Bluetooth MANET Demo

Android Studio project for a simple Bluetooth-based MANET proof of concept in Java.

What it does

• Accepts incoming classic Bluetooth RFCOMM connections.
• Discovers nearby devices and lets you tap to connect.
• Sends messages in the format ID|SRC|DEST|TTL|DATA.
• Delivers messages locally when DEST matches this phone's node ID.
• Relays unseen messages to connected peers while decrementing TTL.

Project notes

• Package: com.devil1716.bluetoothmanet
• Language: Java
• Min SDK: 21
• Target / Compile SDK: 34
• Current release: v1.2.5
• Android Gradle Plugin: 8.5.2

How to run

1. Open the project in Android Studio.
2. Let Android Studio install the missing Android SDK / JDK if prompted.
3. Build and run on at least 2 Android phones.
4. On each phone:
   • Tap Enable Bluetooth
   • Tap Make Discoverable
   • Give the phone a simple node ID like A, B, or C
   • Tap Start Listening
   • Tap Discover Nearby Peers
   • Tap a device in the list to connect
5. Send a message from one node to another using the destination node ID.

Multi-hop test

• Phone A connects to Phone B
• Phone B connects to Phone C
• Send from A to C
• Phone B should forward automatically if TTL is still greater than 1

Important limitations

• Android Bluetooth discovery and classic RFCOMM behavior vary by device vendor.
• Phones usually need to be paired first for reliable RFCOMM sockets.
• This is a demo routing layer, not a production mesh protocol.
• The current environment could not build an APK because Java / Gradle / Android SDK were not installed locally.

Windows laptop node

If you want the Windows laptop to join the same MANET, use the Python CLI in windows-node.

Release notes

v1.0.3

• Improved Bluetooth discovery/discoverable reliability by centralizing adapter and permission prechecks.
• Added clearer logs for blocked Bluetooth operations (disabled adapter or missing runtime permissions).

Publishing a GitHub release

If the app version is bumped but the GitHub "Releases" page still shows the old version, run the Android Release workflow manually:

1. Open Actions → Android Release → Run workflow.
2. Set tag to the version tag (example: v1.0.3).
3. Run the workflow. It builds the APK and publishes/updates the GitHub release for that tag.