BLE connectivity

[MikeParticipant]

Hello Team Flomio,

We have just received our Floble Plus. One issue we came upon was, out of the box, our Ipad Bluetooth was not able to pair with the Floble. It connects with Flight Test via Bluetooth but it just won’t pair with our Ipad Air 2. Please advise.

Mike

[RichardKeymaster]

Hey Mike, the FloBLE Plus uses Bluetooth Low Energy (aka Bluetooth Smart) to connect to Host devices. What that means is that the pairing process of Classic Bluetooth is not necessary. It’s what’s referred to as “just works” pairing. Anyway, the process of connecting to the FloBLE Plus requires using the Flomio SDK or the raw ACR1255U-J1 driver. If using the Flomio SDK, then you simply need to follow the instructions in the README.md file of the latest Flomio SDK bundle (iOS folder). The Test app we shared with you via TestFlight is simply a more polished version of the sample app described in the README.

hope that helps,
Richard

[MikeParticipant]

We figured as much. Our techs haven’t been able to test it yet so I figured I fire off a quick question first. Secondly, would the SDK allow for me to have 2 Floble connect to 1 Ipad? Would it allow me to pick which Floble units can connect with which Ipad?

[RichardKeymaster]

Our SDK does support multi-connect up to 4 BLE readers to one Host device. We’ve connected more but it becomes too unstable to recommend. Forcing a connection to a specific BLE reader from jump is possible but we haven’t exposed that via the SDK interface. Once a connection has been made manually, the reader will not disconnect unless told to do so via the stopReader API. If you maintain the reader instance in your app, then calling startReader will reconnect to the same persisted reader. So unless you want to cold start a connection with a particular reader(s), the SDK supports what you need as is.

best,
Richard

[MikeParticipant]

Is there a table on what the lights on the Floble mean?

[RichardKeymaster]

Yeah, it’s on page 12 of the ACR1255U-J1 Reference Manual. Here it is for convenience:

[MichaelParticipant]

1. If we have multiple floble plus units in close proximity to each other, because of the auto connect, how do we tell which unit will connect to which IOS device? Can we control which reader goes to which device?

2. If for some reason, there is a problem during an event. Say, the floble loses connectivity or iOS device freezes up. Are we able to interchange between extra units without going to the back-end?

Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

Mike

[MichaelParticipant]

Any help on this Richard??

Mike

[RichardKeymaster]

Hey Mike, sorry for missing this.

RE: 1. The way our multi-connect feature works is first find, first connect. So if you have several readers in proximity that are in “pairing mode” then all will connect on a first come, first serve basis. The way we control which unit connects to which iOS device is powering on the units one by one when your app is initializing. As more units are discovered, they will connect as well. This has worked for us in the field but still very much in beta. For instance, if you have 3 readers connected to one iOS device and 1 of the readers goes out of range, it could conceivably be discovered by another (different) iOS device as it seeks to pair to a host. We can change the Flomio SDK to explicitly connect to specific iOS devices at all times, but I’d like to understand your use case better to make sure we design the interface properly. Would you want to be able to tell the SDK, startReader("RR330-000142") or something like that?

RE: 2. Swapping out readers during the event while in the presence of many iOS devices running the Flomio SDK would present a problem. Meaning, if you have the multi-connect feature on it means the iOS device will continuously scan for and connect to readers is pairing mode. Once connected the readers enter connected mode and won’t cause a problem. When swapping out a reader though, you would have to make sure that only the target iOS device was in range of the new reader when powering it on. Otherwise, the other iOS devices will attempt to pair with it as well. I can see how this is a problem that we need to address better with the multi-connect feature. As I mentioned above, you would rather enter the specific serial number for the reader you want to connect to (eg RR330-000142)??

I’d say this feature isn’t ready for prime time for your use case but we will work towards making it so.

best,
Richard

[MichaelParticipant]

In regards to the BLE issue:

We are using the Floble for events. That consists of(access control, pairing of the tag(user) to the App(our database), interactive/gamification pts inside the event. Usually, we have 1 IOS device paired to 1 reader. The 1 IOS device to several readers is something we can implement as the SDK is further developed down the line.

Essentially, we would like a way to choose which Floble gets paired with which device, much like how normal Bluetooth devices work, where we would be able locate the device on the Bluetooth Devices List on IOS.

The serial number way could work but the caveat is that, we may not always use the same IOS devices. That function would have to be very flexible. It is because during real life scenarios, sometimes Apps crash or sometimes devices are suddenly out of battery or it could be something beyond our control. Usually, the quickest ways to solve these types of problems would be to just swap out the reader as we often do with the BZR.

Secondly, as we do access control at the events, there might be mutiple IOS devices+ readers in the same area, would this cause any interference?

We would very much like to solve these issues as our next event is coming in the coming weeks. We can always fall back to utilize the BZR but the readability of that device is not nearly as good or accurate as the Floble Plus.

Please advise. Thank you.

Mike

[RichardKeymaster]

Hey Mike, thanks for the feedback. That’s very helpful. I would recommend against the approach of scanning to find all nearby readers to connect to and display a selectable list. I say so because we’ve found this process to be increasingly troublesome in the presence of many BLE devices flooding the market. We’ve found it frustrating to have to wait an indeterminate amount of time (relative to how much BLE devices are nearby) to scan and find the target reader you want to connect with at an event. A more effective approach is to enter to serial number listed on the back of the FloBLE Plus and allow the SDK to pinpoint precisely which unit to discover and connect to. This may take variable time as well, but at least it’s a one step process which at an event can help more helpful. Granted there’s the unhappy path of incorrectly entering the serial number during discover and connect process which could ultimately take longer in the end to resolve than using the full scan method but it’d worked best for us this way. Would you still rather the scan and list method?

BTW, I split the other portions of this thread to a separate one in order for Scott to address the Swift problem.

best,
Richard

[MikeParticipant]

Hello Richard,

Thank you for the reply. After discussing with our techs, I think inputting the serial number is viable. How long would it take to have access to the function? Is that something that will take lots of time? If it can be implemented fast, we are ready to place another order for about 20 Flobles. This would also be contingent on our app not crashing as previously mentioned. Please advise. Thank you!

Mike

[MichaelParticipant]

Any update on this??

[RichardKeymaster]

Scott on our team will be investigating this tomorrow and updating you on this thread with an estimated timeline. We’re currently working on releasing SDK v2.2 so it will likely have to go into our v2.3 release next month.

best,
Richard

[MikeParticipant]

Hello Richard,

We have a pretty big event on 11/10. Besides the Floble, do you have any other units that has the same hardware specs that we can implement? As I mentioned, we have used the BZR but its spotty in terms of readability of the tags. That is why we were so looking forward to utilizing the Floble. Ultimately, we would still love to use the FLoble but is there anything you can recommend to get us through this event in Nov?

Mike

[RichardKeymaster]

Our best offering in terms of functionality and stability is the FloBLE Plus. Unless you plan to use multi-connect, I don’t see how there is a problem with 1-to-1 operation. Are you concerned that units will disconnect? We have deployed 100’s of readers at events ourselves and haven’t run into this issue. Or is your concern related to the Swift bug discussed on this post?

[MikeParticipant]

Our concern is with the Swift bug. If we can resolve that, I think we should be ok with implementing it at the event. 1:1, we can handle manually or will find a work around with the service crew. We don’t plan on using multi-connect until it is stable.

Mike

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