barnowl-minew
barnowl-minew converts the decodings of any ambient Bluetooth Low Energy devices by Minew G1, G2, MG3 and MG4 gateways into standard developer-friendly JSON that is vendor/technology/application-agnostic.
barnowl-minew 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 included in reelyActive’s Pareto Anywhere open source middleware suite, and can just as easily be run standalone behind a barnowl instance, as detailed in the code examples below.
Getting Started
Follow our step-by-step tutorials to get started with barnowl-minew or Pareto Anywhere using a specific Minew gateway:
Learn “owl” about the raddec JSON data output:
Quick Start
Clone this repository, install package dependencies with npm install, and then from the root folder run at any time:
npm start
barnowl-minew will indiscriminately accept HTTP POSTs on localhost:3001/minew and output (flattened) raddec JSON to the console. The following Minew data formats are currently supported:
- BINARY-LONG (recommmended)
- MINEW-CONNECT
- JSON-LONG
- JSON-RAW
Hello barnowl-minew!
Developing an application directly from barnowl-minew? Start by pasting the code below into a file called server.js:
const Barnowl = require('barnowl');
const BarnowlMinew = require('barnowl-minew');
let barnowl = new Barnowl({ enableMixing: true });
barnowl.addListener(BarnowlMinew, {}, BarnowlMinew.TestListener, {});
barnowl.on('raddec', (raddec) => {
console.log(raddec);
});
From the same folder as the server.js file, install package dependencies with the commands npm install barnowl-minew and npm install barnowl. Then run the code with the command node server.js and observe the simulated data stream of radio decodings (raddec objects) output to the console:
{
transmitterId: "fee150bada55",
transmitterIdType: 2,
rssiSignature: [
{
receiverId: "ac233fffffff",
receiverIdType: 2,
rssi: -77,
numberOfDecodings: 1
}
],
packets: [ '001a55daba50e1fe0201060303e1ff1216e1ffa1034affe7004500fa55daba50e1fe' ],
timestamp: 1645568542222
}
See the Supported Listener Interfaces below to adapt the code to listen for your gateway(s).
Supported Listener Interfaces
The following listener interfaces are supported by barnowl-minew. Extend the Hello barnowl-minew! example above by pasting in any of the code snippets below.
HTTP
The recommended implementation is using express as follows:
const express = require('express');
const http = require('http');
let app = express();
let server = http.createServer(app);
server.listen(3001, function() { console.log('Listening on port 3001'); });
let options = { app: app, express: express, route: "/minew",
isPreOctetStream: false };
barnowl.addListener(BarnowlMinew, {}, BarnowlMinew.HttpListener, options);
Nonetheless, for testing purposes, barnowl-minew can also create a minimal HTTP server as an alternative to express, and attempt to handle any POST it receives:
barnowl.addListener(BarnowlMinew, {}, BarnowlMinew.HttpListener, { port: 3001 });
Test
Provides a steady stream of simulated Minew packets for testing purposes.
barnowl.addListener(BarnowlMinew, {}, BarnowlMinew.TestListener, {});
Minew G1 Service Parameters
Use the following service parameters for the Minew G1 gateway:
| Property |
Value |
| Service Access |
HTTP |
| Upload Interval |
1 second (RECOMMENDED) |
| Url |
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:3001/minew |
| Authentication Type |
none |
| BLE Data Format |
Binary / Long |
For the Url parameter, substitute xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx for the IP address of the server running barnowl-minew.
barnowl-minew expects firmware v4.x.x or later on the Minew G1 gateway to correctly process binary data as application/octet-stream. For firmware v2.x.x and v3.x.x, set the isPreOctetStream option to true as in the HTTP example above, in order to accept binary data as application/json, as it is (incorrectly) sent by the gateway.
barnowl-minew requires firmware v3.1.3 or later on the Minew G1 gateway to correctly interpret the transmitterIdType.
Minew G2 Service Parameters
Use the following service parameters for the Minew G2 gateway:
| Property |
Value |
| Service Access |
HTTP |
| Upload Interval |
100 milliseconds (RECOMMENDED) |
| Url |
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:3001/minew |
| Authentication Type |
none |
| BLE Data Format |
MINEW-CONNECT or JSON-RAW |
For the Url parameter, substitute xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx for the IP address of the server running barnowl-minew.
Minew MG3 & MG4 Service Parameters
Use the following service parameters for the Minew MG3 & MG4 gateways:
For the Url parameter, substitute xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx for the IP address of the server running barnowl-minew.
The JSON-LONG data format (which is the default and only option) does not specify the transmitterIdType (public or random address) and therefore the raddec output will always have a transmitterIdType of 0, which represents “unknown”.
Is that owl you can do?
While barnowl-minew may suffice standalone for simple real-time applications, its functionality can be greatly extended with the following software packages:
- advlib to decode the individual packets, including those from Minew beacons, from hexadecimal strings into JSON
- barnowl to combine parallel streams of RF decoding data in a technology-and-vendor-agnostic way
These packages and more are bundled together as the Pareto Anywhere open source middleware suite, which includes a variety of barnowl-x listeners, APIs and interactive web apps.
Contributing
Discover how to contribute to this open source project which upholds a standard code of conduct.
Security
Consult our security policy for best practices using this open source software and to report vulnerabilities.
License
MIT License
Copyright © 2020-2024 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.
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IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
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OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.
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