Making Custom BLE Sensor configuration and preset

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Introduction

The first thing you have to know before configuring a sensor is data protocol.

Without data protocol, you can only attempt to extract raw data from the sensor, by configuring it to save all the data sent by the sensor into IO elements.

Extracting RAW data

In the below examples, we are trying to extract data from two TOPFLYtech BLE 5.0 sensors:

  1. Temperature, humidity, and light sensor.
  2. Door, temperature sensor.

Prerequisites:

  1. BT radio is enabled in the Bluetooth section of the configurator.
  2. Codec8extedended set in the System section of the configurator.

To save sensor incoming data to IO you should configure:

  • MAC = MAC of the sensor -> needed to establish a connection with the sensor.
  • Type = FE -> any.
  • Data Size = 128B -> maximum available in IO.
  • Action = Save -> save to IO element.
  • IO = custom -> We do not know the protocol yet, so we use custom that can be used for HEX data.

IO tab of configurator: enable BLE custom X where X is the sensor number in Bluetooth 4.0 section.


Note: you might have to configure more rows if the sensor is sending more than 128B of data.

Once we save the configuration and observe records made by the device we will see that AVL ID for BLE custom 1 will have raw sensor data:

0x1416FFBF1002140EFEBF9D7A7A4164090E350001000509636F6C64

Parsing Data according to protocol Example 1

We can parse this according to the protocols provided by the vendor/manufacturer of the sensor, if not provided during the purchase please contact the vendor for the protocol. The full protocol document for our example can be found here:File:Protocol.xlsx

Raw data assigned to corresponding protocol parts:

Message Header Hardware Version Firmware Version ID Battery (%) Temperature (℃) Humidity (%) Ambient Light Status Alarm Length Sesnor Name Header Sesnor Name
1416FFBF1002 14 0E FEBF9D7A7A41 64 09 0E 35 00 01 00 05 09 636F6C64

Parsed raw data:

Protocol explanation Raw data Parsed Data
Message Header 1416FFBF1002 Fixed value
Hardware Version 14 Version 1.4
Firmware Version 0E Version 14
ID FEBF9D7A7A41 ID=MAC=FEBF9D7A7A41
Battery (%) 64 64(Hex)=100(Dec)

Then battery percent=100%

Temperature (℃) 09 0E 09 0E(Hex) to BIN:

0000 1001 0000 1110

Bit 15=0, +

Bit 15=1, -

Bit 15 is 0, so it's a positive temperature

Bit 0-Bit14, temperature valueBit 0-14 convert to DEC is 2318

Then 2318/100=23.18

The temperature is +23.18℃

Humidity (%) 35 35(Hex)=53(DEC)

The humidity is 53%

Ambient Light Status 00 01 Fixed Value=0

01=light on

It means the sensor environment has light

Alarm 00 00 = this is not an alarm message.


00: no alarm

01: alarm

02: high-temperature alarm

04: low-temperature alarm

06: low battery alarm

Length 05 05=there are 5 bytes from byte 23

the length will be changed depending on the sensor name.

The sensor name is max 8 bytes. So the max length value is 09

Sesnor Name Header 09 Fixed Value
Sesnor Name 636F6C64 Convert Hex to ASCII

63=C 6F=O 6C=L 64=D

So the sensor name is cold


According to the data from the sensor, and available IO elements, you can create a preset for the sensor.

In our case, we are interested in battery level, humidity, and temperature.

We select all type fields to be FE, and data offset and size are calculated according to the protocol, visual example below:

Configuring according to protocol.png*Note: Match field is not necessary for every sensor, it's used when the sensor sends a few different structure packets to match the packet needed.

If you specify the match field, make sure that sensor does not have dynamic (variable) information in protocols for matched data otherwise it might be filtered until it matches the exact value specified in the match field.

Protocol explanation Raw data Type Offset Size Action IO
Message Header 1416FFBF1002 6 6
Hardware Version 14 1 1
Firmware Version 0E 1 1
ID FEBF9D7A7A41 FE 6+1+1=8 6 Match None
Battery (%) 64 FE 8+6=14 1 Save Battery
Temperature (℃) 09 0E FE 15 2 Save Temperature
Humidity (%) 35 FE 17 1 Save Humidity
Ambient Light Status 00 01
Alarm 00
Length 05
Sesnor Name Header 09
Sesnor Name 636F6C64


Once everything is configured it should look as follows:

In configurator1.png


Pictures of the sensor being read in the sensor app and configurator:

In app:

Humidity topfly.png

In configurator:

Data in configurator.png


Parsing Data according to protocol Example 2

Raw sensor data:

0x1216FFBF0E04120EFF779695EE4B640A730100080954534454312D42

Raw data assigned to corresponding protocol parts:

Message Header Hardware Version Firmware Version ID Battery (%) Temperature (℃) Door Status Alarm Length Sesnor Name Header Sesnor Name
1216FFBF0E04 12 0E FF779695EE4B 64 0A73 01 00 08 09 54534454312D42


Parsed raw data:

Protocol explanation Raw data Parsed Data
Message Header 1216FFBF0E04 Fixed value
Hardware Version 12 Version 1.2
Firmware Version 0E Version 14
ID FF779695EE4B ID=MAC=FF779695EE4B
Battery (%) 64 64(Hex)=100(Dec)

Then battery percent=100%

Temperature (℃) 0A 73 09 0E(Hex) to BIN:

0000 1010 0111 0011

Bit 15=0, +

Bit 15=1, -

Bit 15 is 0, so it's a positive temperature

Bit 0 - Bit 14, temperature valueBit 0 - Bit 14 convert to DEC is 2675

Then 2775/100=26.75

The temperature is +26.75℃

Door Status 01 01 = Door open



0x00 = Door Closed

0x01 = Door Open

Alarm 00 00 = this is not an alarm message.



00: no alarm

01: alarm

02: high-temperature alarm

04: low-temperature alarm

06: low battery alarm

Length 08 05=there are 5 bytes from byte 23

the length will be changed depending on the sensor name.

The sensor name is max 8 bytes. So the max length value is 09

Sesnor Name Header 09 Fixed Value
Sesnor Name 54534454312D42 Convert Hex to ASCII

So the sensor name is TSDT1-B

Once everything is configured it should look as follows:

Final configuration in configurator door sensor.pngPictures of the sensor being read in the sensor app and configurator:

In app:

Door open door closed.png

in configurator:

Door open:

Door open.png

Door closed:

Door closed.png

Creating Presets

After the configuration is finished you can save the preset, using the save button:Saving preset.png

Saved presets are found at:

C:\Users\<your username>\Documents\Presets

They can be shared with other engineers, they just have to save the received preset to same location C:\Users\<your username>\Documents\Presets to be able to load it in the configurator.

Including Presets in the next base configurator release

On the client's request or based on TPS insights about the client's use case, it might be needed to add the sensors to our available presets with the next configurator release. Check with your sales manager about the conditions and information needed to include the preset on the next release.

Disclaimer

Alert.png


If you are not using Bluetooth, please consider turning it off or change Bluetooth PIN to remove potential risks.

If you are using Bluetooth we strongly recommend using AES encryption for enhanced security.