I have 6 android tablets, and i want to connect them via a cable/wire, so that they can send messages to one another. (perhaps similar to way PCs may be networked with each other)
Once connected, apps running on the devices can exchange messages with each other via sockets or any other protocol. What are the best options?
Connecting devices over wi-fi is an option too, but then internet is not guaranteed in this scenario, and devices may be very far of from each other for any near field communication.
You can use usb->ethernet adapters and connect via LAN
Connecting devices over wi-fi is an option too, but then internet is
not guaranteed in this scenario, and devices may be very far of from
each other for any near field communication.
as long as all your devices and server (if any) are on same LAN or simply everything is connected to same hotspot you need not to worry about internet
Related
I am working around wifi direct and NSD (Network Service Discovery) to transfer files.
NSD: where serivce has been created and can scan the other devices which are publishing the same service with in the same network.
WiFi Direct: This is used to scan the near by devices without network
WiFi P2P Network Serice Discovery: This is used scan the service near by devices where other devices provide the same service (NSD+WiFi Direct)
As per requirement, I need to give compatibilty to iOS device even though both are not in same network. I came to know that NSD is similar to Bonjour service by iOS.But this can be possible when devices are in the same network.
Is there any way to get connect to iPhone when both are not in same not network?
Ignoring the intricacies of getting Android and iOS to play nice together, it is possible to make them think they are in the same network without physically being there. If I understand you correctly, seems like you have two options:
Setup up a VPN server in network A and the device in network B connect to it. This would make the device in network B think it was on network A, and have access to all LAN services (such as NSD).
Set up VLAN trunking on a switch and put network A in the same network as B.
Option 2 would only work if they were geographically in the same area (like on the same campus). Option 1 would be preferable if they were geographically disparate, or you were unable or unwilling to make the infrastructure changes necessary to support option 2.
I need to connect multiple phones to each other using wifi, without there being any internet though.
So i was thinking if this can be done by turning on the hotspot on one phone and allow the others to connect to it, can this be done ?
Or is there any other way to connect multiple phones via wifi ?
Any help is appreciated .. thnQ
To send and receive UDP messages you can using the following technique:
https://code.google.com/p/boxeeremote/wiki/AndroidUDP
The simplest way to explain this is that the UDP packages can be transmitted on a network with no particular destination set. Applications can pick this up and then decide if they want to handle the message or not.
To connect the devices you can use either a mifi dongle or put one of the phones into tethering mode:
https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/2812516?hl=en
Of course this is limited in range to the hosting mifi or phone.
I want to work with Wifi connection via Android Devices (for example I want to send a command with my device to home router via Internet and my router send this command to a wifi module) when I refer to Developer Android APIs, I see a section that named "Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer". what differences exist between wifi (working android devices with access point like home router) and "Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer". Is "Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer" same wifi Direct ? why Google didnt discusses about simple wifi ? please help.
WiFi P2P (Peer-to-Peer) and WiFi Direct are both the same thing.
There are two main differences between "normal" WiFi and WiFi P2P (from the developer's point of view):
A WiFi p2p connection (something you establish from code) is a direct connection between two devices. You can understand it as a sort of temporary (created for the time of the connection) "normal" WiFi network created for the purpose of communicating those two devices. A "normal" WiFi connection basically translates to a situation when a device is connected to a broadcasted (by some device - e.g. home access point, or a smartphone) WiFi network. This all basically means that to send data between two devices using WiFi P2P, those devices DO NOT have to be connected to the same WiFi network (as long as those devices know how to connect to each other using wifi p2p). Unfortunatelly good news with WiFi P2P end right here, because:
Designing a WiFi P2P connection based system is extremely difficult if you want to make it at least reasonably robust. This is mostly due to the lack of documentation on that subject (in Android Dev), and due to Android's WiFi p2p unpredictability (I know what I'm talking about - I was recently desigining such system).
You're wrong saying that Google didn't discuss "simple" WiFi. You just need to remember that connecting to "simple" WiFi is just not that complicated, so they didnt have to do a guide like they did for WiFi P2P. All information considering "normal" WiFi are there (at Android Developer), its just spread over many classes.
Tell me what you think is not discussed?
Also you should try to describe the exact thing your application needs to do (with WiFi), so I can maybe give you a hint whether you should try your luck with WiFi P2P or not.
I'm trying to develop an Android application which have to be able to transfer data/message between two Android mobiles, as a client server connection using their own Wifi, which having no network or routers nearby. I just tried using Tcp program to do this but it fails, its not connecting, I'm getting ConnectException and connection refused.
[Edited] Is it possible to achieve this using Android Portable Hotspot integrated with application? Is there any tutorial regarding this approach?
Any Ideas, how to do this?
Thanks.
You need to get the two devices networked to each other before you can worry about tcp usage of that network connection.
If one device is willing to perform access-point like functionality as part of a portable hotspot, and you select that as a wirelss network on the other, you may achieve a network connection between the two that can be used for custom traffic. Though there are ways the hotspot could be implemented where that would not work. Also of concern, the "client" device will now be sending all of its network traffic through the hotspot device, including not just foreground apps but anything it decides to do in the background.
Can someone explain a couple of very simple concepts to me - I'm interested in mobile devices running android and how they are identified over networks. Some scenarios:
Device is connected over WiFi - presumably the device has a standard IP address as with any host and can communicate with any other android host over TCP/IP (assuming it knows the participating device's IP?
Device is connected over bluetooth - how are devices identified in this case?
Device is connected over mobile operator's network - this is the one I'm interested in and confused by - is there anyway for two or more devices to discover each other and communicate via the mobile operator's network? How does a device communicate with a backend server in this scenario? In other words, how do apps and devices communicate when not connected to a WiFi network?
Thanks for any advice..
I'm only sure about the bluetooth thing, so i only answer this part:
The Bluetooth interface on your device has an MAC adresse. So while communicationg over Bluetooth you can assume that this MAC adresse is a unique identifier for a specific device. You can also reach other devices by establishing a connection over this MAC adress- However, to get this mac adress in the first place, you have to know it from somwhere, or you have to search for other bluetooth devices in the reachabla area before.
WiFi and 3g both attach the [mobile] device to the internet so it can make internet connections. 3G assigns a publicly addressable IP to the device, so one could, presumably open a server socket and listen for connections. The client would have to know the mobile IP, which may change quite frequently.
Bluetooth is more geared toward close-proximity. Devices in the vicinity can be connected to, after you have paired with them, which requires the cooperation of both devices which are to communicate.
If the goal is to produce an application which connects to nearby devices, I can think of the following ideas:
3g: all devices running the client register their position with a central database server. If the server detects that two clients are in close proximity, let them know so they can connect through the internet or through the server
WiFi: you could use the same idea as 3g, or use broadcast/multicast packets to broadcast your presence. Other apps can listen for those broadcasts and discover which other devices are near.
Bluetooth: A little trickier, as a device must be placed into discoverable mode in order for others to "see it". Discoverable mode is a temporary state and only lasts about 30 seconds (at a time).