Openlogger - direct wifi connection possible?

[sgrobler]

Two questions:

1. Supposing I want to use my logger somewhere without a wireless network - is there a way I can have a direct wi-fi connection between my phone and the openlogger?

2. At the moment I can connect to my openlogger through the usb or through wifi, from Waveforms live on my desktop computer. I seem to be able to connect to it from my mobile phone, but I can't launch the instrument panel from teh mobile phone - a "connecting to device" message flashes up on the phone and then nothing happens. Any idea why?

[JColvin]

Hi @sgrobler,

This should be possible to do, or at least I have it successfully set up on my phone's hotspot. I remember there being similar issues with the OpenScope MZ, but I wasn't able to replicate them*

Here is what I did to get it working:

- Get the phone hotspot details stored into the OpenLogger Wifi information while it's connected to the PC via the Digilent Agent. Be sure to write down the IP address so you can connect to it later. I also confirmed while it was still powered to the computer that I could connect to my phone via the hotspot.

- Disconnect the OpenLogger from waveformslive.com on the PC and make sure the Digilent Agent has disconnected as well. I then turned off hotspot and removed the instance of the OpenLogger connection on the phone for good measure. I also disconnected the Openlogger from the power source (the PC in this case).

- I then turned the phone hotspot back on, and after that connected the OpenLogger to power (in this case, it was my PC, but I checked to make sure that the Digilent Agent didn't automatically connect to it, and thankfully it didn't). The OpenLogger lit up with the solid blue LED and I was then able to bring up waveformslive on the phone browser and connect to the OpenLogger via the previously written IP.
*Of note in this procedure was that I had to turn on the hotspot first and then connect the OpenLogger to power. If I attempted the other way around (power on the OpenLogger and then turn on the hotspot), I was not able to connect to the OpenLogger. I am not certain why this is.

As a fair warning though, while the WiFi streaming capability technically works, WaveFormsLive.com cannot keep up with the incoming data from the OpenLogger at fast sampling rates (I was only able to do about 200 kS/s for a single channel) before the two devices (phone and OpenLogger) got desynced, making it so that you are not able to get more data without either the streaming process stopping or forcing you to close out of the instrumentation panel and then going back into it. The screen update rates (i.e. the rendering on the screen) at faster sampling rates will also be slower than over USB.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
JColvin

[sgrobler]

Thanks for your answer to my first question - I shall try it.

Did you have any suggestions for my second question?

thanks again, Steve

[JColvin]

Hi @sgrobler,

The only time I encountered this error regarding your second question was when I powered on my OpenLogger (after the WiFi data had been stored on the OpenLogger) before I had turned on the hotspot on my phone; if I did that, I would get the connecting to device message and nothing would happen. If I powered on the hotspot first and then the OpenLogger second, the blue LED on the OpenLogger would turn solid (indicating WiFi was ready and connected), then it would connect without issue.

Thanks,
JColvin

[sgrobler]

So, I was able to connect to openlogger using a hotspot on my phone, and streaming and logging worked.

However, the subtlety is that I had to use a browser on my phone, not the Android Waveformslive app.
I was trying all these things using the app and getting nowhere - obviously the app must not yet be developed for openlogger?
Using a browser on the phone is not ideal - not enough space to see everything!

[JColvin]

Hi @sgrobler,

I guess it hasn't been updated for OpenLogger; I personally wasn't aware of an Android app for WFL in the first place. I'll ask about the plans for that, though I suspect since I don't recall hearing about it that there aren't any immediate plans to get it updated. I do agree about the phone browser not being ideal; even in landscape mode, it's difficult to see any relevant details.

Thanks,
JColvin

[Raghunathan]

OpenLogger configured on a WIN10 PC to connect with the WiFi on my iPhone Hotspot. I can now see the same in Saved SSID profile on the config page. 

So far so good. ( Incidentally once a SSID is configured and saved I guess the IP number for the OpenLogger does not change ?)

I then disconnect the OpenLogger from the PC  and connect it to a simple 5V USB power adaptor. I then establish the WiFi link with my iPhone 7

But it does not go beyond the  " Connecting to device " message. Then nothing happens. Tried all possible iterations like first opening hotspot and then the Openlogger power. Either way the Blue LED glows solid but nothing more.  My iOS version is 12.3.1 and the Openlogger firmware is 0.1807.0

[sgrobler]

@Raghunathan

I can't solve your problem, but I can tell you that with my Android phone I have been able to connect wirelessly to OpenLogger and start/stop logging to SD card, with and without streaming. (I powerd my logger with a battery, so it was not connected to my PC). Once I start logging, I can disconnect the session, eg by switching off the hot-spot on my phone, and then reconnect again later (even the next day). It always takes a while to re-connect (and the blue light to come on), but I've always been able to do so. On my phone, I navigate to the waveformslive web page, I don't use the waveforms live android app - the app does not work.

I think its quite impressive!

[JColvin]

Hi @Raghunathan,

Have you been successfully able to connect via WiFi?

Thanks,
JColvin