What interval should I use between each WiFi scan on Android?

Question

I need to perform Wifi scans at regular intervals. I am encountering a problem when the time interval is set to 1-2 seconds. It seems like I am not getting any ScanResult. Is there a minimum amount of time to set so that the WifiManager is able to perform a successful WiFi scan?

Here is the code. I am using a Service to do the Wifi scan:

public class WifiScanning extends Service{
  private static final String TAG = "WifiScanning";
  private Timer timer;
  public int refreshRate, numberOfWifiScan, wifiScanGranularity;
  WifiReceiver receiverWifi = new WifiReceiver();
  WifiManager wifi;
  StringBuilder sb;
  List<ScanResult> wifiList;
  List<APData> apdataList;
  List<List<APData>>surveyData;

  private TimerTask updateTask = new TimerTask() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
      Log.i(TAG, "Timer task doing work");
      wifi.startScan();
    }
  };
  @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
      // TODO Auto-generated method stub
      return null;
    }
  @Override
  public void onCreate() {
    super.onCreate();
    Log.i(TAG, "Service creating");
    //retrieve the mapRefreshRate from config.xml
    XMLOperations test = new XMLOperations();
    Configuration config = new Configuration();
    config = test.saxXmlParsing(this, 1);
    if(config==null)
      config = test.saxXmlParsing(this, 2);
    refreshRate = Integer.parseInt(config.getMapRefreshRate());
    numberOfWifiScan = Integer.parseInt(config.getNumberOfWifiScan_Positioning());
    wifiScanGranularity = Integer.parseInt(config.getWifiScanGranularity_Positioning());
    timer = new Timer();
    Log.i(TAG, "Refresh Rate: "+ String.valueOf(refreshRate));
    timer.schedule(updateTask, 0, refreshRate);
    wifi = (WifiManager) getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE);
    registerReceiver(receiverWifi, new IntentFilter(
    WifiManager.SCAN_RESULTS_AVAILABLE_ACTION));
  }
  @Override
  public void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    Log.i(TAG, "Service destroying");
    unregisterReceiver(receiverWifi);
    if (timer != null){
      timer.cancel();
      timer.purge();
      timer = null;
    }
  }
  class WifiReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
    public void onReceive(Context c, Intent intent) {
      sb = new StringBuilder();
      wifiList = wifi.getScanResults();
      String ap_ssid;
      String ap_mac;
      Double ap_rssi;
      for(int i = 0; i < wifiList.size(); i++){
        ap_ssid = wifiList.get(i).SSID;
        ap_mac = wifiList.get(i).BSSID;
        ap_rssi = Double.valueOf(wifiList.get(i).level);
        APData ap = new APData(ap_ssid,ap_mac,ap_rssi);
        apdataList.add(ap);
        sb.append(" " + (wifiList.get(i).SSID).toString());
        sb.append(" " + (wifiList.get(i).BSSID).toString());
        sb.append((" " + String.valueOf(wifiList.get(i).level)));
        sb.append("\n");
      }
      Log.d(TAG, sb.toString());
      for(int i=1; i<=numberOfWifiScan; i++){
        surveyData.add(apdataList);
      }
    }
  }
}

However, I seem to get Nullpointer at this line: apdataList.add(ap);. So I wonder whether the interval is too short, which causes ScanResult to be empty?

Answer 1

EDIT after you posted your code:

apdataList does not seem to be initialized in onCreate()

add this to onCreate():

apdataList = new List<APData>();

Minimum scanning delay

I think that there is no absolute minimum scanning delay. It depends too much on the hardware performances.

My advice is that you add a 'As Fast As Possible' option to your preferences then use an asynchronous loop that relaunch a scan as soon as new results are found (see the code snippet below, it was updated to suit your needs). This way, it will only be limited by hardware performances.

---

Also you can poll the ScanResults using WifiManager.getScanResults() The recommended way is to launch WifiManager.startScan() and set up a BroadcastReceiver for WifiManager.SCAN_RESULTS_AVAILABLE_ACTION to be notified as soon as the scan results are ready.

Here's a sample code (borrowed from here and adapted to your needs):

IntentFilter i = new IntentFilter(); 
i.addAction (WifiManager.SCAN_RESULTS_AVAILABLE_ACTION); 
registerReceiver(new BroadcastReceiver(){ 
      public void onReceive(Context c, Intent i){ 
      // Code to execute when SCAN_RESULTS_AVAILABLE_ACTION event occurs 
      WifiManager w = (WifiManager) c.getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE); //Use getApplicationContext to prevent memory leak
      myScanResultHandler(w.getScanResults()); // your method to handle Scan results
      if (ScanAsFastAsPossible) w.startScan(); // relaunch scan immediately
      else { /* Schedule the scan to be run later here */}
      } 
    }, i ); 


    // Launch  wifiscanner the first time here (it will call the broadcast receiver above)
    WifiManager wm = (WifiManager)getApplicationContext.getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE); 
    boolean a = wm.startScan();