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BLE capabilities between devices

AdriMichael
over 5 years ago

Hello everyone,

So, I am developing an App to connect my own BLE microcontroller with sensors to a Garmin watch to display the values of the sensors.

I have successfullt connected the BLE MCU to a Vivoactive Music 3. It does make sense because the vivoactive works with BLE.

Now, I am trying to figure out a list of compatible devices with my BLE MCU. I went to the Garmin website and I have found a HR monitor that they are selling that also works with BLE. On the list of compatible devices, they have a really extensive list of watches. Does anybody know how they are able to connect a HR BLE tracker to for example a Forerunner 110? I am going to attach the link to the Forerunner 110 specs and list of compatible devices. You will see that the Forerunner 110 does not support BLE on the specs but it is still compatible with the HR tracker that works with BLE. It just sounds really weird to me since I do not know how the tracker works.

Link: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/63511#accessories

Any feedback will be really helpful to me!

Thanks!

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  • over 5 years ago

    The HRm-Dual is both BLE and Ant, and I suspect with the fr110, it's by way of ANT.

  • over 5 years ago

    Is your BLE microcontroller acting as a server or as a client?

  • over 5 years ago

    Would suggest nailing-down BLE communication using two MCU's-- one as a client and one as a server.  Andreas Spiess has a great youtube using arduino esp-32 to accomplish this.   He uses a BLE HR monitor emulator.  He also utilizes many BLE sensors.  Watch Videos #173 and #173 . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mePPqiocUE

  • over 5 years ago in reply to Chris Hanger

    As a server. It is constantly advertising data. I already have a Garmin App that works on watches with BLE. I have no idea how they are able to connect the BLE HR to a watch that has no BLE. Maybe ANT? I do not know.

  • over 5 years ago in reply to Chris Hanger

    Or better yest, seeing now it works between Garmin and an Raspberry Pi. (yes, there's code samples)

    See https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/b/news-announcements/posts/would-you-like-some-raspberry-pi-with-your-connect-iq

    Once you understand the BLE profile, using it isn't that bad.

  • over 5 years ago in reply to AdriMichael

    The firmware manages the sensors and on some watches, that can be BLE or app.  From a CIQ app if you access Sensors it really doesn't matter.

  • over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

    I think I am not explaining myself well enough.
    I already have an Watch Garmin App on Connect IQ that I am using to connect my own microcontroller with BLE (acting like a server or data advertiser) to a VivoActive Music 3. The va3 music has BLE on it and that is why I am able to connect my own Microcontroller (using a similar App like the one Jim mentioned for Raspberry Pi). Okay this is the background, now let me introduce the real question.

    On my mind, the HR BLE Sensor that Garmin sells (this one: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/63511#accessories) is the same as my Microcontroller: a microcontroller that advertises data, for this case, HR.

    On the website Garmin claims that this HR monitor device is compatible with watches that DO NOT have BLE integrated on it. They also claim that it is compatible with devices with BLE like the va3 music.

    So my question is: How are they able to connect a BLE Microcontroller to a Garmin watch that does not support BLE? Is there a way to do it? 

    On the Raspberry case, the Raspberry has BLE built in. Exactly the same as the microcontroller that I am using. And exactly the same at the HR monitoring system that Garmin is selling. 

    Can you connect a BLE microcontroller to a garmin watch that does not support BLE but supports Regular Bluetooth?

  • over 5 years ago in reply to AdriMichael

    No.   From a programming standpoint, regular Bluetooth and BLE are totally different.   It’s like apples and xylophones.  But BLE is pretty well documented and is pretty easy to pick up. 

  • over 5 years ago in reply to AdriMichael
    AdriMichael said:
    How are they able to connect a BLE Microcontroller to a Garmin watch that does not support BLE? Is there a way to do it? 

    As @jim_m_58 said in his original post above... the HRM-Dual has both ANT+ and BLE support (thus the term dual in the name). If you are pairing to a device that has ANT support but no BLE support, it will work... because they connect using ANT.

    From the sound of it, your microntroller has only BLE support. You will not be able to read data from it using a device that has only ANT or BT support. You will only be able to read data on devices that have BLE support... unless you somehow enable ANT or BT support on the broadcast side.

  • over 5 years ago in reply to AdriMichael

    Hi, sorry for not providing an answer but another question:


    I plan to write also a simple app displaying some sensor values from a BLE (server) device, but I really struggle to find a working example or valid entry point to start the project. Since it's mainly for personal use I'm not really interested in covering a wide range of devices (mine would be enough), but I really need some kickstart help. Is there any cookbook-like sample app I can play around with (SDK, API etc. already up and running)?

    TIA

    Stefan