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Expose raw steering angles to connected apps over OpenBikeControl

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Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
35/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
dart
Domain
api

Research direction

Start with lib/bluetooth/devices/gyroscope/gyroscope_steering.dart and lib/bluetooth/devices/steering_device.dart to trace how the calibrated angle reaches the BLE and network senders, obc_ble_emulator.dart and obc_mdns_emulator.dart. Review the OpenBikeControl protocol and its tests or documentation, then determine how an optional continuous angle stream can coexist with existing button actions. Done means connected apps can receive signed angles and updates, with units and behavior documented.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Feature request

Please provide a way for connected apps to retrieve or subscribe to raw steering angles in degrees, in addition to the existing steer-left / steer-right button actions.

Use case

I am integrating BikeControl with VoxelVelo, a Minecraft cycling mod. I want the virtual bike's handlebar angle to closely follow the physical handlebar angle: for example, a 10-degree turn should request approximately 10 degrees of steering, rather than become a held steering button that eventually reaches full lock.

Current behavior

From the current source:

  • GyroscopeSteering already exposes a calibrated steeringAngle in degrees locally, but _applyPWMSteering converts it into left/right button states after crossing the configured threshold.
  • SteeringDevice defines the shared angle interface and sign convention for phone steering, Sterzo and Rizer.
  • The OpenBikeControl BLE and network senders encode actions as pressed (1) or released (0), so the receiving app cannot recover the actual angle or distinguish small and large turns in the same direction.

Reducing sensitivity on the receiving side can make this gentler, but cannot reproduce the measured angle once that information has been discarded.

Proposed behavior

Expose a continuous signed angle stream over BLE and network, ideally as an optional OpenBikeControl protocol extension that apps can discover or opt into. A separate documented interface would also be useful if a protocol extension needs more discussion.

It would help to document:

  • Units, precision/range and left/right sign convention.
  • The calibrated angle relative to neutral, before button thresholding; optionally the uncalibrated/raw sensor angle too.
  • Updates when the angle changes, including return to zero, calibration/reset and device disconnection.
  • Availability for all devices implementing SteeringDevice, where supported.

Existing digital steering actions should remain available for apps that rely on them. The main request is access to the measured angle so receiving apps can implement proportional steering themselves.

Suggested placement of PWM steering

_applyPWMSteering should probably only run in the OpenBikeControl instance shortly before simulating key presses, rather than in the steering device itself. The steering device and shared internal data flow could preserve the measured angle in degrees until the output decides how to consume it.

That would let angle-aware consumers receive the continuous angle, while outputs that need left/right key presses could apply PWM steering at that final step. It would also avoid losing angle information early in the pipeline.

Dominant language
Dart
Stars
620
Forks
75
Avg merge
8h 55m
Merged PRs (30d)
21

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