advlib

advlib

Library for wireless advertising packet decoding. advlib is protocol-agnostic and currently supports the following processor modules:

• advlib-ble for Bluetooth Low Energy

The purpose of advlib is to extract all potentially relevant information from ambient data packets and to organise this information in a consistent manner, regardless of the radio protocol.

The objective of advlib v1.x is to support and to make accessible the broadest array of use cases by being highly modular and by facilitating contributions to its continuous development.

advlib is a lightweight Node.js package that can run on resource-constrained edge devices as well as on powerful cloud servers and anything in between. It is a key element in Pareto Anywhere open source software of the reelyActive technology platform.

Installation

npm install advlib

Hello advlib

For example, process several raw packets received from a beacon by selecting Bluetooth Low Energy as the processor (advlib-ble) and including any relevant processing libraries (don't forget to first install these using npm).

const advlib = require('advlib');

const PROCESSORS = [
    { processor: require('advlib-ble'),
      libraries: [ require('advlib-ble-services'),
                   require('advlib-ble-manufacturers') ],
      options: { ignoreProtocolOverhead: true } }
];

let packets = [
    'c21d04acbe55daba16096164766c6962206279207265656c79416374697665',
    'c21904acbe55daba1216aafe10fc017265656c7961637469766507',
    'c21804acbe55daba1116aafe20000c4815200000004500000258'
];
let processedPackets = advlib.process(packets, PROCESSORS);
console.log(processedPackets);

Packets will be combined, in order of precedence, into a single JSON:

{ name: "advlib by reelyActive",
  txPower: -4,
  uri: "https://www.reelyactive.com",
  batteryVoltage: 3.144,
  temperature: 21.125,
  txCount: 69,
  uptime: 60000 }

Standard Properties

advlib observes the following standard properties to represent the information extracted from ambient data packets. New standard properties are added whenever new data cannot be effectively represented using the existing properties. Once established, a standard property should not change (unless otherwise noted).

Property	Type	Notes
acceleration	Array of Number	[ x, y, z ] In g
appearance	String	From Bluetooth
batteryPercentage	Number	0 to 100 (%)
batteryVoltage	Number	In volts
deviceIds	Array of String
name	String
nearest	Array of Object	Format pending
relativeHumidity	Number	0 to 100 (%)
temperature	Number	In Celcius
txCount	Number
txPower	Number	In dBm
uptime	Number	In milliseconds
uri	String
uuids	Array of String
version	String	Format pending

Properties are intended to be as flat as possible to facilitate data manipulation, especially with respect to database schemas.

Project History

The advlib project began in 2015 and was published in a scientific paper entitled Low-Power Wireless Advertising Software Library for Distributed M2M and Contextual IoT presented at the 2nd IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT) in Milan, Italy that same year.

In 2020, advlib was redesigned and updated to v1.x which is modular, more efficient, protocol-agnostic and better supports the broad range of use cases that have emerged since its initial conception.

What's next?

advlib v1.0.0 was released in September 2020, superseding all earlier versions, the latest of which remains available in the release-0.1 branch and as advlib@0.1.4 on npm.

If you're developing with advlib check out:

• diyActive our developer page
• our node-style-guide for development
• our contact information to get in touch if you'd like to contribute

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2015-2020 reelyActive

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.