I need to perform Wifi scans at regular intervals. I am encountering a problem when the time interval is set to 1-2 seconds. It seems like I am not getting any ScanResult
. Is there a minimum amount of time to set so that the WifiManager
is able to perform a successful WiFi scan?
Here is the code. I am using a Service
to do the Wifi scan:
public class WifiScanning extends Service{
private static final String TAG = "WifiScanning";
private Timer timer;
public int refreshRate, numberOfWifiScan, wifiScanGranularity;
WifiReceiver receiverWifi = new WifiReceiver();
WifiManager wifi;
StringBuilder sb;
List<ScanResult> wifiList;
List<APData> apdataList;
List<List<APData>>surveyData;
private TimerTask updateTask = new TimerTask() {
@Override
public void run() {
Log.i(TAG, "Timer task doing work");
wifi.startScan();
}
};
@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
return null;
}
@Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
Log.i(TAG, "Service creating");
//retrieve the mapRefreshRate from config.xml
XMLOperations test = new XMLOperations();
Configuration config = new Configuration();
config = test.saxXmlParsing(this, 1);
if(config==null)
config = test.saxXmlParsing(this, 2);
refreshRate = Integer.parseInt(config.getMapRefreshRate());
numberOfWifiScan = Integer.parseInt(config.getNumberOfWifiScan_Positioning());
wifiScanGranularity = Integer.parseInt(config.getWifiScanGranularity_Positioning());
timer = new Timer();
Log.i(TAG, "Refresh Rate: "+ String.valueOf(refreshRate));
timer.schedule(updateTask, 0, refreshRate);
wifi = (WifiManager) getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE);
registerReceiver(receiverWifi, new IntentFilter(
WifiManager.SCAN_RESULTS_AVAILABLE_ACTION));
}
@Override
public void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
Log.i(TAG, "Service destroying");
unregisterReceiver(receiverWifi);
if (timer != null){
timer.cancel();
timer.purge();
timer = null;
}
}
class WifiReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
public void onReceive(Context c, Intent intent) {
sb = new StringBuilder();
wifiList = wifi.getScanResults();
String ap_ssid;
String ap_mac;
Double ap_rssi;
for(int i = 0; i < wifiList.size(); i++){
ap_ssid = wifiList.get(i).SSID;
ap_mac = wifiList.get(i).BSSID;
ap_rssi = Double.valueOf(wifiList.get(i).level);
APData ap = new APData(ap_ssid,ap_mac,ap_rssi);
apdataList.add(ap);
sb.append(" " + (wifiList.get(i).SSID).toString());
sb.append(" " + (wifiList.get(i).BSSID).toString());
sb.append((" " + String.valueOf(wifiList.get(i).level)));
sb.append("\n");
}
Log.d(TAG, sb.toString());
for(int i=1; i<=numberOfWifiScan; i++){
surveyData.add(apdataList);
}
}
}
}
However, I seem to get Nullpointer
at this line: apdataList.add(ap);
. So I wonder whether the interval is too short, which causes ScanResult
to be empty?
EDIT after you posted your code:
apdataList does not seem to be initialized in onCreate()
add this to onCreate():
apdataList = new List<APData>();
Minimum scanning delay
I think that there is no absolute minimum scanning delay. It depends too much on the hardware performances.
My advice is that you add a 'As Fast As Possible' option to your preferences then use an asynchronous loop that relaunch a scan as soon as new results are found (see the code snippet below, it was updated to suit your needs). This way, it will only be limited by hardware performances.
Also you can poll the ScanResults using WifiManager.getScanResults()
The recommended way is to launch WifiManager.startScan()
and set up a BroadcastReceiver for WifiManager.SCAN_RESULTS_AVAILABLE_ACTION
to be notified as soon as the scan results are ready.
Here's a sample code (borrowed from here and adapted to your needs):
IntentFilter i = new IntentFilter();
i.addAction (WifiManager.SCAN_RESULTS_AVAILABLE_ACTION);
registerReceiver(new BroadcastReceiver(){
public void onReceive(Context c, Intent i){
// Code to execute when SCAN_RESULTS_AVAILABLE_ACTION event occurs
WifiManager w = (WifiManager) c.getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE); //Use getApplicationContext to prevent memory leak
myScanResultHandler(w.getScanResults()); // your method to handle Scan results
if (ScanAsFastAsPossible) w.startScan(); // relaunch scan immediately
else { /* Schedule the scan to be run later here */}
}
}, i );
// Launch wifiscanner the first time here (it will call the broadcast receiver above)
WifiManager wm = (WifiManager)getApplicationContext.getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE);
boolean a = wm.startScan();
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