One of the most frequent uses of Android and hardware prototyping today is use with specialized sensors- be it location-based services (GPS, compass) or industrial automation (motor controllers, light, and temperature sensors).

Often times, this requires significant amount of hardware as well as software work to fluidly integrate analog sensors to screen-based user interactions. As many developers have noted, a simple (and very open-source) way of getting this done is to combine both the Arduino and the BeagleBoard, using the Arduino as a cheap, easy, and highly capable analog-digital converter, and communicating data from sensors over Arduino serial. Serial integration could warrant weeks of coding kernels and low-level drivers, even before getting up and running with analog sensor communication to an Android app level or GUI interface.

Based on requests from embedded developers and product prototypers, Liquidware has developed Android Ambrosia.

Android Ambrosia comprises a fully packaged, custom version of the Android OS that connects the application layer with kernels and low-level drivers equipped to handle serial communication to an analog to digital interface like the Arduino. For most developers, Android Ambrosia provides instant, bootable, application level access to serial, resulting in focus on the final application, and less time spent on reinventing the foundation.

Android Ambrosia is compatible with the BeagleBoard C4 and BeagleTouch that is part of the Beagle Embedded Starter Kit, Ultimate Beagle Gadget Pack, as well as the Android DIY Starter Kit+ and the Android Hardware Development Kit.

Specifications

• Serial API exposed to the user for direct sensor communication with applications
• Easy to use serial routines: Serial.begin(), Serial.print(), Serial.read()
• Kingston 4GB SD Card
• Class 4: 4MB/s minimum data transfer rate
• Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) compatible
• Pre-formatted to run on the BeagleBoard and “Android Hardware Development Kit”:link
• Boots Android Ambrosia directly

Tutorials and Examples

• How-to use a serial port with Android, Liquidware Ambrosia edition