with translating directives
*Use manufacturer data in bluetooth
*other

transparent background during scene changes

When changing UI menu navigation, the one with the lower z index shows through during change

Add authentication pin to garment and app

To keep others from connecting to a device, add a pin that if entered incorrectly at time of connection will disconnect. Altering settings in the device should also be disabled if pin not correct. Pin should be stored on the device, and shorting two pins (button with duration) should reset the device to default pin.

setup native windows bluetooth support

https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtbluetooth-index.html

DeviceListMenu tries to forget device on Settings Access

• Select saved device
• Open settings menu
• exit settings menu
• select unsaved device
• error will appear:

"​Attempting to forget device of index:​ 2"​
"​Cannot remove device from list,​ does not exist:​ ISENGARD"​

Should not be trying to forget device. Race condition on enable/disable of checkbox and setting the checked status based on the device selected.

setup read / write and connection handler in mobile and garment

https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtbluetooth-overview.html

Add signal strength to device and display in ListView

Add Report Bug

allow bug reporting in user menu that queries device information and describes the bug

add notify of garment characteristic for timeout event

when safety timeout occurs should push a notification to the device

reorganize source code - mobile

organize source for mobile in a way that makes sense, not all in root directory

Save device with same name / address

creates conflict?

Bluetooth to android manifest

Add to android manifest

https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-feature-element.html

The element allows you to declare hardware and software features your app needs. For example, if your app cannot achieve basic functionality on a device without a compass sensor, you can declare the compass sensor as required with the following manifest tag:

<manifest ... >

change garment characteristics and mobile app to support RGB LED values

-hue (HSV model) to be translated in garment
-period (0 means no pulse duration)
-phase (0 means no phase shift speed)
-value (max intensity for pulse, a pwm value)

remove pulse and intensity functionality

Interval of heat on off should be added to garment and app

Add notification for mobile if device becomes disconnected

After disconnected for a period of time of data read/write fails

how to handle autoconnect to device with multiple same names

(can sort this out with addresses, but this is more of an issue with iOS)

Add Save Device Option

If device address is recognizable and a Maco product, connect to the device as soon as its available. Make this a configurable menu option and connected history configurable. To support this functionality the ability to save devices must come first

Make Popups / Dialogs load dynamically

https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtqml-javascript-dynamicobjectcreation.html

Add Write and Read error handlers (signals slots)

characteristic / descriptor written / write error signals

Add qWarning to bluetooth base class

errors should be separated out into warnings and criticals. When both occur, an error dialog should be shown. When critical error occurs, disconnect device. Will have to reassess all messages to determine what should be changed to a warning and what should be an error - title of popup should also change dynamically

Setup initial Bluetooth Scanning QML backend

Setup gtest for C++ classes

https://github.com/google/googletest

setup ability to select device and connect to it in mobile

only one device may be selected at a time

Setup Layout

Device Address vs UUID (Android vs iOS)

Will there have to be compiler specific directives for device / service discovery on ios vs android?

QBluetoothUuid QBluetoothDeviceInfo::deviceUuid() const
Returns a unique identifier for a Bluetooth device without an address.

In general, this uuid is invalid on every platform but macOS and iOS. It is used as a workaround for those two platforms as they do not provide Bluetooth addresses for found Bluetooth Low Energy devices. Every other platform uses address() instead.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.5.

Add Generic Error Dialog

Add an error dialog that can be triggered from anywhere and is passed a string from the back end

Setup initial quick control style

https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtquickcontrols2-styles.html

probably material style

Add garment plumbob image and animation - show what RGB value should show

use QML to draw 2d blumbob

Bluetooth Scan List Under Buttons

when the bluetooth scan list fills up, the last items in the list are below the buttons in the footer toolbar. They should be offset so the ListView is anchored to the top of the footer.

setup UUID filter bluetooth scanning on mobile

Setup UUID filter to only display MACO devices when scanning for devices

Add safety timeout selection in user settings for device