Amazon FreeRTOS Bluetooth Low Energy Library (Beta)

Overview

The Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Library is in public beta release for Amazon FreeRTOS and is subject to change.

Amazon FreeRTOS supports publishing and subscribing to MQTT topics over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) through a proxy device, such as a mobile phone. With the Amazon FreeRTOS BLE library, your microcontroller can securely communicate with the AWS IoT MQTT broker.

Using the Mobile SDKs for Amazon FreeRTOS Bluetooth Devices, you can write native mobile applications that communicate with the embedded applications on your microcontroller over BLE. For more information about the mobile SDKs, see Mobile SDKs for Amazon FreeRTOS Bluetooth Devices.

In addition to supporting MQTT, the Amazon FreeRTOS BLE library includes services for configuring Wi-Fi networks. The Amazon FreeRTOS BLE library also includes some middleware and lower-level APIs for more direct control over your BLE stack. The source files for the Amazon FreeRTOS BLE library are located in AmazonFreeRTOS/lib/bluetooth_low_energy.

Amazon FreeRTOS BLE Architecture

The Amazon FreeRTOS BLE library is made up of three layers: services, middleware, and low-level wrappers.

Services

The Amazon FreeRTOS BLE services layer consists of three Generic Attributes (GATT) services that leverage the middleware APIs: Device Information, Wi-Fi Provisioning, and MQTT Communications over BLE. For more information, see Services.

Middleware

Amazon FreeRTOS BLE middleware is an abstraction from the lower-level APIs. The middleware APIs make up a more user-friendly interface to the BLE stack. For more information, see Middleware.

Low-level Wrappers

The low-level Amazon FreeRTOS BLE wrappers are an abstraction from the manufacturer's BLE stack. Low-level wrappers offer a common set of APIs for direct control over the hardware. The low-level APIs optimize RAM usage, but are limited in functionality. To use the Amazon FreeRTOS BLE services, you interact with the BLE service APIs, which demand more resources than the low-level APIs.

Dependencies and Requirements

Only the MQTT over BLE and Wi-Fi Provisioning services have library dependencies.

GATT Service	Dependency
MQTT over BLE	Amazon FreeRTOS MQTT Library (Beta)
Wi-Fi Provisioning	Amazon FreeRTOS Wi-Fi Library

To communicate with the AWS IoT MQTT broker, you must have an AWS account and you must register your devices as AWS IoT things. For more information about setting up, see the AWS IoT Developer Guide.

Amazon FreeRTOS BLE uses Amazon Cognito for user authentication on your mobile device. To use MQTT proxy services, you must create an Amazon Cognito identity and user pools. Each Amazon Cognito Identity must have the appropriate policy attached to it. For more information, see the Amazon Cognito Developer Guide.

Features

Services

Device Information

The Device Information service gathers information about your microcontroller, including:

The version of Amazon FreeRTOS that your device is using.
The AWS IoT endpoint of the account for which the device is registered.
BLE Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU).

Wi-Fi Provisioning

The Wi-Fi Provisioning service enables microcontrollers with Wi-Fi capabilities to do the following:

List networks in range.
Save networks and network credentials to flash memory.
Set network priority.
Delete networks and network credentials from flash memory.

MQTT over BLE

The MQTT over BLE service connects your microcontroller to Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices to indirectly connect to the AWS IoT cloud with AWS Mobile SDKs. The microcontroller functions as an MQTT client, the mobile device as an MQTT proxy, and the AWS IoT cloud as the MQTT server.

Middleware

Using middleware APIs, you can register several callbacks, across multiple layers, to a single event.

Flexible Callback Subscription

Suppose your BLE hardware disconnects, and the MQTT over BLE service needs to detect the disconnection. An application that you wrote might also need to detect the same disconnection event. The BLE middleware can route the event to different parts of the code where you have registered callbacks, without making the higher layers compete for lower-level resources.

Source and Header Files

The following tree diagram shows the required source and header files, along with their location in the Amazon FreeRTOSdirectory structure. The project must also build the source files of the dependent libraries.


Amazon FreeRTOS
  |
  + - lib
      + - bluetooth_low_energy
      |   + - aws_ble_event_manager.c 
      |   + - aws_ble_gap.c   [Middleware GAP]
      |   + - aws_ble_gatt.c  [Middleware GATT]
      |   + - portable      [Wrappers, wrapping APIs in lib/include/bluetooth_low_energy]
      |    + - services 
      |        + - device_information  [Service providing device info to the phone APP]
      |        |   + - aws_ble_device_information.c
      |        + - mqtt_ble                          [Used to do MQTT over BLE]
      |        |   + - aws_mqtt_proxy.c
      |        + - wifi_provisioning            [WIFI provisioning service over BLE]  
      |            + - aws_ble_wifi_provisioning.c     
      + - include
          + - bluetooth_low_energy [Wrapping APIs in lib/include/bluetooth_low_energy]
          |   + - bt_hal_avsrc_profile.h
          + ─ bt_hal_gatt_client.h
          + ─ bt_hal_gatt_server.h
          + ─ bt_hal_gatt_types.h
          + ─ bt_hal_manager_adapter_ble.h
          + ─ bt_hal_manager_adapter_classic.h
          + ─ bt_hal_manager.h
          + ─ bt_hal_manager_types.h       
          + - private                            [For internal library use only!]
          |   + - aws_ble_internals.h
          |   + - aws_ble_config_defaults.h
          |   + - aws_ble_event_manager.h
          + - aws_ble.h                 
          + - aws_ble_device_information.h
          + - aws_ble_services_init.h                 
          + - aws_ble_wifi_provisioning.h

Amazon FreeRTOS BLE Library Configuration File

Applications that use the Amazon FreeRTOS MQTT over BLE service must provide an aws_ble_config.h header file, in which configuration parameters are defined. Undefined configuration parameters take the default values specified in lib\include\private\aws_ble_config_defaults.h.

Optimization

When optimizing your board's performance, consider the following:

Low-level APIs use less RAM, but offer limited functionality.
You can set the bleconfigMAX_NETWORK parameter in the aws_ble_config.h header file to a lower value to reduce the amount of stack consumed.
You can delete unused services to save RAM.
You can increase the MTU size to its maximum value to limit message buffering, and make code run faster and consume less RAM.

Usage Restrictions

By default, the Amazon FreeRTOS BLE library sets the eBTpropertySecureConnectionOnly property to TRUE, which places the device in a Secure Connections Only mode. As specified by the Bluetooth Core Specification v5.0, Vol 3, Part C, 10.2.4, when a device is in a Secure Connections Only mode, the highest LE security mode 1 level, level 4, is required for access to any attribute that has permissions higher than the lowest LE security mode 1 level, level 1. At the LE security mode 1 level 4, a device must have input and output capabilities for numeric comparison.

To use a lower LE security level, set eBTpropertySecureConnectionOnly to FALSE, by calling the API pxSetDeviceProperty with the property eBTpropertySecureConnectionOnly.

For information about LE security modes, see the Bluetooth Core Specification v5.0, Vol 3, Part C, 10.2.1.

Initialization

If your application interacts with the BLE stack through middleware, you only need to initialize the middleware.

Middleware

Middleware takes care of initializing the lower layers of the stack.

To initialize the middleware

You must initialize any BLE hardware drivers before you call the BLE middleware API.

Enable BLE.


const BTInterface_t * pxIface = BTGetBluetoothInterface();
xStatus = pxIface->pxEnable( 0 );

To initialize BLE, call BLE_Init, along with a set of desired properties, such as secure connection mode, device name, and MTU size.
```
xStatus = BLE_Init( &xServerUUID, xDeviceProperties, MAX_PROPERTIES );
```

Low-level APIs

If you don't want to use the Amazon FreeRTOS BLE GATT services, you can bypass the middleware and interact directly with the low-level APIs to save resources.

To initialize the low-level APIs

Driver initialization is not part of the BLE low-level APIs. You must initialize any BLE hardware drivers before you call the APIs.
The BLE low-level API provides an enable/disable call to the BLE stack for optimizing power and resources. Before calling the APIs, you must enable BLE.
```
const BTInterface_t * pxIface = BTGetBluetoothInterface();
xStatus = pxIface->pxEnable( 0 );
```
The Bluetooth manager contains APIs that are common to both BLE and Bluetooth classic. The callbacks for the common manager must be initialized second.
```
xStatus = xBTInterface.pxBTInterface->pxBtManagerInit( &xBTManagerCb );
```

The BLE adapter fits on top of the common API. You must initialize its callbacks like you initialized the common API.


xBTInterface.pxBTLeAdapterInterface = ( BTBleAdapter_t * ) xBTInterface.pxBTInterface->pxGetLeAdapter();
xStatus = xBTInterface.pxBTLeAdapterInterface->pxBleAdapterInit( &xBTBleAdapterCb );


xBTInterface.pxBTLeAdapterInterface->pxRegisterBleApp( pxAppUuid );

Initialize the callbacks to the GATT servers.


xBTInterface.pxGattServerInterface = ( BTGattServerInterface_t * ) xBTInterface.pxBTLeAdapterInterface->ppvGetGattServerInterface();
xBTInterface.pxGattServerInterface->pxGattServerInit( &xBTGattServerCb );

After you initialize the BLE adapter, you can add a GATT server. You can register only one GATT server at a time.


xStatus = xBTInterface.pxGattServerInterface->pxRegisterServer( pxAppUuid );

Set application properties like secure connection only and MTU size.


xStatus = xBTInterface.pxBTInterface->pxSetDeviceProperty( &pxProperty[ usIndex ] );

API Reference

For a full API reference, see Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) API Reference.

Example Usage

Advertising

Set advertisement parameters.


BLEAdvertismentParams_t xAdvParams =
{
	.bIncludeTxPower    = true,
	.bIncludeName       = true,
	.bSetScanRsp        = true,
	.ulAppearance       =                   0,
	.ulMinInterval      =                0x20,
	.ulMaxInterval      =                0x40,
	.usManufacturerLen  =                   0,
	.pcManufacturerData = NULL,
	.pxUUID1            = &xDeviceInfoSvcUUID,
	.pxUUID2            = NULL
};

if( xStatus == eBTStatusSuccess )
{
	( void ) BLE_SetAdvData( BTAdvInd, &xAdvParams, vSetAdvCallback );
}

Start advertisement.


void vSetAdvCallback ( BTStatus_t xStatus )
{
    if( xStatus == eBTStatusSuccess )
    {
        ( void ) BLE_StartAdv( vStartAdvCallback );
    }
}

Adding a New Service

Allocate memory for new service.


xStatus = BLE_CreateService( &pxGattDemoService, gattDemoNUM_CHARS, gattDemoNUM_CHAR_DESCRS, xNumDescrsPerChar, gattDemoNUM_INCLUDED_SERVICES );

Create the service.


pxGattDemoService->xAttributeData.xUuid = xServiceUUID;

pxGattDemoService->pxDescriptors[ egattDemoCharCounterCCFGDESCR ].xAttributeData.xUuid = xClientCharCfgUUID;
pxGattDemoService->pxDescriptors[ egattDemoCharCounterCCFGDESCR ].xAttributeData.pucData = NULL;
pxGattDemoService->pxDescriptors[ egattDemoCharCounterCCFGDESCR ].xAttributeData.xSize = 0;
pxGattDemoService->pxDescriptors[ egattDemoCharCounterCCFGDESCR ].xPermissions = ( eBTPermReadEncryptedMitm | eBTPermWriteEncryptedMitm );
pxGattDemoService->pxDescriptors[ egattDemoCharCounterCCFGDESCR ].pxAttributeEventCallback = vEnableNotification;

xCharUUID.uu.uu16 = gattDemoCHAR_COUNTER_UUID;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharCounter ].xAttributeData.xUuid = xCharUUID;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharCounter ].xAttributeData.pucData = NULL;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharCounter ].xAttributeData.xSize = 0;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharCounter ].xPermissions = ( eBTPermRead );
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharCounter ].xProperties = ( eBTPropRead | eBTPropNotify );
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharCounter ].pxAttributeEventCallback = vReadCounter;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharCounter ].xNbDescriptors = 1;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharCounter ].pxDescriptors[ 0 ] = &pxGattDemoService->pxDescriptors[ egattDemoCharCounterCCFGDESCR ];

xCharUUID.uu.uu16 = gattDemoCHAR_CONTROL_UUID;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharControl ].xAttributeData.xUuid = xCharUUID;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharControl ].xAttributeData.pucData = NULL;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharControl ].xAttributeData.xSize = 0;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharControl ].xPermissions = ( eBTPermReadEncryptedMitm | eBTPermWriteEncryptedMitm );
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharControl ].xProperties = ( eBTPropRead | eBTPropWrite );
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharControl ].pxAttributeEventCallback = vWriteCommand;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharControl ].xNbDescriptors = 0;
pxGattDemoService->pxCharacteristics[ egattDemoCharControl ].pxDescriptors = NULL;

pxGattDemoService->xServiceType = eBTServiceTypePrimary;
pxGattDemoService->ucInstId = 0;

xStatus = BLE_AddService( pxGattDemoService );

Start the service.


xStatus = BLE_StartService( pxGattDemoService, vServiceStartedCb );

Subscribe to any event required for the service. In this example, we subscribe to a connection event.
```
xCallback.pxConnectionCb = vConnectionCallback;
BLE_RegisterEventCb( eBLEConnection, xCallback );
```

For full Amazon FreeRTOS BLE demo applications, see Bluetooth Low Energy Demo Applications.

Porting

User Input and Output Peripheral

A secure connection requires both input and output for numeric comparison. The eBLENumericComparisonCallback event can be registered using the event manager:


xEventCb.pxNumericComparisonCb = &prvNumericComparisonCb;
xStatus = BLE_RegisterEventCb( eBLENumericComparisonCallback, xEventCb );

The peripheral must display the numeric passkey and take the result of the comparison as an input.

Porting API Implementations

To port Amazon FreeRTOS to a new target, you must implement some APIs for the Wi-Fi Provisioning service and BLE functionality.

Wi-Fi Provisioning APIs

To use the Wi-Fi provisioning service you must implement the following APIs:

WIFI_NetworkGet
WIFI_NetworkDelete
WIFI_NetworkAdd

BLE APIs

To use the Amazon FreeRTOS BLE middleware, you must implement some APIs.

APIs Common Between GAP for Bluetooth Classic and GAP for BLE

pxBtManagerInit
pxEnable
pxDisable
pxGetDeviceProperty
pxSetDeviceProperty (All options are mandatory expect eBTpropertyRemoteRssi and eBTpropertyRemoteVersionInfo)
pxPair
pxRemoveBond
pxGetConnectionState
pxPinReply
pxSspReply
pxGetTxpower
pxGetLeAdapter
pxDeviceStateChangedCb
pxAdapterPropertiesCb
pxSspRequestCb
pxPairingStateChangedCb
pxTxPowerCb

APIs Specific to GAP for BLE

pxRegisterBleApp
pxUnregisterBleApp
pxBleAdapterInit
pxStartAdv
pxStopAdv
pxSetAdvData
pxConnParameterUpdateRequest
pxRegisterBleAdapterCb
pxAdvStartCb
pxSetAdvDataCb
pxConnParameterUpdateRequestCb
pxCongestionCb

GATT Server

pxRegisterServer
pxUnregisterServer
pxGattServerInit
pxAddService
pxAddIncludedService
pxAddCharacteristic
pxSetVal
pxAddDescriptor
pxStartService
pxStopService
pxDeleteService
pxSendIndication
pxSendResponse
pxMtuChangedCb
pxCongestionCb
pxIndicationSentCb
pxRequestExecWriteCb
pxRequestWriteCb
pxRequestReadCb
pxServiceDeletedCb
pxServiceStoppedCb
pxServiceStartedCb
pxDescriptorAddedCb
pxSetValCallbackCb
pxCharacteristicAddedCb
pxIncludedServiceAddedCb
pxServiceAddedCb
pxConnectionCb
pxUnregisterServerCb
pxRegisterServerCb

For more information about porting the Amazon FreeRTOS BLE library to your platform, see Porting the BLE Library in the Amazon FreeRTOS Porting Guide.

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