Building Bluetooth Low Energy Systems

Key Features

• Learn the basics of Bluetooth Low Energy with its exciting new protocol stack and security.
• Build customized Bluetooth Low Energy projects that make your web or mobile apps smarter in terms of networking and communications.
• Using Android, iOS, and the Web, acquire key skills to harness the power of Bluetooth Low Energy in your IoT applications.

Book Description

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a Wireless Personal Area network technology aimed at novel applications for smart devices. High-tech BLE profiles and services are being increasingly used by application developers and hardware enthusiasts to allow devices to interact with the surrounding world.

This book will focus on a technical introduction to BLE and how it is reshaping small-distance communication. We will start with IoT, where many technologies such as BLE, Zigbee, and IEEE 802.15.4 Mesh will be introduced. The book will present BLE from an engineering perspective, from which the protocol stack, architecture, and layers are discussed. You will learn to implement customized projects for Peripheral/Central communication, BLE Beacons, indoor navigation using triangulation, and the Internet gateway for Bluetooth Low Energy Personal Network, all using various code samples and APIs on Android, iOS, and the Web. Finally, the book will conclude with a glimpse into future technologies destined to be prominent in years to come.

What you will learn

• Bluetooth Low Energy in theory.
• Bluetooth Low Energy Hardware and Software Development Kits.
• Implement Bluetooth low energy communication (central and peripheral) using Android.
• Master BLE Beacons with examples implemented over Eddystone and iBeacons.
• Implement indoor navigation using Estimote Beacons on iOS.
• Implement Internet gateways to control BLE devices on a Wi-fi network.
• Understand BLE security mechanisms with a special focus on Bluetooth pairing, bonding, and key exchange to cover encryption, privacy, and user data integrity.
• Implement Bluetooth Mesh using CSRMesh Technology.

About the Author

Muhammad Usama bin Aftab is a software engineer at one of the leading solar lighting manufacturers in North America. At Carmanah Technologies, he works closely with the product development and management teams to develop software for embryonic technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy. He also focuses on full-stack development using Angular 2 and Java. His main areas of interest range from mobile application development to information security. Mr. Aftab is an alumnus of the University of Victoria, Canada, where he received his master's degree in applied science in electrical and computer engineering. Mr. Aftab has experience in Android, iOS, and cross-platform gaming technologies (such as Unity 3D), which led him to coauthor Learning Android Intents for Packt in 2014.

Table of Contents

1. BLE and the Internet of Things
2. BLE Hardware, Software, and Debugging Tools
3. Building a BLE Central and Peripheral Communication System
4. Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons
5. BLE Indoor Navigation Using Estimote Beacons
6. Bluetooth Mesh Technology
7. Implementing a Bluetooth Gateway Using the Raspberry Pi 3
8. The Future of Bluetooth Low Energy