I'm a newbie to iOS, and I'm somewhat lost in the sea of networking libraries available.
I'm interested a library that will allow me to:
discover other users using the application nearby
send activity (for example the coordinates of where the user last touched the screen)
receive activity (for example the coordinates where another user last touched the screen)
send/receive activity with relatively low latency
not require a command and control server of some sort to coordinate all this if possible
Is there one library that will do this?
You should look into the Multipeer Connectivity framework:
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/MultipeerConnectivity/Reference/MultipeerConnectivityFramework/Introduction/Introduction.html
It lets you construct peer to peer connections over bluetooth, cell, wifi, and peer-to-peer wifi. I'm going to start investigating this myself very soon so feel free to stay in touch if you want to trade experiences.
I don't think you can avoid a server side in this case if you want to
discover other users using the application nearby
Unless you use technology like bluetooth? Otherwise, AFNetworking is a high level, easy to use framework with very good documentation.
Related
I've been researching a possible iOS-based app, developed in Unity, that would require a high-degree of positional accuracy (centimeters).
I expect I would need to connect, from the app, to an external GPS device using Bluetooth (or similar) and obtain NMEA sentences (or similar) containing location data.
My research has brought me to RTK, which is extremely accurate. From what I've seen already, it seems that normally GPS receivers which offer this operate themselves at normal GPS precision (2-2.5m). The correction to a high-accuracy location happens in software on a connected computer or tablet with a connection to an NTRIP server.
Assuming what I've said is correct, does anyone know of a GPS device that performs this RTK correction on the GPS device itself? Ideally I could just connect with Bluetooth or similar and get NMEA (or equivalent) data with high-accuracy location.
It may also be that I'm thinking about this incorrectly. On iOS, assuming there is an 3rd party app performing the RTK calculations, is there a standard way to obtain that high-accuracy location? Alternatively, are there GPS vendors that supply SDKs that would allow me to get to where I need to go?
Thanks very much,
Kieran
There is a recent module from U-Blox named ZED-F9P which has internal processing and is faster then RTKLib. Check this blog for performance
You can buy a board like ArduSimple's simpleRTK2B with an XBee module for WiFi/Blutooth or something similar from Sparkfun. You could also wait for the development board from U-Blox which is not yet available.
My work wants to test their new modems using an iPhone app. We can use a current app or build a brand new one. Third party apps are OK but want to avoid jailbreaking if possible.
We want an app which connects to the network and monitors certain parameters for a set amount of time. We will log attributes from the network and modem. We already know it's possible to test speed, disconnections, reconnection time etc. Some of the parameters we need to track might be more secure or outside Apple's regulations.
These are the responses we are looking for:
Frequency (ie. 2462MHz)
Channel Bandwidth (ie. 20MHz, 40MHz)
Radio Type (ie. 802.11a,b,g,n,ac)
802.11 Deauth Reason code
802.11 Association Status code
How can we track the above attributes using an iOS app?
Are there any apps out there that can track this information? Does iOS have anything for tracking these parameters?
Thanks so much!!
for Android, several apps exist that show such information, like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer does it:
I need similar functionality in my iOS app but can't find any information about that. It this forbidden by Apple?
Apple doesn't allow apps to access the hardware like that. A fairly common workaround is to measure network throughput instead. You could take periodic samples of the current network speed, and then display that data over time.
Network Multimeter, for example, is an app that will give you info on your network as you walk around. It does that by sending data across the network and displaying the throughput.
I recently have been very interested in developing iOS apps (for iPhone specifically) that can "communicate" with nearby (geographically) apps.
My networking skills/resources are limited, so I was really hoping to make it a peer to peer app, avoiding the need to host my own server.
It seems like I have a few options, including the newish Multi-peer Connectivity framework, and Location services.
I was hoping someone who has experience writing peer to peer apps could direct me to what they think the most logical approach would be.
Additonal info:
*I am only looking to send text/small pictures (speed is not a priority)
*Detecting nearby (within a mile or so) geographically is the main goal
*Possibly communicate with Android devices (I know multi-peer connectivity lacks this)
Peer-to-peer communication is limited to a range of about 50 meters. To extend the range you can create a mesh using intermediate peers to relay messages. That is how the Firechat app works.
If you want to communicate over greater distances without a mesh I believe you will need to go via the cloud
In terms of communicating with Android, the people who made FireChat are coming out with their SDK. Not sure how/what pricing will be but I assume they will offer this cross platform function. There are of course other ways but I am not that advanced in app development to know them yet.
For a simple chat app there are many free online tutorials that help you create iphone to iphone chat app that can also send images. Range will be limited however to whatever is max for WiFi. Like Keith said, mesh is another option but I believe everyone in the network has to have the app for the data to bounce.
I've been googling this problem, but haven't gotten the wording right.
Basically I'm looking for an API, or some seeds of guidance in how I would go about writing a program where you get push notified if someone is in the same area as you based on GPS coordinates. In short: a realtime 4square not based on checking-in but based on GPS.
Part of me feels like this is something Apple may frown upon, but if the user is notified and making the decision to run the app, perhaps not.
Thanks in advance.
You're looking for the Bluetooth Bonjour type notifications found in GameKit. This has nothing to do with GPS and is instead based of short range radio (Bluetooth) which advertises itself using a zero conf protocol. The APIs basically give you the ability to broadcast your service (eg. "MyGame") over bluetooth and listen for others potentially broadcasting the same service.
If you're talking about geographic vicinity, you'll need to set up a central server where each device can register its location, and which will provide locations of nearby devices. A service like FourSquare does exactly this kind of thing.
Another way to look at 'vicinity' is network vicinity. You could have each device advertise itself via Bonjour and look for other devices doing the same.