Implementing a bonding mode

RE: Implementing a bonding mode

Joakim Jakobsen — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 06:39:03 GMT

Thanks for sharing your solution.

And I can't see any issues doing it like that.

Best regards,
Joakim

RE: Implementing a bonding mode

jbroxson — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 17:34:44 GMT

I believe we have come up with a working solution... in on_adv_evt() we now do the following:

        case BLE_ADV_EVT_FAST:
            // If we are not in bonding mode, do not enter FAST
            if (!nrf_gpio_pin_read(PIN_BOND))
            {
                NRF_LOG_INFO("on_adv_evt():BLE_ADV_EVT_FAST - Restarting advertising");

                APP_ERROR_CHECK(ble_advertising_start(&s_advertising, BLE_ADV_MODE_DIRECTED_HIGH_DUTY));
                break;
            }

            // Set the power output to the appropriate level (default is 0 dBm)
            NRF_LOG_INFO("on_adv_evt():BLE_ADV_EVT_FAST - ADV_TX_POWER_LEVEL: %d", ADV_TX_POWER_LEVEL);
            err_code = sd_ble_gap_tx_power_set(BLE_GAP_TX_POWER_ROLE_ADV, s_advertising.adv_handle, ADV_TX_POWER_LEVEL);
            APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

            break;

        case BLE_ADV_EVT_SLOW:
            // If we are not in bonding mode, do not enter SLOW
            if (!nrf_gpio_pin_read(PIN_BOND))
            {
                NRF_LOG_INFO("on_adv_evt():BLE_ADV_EVT_SLOW - Restarting advertising");

                APP_ERROR_CHECK(ble_advertising_start(&s_advertising, BLE_ADV_MODE_DIRECTED_HIGH_DUTY));
                break;
            }

If we are not in bonding mode, and FAST/SLOW WHITELIST timeout, we will move back to trying directed (if possible) then back to FAST WHITELIST.

Do you see any issues with doing it this way?

RE: Implementing a bonding mode

Joakim Jakobsen — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 08:41:25 GMT

Hi!

Did some research about this together with a colleague.

Without doing some extensive research in the spec. and the code, I think we found a valid workaround for you.

I suspect the error you are seeing is related to the advertising module wanting to increment the advertising mode on timeout, but slow/fast is not enabled.

A workaround for this is not to increment the advertising mode, but rather restart the advertising using directed advertising.

static ble_adv_mode_t adv_mode_next_get(ble_adv_mode_t adv_mode)
{
    if(adv_mode== BLE_ADV_MODE_DIRECTED_HIGH_DUTY )
    {
      return BLE_ADV_MODE_DIRECTED_HIGH_DUTY;
    }
    else
    {
    return (ble_adv_mode_t)((adv_mode + 1) % BLE_ADV_MODES);
    }
}

Let me know if this is something that could work for you.

Best regards,
Joakim

RE: Implementing a bonding mode

jbroxson — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 22:12:27 GMT

Yes. That is correct. I understand why that is not valid, but our goal is to allow only directed or whitelist when in our Connectable mode, while allowing normal (fast/slow) in our Bonding mode. How can I prevent the device from entering Fast and Slow advertising (without whitelist) after the whitelist modes timeout?

Thanks

RE: Implementing a bonding mode

Joakim Jakobsen — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 09:08:34 GMT

Sorry I think I misread the question.

You are getting the error 7 when slow/fast advertising is not enabled? So you are only getting the error using directed advertising?

RE: Implementing a bonding mode

Joakim Jakobsen — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 09:07:09 GMT

Hi again!

Sorry about the long delay here.

Have you made any progress on this?

So you are getting error 7 (Invalid param) when you aren't using the APP_ADV_FAST_INTERVAL with the directed advertising?

What did you try to set the interval to when you got the error?

Best regards,
Joakim

RE: Implementing a bonding mode

jbroxson — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 16:17:23 GMT

Joakim,

Changing the code so that it only enables whitelist and directed advertising results in an error 7 from ble_advertising_init.

    if (nrf_gpio_pin_read(PIN_BOND))
    {
        init.config.ble_adv_fast_enabled            = true;
        init.config.ble_adv_fast_interval           = APP_ADV_FAST_INTERVAL;
        init.config.ble_adv_fast_timeout            = APP_ADV_FAST_DURATION;

        init.config.ble_adv_slow_enabled            = true;
        init.config.ble_adv_slow_interval           = APP_ADV_SLOW_INTERVAL;
        init.config.ble_adv_slow_timeout            = APP_ADV_SLOW_DURATION;

        init.config.ble_adv_whitelist_enabled       = false;
    }
    else
    {
        init.config.ble_adv_directed_high_duty_enabled = true;
        init.config.ble_adv_directed_enabled        = true;
        init.config.ble_adv_directed_interval       = APP_ADV_FAST_INTERVAL;
        init.config.ble_adv_directed_timeout        = APP_ADV_FAST_DURATION;

        init.config.ble_adv_whitelist_enabled       = true;
///////// only enable whitelist and directed in this case
//        init.config.ble_adv_fast_enabled            = true;
//        init.config.ble_adv_fast_interval           = 40;
//        init.config.ble_adv_fast_timeout            = 100;

//        init.config.ble_adv_slow_enabled            = true;
//        init.config.ble_adv_slow_interval           = 1600;
//        init.config.ble_adv_slow_timeout            = 100;

    }

    err_code = ble_advertising_init(&s_advertising, &init);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);//// <<<  Error 7 (NRF_ERROR_INVALID_PARAM) hit here

If I enter bluetooth settings on iOS, remove any bonding to the nRF device, reboot the iOS device (iOS does some caching which can cause weirdness at times), then browse for it, I can see the device if FAST or SLOW advertising is enabled (expected). I am not able advertise without FAST or SLOW enabled (the error 7 above will occur).

Thanks!

RE: Implementing a bonding mode

Joakim Jakobsen — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 05:29:14 GMT

Hi!

[quote user=""]The idea is that bonding should occur in close proximity only, and only bonded devices can connect when in non-bonding mode at higher power (allowing connection at a larger distance).[/quote][quote user=""]Code for our advertising init is below. In this code I tried setting fast/slow to low timeouts, but iOS still sees it.[/quote]

What do you mean iOS still sees it?
When you say that "only bonded devices can connect when in non-bonding mode", do you want the device advertising to be invisible to non-bonded devices?

[quote user=""]If I configure advertising to only do whitelist, the API returns an error (don't have it handy, but was along the lines of "incorrect parameter")[/quote]

Could you try debugging your application again, and try figure out where exactly you are getting the invalid parameter error from?

Best regards