noble/bleno

BLE not recognized on Atheros AR6233 (Digi Connect Core 6 SBC)

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#365 opened on Jan 31, 2018

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help wanted

Description

it seems bleno does not recognize the BLE capability of this chipset. running echo example gives this error:

root@ccimx6sbc:/usr/lib/node_modules/bleno/examples/echo# BLENO_HCI_DEVICE_ID=0 node main.js 
bleno - echo
bleno warning: adapter does not support Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE, Bluetooth Smart).
               Try to run with environment variable:
               [sudo] BLENO_HCI_DEVICE_ID=x node ...
on -> stateChange: unsupported

However, the chipset does support BLE. E.g. hcitool lescan works.

The output of hciconfig hci0 lestates is this:

Supported link layer states:
	YES Non-connectable Advertising State
	YES Scannable Advertising State
	YES Connectable Advertising State
	YES Directed Advertising State
	YES Passive Scanning State
	YES Active Scanning State
	YES Initiating State/Connection State in Master Role
	YES Connection State in the Slave Role
	YES Non-connectable Advertising State and Passive Scanning State combination
	YES Scannable Advertising State and Passive Scanning State combination
	YES Connectable Advertising State and Passive Scanning State combination
	YES Directed Advertising State and Passive Scanning State combination
	NO  Non-connectable Advertising State and Active Scanning State combination
	NO  Scannable Advertising State and Active Scanning State combination
	NO  Connectable Advertising State and Active Scanning State combination
	NO  Directed Advertising State and Active Scanning State combination
	NO  Non-connectable Advertising State and Initiating State combination
	NO  Scannable Advertising State and Initiating State combination
	NO  Non-connectable Advertising State and Master Role combination
	NO  Scannable Advertising State and Master Role combination
	NO  Non-connectable Advertising State and Slave Role combination
	NO  Scannable Advertising State and Slave Role combination
	NO  Passive Scanning State and Initiating State combination
	NO  Active Scanning State and Initiating State combination
	NO  Passive Scanning State and Master Role combination
	NO  Active Scanning State and Master Role combination
	NO  Passive Scanning State and Slave Role combination
	NO  Active Scanning State and Slave Role combination
	NO  Initiating State and Master Role combination/Master Role and Master Role combination

Contributor guide

Tech stack
nodejsjavascript
Domain
backendapi
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
Node.js basicsLinux Bluetooth tools (hcitool)Understanding of HCI interface
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
20
Research direction
Investigate how bleno detects BLE support via HCI. Compare bleno's HCI device initialization (likely in hci socket binding) with the output of `hcitool hci0 lestates` from the issue. Look for bleno's check for supported link layer states; the chipset supports many but not all combinations. Might need to update the detection logic to properly handle this chipset. Also check if environment variable BLENO HCI DEVICE ID is being used correctly. See linked discussion in issue #365 for any follow up experiments.