RS232 for iOS device

Question

Is it possible to connect iDevice with an rs232-bluetooth adapter to send serial commands, for example, via the iDevice dock connector in rs232 (as Serial Cable Redpark does)? I ask because the company I'm working on is thinking that iDevice controls one of our systems for demonstration. I know that this does not apply to anything specific, but any information would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

(See also iPhone for RS-232 via Bluetooth )

There are Bluetooth modules that support MFi (Made For iPhone), such as this one from connectBlue http://www.connectblue.com/products/bluetooth-products/bluetooth-modules/bluetooth-iphone-ios-accessory-module-obs414/ Thus, the standard iPhone Bluetooth stack can connect SPP / RFCOMM to this device. This device can be added to the board along with RS232 level conversion, etc. And thus success.

I don’t know if anyone is selling such a device. The RS232 device that sells connectBlue does not seem to support MFi, http://www.connectblue.com/products/bluetooth-products/bluetooth-devices/bluetooth-rugged-serial-port-adapter-rbs433/

Answer 2

Not really. GameKit is one way to access bluetooth in iOS, but it is very limited in what the API allows. Depending on what you are building, you may use Apple Made for iPod, but this is probably a long shot. http://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/

Answer 3

The best way is probably to create a device that connects via WiFi. I went along this route, and everything turned out well. If you need to interact with the RS-232 interface, you can create an intermediate “adapter” that connects via WiFi to an iOS device and through RS-232 to another device.

If you don’t need to distribute your application through the App Store, you can use the Redpark iOS serial cable: http://redpark.com/c2db9.html , (Disclaimer, I have never tried one, but according to someone from Redpark, jailbreak is not required, you just can’t distribute your application in the app store.)

Answer 4

You can create a small key that connects through the dock connector and broadcasts via Bluetooth to another device.

Or you can use Wi-Fi instead of bluetooth ... perhaps by swapping Wi-Fi for what is physically connected to what you want to control.

Answer 5

I was working on a jailbroken application that used BTStack to communicate with a serial device. You may be able to use this for your demo.

Answer 6

If you still want to use bluetooth, this helped me greatly facilitate the standard serial connection for prototyping without jailbreak:

http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/bleshield-based-on-bluegigas-ble112-module-p-1367.html

It works on iOS devices with Bluetooth 4.0 support, and all circuits, board files, firmware sources, and iOS App sources are available here:

https://github.com/michaelkroll/BLE-Shield