Android Industrial Mobility BEST PRACTICES TO USE NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO SOLVE OLD PROBLEMS Large retailers were already using mobile computers with barcode scanners and Wireless networks in the 80s. During the last 30 years they have used custom HW running different versions of DOS, PalmOS, PocketPC,Windows CE,Windows Mobile and Windows Embedded Handheld on Rugged PDAs and Smartphones. Now it's time to migrate to someting new, to Android. In this talk I will present what are the biggest surprises that these old time mobility users are going to face and how we can help them to embrace, extend and enjoy the power of Android. To Android developers and entrepreneurs this talk will explain what are the best practices that the Industrial Mobility field has collected over 30 years of history: - Think about deployment at design stage - IT Friendly is as important as User Friendly - Why a solution that is good for the consumer market is not good enough for Industrial Mobility. - Acknowledge that your solution is going to survive some generations of Mobile devices (and maybe OSes)

1. Android
Industrial Mobility
Industrial Mobility
Pietro F. Maggi
@pfmaggi

2. <Intro/>

3. @PFMAGGI
Extrovert coder with 15 years of
experience (“pain”) from 8-bit MCU
to HTML5 web apps. I spent too
much time architecting solutions for
Enterprise Mobility before it was
trendy.
ranting at http://pietromaggi.com
Stop me... if you can!

4. From Symbol to Zebra
through Motorola

5. What is
Industrial Mobility?
Industrial Mobility?
Enterprise Mobility
Industrial Mobility

6. <History/>

7. Once upon a time
DOS based character devices
Symbol PDT3100:
8MHz 80c80 type (NEC V25)
Applications:
In store (Inventory, Re-Order, etc), In
warehouse (Picking, Order preparation)
outside the 4 wall (route accounting).

8. Consumer OS
PalmOS v3.5
(33MHz Motorola DragonBall/VZ)
PocketPC 2000, 20002, Windows Mobile 2003,
2005, 6.0, 6.1
(206MHz Intel StrongArm)
Plus custom drivers and libraries (WiFi,
Barcodes, deployment, etc)

9. Current days
• Windows Embedded HandHeld 6.5.3
• Windows Embedded Compact 7

10. 2015 & wearables
• Wearables for picking since 1990s

11. <FUTURE/>

12. So Many Choices
•Windows CE is still an option (supported till
2020)

13. So Many Choices
•Windows CE is still an option (supported till 2020)
•iOS for Industrial Mobility?

14. So Many Choices
•Windows CE is still an option (supported till 2020)
•iOS for Industrial Mobility?
•WE8.1H by Microsoft is now available
•Windows 10?
•Android?

15. Importance of Consumer Success
IMPACT ON THE ENTERPRISE
IMPACT ON THE ENTERPRISE

16. Why Android Now?
•more than 80% of WW consumer market share
(source: Gartner)
•Java most popular programming language
(source: Tiobe)
•ISV’s gravitate to develop for largest installed base
(source: VisionMobile)
•OSS Leveraging
(e.g. AoSP now used as base for “other OSes”, e.g. Amazon, Xiaomi in their platforms)

17. Todays Rugged Android

18. <Practices
class=”best”/>
class=”best”/>

19. Easy Deployment
•User is not in charge!
•Devices are tools for a job, needs to be ready out
of the box
•Think about deploying thousand of devices,
already setup, depending on which shop they
show up.
•If you can use it, an MDM can save the day!

20. More Power to the Devs!
•Configure the device
•Reboot the device
•Time sync
•Device lockdown
•DataCapture
•Battery Management

21. Battery•Same API provides more info on industrial
devices
public class BatteryInfo extends Activity { private TextView
contentTxt; private BroadcastReceiver mBatInfoReceiver = new
BroadcastReceiver(){ @Override public void
onReceive(Context arg0, Intent intent) { int level =
intent.getIntExtra("level", 0); String Extras =
intent.getExtras().toString(); contentTxt.setText(Extras);
} }; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle
savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_battery_info); contentTxt =
(TextView) this.findViewById(R.id.BatteryInfo);
this.registerReceiver(this.mBatInfoReceiver, new
IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED)); }}

22. Profile APIs

23. Profile APIs

24. • Application Mgr Profile – Silent APK install, Enable / Disable Apps, listing, and Settings info via
Profile Manager
• App White listing Profile – Defined list of allowed applications via Profile Manager
• Barcode Profile – Set / modify barcode symbologies / options and get barcode data via Profile
Manager
• Certificate Management Profile - Install and management of certificates via Profile Manager
• Clock Profile - Setting the Date, Time and Time Zone via Profile Manager
• GPRS Profile - Configuring GPRS APN settings via Profile Manager
• Persist Manager Profile – Ability to persist settings within a XML profile via Profile Mgr
• Power Manager Profile – Power management operations: reboot, sleep, reboot for OS update via
Profile Mgr
• Touch Mgr Profile – Ability to set the display’s touch panel sensitivity via Profile Manager
• UI Mgr Profile - Enable / Disable Enterprise Reset and Clipboard via Profile Manager
• USB Mgr Profile – Enable / Disable USB module, ADB, and device storage via Profile Manager
• Wi-Fi Profile - Band and Channel selection, 802.11d / country configuration, and Disable / Enable
• Wireless Profile – Ability to Enable / Disable Bluetooth module via Profile Manager
Profile APIs

25. Easy Support
•Logging solution behaviour
•Remote Analysis and management
•HotFix deployment

26. RxLogger
•Diagnostic tool for Android
•High level CSV log format with additional “drill
down” logs
•Pluggable interface
•Allows for 3rd party development and seamless
add-ons
•Flexible configuration
•Configurable through user interface or config xml
file for ease of use in single or mass deployments
•Remote log retrieval
•Capability to push logs to a remote FTP server

27. Log output

28. Resource CSV

29. Snapshot - log output

30. TCP dump

31. CROSSPLATFORM?
Based around web technologies
- RhoMobile (full web app, JavaScript & Ruby)
- PhoneGap (frontend only, JavaScript)
Bringing a different dev.environment to the table:
- Xamarin (C#)
- Titanium (JavaScript)

32. <GOTCHAS/>

33. Routing is not!
•Robust, reliable, ‘free-to-use’ GPS routing – effective
in all mapped locations including those with little or
no mobile coverageFast, multi-stop routing
optimisation, utilising Motorola Solutions processor
capabilities Through SDK customisation, the mobile
internet becomes a method of enabling business
compliance – For example, monioring Current
Location, ETAs and facilitating Job
DispatchValidated and compliant with a Motorola
Solutions mobile computers running
Android/Windows Embedded Handheld OS
Example: CoPilot Professional and Sygic Fleet Navigation

34. GMS and Google ID
Not always the right solution in an Enterprise:
- Devices could be shared between employee
- Need to work in an intranet environment

35. Where to find more info?
https://developer.motorolasolutions.com/community/android

36. THANK YOU!
@pfmaggi