Bluetooth profile for Garmin Varia RTL515

Hallo,

I try to make my own iOS-App with the Varia 515 which support BT. My app already connects the radar device and grabs the radar data. However, I don't know the details about the BT profile. Does anyone know how to interpret the data? Is it similar to the ANT+ cycling radar profile?

Kind regards,

Walter

Top Replies

Kurev over 3 years ago in reply to READINGDANCER +1

Via AntPlus API, you can use listener and in onMessage() you'll have the payload data. This works with sensors paired and connected to Garmin device.

For non-connected, you can connect yourself and…
WaltGre over 3 years ago in reply to Ygriega +1

Hi Ygriega,

the service UUID "6A4E3200-667B-11E3-949A-0800200C9A66" is correct. As mentioned above, you should get 1 + 3*i bytes, whereas it gets a bit more difficult in case, the stream needs…
Ygriega over 1 year ago in reply to 8559875 +1

The code that implements my findings above is here: https://github.com/Wunderfitz/harbour-tacho/blob/master/src/variaconnectivity.cpp Not that elegant, but works smoothly - and should be transferable to…

All Replies

0 Ygriega over 3 years ago in reply to WaltGre

Hi WaltGre,

thanks for the offer to contact you in case someone needs additional information. ;) I also want to create my own app using the radar data from my RTL515. However, I'm still struggling getting the data from the device (identified as 'RTL64894'). BLE connectivity seems to work properly - my mobile detects 3 GATT services:

Generic Attribute (UUID: 00001801-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
Device Information (UUID: 0000180a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
? (UUID: 6a4e3200-667b-11e3-949a-0800200c9a66)

I'm getting some nice data about the device like the vendor name "Garmin" (what a surprise!) and some additional values that probably represent firmware revisions and other stuff using the characteristics underneath the 'Device Information' service. Moreover, I suppose the radar data is shared via the 3rd service, but here I only get a packet of 2 bytes length and no updates seem to be sent out if a threat is detected.

Do you have any hints what I might do wrong or what I need to do to get the radar data from the device? I have to say that I'm quite a newbie in the BLE field, so sorry in case the answer might be obvious.

Thanks in advance for any help!

0 jim_m_58 over 3 years ago in reply to Ygriega

Using radar info can be cause for your app to be rejected for the app store.

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/w/wiki/10/app-approval-exceptions

0 Nikeow over 3 years ago in reply to Ygriega

App Approval Exception (Rejected app again)

0 WaltGre over 3 years ago in reply to Ygriega

Hi Ygriega,

the service UUID "6A4E3200-667B-11E3-949A-0800200C9A66" is correct. As mentioned above, you should get 1 + 3*i bytes, whereas it gets a bit more difficult in case, the stream needs to be splitted due to max. payload size of BLE.

Do you have your radar in demo-mode (6s power-on)? You should do that, to get some threats. I also had connected my Wahoo Elemnt Roam for debugging the information in parallel.

0 Ygriega over 3 years ago in reply to WaltGre

Thanks for confirming that the service is the right one! In this case I'm definitely doing something wrong accessing the data via BlueZ and D-Bus (I'm on Linux). Didn't know about the demo mode, I obviously overlooked that in the manual. Seems to work smoothly - no longer walking around in my apartment to get threats. ;)

0 jim_m_58 over 3 years ago in reply to Ygriega

Remember, as mentioned before, there is a very strong chance that if you use radar that the app will be rejected in the app store.

0 WaltGre over 3 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Why?

0 jim_m_58 over 3 years ago in reply to WaltGre

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/w/wiki/10/app-approval-exceptions

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/f/discussion/255421/app-approval-exception-rejected-app-again

0 WaltGre over 3 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Ah, you are talking about Garmins App Store and I thought about Apples App Store ;-)

0 Ygriega over 3 years ago in reply to WaltGre

And for me it's neither Garmin's App Store now Apple's App Store. :D But thanks for letting me know, will keep that in mind if I start developing for this platform.