Heads up: Retiring support for Bluetooth sensors in SkEye
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Harshad RJ
Nov 9, 2022, 7:02:37 PM11/9/22
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For those who didn't know, SkEye has been supporting Bluetooth IMU sensors for a few years now. These were portable sensor tags that required very little battery power, and connected to the app via Bluetooth. I started supporting them with the hope that standardizing on IMU sensors from a few popular vendors would help improve the accuracy of pointing.
However, it never worked well in practice. The sensor tags had firmware bugs, which required me to fix those issues, and users to then update the firmware OTA. Updating firmware was clumsy and error prone. Some of these devices were discontinued. Even when the devices worked, I found out that IMU sensors are never going to be accurate enough for pointing, because magnetic interference is much too common.
Further, newer versions of Android need some changes to how apps interact with Bluetooth devices. As an Android user I am happy that the OS is becoming more secure. But as a developer, it means more overhead in keeping up with these changes.
In the meanwhile, camera based pointing is showing great promise, as my other app (SkEye Cam) demonstrates.
So with regret, I have decided to stop support for Blutetooth IMU sensors in SkEye. Hopefully, this will allow me to channel more energy into other features, and hence it will be a net win.
Clear skies!
-- However, it never worked well in practice. The sensor tags had firmware bugs, which required me to fix those issues, and users to then update the firmware OTA. Updating firmware was clumsy and error prone. Some of these devices were discontinued. Even when the devices worked, I found out that IMU sensors are never going to be accurate enough for pointing, because magnetic interference is much too common.
Further, newer versions of Android need some changes to how apps interact with Bluetooth devices. As an Android user I am happy that the OS is becoming more secure. But as a developer, it means more overhead in keeping up with these changes.
In the meanwhile, camera based pointing is showing great promise, as my other app (SkEye Cam) demonstrates.
So with regret, I have decided to stop support for Blutetooth IMU sensors in SkEye. Hopefully, this will allow me to channel more energy into other features, and hence it will be a net win.
Clear skies!
Ray Andrews
Nov 9, 2022, 7:45:11 PM11/9/22
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Soldier on Harshad it was a noble effort I'm sure.
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Harshad RJ
Nov 12, 2022, 10:37:04 PM11/12/22
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On Thu, Nov 10, 2022 at 6:15 AM Ray Andrews <rayan...@eastlink.ca> wrote:
Soldier on Harshad it was a noble effort I'm sure.
Thanks for the support Ray!
By taking this decision, within a few days, I have been able to improve on the alignment system. Will send out a separate email with details.
Another benefit has been that Bluetooth permissions are not required anymore. New users get suspicious about these permissions since they don't seem related to astronomy at first glance.
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