Android-Bluetooth Low Energy

Android 4.3 (API Level 18) introduces built-in platform support for Bluetooth Low Energy in the central role and provides APIs that apps can use to discover devices, query for services, and read/write characteristics.

Declare the Bluetooth permission(s) in your application manifest file. For example:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN"/>

If you want to declare that your app is available to BLE-capable devices only, include the following in your app's manifest:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth_le" android:required="true"/>

》 Get the  BluetoothAdapter， Android 4.3 (API Level 18) introduces  BluetoothManager :

// Initializes Bluetooth adapter.
final BluetoothManager bluetoothManager =
        (BluetoothManager) getSystemService(Context.BLUETOOTH_SERVICE);
mBluetoothAdapter = bluetoothManager.getAdapter();

Enable Bluetooth：

private BluetoothAdapter mBluetoothAdapter;
...
// Ensures Bluetooth is available on the device and it is enabled. If not,
// displays a dialog requesting user permission to enable Bluetooth.
if (mBluetoothAdapter == null || !mBluetoothAdapter.isEnabled()) {
    Intent enableBtIntent = new Intent(BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_REQUEST_ENABLE);
    startActivityForResult(enableBtIntent, REQUEST_ENABLE_BT);
}

Because scanning is battery-intensive, you should observe the following guidelines:

• As soon as you find the desired device, stop scanning.
• Never scan on a loop, and set a time limit on your scan. A device that was previously available may have moved out of range, and continuing to scan drains the battery.

》 The following snippet shows how to start and stop a scan:

/**
 * Activity for scanning and displaying available BLE devices.
 */
public class DeviceScanActivity extends ListActivity {

    private BluetoothAdapter mBluetoothAdapter;
    private boolean mScanning;
    private Handler mHandler;

    // Stops scanning after 10 seconds.
    private static final long SCAN_PERIOD = 10000;
    ...
    private void scanLeDevice(final boolean enable) {
        if (enable) {
            // Stops scanning after a pre-defined scan period.
            mHandler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
                @Override
                public void run() {
                    mScanning = false;
                    mBluetoothAdapter.stopLeScan(mLeScanCallback);
                }
            }, SCAN_PERIOD);

            mScanning = true;
            mBluetoothAdapter.startLeScan(mLeScanCallback);
        } else {
            mScanning = false;
            mBluetoothAdapter.stopLeScan(mLeScanCallback);
        }
        ...
    }
...
}

》 Here is an implementation of the  BluetoothAdapter.LeScanCallback , which is the interface used to deliver BLE scan results:

private LeDeviceListAdapter mLeDeviceListAdapter;
...
// Device scan callback.
private BluetoothAdapter.LeScanCallback mLeScanCallback =
        new BluetoothAdapter.LeScanCallback() {
    @Override
    public void onLeScan(final BluetoothDevice device, int rssi,
            byte[] scanRecord) {
        runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
           @Override
           public void run() {
               mLeDeviceListAdapter.addDevice(device);
               mLeDeviceListAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
           }
       });
   }
};

Note: You can only scan for Bluetooth LE devices or scan for Classic Bluetooth devices, as described inBluetooth. You cannot scan for both Bluetooth LE and classic devices at the same time.

》Based on user input, this activity communicates with a Service called BluetoothLeService, which interacts with the BLE device via the Android BLE API:

// A service that interacts with the BLE device via the Android BLE API.
public class BluetoothLeService extends Service {
    private final static String TAG = BluetoothLeService.class.getSimpleName();

    private BluetoothManager mBluetoothManager;
    private BluetoothAdapter mBluetoothAdapter;
    private String mBluetoothDeviceAddress;
    private BluetoothGatt mBluetoothGatt;
    private int mConnectionState = STATE_DISCONNECTED;

    private static final int STATE_DISCONNECTED = 0;
    private static final int STATE_CONNECTING = 1;
    private static final int STATE_CONNECTED = 2;

    public final static String ACTION_GATT_CONNECTED =
            "com.example.bluetooth.le.ACTION_GATT_CONNECTED";
    public final static String ACTION_GATT_DISCONNECTED =
            "com.example.bluetooth.le.ACTION_GATT_DISCONNECTED";
    public final static String ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED =
            "com.example.bluetooth.le.ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED";
    public final static String ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE =
            "com.example.bluetooth.le.ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE";
    public final static String EXTRA_DATA =
            "com.example.bluetooth.le.EXTRA_DATA";

    public final static UUID UUID_HEART_RATE_MEASUREMENT =
            UUID.fromString(SampleGattAttributes.HEART_RATE_MEASUREMENT);

    // Various callback methods defined by the BLE API.
    private final BluetoothGattCallback mGattCallback =
            new BluetoothGattCallback() {
        @Override
        public void onConnectionStateChange(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status,
                int newState) {
            String intentAction;
            if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_CONNECTED) {
                intentAction = ACTION_GATT_CONNECTED;
                mConnectionState = STATE_CONNECTED;
                broadcastUpdate(intentAction);
                Log.i(TAG, "Connected to GATT server.");
                Log.i(TAG, "Attempting to start service discovery:" +
                        mBluetoothGatt.discoverServices());

            } else if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_DISCONNECTED) {
                intentAction = ACTION_GATT_DISCONNECTED;
                mConnectionState = STATE_DISCONNECTED;
                Log.i(TAG, "Disconnected from GATT server.");
                broadcastUpdate(intentAction);
            }
        }

        @Override
        // New services discovered
        public void onServicesDiscovered(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status) {
            if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) {
                broadcastUpdate(ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED);
            } else {
                Log.w(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered received: " + status);
            }
        }

        @Override
        // Result of a characteristic read operation
        public void onCharacteristicRead(BluetoothGatt gatt,
                BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic,
                int status) {
            if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) {
                broadcastUpdate(ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE, characteristic);
            }
        }
     ...
    };
...
}

 Note that the data parsing in this section is performed in accordance with the Bluetooth Heart Rate Measurement profile specifications:

private void broadcastUpdate(final String action) {
    final Intent intent = new Intent(action);
    sendBroadcast(intent);
}

private void broadcastUpdate(final String action,
                             final BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic) {
    final Intent intent = new Intent(action);

    // This is special handling for the Heart Rate Measurement profile. Data
    // parsing is carried out as per profile specifications.
    if (UUID_HEART_RATE_MEASUREMENT.equals(characteristic.getUuid())) {
        int flag = characteristic.getProperties();
        int format = -1;
        if ((flag & 0x01) != 0) {
            format = BluetoothGattCharacteristic.FORMAT_UINT16;
            Log.d(TAG, "Heart rate format UINT16.");
        } else {
            format = BluetoothGattCharacteristic.FORMAT_UINT8;
            Log.d(TAG, "Heart rate format UINT8.");
        }
        final int heartRate = characteristic.getIntValue(format, 1);
        Log.d(TAG, String.format("Received heart rate: %d", heartRate));
        intent.putExtra(EXTRA_DATA, String.valueOf(heartRate));
    } else {
        // For all other profiles, writes the data formatted in HEX.
        final byte[] data = characteristic.getValue();
        if (data != null && data.length > 0) {
            final StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder(data.length);
            for(byte byteChar : data)
                stringBuilder.append(String.format("%02X ", byteChar));
            intent.putExtra(EXTRA_DATA, new String(data) + "\n" +
                    stringBuilder.toString());
        }
    }
    sendBroadcast(intent);
}

Back in DeviceControlActivity, these events are handled by a BroadcastReceiver:

// Handles various events fired by the Service.
// ACTION_GATT_CONNECTED: connected to a GATT server.
// ACTION_GATT_DISCONNECTED: disconnected from a GATT server.
// ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED: discovered GATT services.
// ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE: received data from the device. This can be a
// result of read or notification operations.
private final BroadcastReceiver mGattUpdateReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        final String action = intent.getAction();
        if (BluetoothLeService.ACTION_GATT_CONNECTED.equals(action)) {
            mConnected = true;
            updateConnectionState(R.string.connected);
            invalidateOptionsMenu();
        } else if (BluetoothLeService.ACTION_GATT_DISCONNECTED.equals(action)) {
            mConnected = false;
            updateConnectionState(R.string.disconnected);
            invalidateOptionsMenu();
            clearUI();
        } else if (BluetoothLeService.
                ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED.equals(action)) {
            // Show all the supported services and characteristics on the
            // user interface.
            displayGattServices(mBluetoothLeService.getSupportedGattServices());
        } else if (BluetoothLeService.ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE.equals(action)) {
            displayData(intent.getStringExtra(BluetoothLeService.EXTRA_DATA));
        }
    }
};

Reading BLE Attributes

---

Once your Android app has connected to a GATT server and discovered services, it can read and write attributes, where supported. For example, this snippet iterates through the server's services and characteristics and displays them in the UI:

public class DeviceControlActivity extends Activity {
    ...
    // Demonstrates how to iterate through the supported GATT
    // Services/Characteristics.
    // In this sample, we populate the data structure that is bound to the
    // ExpandableListView on the UI.
    private void displayGattServices(List<BluetoothGattService> gattServices) {
        if (gattServices == null) return;
        String uuid = null;
        String unknownServiceString = getResources().
                getString(R.string.unknown_service);
        String unknownCharaString = getResources().
                getString(R.string.unknown_characteristic);
        ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> gattServiceData =
                new ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>();
        ArrayList<ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>> gattCharacteristicData
                = new ArrayList<ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>>();
        mGattCharacteristics =
                new ArrayList<ArrayList<BluetoothGattCharacteristic>>();

        // Loops through available GATT Services.
        for (BluetoothGattService gattService : gattServices) {
            HashMap<String, String> currentServiceData =
                    new HashMap<String, String>();
            uuid = gattService.getUuid().toString();
            currentServiceData.put(
                    LIST_NAME, SampleGattAttributes.
                            lookup(uuid, unknownServiceString));
            currentServiceData.put(LIST_UUID, uuid);
            gattServiceData.add(currentServiceData);

            ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> gattCharacteristicGroupData =
                    new ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>();
            List<BluetoothGattCharacteristic> gattCharacteristics =
                    gattService.getCharacteristics();
            ArrayList<BluetoothGattCharacteristic> charas =
                    new ArrayList<BluetoothGattCharacteristic>();
           // Loops through available Characteristics.
            for (BluetoothGattCharacteristic gattCharacteristic :
                    gattCharacteristics) {
                charas.add(gattCharacteristic);
                HashMap<String, String> currentCharaData =
                        new HashMap<String, String>();
                uuid = gattCharacteristic.getUuid().toString();
                currentCharaData.put(
                        LIST_NAME, SampleGattAttributes.lookup(uuid,
                                unknownCharaString));
                currentCharaData.put(LIST_UUID, uuid);
                gattCharacteristicGroupData.add(currentCharaData);
            }
            mGattCharacteristics.add(charas);
            gattCharacteristicData.add(gattCharacteristicGroupData);
         }
    ...
    }
...
}

Receiving GATT Notifications

---

It's common for BLE apps to ask to be notified when a particular characteristic changes on the device. This snippet shows how to set a notification for a characteristic, using the setCharacteristicNotification()method:

private BluetoothGatt mBluetoothGatt;
BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic;
boolean enabled;
...
mBluetoothGatt.setCharacteristicNotification(characteristic, enabled);
...
BluetoothGattDescriptor descriptor = characteristic.getDescriptor(
        UUID.fromString(SampleGattAttributes.CLIENT_CHARACTERISTIC_CONFIG));
descriptor.setValue(BluetoothGattDescriptor.ENABLE_NOTIFICATION_VALUE);
mBluetoothGatt.writeDescriptor(descriptor);

Once notifications are enabled for a characteristic, an onCharacteristicChanged() callback is triggered if the characteristic changes on the remote device:

@Override
// Characteristic notification
public void onCharacteristicChanged(BluetoothGatt gatt,
        BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic) {
    broadcastUpdate(ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE, characteristic);
}

Closing the Client App

---

Once your app has finished using a BLE device, it should call close() so the system can release resources appropriately:

public void close() {
    if (mBluetoothGatt == null) {
        return;
    }
    mBluetoothGatt.close();
    mBluetoothGatt = null;
}