Deep Dive w/Scott: Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

Adafruit Industries

Today I'll answer questions and discuss the work to get a BLE workflow going in CircuitPython. I’m sponsored by Adafruit to work on CircuitPython. Support them, and by extension me, by purchasing hardware from https://adafruit.com Chat with me and lot of others on the Adafruit Discord at https://adafru.it/discord. Deep Dive happens every week. Normally Fridays at 2pm Pacific but occasionally shifted to Thursday at 2pm. Typically goes for two hours or more. Questions are welcome. Next week will be on Friday and will be the 1 year anniversary! 0:00 Getting started after technical difficulties 4:04 hello and thanks to 009 for the gpu clue 7:04 q: just started my first BLE project that i showed on S&T. i'm confused what the BLE components i need to setup some kind of "clear/reset connections and repair from scratch" button to make my board useable across devices without having to manually disconnect before reconnecting 9:19 core modules ble erase_bonding… 9:59 working on a digital thermometer for an old bmw that would obviously show the engine's temp. I want to use an stm32. 15:04 BLE - Bluetooth Low Energy 17:51 Circuit Playground Bluefruit - Bluetooth Low Energy 20:14 what applications would you recommend BLE for? 25:49 Bonding 29:45 I know you can SEND data with the Micro:bit BLE, but can you program it from mobile through BLE?? 30:14 Serial/UART over BLE is not "super standard" as opposed to Serial on Bluetooth. There is a circuit python LIB that does the Nordic way. But you cannot change the UUID for another copy of serial. 30:49 BLE workflow - discovery 35:59 for devices that allow multiple devices to connect (like a mouse that toggles between machines) do you need a separate BLE chip for each device? 37:04 Is this workflow tied to BLE or is it standard for regular (older) bluetooth as well? 37:24 The number of pairs, bonds, or connected? 40:19 ​I want to make a BLE keyboard that I can quickly switch between my phone, desktop, laptop, and RPi. So, what's the most bonds possible? 42:14 what security things should be we aware of when working w/ BLE? 46:24 Desktop / “where scott is at”... 46:54 Packet buffer fixes #4535 48:34 ​Don't the packets have sequence numbers? 49:21 Fix central pairing #4522 51:45 Proof of concept code for CP future behavior 52:28 I noticed a 7.0.0 tag has appeared in the CPY repo. wonder what that will bring 54:09 So it is not going to be in the "kernel" but in "library"? Or it is a mockup in "userland"? 54:39 Adafruit_CircuitPython_BLE_Creation / Creation IDs on github 58:04 instance id? ( NO ) 1:02:48 Creator IDs, how are you allocating them? So 0x1234_xxxx could be registered by one person/organisation? 1:03:56 Examples ( advertisement / scan? ) 1:05:04 File Transfer 1:06:54 The BLE SIG is in Kirkland, WA if you want to chat with them. I might have some contacts. 1:07:09 There is/was that file transfer solution over the REPL for micropython. Can you reuse that? 1:07:55 Do you envision the BLE file transfer protocol requiring the storage to be mounted writable from boot.py on the CircuitPython device? 1:09:54 ampy == That was the recommendation for micropython… ( “No - don’t like it”) 1:10:14 This might be old information... but at one point iOS didn't support serial over bluetooth. (Ham radio control apps used this). Has that changed ? 1:11:04 What is BLE range on CPB/Micro:bit (estimate) 1:12:29 Does BLE keyboard use scan codes or ASCII? ( Same as USB ) 1:13:46 BLE file transfer library 1:14:34 BLE number set 1:17:34 ​I'm going to need a way for my keyboard to know whether the device it's talking to is in Dvorak or US mode. 1:20:09 Flow Control 1:21:49 demo 1:23:09 In "Bluefruit Connect" you have packet based protocol, over serial with function like picking a color or sending image... you could expand that. 1:24:53 Is the bug that it's starting to corrupt the file system, but not finishing the job? Or that it's corrupting the filesystem at all? 1:25:19 Maybe that "Bluefruit Connect" and protocol and serial was there for old way to connect serial co-pro to old stuff, before nRF52 support. 1:25:55 - Demo …( using tio on arch linux ) 1:28:59 - Ryzen 16-core - speedier than a raspberry pi 4 1:31:39 - simulating the file system in a dictionary 1:33:32 book recommendations for ble ? 1:35:01 Blinka "server side" thing, to control a PiZero? Is that possible or we hit a limitation of BLE on the Blinka side? ( To have the BLE workflow for a Pi. ) 1:35:36 https://www.amazon.com/Make-Bluetooth-Projects-Raspberry-Smartphones/dp/1457187094 for Sander Vesik's question. 1:38:41 Any news about the "convergence" with BLE on micropython? /Both MP and CP were developing separately at the same time. / Low level, so blinka can build on top... to make it CP like. 1:45:34 outline for OHS 1:48:23 Soooo at 15 minutes is it a shallow dive ? 1:48:49 plan for next weeks - don’t block Trevor 1:50:12 wrap up