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Similarly, an Observer does not have to establish a connection to receive data, it scans for nearby advertisements. Broadcasters are commonly referred to as Beacons, they don't communicate over GATT because they use the limited space provided in the Advertisement packet for communication. In addition to the Central and Peripheral roles, there are Observer and Broadcaster roles. For more information, see the GATT Client and GATT Server topics. For example, a Windows PC (Client) reads data from a heart rate monitor (Server) to track that a user is working out optimally. The device that uses that data to perform a function is known as the Client. The heart rate service is expressed in GATT Server API form Client and ServerĪfter a connection has been established, the device that contains the data (usually a small IoT sensor or wearable) is known as the Server.
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These attributes perform differently between clients and servers, so it is more useful to discuss their interaction in the relevant sections. The main types of attributes are services, characteristics and descriptors. The attribute is the main building block of GATT. The GATT Profile defines the structure of data and modes of operation by which two Bluetooth LE devices communicate. AttributesĪ common acronym you will see in the Windows Bluetooth APIs is Generic Attribute (GATT). In general, Windows operates in Central mode and connects to various Peripheral devices. The two primary roles of discovery are called Central and Peripheral. GATT and GAP protocols can be implemented in your UWP app by using the following namespaces. GATT and GAP roles were introduced in Windows 10 version 1703 To see more detail about Bluetooth LE, see the Bluetooth Core Specification version 4.0, where Bluetooth LE was introduced. This topic provides a quick overview of Bluetooth LE in UWP apps. After discovery, device-to-device communication is done through the Generic Attribute (GATT) protocol. Discovery of devices is done through the Generic Access Profile (GAP) protocol. Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) is a specification that defines protocols for discovery and communication between power-efficient devices.
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