bluetooth transfer

Jim White

Member
Hi All, I am a prospective buyer of a LS, and have been reading the available on-line docs and posts to see its abilities and limitations. My attraction to it is its RTK abilities in tough conditions. I hope to integrate into my tool box initially for locations, but would use its additional features over time as I become comfortable with them. My area has good cellular and RTN coverage, so for the moment I will work with out a local base.



My current setup is a custom pocketPC data collector connected to a robotic TS and NMEA GPS by bluetooth (SD1000). I rent a RTK as needed, but that arrangement will soon end. Besides being a PLS, I am a professional programmer and am not intimidated by microcontrollers, RS232, USB and other wiring/connection issues. (As an aside, I am happy to see the LS has migrated migrated from windows to LINUX.)



My current hope is to be able transfer RTK derived points to my robotic system via bluetooth (or in the worst case, SD card.)



So, finally to my question... At the moment, I see two options to transfer points from the LS to my system:



The first would be to put the NMEA stream out of the LS by bluetooth, and then process it in my collector with a rolling average for a few epochs after the LS (and me) are happy with the results, and if the average and SD look good, save it in my collector. This will work, but will slow down the collection process and require me to use both systems for every shot.



The second (and I think preferable) would be to transmit “accepted”, finished points (or groups thereof) to my collector via bluetooth. I see online screen-shots for the LS showing a “Generic Bluetooth Data Exchange” and a “Leica GSI Bluetooth Export”. I cannot find any other references to these processes, and am curious if they actually are usable, and if they they send ASCII data over bluetooth serial protocol that I can use at my end?



Thanks! Jim
 

Adam

Well-Known Member
5PLS
Hi Jim, I like to transfer data using dropbox. It is linked to my LS and as long as I have internet then I have access to my files. Otherwise I just use a thumbdrive.
 

Jim White

Member
HI Adam, my collector does not have wifi, I substituted the SD1000 in its place. A thumbdrive or SD is certainly an option, but requires manually moving the card. It never seems to fails that the transfer ends by me dropping it in a snowbank or mud puddle. The bluetooth transfer would make the process physically simpler. I am really interested if anyone has used the bluetooth transfer routine and what bluetooth device the LS can talk to at the other end.
 

Matt Johnson

Well-Known Member
5PLS
This feature is explained in its help screen:

CONTEXT-HELP_20190205-09.13.55.png

CONTEXT-HELP_20190205-09.14.01.png
CONTEXT-HELP_20190205-09.14.03.png
 

Duane Frymire

Active Member
Want to bring this to the top. Jim has been able to pair with bluetooth but no text file is being sent or received. Any ideas?
 

Duane Frymire

Active Member
This feature is not for transferring text files. It acts as a serial port for exchanging points.
Thanks Matt. Device is paired and blinks briefly on send command, then stops and nothing sent. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot further? As you can tell from my question, I know little about serial ports or bluetooth, but Jim is pretty sharp and wanted to bump this to the top and see if anyone can help.
 

Jim White

Member
Hi Folks, Duane almost got it right... I have a Parani serial bluetooth adapter paired to my LS. I then select the points in the job I wish to export. When I actually send them, the screen flashes "Sending Data..." for a quarter second, but no data is sent over the bluetooth, and the "points sent" counter remains at 0.

There are many reasons this may not work, but I am trying to narrow it down with the following questions:
1) What bluetooth device was this originally intended to be used with?
2) Is anyone using this routine currently, and did it survive the port to Linux?
 
Does anyone know if this will work with a Carlson Surveyor data collector running SurvCE software? I seem to be able to connect the LS to the Carlson by Bluetooth, but, I don't see anywhere on the Carlson side to initiate or receive points via Bluetooth. I, too, have been using a thumbdrive to transfer points or, for just one or two, typing them into the Carlson and them checking them with an inverse on both instruments.
 
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