The inventor of the world’s first water bike Manta5 wanted to know whether it was possible to send data from the Hydrofoiler XE-1’s onboard computer to a mobile application via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
The bike’s onboard computer tracks ride time, distance, speed, and the rider’s heart rate as well as displaying its battery charge level.
Company-X software architect Luke McGregor and senior software engineer Arno van Niekerk worked with an embedded engineer at Manta5 to build a proof-of-concept mobile app. The app was built using cross-platform software framework React Native for Apple iOS and Android.
The mobile app used Bluetooth Low Energy to update the firmware, or software programmed into read-only memory, as well as read bike related diagnostic and fitness data.
