5.2.3 BLE ANCS Application

Recommended Readings

1. Getting Started with Application Building Blocks – See Building Block Examples from Related Links.

2. Getting Started with Peripheral Building Blocks – See Peripheral Devices from Related Links.

3. FreeRTOS and BLE Stack Setup – See Peripheral - FreeRTOS BLE Stack and App Initialize from Related Links.

4. BLE Software Specification – See MPLAB® Harmony Wireless BLE in Reference Documentation from Related Links.

Hardware Requirement

SDK Setup

Refer to Getting Started with Software Development from Related Links.

Software

To install Tera Term tool, refer to the Tera Term web page in Reference Documentation from Related Links.

Smartphone App

None

Programming the Precompiled Hex File or Application Example

Using MPLAB® X IPE:

1. Import and program the precompiled hex file: <Harmony Content Path>\wireless_apps_pic32_bz6\apps\ble\advanced_applications\ble_ancs_app\precompiled_hex .
2. For detailed steps, refer to Programming a Device in MPLAB® IPE in Reference Documentation from Related Links.
   Note: Ensure to choose the correct Device and Tool information.

Using MPLAB® X IDE:

1. Perform the following the steps mentioned in Running a Precompiled Example. For more information, refer to Running a Precompiled Application Example from Related Links.

2. Open and program the application example ble_ancs_app.X located in "<Harmony Content Path>\wireless_apps_pic32_bz6\apps\ble\advanced_applications\ble_ancs_app\firmware".
3. For more details on how to find the Harmony Content Path, refer to Installing the MCC Plugin from Related Links.

Demo Description

This application demonstrates on how to simulate an ANCS client on the curiosity board . The on-board user USR BTN1, LEDs and UART are used as user interface during the demo.

• UART Settings
  • Baud Rate/Speed – 115200 bps
  • Parity – None
  • Data Bits – 8
  • Stop Bits – 1
  • Flow Control – None
  • Character Encoding: UTF-8

• USR BTN1 Behavior
  • Press: Press the button for less than 500 ms
  • Long press: Press the button for more than 500 ms
  • Double-click: Click the button twice in 500 ms

• LED Behavior
  • All LEDs are OFF
  • Green LED flashes one time every 3 seconds
  • Green LED flashes two times every 3 seconds
  • Green LED flashes two times every 1.5 seconds

Testing

Developing the Application from Scratch using MCC

1. Create a new harmony project. For more details, see Creating a New MCC Harmony Project from Related Links.
2. Import component configuration – This step helps users setup the basic components and configuration required to develop this application. The imported file is of format .mc3 and is located in the path <Harmony Content Path>\wireless_apps_pic32_bz6\apps\ble\advanced_applications\ble_ancs_app\firmware\ble_ancs_app.X.
3. Accept dependencies or satisfiers when prompted.
4. Verify if the project graph window has all the expected configuration.

   

Verify MCC Component Settings

1. Select Apple Notification Center Service Profile component in project graph.

   1. Enable ANCS Client Role.

      

2. Select BLE Stack component in project graph, and configure as mentioned below:
   1. GAP(Generic Access Profile) Settings:
      1. Set Device Name to M-dev
      2. Include <<Flag>> type of Advertising Data (AD)
      3. Include <<Local Name>> AD
      4. Include 128bit UUID of the ANCS in advertising Data so that iphone will list the M-dev in its Bluetooth page of Setting App. The ANCS UUID is 7905F431-B5CE-4E99-A40F-4B1E122D00D0 that will be encoded into <<Service UUID>>/0x15 type of AD

         0x11: the AD length indicating how many bytes are appendixed

         0x15: the value of <<Service UUID>> type

         D0002D121E4B0FA4994ECEB531F40579: the ANCS UUID in little endian

         1115D0002D121E4B0FA4994ECEB531F40579

      5. Enable “Peripheral”

         

Generate Code

For more details on code generation, refer to MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC) Code Generation from Related Links.

Files and Routines Automatically generated by the MCC

After generating the program source from MCC interface by clicking Generate Code, the BLE configuration can be found in the following project directories

Initialization routines for OSAL, RF System, and BLE System are auto-generated by the MCC. See OSAL Libraries Help in Reference Documentation from Related Links. Initialization routine executed during program initialization can be found in the project file.

The BLE stack initialization routine executed during Application Initialization can be found in project files. This initialization routine is automatically generated by the MCC. This call initializes and configures the GAP, GATT, SMP, L2CAP and BLE middleware layers.

Autogenerated, Advertisement Data Format

Header Files

• ble_gap.h This header file contains BLE GAP functions and is automatically included in the app.c file

Function Calls

MCC generates and adds the code to initialize the BLE Stack GAP, GATT, L2CAP and SMP in APP_BleStackInit() function

• APP_BleStackInit() is the API that will be called inside the Applications Initial State -- APP_STATE_INIT in app.c

User Application Development

Include

• Include the user action. For more information, refer to User Action from Related Links.
• definitions.h in all the files where UART will be used to print debug information

Configure the Advertisement

• APP_BleConfigBasic( )

static void APP_BleConfigBasic(void)
{
    int8_t                          connTxPower;
    int8_t                          advTxPower;
    BLE_GAP_AdvParams_T             advParam;
    uint8_t advData[]=CONFIG_BLE_GAP_ADV_DATA;
    BLE_GAP_AdvDataParams_T         appAdvData;
    uint8_t scanRspData[]=CONFIG_BLE_GAP_SCAN_RSP_DATA;
    BLE_GAP_AdvDataParams_T         appScanRspData;

//Windows/ Android/ iOS support the reconnection using ADV_IND. So using ADV_IND for pairing and reconnection.
    advParam.type = BLE_GAP_ADV_TYPE_ADV_IND;        /* Advertising Type */
    advParam.advChannelMap = BLE_GAP_ADV_CHANNEL_ALL;        /* Advertising Channel Map */
    if (g_pairedDevInfo.bPaired)//Paired already
    {
        advParam.filterPolicy = BLE_GAP_ADV_FILTER_SCAN_CONNECT;     /* Advertising Filter Policy */
    }
    else
    {
        advParam.filterPolicy = BLE_GAP_ADV_FILTER_DEFAULT;     /* Advertising Filter Policy */
    }
    BLE_GAP_SetAdvParams(&advParam);

• APP_EnableAdvDirect(g_pairedDevInfo.bPaired);

Custom function EnableAdvDirect() is called during the Applications initialization - APP_STATE_INIT in app.c.

Initialize ANCS Client

ANCS Client functionality initialization is done in APP_BleStackInitAdvance( )

BLE_ANCS_Init( ) requests the Device Discovery (DD) middleware to explore the ANCS service of the connecting peer device.

APP_AncsEvtHandler( ) is registered to handle the ANCS event from application level that will not handle the ANCS profile.

    BLE_ANCS_Init();
    BLE_ANCS_EventRegister(APP_AncsEvtHandler);

Implement ANCS Profile

void BLE_ANCS_BleEventHandler(STACK_Event_T *p_stackEvent)
{
    switch (p_stackEvent->groupId)
    {
        case STACK_GRP_BLE_GAP:
            ble_ancs_GapEventProcess((BLE_GAP_Event_T *)p_stackEvent->p_event);
        break;

        case STACK_GRP_GATT:
            ble_ancs_GattEventProcess((GATT_Event_T *)p_stackEvent->p_event);
        break;

        default:
        break;
    }
}

Firmware FSM (Finite State Machine)

This application firmware implements an ANCS client on the curiosity board:

FSM of the Connection State

State machine when connected: