Getting accelerometer values from phone, best approach? - android

I'm very new to python and I want to make some application that allows me to use the accelerometer values I get from my phone in windows.
With SL4A (python for android) I created client and server scripts to read the values from the accelerometer and send them to the server (running on pc) through a socket.
This is my server code (windows pc):
import socket
serversocket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
serversocket.bind(('', 5000))
serversocket.listen(5)
while True:
connection, address = serversocket.accept()
buf = connection.recv(64)
if len(buf) > 0:
print buf
and this my client code (android phone):
import android, socket, time
droid = android.Android()
clientsocket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
clientsocket.connect(('192.168.2.6', 5000))
def readAcc():
dt = 100
endTime = 300
timeSensed = 0
droid.startSensingTimed(2,dt)
while timeSensed <= endTime:
senout = droid.sensorsReadAccelerometer().result
time.sleep(dt/1000.0)
timeSensed+=dt
print senout
clientsocket.send(str(senout).strip('[]'))
readAcc()
droid.stopSensing()
Output example:
1.8659877, 8.8259849999999993, 3.5412905000000001
This works fine if I want to read the values once, but I was wondering how I would go from here, I want to be able to use the values for controlling games and other applications.
Thanks for reading :)

My idea would be to first experiment with different motions of the device (say, a fast upward motion), gather the output values, and then simply trigger events (or whatever you need to trigger in a game) based on a specfic range of accelerometer values (similar movements should have similar value ranges).

Related

Bluetooth Low Energy (between ESP32 and Android smartphone): Data transmission quite slow

This is my first question ever asked on this board
The project explained short:
5 sensors, connected with an esp32 board are transmitting 1000 samples/second, each sample has 16 bit. Those values should be transmitted via BLE (With the BLE Arduino library and an ESP32). The connected device (Smartphone) should read those values and do something with them (Also via BLE, with the following library: https://github.com/RobotPajamas/Blueteeth). The ESP32 is the Server! Java is used in Android Studio!
The problem:
While testing the BLE connection a simple "hello world" was transmitted as the value for a characteristic. Every time i received the "hello world" on the android-device-side, a variable was incremented: The problem is, the variable only got incremented 4 times in one second. This means (assuming 1 char in a string equals 1 byte) 11byte*4(1/s)=44byte/s are being transmitted. -> This clearly is not enough (should not BLE transmit ~2MBit/s (minus the protocol-data))
Code Fragments
ESP32: BLE-Server that transmits value
#include <BLEDevice.h>
#include <BLEUtils.h>
#include <BLEServer.h>
#define SERVICE_UUID "4fafc201-1fb5-459e-8fcc-c5c9c331914b"
#define CHARACTERISTIC_UUID "beb5483e-36e1-4688-b7f5-ea07361b26a8"
class MyCallbacks: public BLECharacteristicCallbacks {
void onWrite(BLECharacteristic *pCharacteristic) {
std::string value = pCharacteristic->getValue();
if (value.length() > 0) {
Serial.println("*********");
Serial.print("New value: ");
for (int i = 0; i < value.length(); i++)
Serial.print(value[i]);
Serial.println();
Serial.println("*********");
}
}
};
void setup() {
Serial.begin(115200);
BLEDevice::init("MyESP32");
BLEServer *pServer = BLEDevice::createServer();
BLEService *pService = pServer->createService(SERVICE_UUID);
BLECharacteristic *pCharacteristic = pService->createCharacteristic(
CHARACTERISTIC_UUID,
BLECharacteristic::PROPERTY_READ |
BLECharacteristic::PROPERTY_WRITE
);
pCharacteristic->setCallbacks(new MyCallbacks());
pCharacteristic->setValue("Hello World");
pService->start();
BLEAdvertising *pAdvertising = pServer->getAdvertising();
pAdvertising->start();
}
void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
delay(2000);
}
Android Studio Code (Snippet of the receiving source):
try
{
while(sampleBluetoothData)
{
this.selectedDevice.readCharacteristic(MainActivity.characteristicUUID, MainActivity.serviceUUID, (response, data) ->
{
if (response != BlueteethResponse.NO_ERROR) {
return;
}
Log.d("AUSGANG", new String(data) + "times: "+ i);
i++;
});
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
The write on the ESP32 side is a blank example code of the Arduino IDE, the read on the Android-side is made by the BLE-Library publisher. Yes the Log.d effects the performance, but it does not drop it that much.
The variable "data" of the Android code is the received char-array. The bluetooth-reading runs on a background thread.
Question I ask myself now:
Is the Android-Studio library the problem or the Arduino library
Is this a normal behaviour, that if a value of a characteristic does not change, it is being transmitted quite slowly.
How fast can you update a value of a characteristic
Thank you in advance!
BLE can definitely transfer much more than 4 portions of 11 bytes per second.
Approach of reading:
Generally, continuos reading all the time is NOT the expected BLE way - it's better to subscribe to data changes, so ESP32 will notify only when needed (e.g. do selectedDevice.subscribeToCharacteristic once, instead of reading in a loop, but then ESP32 code should be changed accordingly)
I guess selectedDevice.readCharacteristic requests asynchronous BLE read, and when you call it in while(sampleBluetoothData), your Bluetooth library is adding more and more read requests. Maybe it would be wise to request new read only after the previous read is done - in read callback add if(sampleBluetoothData) { this.readAgain(); }
Consider making a testing prototype from this kickstart example: BLEProof on github - Android & ESP32, read, write, notify (but it uses just system API without Bluetooth library, you approach is better, it's easier and safer to use the library).
What else to check:
Android side: are you sure that your code doesn't go inside of if (response != BlueteethResponse.NO_ERROR) ?
Android side: to ensure Bluetooth library is not overloaded with read requests, try adding a delay 50 milliseconds in the reading loop (just to check, it's not a solution)
Android side: are you sure that you don't have other BLE read/writes while you read those data?
ESP32 side: use shorter BLE connection interval (BLE throughput article) - add pAdvertising->setMinPreferred(0x06); and pAdvertising->setMaxPreferred(0x20); before pAdvertising->start(); (but that sets only "preferred" interval, Android may ignore that)
Using read requests, you are mainly limited by the connection interval for transfer speeds - that is 2 intervals for request + response.
If for example your client has a connection interval of 50ms, you should expect to read a characteristic of up to 20 bytes 10 times per second.
If another client has a connection interval of 30ms, this rate improves to 16.6 reads per second.
The fastest negotiatiable connection interval is 7.5ms for a maximum of 66.6 reads per second (10.7kbps with 20 byte reads).
I was reading BLE wikipedia page and the minimum data rate is 125Kbit/s , so I think that in your case is viable, because you only will transmit 16Kbit/s. Take a look in BLE wikipedia.

Unpack array of integers from a bluetooth socket

I'm currently working on a PiBot project in Python (chassis with 4 wheels, controlled by Android app via bluetooth for now).
I made a prototype in Python, i can create a BT server, subscribe to it and pair the device via Android, and send information through the BT socket : a joystick gives me the strength and angle on Android, and i succesfully read them from the server. I use Struct for decoding the integers array from the stream bytes.
Here's a piece of my BTServer class, the loop where i display values on server :
def goToControls(self):
while True:
data = self.client_sock.recv(1024)
size = len(data)
print size, 'bits'
try:
angle, strength = struct.unpack('>ii', data)
print angle, strength
#self.cHandler.move(angle, strength)
except struct.error:
print 'bad scheme...'
On Android side, the function which sends data :
if (btDevice.getMmSocket().isConnected()){
int[] values = {angle, strength};
ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(values.length * 4);
IntBuffer intBuffer = byteBuffer.asIntBuffer();
intBuffer.put(values);
byte[] array = byteBuffer.array();
try {
btDevice.getMmSocket().getOutputStream().write(array);
btDevice.getMmSocket().getOutputStream().flush();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
Here's my console output, from server :
So it works great. As soon as i uncomment the line self.cHandler.move(angle, strength), which gives data to my controls handler and make wheels turn, or if i replace it with anything, such as a time.sleep(0.1), here's what i get :
It looks like the scheme is changing, i can't understand anything... Has someone got a clue ?
Thanks a lot
-- EDIT :
I found a part of the answer : I was trying to send 8 bytes from android and receiving 1024 from struct.
So I changed it for that :
data = self.client_sock.recv(8)
angle, strength = struct.unpack('>ii', data)
print angle, strength
self.cHandler.move(angle, strength)
And it works, but it's now terribly slow. How can I decode those 8 bytes without slowing the process like this ?

How can I measure the transmission time between two android devices?

I would like to monitor Wifi-Direct network (Bandwidth, latency etc). How can I measure the time it takes for X bytes to be received over a network (wifi direct). I mean TX + over the network + RX time.
In DMMS (android Studio)I found the option of Network Statistics but here it is only shown transmission and reception time (and it is not very accurate because it appears on a graph).
I had thought about using System.currentTimeMillis() but I have not found how to synchronize the clocks of both devices.
TX:
socket.bind(null);
socket.connect((new InetSocketAddress(host, port)), SOCKET_TIMEOUT);
int tamMensaje= 1024*1024; // 1 MB
byte[] bitAleatorio = new byte [tamMensaje]; // 1 byte [-128 a 127
for (int x=0;x<bitAleatorio.length;x++){
bitAleatorio[x] =(byte) Math.round(Math.random());
}
DataOutputStream DOS = new DataOutputStream(socket.getOutputStream());
for(int i=0;i<1024;i++){
DOS.write(bitAleatorio,(i*1024),1024);
}
RX:
ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(SERVERPORT);
Socket client = serverSocket.accept();
DataInputStream DIS = new DataInputStream(client.getInputStream());
int tamMensaje= 1024*1024;
byte[] msg_received2= new byte [tamMensaje];
for(int i=0;i<1024;i++){
DIS.read(msg_received2,(i*1024),1024);
}
client.close();
serverSocket.close();
Thanks
There are two approaches that can considerably accurate solve the problem:
Sync time on both devices.
You can use NTP for that and either install a separate app like this one or implement it in your code using a library like this one.
After that you can rely on System.currentTimeMillis() to compare the message sent/receive time on both devices.
Using relative time or time of single device.
You can implement something like icmp echo, using udp datagrams (they are faster than tcp). The algorithm should be following (assuming we have devices A and B):
A sends some packet to B and saves timeSent somewhere;
B receives packet and immediately sends ACK packet to A;
A receives ACK and saves timeRecv;
Finally, Long latency = (timeSent - timeRecv)/2;.
This will work for small payloads, like icmp echo. Measuring large network transmission time can be done by sending separate ACK responses for both start/end of receiving it.

Pic16F688 has no stable readings via buletooth

I have spent much time trying to find out where is my mistakes while Im flashing the PIC16F688. The Pic has successfully flashed using PicKit2. Im using the Pic to convert analog pressure sensor to digital output and sending the data via Bluetooth, but the Bluetooth is not receiving stable numbers of data. The data is consist of 4 character decimal number that is between 0 and 1023.
The problem is that the Bluetooth can't wait at specific number and keep reading it, instead, it is reading the 4 digits in random.
I think my mistake is within the configuration of internal oscillator.
I'm attaching my code, the code is written to configure the flexiforce sensor circuit that outputs analog voltage up to 5v, and then the pic duty is to convert it to digital as I mentioned above.
it might be my wiring is not correct, please If you could help out with this one
and what configuration "at edit project" do I need to choose for Mikro PRO software?
I used "Bluetooth terminal" app to see my data asynchronous from Bluetooth.
Thank you.
char *temp = "0000";
unsigned int adc_value;
char uart_rd; int i;
void main()
{
OSCCON = 0x77;
ANSEL = 0b00000100;
CMCON0 = 0X07;
TRISA = 0b00001100;
UART1_Init(9600);
Delay_ms(100);
while (1)
{
adc_value = ADC_Read(2);
temp[0] = adc_value/1000+48;
temp[1] = (adc_value/100)%10+48;
temp[2] = (adc_value/10)%10+48;
temp[3] = adc_value%10+48;
for (i=0;i<4; i++)
UART1_Write(temp[i]);
UART1_Write(13);
Delay_ms(1000);
}
}
You can use itoa function to convert ADC integer value to characters for sending over UART. If there is error in calculation then you wont get appropriate value. Below code snippet for your reference :
while (1)
{
adc_value = ADC_Read(2);
itoa(adc_value, temp, 10);
for (i=0;i<4; i++)
UART1_Write(temp[i]);
UART1_Write(13);
Delay_ms(1000);
}
Please check Baud Rate you have configured at both ends is same or not. If baudrate mismatches then you will get Random value at Bluetooth Terminal where you are reading values.
What i would suggest, if you have a logic analyser, hook it up. If you don't recalculate your oscillator speed with the datasheet. It could just be that the internal oscillator is not accurate enough. What also works, is to write a function in assembly that waits a known time (by copy-pasting a lot of NOPs and using this to blink a led. Then start a stopwatch and count, say, 100 blinks. This is what i used to do before i had a logic analyser. (They are quite cheep on ebay).

Arduino Mega receiving correct data through Serial 0, but not Serial 1-3

I currently have a HC-06 Bluetooth device connected to my Arduino Mega 2560 in order to receive strings sent from an Android device. With the HC-06 on Serial 0, I am receiving the data without error with the following code:
String inString = "";
int index = 0;
boolean stringComplete = false;
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(pwmPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
if(stringComplete) {
ParseSerialData(); // Parse the received data
inString = ""; // Reset inString to empty
stringComplete = false; // Reset the system for further input of data
}
}
void serialEvent() {
while(Serial.available() && stringComplete == false) {
char inChar = Serial.read();
inData[index] = inChar; // Store it in char array
index++;
if (inChar == '\n') { // Check for termination character
index = 0; // Reset the index
stringComplete = true; // Set completion of read to true
} else {
inString += inChar; // Also store as string
}
}
}
When I try to replace "Serial" with "Serial1" and "serialEvent()" with "serialEvent1()" and move the Bluetooth device to the TX1 and RX1, this program no longer works.
I have read that some people had similar problems when using AVR-GCC 4.4.x and solved the issue by downgrading to 4.3.x, but I have 4.3.2 (on Windows 8.1, same problem has arisen with Arduino IDE 1.0.3, 1.0.5-r2, and 1.5.6-r2).
I added the following print statements (with Serial 0 to print to the monitor on my PC) to the code with the Bluetooth device still on Serial 1:
String inString = "";
int index = 0;
boolean stringComplete = false;
void setup() {
Serial1.begin(9600);
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(pwmPin, OUTPUT);
Serial.println("Setting up...");
}
void loop() {
if(stringComplete) {
ParseSerialData();
inString = "";
stringComplete = false;
}
}
void serialEvent1() {
Serial.println("In serialEvent1...");
while(Serial1.available() && stringComplete == false) {
Serial.println("Char in...");
char inChar = Serial1.read();
Serial.println("WTF");
Serial.println(inChar);
Serial.println("WTF2");
inData[index] = inChar;
index++;
if (inChar == '\n'){
Serial.println("Termination char read...");
index = 0;
stringComplete = true;
}else{
inString += inChar;
}
}
}
Doing this, on the monitor I get:
Setting up...
In serialEvent1...
Char in...
WTF
WTF2
inChar typically prints as nothing, but during one test it was printing as an '#' character. The string sent is "s,1\n" from the Android device.
Based on the print out, the serial event is triggered by availability of serial data, but Serial1.available() remains true for only the first iteration, 's' is not read in (nor any of the other characters that do when Serial is used), and a termination character (newline char) is never read in so that I can begin parsing.
I also tried various baud rates with no difference in behavior. Based on reading Arduino documentation, serial port 1 should work just like serial port 0, and I did not miss substituting Serial for Serial1 in any part of the code.
What could be causing errors in communicating over Serial1 in the same way that has worked flawlessly on Serial0?
I also found a related Stack Overflow question, which was solved with something similar to my code (which works perfectly with Serial0 and is based on the Arduino documentation) using an expected termination character (the difference being that his code implements serial reading in the main loop, whereas mine is in a serialEvent). For some reason, it seems that both of us were having issues with Serial1 data not showing as available at the start of the next iteration. For some reason, serialEvent1 is not being called again for me. And I still don't understand why the first/only character read is not 's.' At first I was thinking that the stream was getting flushed before getting to the serial event again, but that still doesn't account for reading in an incorrect first character.
Also, I added the following Serial1 print statement to run multiple times in the Arduino setup and the Android device receives it each time with no errors, so sending data is working just fine:
Serial1.print("b,1\n");
Or even
Serial1.print("A long test message. A long test message.\n");
I'm fairly close to answering my own question now with further testing/debugging. I actually think the answer may end up being hardware-related rather than software. I wanted to find out if the problem was with the data sent from the HC-06 to port 1, or with the reading function of port 1. I basically had serial port 0 read in data, then send it serially to port 1, which would read that data, and send feedback over Bluetooth to the Android device. Serial port 1 read the data fine coming from port 0, so the issue is reading in data specifically from the HC-06. It may simply be a voltage level issue, so the answer may not belong with Stack Overflow. I will leave the question unanswered though until I definitively have found the root cause (allowing for the possibility that I might need some define statement for the HC-06 or serial port 1 for data to be read correctly, though I'm guessing a voltage level conversion may do the trick. I'm not sure why there would be such a difference between Serial0 and Serial1 though).
I solved the problem enabling the pull-up resistor of the RX1 pin:
Serial1.begin(9600);
pinMode(19, INPUT);
digitalWrite(19, HIGH);
Therefore the 3 V is "overridden" by Arduino's 5 V for logical HIGH and zero is pulled down by Bluetooth's TX for logical LOW.
I did it slightly differently by using the INPUT_PULLUP feature to pull the hardware Serial3 pin HIGH:
Serial3.begin(19200);
pinMode(15, INPUT_PULLUP); // Serial3 receive pin
It works a treat. Previously my serial communications between two Arduino Mega 2560s had been mainly corruption with the occasional correct transmission. Now it is mainly the correct transmission. Previously, the time taken to receive a valid serial value was up to 2.5 seconds (due to having to repeatedly retry to get a valid transmit). Now the time taken to get a valid transmit is 20 ms. (I use a twisted pair of single core wires about 35 cm length.)
After checking the serial data lines on my oscilloscope, I was able to come up with a solution to my issue. With the setup described about the related Stack Overflow question (Bluetooth TX → RX0, TX0 → RX1, TX1 → Bluetooth RX), I checked the signals sent by the Bluetooth device and by the Arduino's serial port 0.
The Bluetooth device's signal was low at 400 mV and high at 3.68 V, while the Arduino's port 0 sent low at 0V and high at 5 V. I knew the Bluetooth device was a 3.3V level device, but the Arduino should read anything above about 3V as high, so this should have not been an issue (and it obviously wasn't on Serial 0).
Anyway, I replaced the HC-06 Bluetooth device with a backup one I had purchased and everything works fine with the code using Serial1 that I posted in my question. This Bluetooth device was transmitting low at about 160 mV and high at 3.3 V.
It seems that my problem was rooted in the hardware (voltage levels) as expected, and that for some reason Serial1 is more sensitive to changes in digital levels than is Serial0.

Categories

Resources