To bring together the visualisation and physical prototype, I started working on a Bluetooth connection to the MongoDB connection code I previously built.
Physical prototype with HC-05 Bluetooth module
Since we already have the HC-05 Bluetooth module in place and working with the Bluetooth terminal input on mobile, I simply had to look up how to create an output system in our .js code to match the inputs we previously designed for the Arduino.
Initial flow diagram of program
I looked into how this could be done and began researching into using Bluetooth-Serial-Port module for Node.js.
After getting to grips with how the library works, I experimented with creating a basic framework for opening a Bluetooth connection and sending a basic input. This code will check for a connection with the correct name, find the matching address, open a connection, and if it is successful, and the character ‘a’. When hooked up to the glass head model, this should activate the LED ring, making it light up.
My experimentation with BSP within the previously made MongoDB connection code
Issues
- Certain information missing from Bluetooth-Serial-Port NPM documentation – I had to work around this by searching for other uses of BSP to fill in the gaps
- Method to call previously paired Bluetooth devices doesn’t work on linux systems, so a workaround has to be made (looping through available connections and matching a name)
Next Steps
- Update Arduino-side code: Modify existing code to include more interesting light effects, such as those I previously created for my ‘Everyware’ project. These would not be direct copies, but modifications of this pre-existing code, for a unique lighting effect.
- Thoroughly test this code to ensure a secure connection is made and maintained for the duration of the installation.
Code Referencing/Libraries Used
Below is a list of the code documentations I used as reference when building my code. Whilst code was not directly copied, it was heavily referenced from the documentation:
bluetooth-serial-port: https://www.npmjs.com/package/bluetooth-serial-port
JS express – https://expressjs.com/en/guide/routing.html
JS json body parser – https://www.npmjs.com/package/body-parser-json
JS path – https://nodejs.org/api/path.html
JS Mongo Client – https://mongodb.github.io/node-mongodb-native/api-generated/mongoclient.html
SField: 