Blue Heron: Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for Elixir & Nerves with Connor Rigby

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts115/v4/d0/11/11/d0111157-4c0b-04e6-b2f4-befc761c7b1a/mza_16239824909782127277.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

Elixir Wizards

SmartLogic LLC

199 episodes

2 months ago

Elixir Wizards is an interview-style podcast for anyone interested in functional programming and the Elixir Programming Language. Hosted by SmartLogic engineers and Elixirists Owen Bickford, Dan Ivovich, and Sundi Myint, this show features in-depth discussions with some of the brightest minds in the industry, discussing training and documentation in Phoenix LiveView, the evolution of programming languages, Erlang VM, and more. In the current season, we're branching out from Elixir to compare notes with thought leaders and software engineers from programming languages like JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, Go, Scala, Java, and more. Each episode will take a deep dive into a topic from Machine Learning and AI, to ECS and game development, to education and community. Learn more about how SmartLogic uses Phoenix and Elixir. (https://smartlogic.io/phoenix-and-elixir?utm_source=podcast)

All content for Elixir Wizards is the property of SmartLogic LLC and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Technology

Education,

How To

https://assets.fireside.fm/file/fireside-images-2024/podcasts/images/0/03a50f66-dc5e-4da4-ab6e-31895b6d4c9e/episodes/a/aa979def-5968-427f-aca6-b048de31ddf3/cover.jpg?v=1

Blue Heron: Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for Elixir & Nerves with Connor Rigby

Elixir Wizards

46 minutes 16 seconds

5 months ago

Blue Heron: Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for Elixir & Nerves with Connor Rigby

Connor Rigby joins the Elixir Wizards to talk about Blue Heron BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) support for Elixir apps. Blue Heron implements the BLE specs in pure Elixir, leveraging binary pattern matching and concurrent message processing to handle Bluetooth protocols. Unlike most solutions that require C ports or NIFs, Blue Heron runs entirely in user space, so it works seamlessly in both Nerves-based embedded projects and (eventually) desktop Elixir applications.

We discuss how Nerves development differs from building Phoenix apps. Connor shares challenges he's experienced with hardware compatibility, where some chips only partially implement the spec, and he discusses the surprisingly deep (but sometimes incomplete) world of BLE device profiles. His tip for anyone entering the BLE space: read the official spec instead of trusting secondhand blog posts. Tools like Nerves LiveBook give you hands-on examples, so you can get a BLE prototype running on a Raspberry Pi and your phone in no time.

Key topics discussed in this episode:

Blue Heron origins and “bird” naming convention
BLE vs. Bluetooth Classic: core differences
Pure Elixir implementation—no C dependencies
Binary pattern matching for packet parsing
Hardware transport options: UART, SPI, USB, SDIO
GenServer patterns in Nerves vs. Phoenix
Linux requirement and power-consumption trade-offs
GATT (Generic Attribute Table) implementation patterns
SQLite integration for Nerves apps
Hardware chip quirks and spec compliance
Manufacturer-specific commands and workarounds
BLE device profiles and spec gaps
Security Management Profile (SMP) for encryption
Device connection and pairing workflows
Web vs. embedded development differences
Where to get started: hardware recommendations and docs

Links mentioned:

https://github.com/ConnorRigby/
https://github.com/blue-heron/
https://nerves-project.org/
BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_Low_Energy
https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/

https://learnyousomeerlang.com/building-otp-applications
Linux https://www.linux.org/
HCI (Host Controller Interface) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_controller_interface
Circuits UART Library https://hexdocs.pm/circuits_uart/readme.html
SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) https://github.com/elixir-circuits/circuits_spi
SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDIO
Raspberry Pi https://www.raspberrypi.com/
Coral SoM Dev Board https://coral.ai/products/dev-board/
BeagleBone Single-Board Linux Computer https://www.beagleboard.org/boards/beaglebone-black
https://www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth-resources/intro-to-bluetooth-gap-gatt/
Genservers https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/1.12/GenServer.html
https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/Ecto.html
https://github.com/elixir-sqlite/ecto_sqlite3
https://github.com/nerves-livebook/nerves_livebook

Special Guest: Connor Rigby.