Preface

The broad availability of Android-based devices has generated a large amount of interest in developing software applications, or apps, that target Android. Luckily, a powerful and low-cost hardware platform is available that allows you to quickly and easily test your apps on real hardware: the BeagleBone Black. With a focus on small size and a wide variety of expansion and interfacing opportunities, the BeagleBone Black provides a lot of processing power at a very low price. It also provides an opportunity to app developers that once belonged only to those that were expert hardware hackers or owners of expensive hardware development kits: the chance to write Android apps that interact with custom hardware circuits.

Whether you are brand new to hardware interfacing or a seasoned expert, Android for the BeagleBone Black provides you with the tools that you need to begin creating Android apps that communicate directly with your custom hardware. From the very beginning, this book will help you understand Android's unique approach to hardware interfacing. You will install and customize Android, build circuits that interface with your BeagleBone Black platform, and build native code and Android apps that use that hardware to communicate with the outside world. By sequentially working through the examples in each chapter, you will learn how to create multithreaded apps that are capable of interfacing with multiple hardware components simultaneously.

Once you have explored the variety of example circuits and apps in this book, you will be well on your way toward becoming an Android hardware interfacing pro!