I develop PIC based control boards for the factory that I work at. I build and program these boards with diagnostic ports via RS232. At times I need to troubleshoot the machines that these boards are controlling, usually this means coming in for a service call after hours. I have in the past added ethernet/serial gateways to the board and had remote access that way, but our network IT guys shun remote access to our system so I cannot go this way.

Is this possible? Install a Bluetooth/serial gateway on the control board, then when a service call comes in I have the person connect via Bluetooth with their phone to the device/machine. At that point I can send ascii commands to the control board from my phone to their phone to the machine. The control board would be programmed to respond with ascii commands and send the diagnostic data back to my phone. I their an app for that?

Thanks
Scott Sutton

 

There may not be an app for that, but it is easy enough to make one yourself.

The program in Java for an Android phone is not too hard to do. I don't touch Apple product, so I can't speak for that route.

The hardest part would be connecting to another user's phone remotely... you'd probably want to ensure proper encryption of the connection...