A3 Remote Shell web App – User Guide

Version A3.1.0 (1.7.2024)

1. Principle of operation

AndiScan Remote Shell Application (RemShApp) enables to remotely control the device, remotely view the displayed and measured data and access the stored data, and apply FirmWare (FW) updates. It uses web Bluetooth (BLE Bluetooth Low Energy) technology and USB to connect to the AndiScan device. The application operates inside the supported web browser on arbitrary remote device platform (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux). The application web page can be used either on-line or locally stored on the remote access device (if there is no on-line Internet access). Locally stored application web page might have some limitations of (future) features.

  • On-line Remote Shell Application (RemShApp)
  • Locally stored RemShApp – Download the web page from the link above and store it locally on your remote access device file system. In order to use it, simply open this file from your BLE compatible web browser.

2. Compatibility

  • AndiScan A3 device must have firmware A3.1.0/A3.1.0 (and later)
  • BLE access
    • Remote access device HW must support BLE.
    • Web browser must support Web Blootooh API. This is a list of recommended tested browsers on various platforms.
      • Mac – Google Chrome. It must be installed by the user.
      • Windows – Google Chrome. It must be installed by the user.
      • Android – Google Chrome. It should be a part of standard Android system.
      • iOS – Bluefy It must be installed by the user.
  • USB access
    • Web browser must support Web Serial API. Currently it is supported only on standard computer platforms.
      • Mac – Google Chrome – it must be installed by the user.
      • Windows – Edge, Google Chrome – it must be installed by the user.

3. Starting the application and connecting AndiScan

  1. Open a compatible web browser on your remote access device. 
  2. Depending on the required communication access, start AndiScan in proper communication mode:
    • BLE is enabled by default on AndiScan.
    • In order to enable USB communication (and disable BLE), keep pressed [Back] when powering AndiScan and release it when the Welcome Screen appears.
  3. Open RemShApp. There are 4 tabs
    • Device – for accessing device related functions
    • Remote Control (BLE)- this the main remote control and display screen
    • Data (BLE) – for listing, viewing and storing the data from AndiScan
    • Process – for processing data stored locally in the browser
    • Terminal (USB) – for remote control, measurement live view, and data view/store.
  4. Connect the device
    • BLE Remote Shell:
      • In RemShApp Device tab, fill the device ID shown in C9 config page. This will make sure, that it connects with your device and no one else could connect to your device without knowledge of the password. This needs to be done only once for a first time you use a given browser. The password will be stored locally in your browser and pre-filled for a subsequent use.
      • Press [Connect] button. A pairing screen appears showing your AndiScan device. Pair the browser with that device. In the connection status line, yellow message “syncing – wait!” appears. AndiScan device and the browser are setting the connection and syncing the device state. It takes about 10 seconds on desktop computers. It might take a bit longer on mobile devices. Particularly in iOS with Bluefy browser it takes slightly longer. When all is done, there appears a blue message “on-line”. You can now operate remotely the device.
    • USB Remote Shell:
      • Press [Connect] button and wait for on-line status confirmation.

4. Disconnecting AndiScan

  1. On web browser, simply reload the page.
  2. Or, press the [Reload] button in the App.

5. Operating Remote Shell webApp

5.1 Device

This tab allows to connect the device and shows the device status and version.

When the device is connected on USB, it also allows to update FirmWare (FW). Before applying the update, make sure that the AndiScan battery is charged enough. AndiScan update must be done with USB disconnected and loosing the battery power during the update might have unpredictable consequences. FW-US update takes few seconds. FW-TxR update is much more technically involved and takes several minutes.

  • [FW Check] check what is the current FW version available for download.
  • [Load US] loads FW-US (UserShell) to the AndiScan device. The FW update will be performed on next AndiScan restart. The USB must be disconnected before restarting AndiScan. Observe the message screens on AndiScan during the update.
  • [Load TXR] loads FW-TxR (Transceiver) to the AndiScan device. The FW update will be performed on next AndiScan restart. The USB must be disconnected before restarting AndiScan. Observe the message screens on AndiScan during the update.

5.2 Remote control

This tab allows to remotely control and to live-display the connected device.

The AndiScan device can be operated remotely using [Back], [Next], [Enter], [Mode] buttons. Pressing any of these directly on AndiScan or on the RemShApp is fully equivalent, you can press it on either of them with exactly the same response. For long presses on RemSh, there is a visual feedback (short darkening of the button) which informs you that the long press was recognized.

Remote Shell display values copy exactly the values shown on AndiScan measurement screen. RemShApp always shows the measurement screen values. It does not follow the screen rotation of modes (MSR/DAT/CFG) as the AndiScan device does on each press of [Mode] button. However the remote buttons still do their original operation on AndiScan.

5.3 Data

This tab allows listing and downloading data from the SSD memory of the connected device to the RemShApp.

  • [List] button lists the non-empty files with numbers up to the number given in the input field (to limit the time for loading the data).
  • [Load] button shows the measurement data record for a given File and stores it locally in RemShApp for later use.

5.4 Process

This tab allows all operation with locally stored data in RemShApp. It does not need AndiScan device to be connected. 

  • [Process] button refreshes the list of locally stored data records. The list can be filtered by file and date.
  • [Fxxx (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss) [Count]] shows the data of given file and enables the bellow described operations on that data record.
  • [Save] button saves the measurement data record locally on the remote access device file system. An exact location where the file is saved depends on the remote device platform. Typically it is “Downloads” folder.
  • [Delete] button deletes the displayed data record. It deletes only the data record locally stored in the RemShApp. It does not touch the data in AndiScan.

5.5 Terminal

This tab allows to communicate with the device over USB.

  • [SaveFn] saves one or more files to selected local directory on the computer.
  • [Command] field allows to enter remote control commands:
    • KeyBack, KeyEnter, KeyNext, KeyMode, KeyBackL, KeyEnterL, KeyNextL, KeyModeL
    • GetDataFile_xxx (xxx = 000 .. 999)
  • [Output Monitor] shows the device response for commands and also it show live data measurement when the device is Armed and performs a measurement.