"N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

leehong — Thu, 05 May 2016 20:26:36 GMT

Mark, thanks for clarifying. That was all I was looking for. By advertising NID with BID, the advertising packet is unable to fit a device name in it. This is problematic for Android as it is only able to attain the Device Name from the scan packet. On the other hand, iOS's Bluetooth Framework is able to pull out the Device Name by supposedly doing a Read by UUID Request embedded deep in its API.

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

Mark W. Schumann — Thu, 05 May 2016 17:47:38 GMT

In my experience you can't make the short name short enough to fit in the packet if you have any beacon payload at all. You can name your beacon, or you can post data in the app major/minor value, but not both.

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

Aleksander Nowakowski — Thu, 05 May 2016 07:24:12 GMT

Could you post a screenshot from a nRF MCP for iOS as well?

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

leehong — Thu, 05 May 2016 00:26:44 GMT

I have literally an iPhone and an Android side-by-side. My iPhone picks up the Device Name, while the Android is unable to do so, and displays a string of MAC address instead. As a control experiment, I'm using the nRF MCP on both phones and updated to the latest software version available.

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

Aleksander Nowakowski — Tue, 03 May 2016 20:55:55 GMT

But I think they apply only when you click the button 1 on the dk and when it's get connectable. Click this button while scanning on MCP and check.

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

leehong — Tue, 03 May 2016 20:52:36 GMT

Those parameters were already set in placed.

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

Aleksander Nowakowski — Tue, 03 May 2016 20:03:50 GMT

Please, read the Torbjørn content above. He wrote what to set. You may also check other samples from our SDK.

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

leehong — Tue, 03 May 2016 19:14:33 GMT

@wojtek pardon my literal ss, i'm on mac os and am iOS native so i figured it might be faster to do that. @Aleksander I'm using a modified eddystone sdk for that hardware. May I know how do I set my complete local name?

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

Aleksander Nowakowski — Tue, 03 May 2016 16:47:52 GMT

As you see, you don't have Complete Local Name listed on the advertising details. I've added a screen shot of 2 devices I have here on my desk. The Complete Local Name is then used as a device name.

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

Wojtek — Tue, 03 May 2016 16:43:30 GMT

Sorry for offtopic, but it seems someone did screenshot too literally :O

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

leehong — Tue, 03 May 2016 16:40:50 GMT

Screen with Complete Local Name:

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

Aleksander Nowakowski — Tue, 03 May 2016 11:49:18 GMT

Hi, could you place a screenshot from nRF Master Control Panel with expanded row of your device? You can also check it the Complete or Shortened Local Name is included in the RAW advertising data. The app should show a device name it such is advertised.

On iOS the device name may be cached. If your device was advertising with this name once the name could have been cached. If you have the nRF MCP for iOS you can expand the row of your device and check the actual Local Name. The device name written in bold as a title is the one taken from a Device object (which could have been cached), the one on expanded area is taken from the adv packet.

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

leehong — Mon, 02 May 2016 16:51:22 GMT

I'm using the sdk eddystone firmware with the above settings, and it shows "N/A" for device name on the MCP for Android (Device name is picked up on iOS)

RE: "N/A" Device name on Eddystone Android

ovrebekk — Mon, 02 May 2016 12:53:56 GMT

Pure beacons never connect (only broadcast), and as such the Device Name Characteristic is not available (you can't read characteristics unless you connect to a device).

Beacons typically don't have a Complete Local Name either, because there is little room left in the advertise packet after including the beacon payload. Beacons usually signal their intent and meaning by the URL or ID that they contain, and don't really need a local name.

If you do want to include a local name you do this like normal in the SDK:

Set advdata.name_type to either BLE_ADVDATA_SHORT_NAME or BLE_ADVDATA_FULL_NAME in advertising_init(), and set the name by calling sd_ble_gap_device_name_set(..).
For an example of this just have a look at any of the other examples in the ble_peripheral folder.