Android & the Web of Things: Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth 4.0, iBeacons, Barcodes, QRs, NFC, Arduino

London Java Community Talk - 11.01.14
Dominique Guinard | @domguinard
CTO & Co-Founder EVRYTHNG | @EVRYTHNG

ANDROID & THE WEB OF THINGS
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) / Bluetooth 4.0, iBeacons,
Barcodes, QRs, NFC, Arduinos @ Android

© EVRYTHNG Limited | 2014
© Evrythng Limited | 2014

@EVRYTHNG | @domguinard

IoT / WoT ?
Internet of Things:

Web of Things:

§  “Uniquely identiﬁable
objects and their virtual
representations in an
Internet-like structure”

§  “Application architecture
for physical objects”

•  Auto-ID Labs (K. Ashton, S.
Sarma, F. Mattern)

§  How do we connect things
to the Internet?
§  OSI Layer 4 and below
§  Buzz: EPCIS, IPv6 lowpan,

•  D. Guinard, V. Trifa, E.Wilde,
D. Raggett

§  How do we build
applications to sense,
actuate and combine
things?
§  OSI Layer 7 and above :-)
§  Buzz: REST, Social
Networks, semantics,
mashup, etc.
webofthings.org/publications



WoT



The Internet of Things Era



One trillion connected
devices by 2015.


Source: IBM Investor Brieﬁng ‘Making Markets: Smarter Planet’

Real objects part of the real-time web

“You won’t need to hunt anxiously
for your missing shoes in the
morning, you’ll Google them.
”
Source: Bruce Sterling, ‘Shaping Things’


People + Things

“

The charge will be completed by 2:15am.
Is that OK? See you tomorrow.


”


People + Things



Without re-engineering the products



Two worlds to form a Web of Things

WSN &
6lowpan

QR
1D

EPC
Image
Rec

BLE

WSN &
Wiﬁ

ADK /
ADB

NFC

World of tags

World of embedded devices
Interactivity



EVRYTHNG: How It Works
1. Product ID

1.

Product ID
Product has unique identity
Product has at an
tag or identifiedunique identity tag or
embed, or SKU identified with
SKU-level using image
image recognition or
recognition or barcode. barcode.

2. Personal ID

2.

Personal using
Consumer connectsID
mobile device and social mobile
Consumer connects using
device login, mobile
networkand social network login,
mobile number Identity.
number or CRMor CRM Identity.

Barcode

2D Barcode

3.

Our Smart Profile
smart product profile
Smart profile drives apps,
delivers contextual & contextual
and relationship-based Web
relationship-based Web
experiences, captures analytics.
experiences and captures
analytics.

NFC Tag

Image
recognition

3. Personalization

Embedded Chip


Product Profile


Technology
Active Digital Identities™ - smart, online identities for
physical things, putting them on the Web.
The
EVRYTHNG
Engine

RESTful APIs
& Application Tools

An Active Digital Identity™
for every thing
Persistent URI & URLs

A high scale, online environment to manage information from and about
billions of products and drive applications connecting with them.


Okay okay, we got it!
But what are you doing HERE!?



If only Spock had an Android phone…
§  Mobile phones as
bootloaders of the IoT
§  Android as the
Tricorder:
§  Massive market
penetration world-wide!
§  Great QR support (opensource libs)
§  NFC support in the SDK
§  ADK + ADB for hardware
extensions
§  BLE support
Source: android-france.fr



Android & the Web of Things…

Level 1: Barcodes & QRs
Bootstraping the Internet of Things…



Our World is Being Tagged Today!



Level 1: QR Codes

§  Golden rule:
§  QRs only you shall use!

§  Royality-free encoding
algorithm (Toyota’s
Denso Wave)
§  40 diﬀerent levels
§  4 error correction levels
§  Add a logo!

§  Standardized content:
URLs, v-card, etc.



Android Loves QRs!

§  Zxing open-source
library:
§  Great scanning of 1D +
2D QR codes.
§  Supported on a very
wide range of (Android)
devices.
§  Embedded in your app
or called via Intent.

§  code.google.com/p/zxing/



Adding 1D & QR Support on Android

Activity



QRs + EVRYTHNG: Father’s Day
•  Marketing campaign
for father’s day in
Brazil/Chile/
Venezuela/Australia
–  Built on top of the
EVRYTHNG API
–  Mobile Web and
Desktop apps

•  500k whisky bottles
tagged with unique QR
codes


QRs, 1D @ EVERYTHNG API
§  Microformat-based
Products description
–  Extensible model

§  Product-instances as
Thngs
–  Each identiﬁed by a short
URL:
tn.gg/JH8Bdf5v | .qr
–  Ideal for QRs & NFC tags
–  Dynamic remapping

§  Actions on Thngs &
Products



Level 2: NFC
Because touching feels better, ain’t it?



Level 2: NFC: Near Field Communication

§  13.56 MHz, “Touch”
technology
§  Driven by NFC Forum
(Google, Nokia, Intel,
Visa, etc.)
§  NDEF: Data standard
(URLs, Text, Poster,
etc.)

[Image courtesy of Timo Arnall www.elasticspaces.com]


Android Loves NFC!

§  Decent NFC support since
2.3.3 (API v10,
Gingerbread)
§  Wake up applications on
tag discovery (w/ﬁlters)
§  Relatively complex but
powerful API



Adding NFC Support on Android 1/2

Manifest



Adding NFC Support on Android 2/2
Activity



Sample Project: FreezeMe!
§  FreezeMe!
§  Simple Android app to
manage stuﬀ in your
freezer
§  QR & NFC support
§  Connects to the
EVRYTHNG API
§  github.com/webofthings



NFC + EVRYTHNG: Izipline NFC Packages



NFC Application @ EVRYTHNG API

§  Generated short URLs
are ideal for NFC tags
–  Small URLs
–  Crypto-secure URLs




Level 3: ADK + ADB Hack
Arduinos talking Android talking Arduino…



Embedded Comp’s for Tinkerers



Arduino: Empowering IoT Prototypes since 2005
§  Leading open-source
electronics prototyping
platform
§  Specs:
§  Various sizes, lots of
available shields, low cost
(from 15$ to 70$)
§  Processing-based Java
IDE
§  ATmega-based (8-16 Mhz)

§  Alternatives:
§  Open-picus (Flyport)
§  ElectricImp
§  Raspberry PI


Android Phone Home

§  Arduino support
through two projects:
§  Android Open
Accessory Development
Kit (ADK)
§  Android Debug Bridge
(ADB), microbridge
project



Android Talking Arduino: ADK
•  Oﬃcial accessory
prototyping platform
•  ADK support in:
•  Android: 2.3.4+ (kernel
2.6.35)
•  Android tablets: 3.1+
•  Arduino: Mega ADK

•  Turn project into real
accessory



ADK: “Hello World” Android Side 1/2
Manifest

res/xml/accessory_ﬁlter.xml



ADK: Android Side 2/2

+ a LOT of boilerplate code…


ADK: Arduino side

Preamble

Setup

Main loop



Alternative: ADB
§  « missuse » of the
Android debug system
§  Several Arduino shields
§  USB Host Shield 2.0
circuits@home

[http://www.circuitsathome.com]


§  Microbridge: open-source
Arduino + Java library
§  + low cost
+ works with many
Arduinos
+ works with Android 1.5+
+ also ADK compatible
§  - lack of support
- only for hobby prototypes
- does not work for
Android > 4


ADB: Android Side
Util Class



ADB: Arduino side
Setup

Main loop

Listener



Arduinos talking Android…
Board

Google ADK
2011

Google
ADK 2012

Arduino
ADK R3

CPU

ATmega2560,
16 MHz

ARM 32bit Cortex
M3

ATmega25 ATmega25 PIC24FJ2
60, 16
60, 16
56
MHz
MHz

PIC24FJ2
56

PIC24FJ2
56

RAM
Flash

256 KB, 8KB

MiroSD
slot

256 KB,
8KB

256 KB,
8KB

256 KB,
96KB

256 KB,
96KB

256 KB,
96KB

Digi.
Pins

16

?

16

16

16

16

16

Analo.
Pins

54

?

54

56

48

46

46

Price ~ 400$

-

65$

50$

-

40$

65$

Notes

Not for
sale

R2 + pins

Not oﬃcially
for sale, can
be found


Seeduino
ADK

Sparkfun
IOIO

Replaced
by the
OTG

Sparkfun
IOIO Mint
IOIO OTG

IOIO OTG
+ battery


EVRYTHNG & Connected Devices

NFC
Sensor

EVRYTHNG
Android / iOS
SDK

BLE
Sensor

REST call over
HTTP / HTTPs

EVRYTHNG ENGINE
• 
• 

ARM
Mbed

Mbed
Wrapper

Arduino

Flyport
Wrapper

RspbryPi

EVRYTHNG.js

Others

Device data stored as Temporal Properties
Device & application actions with ENGINE
rules trigger events
Secure access control

Arudino
Wrapper

FlyPort

WSNs

Visualization via Portal

HTTP
Library

• 

REST + JSON
APIs

3rd Party Applications
App
App
App
App
App

Development roadmap includes implementation of outbound
messaging for ENGINE / device push and actuation.


WSN + EVRYTHNG: ARM Coﬀee



ADB + EVRYTHNG: Ondes Visibles!

§  ADB-based project:
§  USB Host Shield 2.0
§  Arduino Uno

§  Sensing LF + HF
§  Real-time monitor,
logger
§  Educational tool
(cudreﬁn02.ch)
http://github.com/domguinard



Level 4: Bluetooth Low Energy /
BLE / Bluetooth 4.0 & iBeacons
Now stand-alone please!



NFC and ADK without iOS

§  QRs & 1D supported
by both Android and
iOS.
§  NFC & ADK aren’t
supported by iOS.
§  Alternative?



Say Hello to BLE: Bluetooth 4.0

Bluetooth
(<4.0)

Buetooth Low
Energy (4.0)

Radio
power

max 100
mW

max 10 mW

Range

max 100 m

<50 m

Bandwidth

up to 3
Mbit/s

up to 1 Mbit/s

Bootstrap

100 ms

6 ms


•  Not quite NFC, not
quite EPC, not quite
WSN, best of all?
–  Low-power => long
battery life (years)
–  Active => reading from
a distance


BLE BT 4.0 : Examples
[sticknﬁnd.com]

§  Lot’s of applications:
–  Smart lost&found
–  Active tagging
–  Sports trackers
–  Smart watches
–  Wireless payments
–  etc.

§  However $$$ > NFC,
Barcodes, EPC


[thetileapp.com]

[getpeeble.com]

[jawbone.com]


BLE and Android

§  Since Android 4.3
§  Phone cannot (yet, as
of 4.4) act as
peripheral device
§  Several devices are
available:
–  TI Sensor tag ideal for
getting started
=> Android Examples

http://www.ti.com/ww/en/wireless_connectivity/sensortag


iBeacons != BLE

“02 01 1a 1a ﬀ 4c 00 02 15 e2 c5 6d b5

df fb 48 d2 b0 60 d0 f5 a7 10 96 e0 00
00 00 00 c5 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00

”



iBeacons

§  Not (yet) a standard
Bluetooth proﬁle
=> trickier to catch it from
Android

§  Sort of an active NFC
§  Several iBeacons
providers
–  make your own with a
Raspberry Pi!
https://github.com/RadiusNetworks/android-ibeacon-service
http://tinyurl.com/pibeacon


Scanning for Tags

[https://github.com/RadiusNetworks/android-ibeacon-service]



Getting Directions

[https://github.com/RadiusNetworks/android-ibeacon-service]



Executive summary!
Tech

Tech
Maturity

Market
Price /
Penetration Unit

Deploy + dev App type
Complexity

1D

Very High

Very High

0.001 $

Low

Product centric on low
price goods

QR

High

High

0.01 $

Low

Product instance
centric for low price
goods, tagging

EPC

Medium

Low

0.1 $

High

Supply chain

NFC

High

Medium

0.1 $

Medium

Access control,
payment, tagging

ADK

Low

Low (new
Andro)

40$

High

Prototypes of Android
accessories & sensors

ADB

Low (hack)

Low+
(Andro)

20$

Medium

Prototypes & hacks &
sensing with Android

BLE /
Bluetooth
4.0

High

Increasing 10$
(new Andro
+ iOS)

MediumHigh

Sensing, activity
tracking, locationaware apps

iBeacon

Medium

Low, iOS

Medium

Active tagging, indoor
localization/navigation


10$

The EVRYTHNG Open API & Tools
§  Give your things a digital
identity:
–  Products friendly
(QR & NFC)
–  Sensors friendly (ADK/ADB,
BLE)

§  Mgt/testing/vizu portal
§  Lightweight REST API
§  SDKs for:
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 

Android
JS
Arduino (community)
.Net
Mbed
Flyport (community)
Etc.

[dev.evrythng.com]


Game Over!

Dom Guinard
dom.guinard.org
@domguinard
@EVRYTHNG
dom@evrythng.com
github.com/domguinard
github.com/webofthings
slideshare.com/evrythng



Backups…
What backup?
Like if he didn’t talk enough already…



Level 2.5: EPC: Don’t touch me!
§  Electronic Product Code
§  96 bits world-wide
unique product identiﬁer
& standards
§  Commercial attribution
of codes (GS1)
§  EPC can be written to
NFC tags
§  EPC Gen2 tags enable
distant reading
§  EPC likes Java:
§  fosstrak.org



The EPCGlobal Network



Current BLE Support @ mobile
§  HTC One, One X+, Droid DNA
§  Apple's iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad (3rd gen & 4th
gen), iPad Mini and others
§  Nokia Lumia 620, 820 and 920
§  Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy SIII, Galaxy S4,
Note II, Note 3
§  Microsoft Surface Pro
§  Blackberry Z10 and Q10
[Source: Wikipedia]



Useful Links
•  FreezeMe sample app:
•  https://github.com/webofthings/FreezeMe

•  EVRYTHNG Android wrapper:
•  https://gihub.com/evrythng

•  Web of Things community blog:
•  http://www.webofthings.org

•  Web of Things Thesis:
•  http://www.webofthings.org/dom/phd/thesis.pdf

•  Fosstrak EPC open-source stack:
•  http://www.fosstrak.org

•  Jazoon presentation on EPCIS Web (REST) Adapter:
•  http://slideshare.net/misterdom/restifying-ws-services-case-study-in-rﬁd

•  Signup for EVRYTHNG account (for your next IoT / WoT projects):
•  http://evrythng.com



Useful Links II
•  Android Microbridge Project
•  http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/

•  Circuits@home (USB Host Shield):
•  http://www.circuitsathome.com/products-page/arduinoshields/usb-host-shield-2-0-for-arduino

•  ADK Library:
•  http://developer.android.com/tools/adk/index.html

•  Ondes Visibles! Project :
•  http://code.google.com/p/ondes-visibles/

•  Problems with the ADK and the Arduino Mega ADK:
•  http://stackoverﬂow.com/questions/11213536/error-oscokirqfailed-to-assert/11239701#11239701



Android & the Web of Things: Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth 4.0, iBeacons, Barcodes, QRs, NFC, Arduino

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