Bluetooth-Android weather sensor

Hello!
I am so newbie that please try not to be funny with my silly questions :smiley:
So i want to build a mobile weather sensor, which i want to transmit data to an android phone, ind i would be happy to hear your opinions, guidance, and critics about my project.

So the basic problem i want to solve is that there is a "factory" android app which calculates various weather details, such as dew point, etc. In that app, you should write in the temperature, humidity, altitude(barom. pressure),wind by hand in the proper textbox. I want to do it automatically, so every time i press "Calculate " button in the app, it will count with the updated data.

my concept is that there is an arduino mega equipped with a class 1 bt module, an analog humidity, analog temp, and i2c pressure sensor in an RF shielded box(the antenna is not, of course ), and there is an android app, which runs in the background, and update the variables for example in every 5 minute.

I can't write here the exact name of the app, because don't know if "improve" a commercial app is fully accepted even if i paid for that. But i think that the app is storing that variables somewhere in the device's memory that i can modify.

So what is your opinion about the project?
Do you think is this possible to get it work?
I am curious mainly about the android side, the arduino side seems not to be too complicated though.

Mate

I guess the Arduino part is possible and feasible but I doubt that you can access the variables of another program on an Android device (would be a big security hole).

If you tell us what functionality you wanna use of that big commercial app, we may have a solution how to do this stuff without using that app and probably even completely within an Arduino application.

It MIGHT be possible to simulate a bluetooth keyboard (see also HID - human interface device), so the Arduino reads the sensor values and the "types" the data on a keyboard.

As Pylon said, I doubt you will be able to get into the source code for the commercial app. Does it have the ability to interface to real sensors? If so you might be able to use the Arduino to simulate the regular inputs.

You can write your own app, which takes the data from the Arduino and performs the same calculations or use a lookup table to get the desired results. I am just starting down the path to writing Android apps, so I can't give any good advice, but here are a couple of tutorials I am looking to for guidance.

http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/280

well, it is called Shooter.
And yes, it have its own bluetooth link with Kestrel bluetooth handheld weather stations, but in my country i can't get one, and they are also very expensive. And the curiousity if i can get it done :smiley:

I want to simulate the arduino to this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.kndy.shooterbtkestrelplugin&hl=hu

I see, that is difficult. If I understand you can type the data in to the app or you can get this plug-in that works with the Kestrel. I only see three possibilities to automate it.

  1. Write your own plugin. Somebody wrote the Kestrel plugin. Can they write (or give you enough info to write) a generic plugin that will work with an Arduino?

  2. Make the Arduino look like a bluetooth keyboard to enter the data in text.

  3. Hack / Crack the Kestrel interface and make the Arduino interface the same. Unfortunately this requires having a Kestrel and some bluetooth tools. Maybe someone will crack it.

Make the Arduino look like a bluetooth keyboard to enter the data in text.

This may be difficult because most bluetooth modules available for the Arduino don't support the HID profile but only the serial profile. If you take the more expensive modules you may end with a price higher than the Kestrel station.

I'd try to contact the developer of Shooter (seankndy) and ask him what the plugin interface is. I'd bet that this is a much more reliable way to connect to his app.

Oh, many thanks for the help.

Cannot I "decompose" somehow the plugin apk, and then adopt it to arduino?

pylon:

Make the Arduino look like a bluetooth keyboard to enter the data in text.

This may be difficult because most bluetooth modules available for the Arduino don't support the HID profile but only the serial profile. If you take the more expensive modules you may end with a price higher than the Kestrel station.

I'd try to contact the developer of Shooter (seankndy) and ask him what the plugin interface is. I'd bet that this is a much more reliable way to connect to his app.

What bluetooth modules are you using? All the ones I've dealt with have up-gradable firmware and a lot of hardware built in to the point I do not need a micro. It's true that the stock units are loaded with a plain jane serial profile only.

i don't have any yet.
I think i will use a Rayson BTM-222 because of its availability, low price, and class 1 range

siletto:
Cannot I "decompose" somehow the plugin apk, and then adopt it to arduino?

You would need to get the source code from the developer.

I found a nice app that maybe help me:
http://code.google.com/p/android-apktool/
So i'll download the plugin, and start learning its methodics.

Update:
I decompiled, and, HUHH, that's so complicated...

com.shooters_dex2jar.src.zip (9.78 KB)