Anura Core SDK Developer Guide

This developer guide will help you effectively use the NuraLogix Anura Core SDK to build your own mobile applications for Affective AI. Here you will find step-by-step instructions to get you started and also more detailed references as you delve deeper.

The Introduction provides an architectural overview of the Core SDK.

Chapter 2 provides details about the contents of the Android and iOS core packages. Chapters 3 and 4 walk you through setup, configuration and basic usage of Anura Core SDK for Android and iOS respectively. Chapter 5 talks about the sample applications that ships with the SDK.

Chapter 6 explains the details of adapting third-party face trackers and alternate camera modules.

Chapter 7 provides some details about the user profile questionnaire.

Chapter 8 discusses how to interpret the results returned by the DeepAffex Cloud.

Chapter 9 highlights some best practices.

Chapter 10 provides pointers to cross-platform app development.

Chapter 11 provides recommendations about the platform requirements.

Chapter 12 provides a troubleshooting guide.

Chapter 13 provides a migration for Anura Core SDK Android 2.4.0

Chapter 14 provides a migration for Anura Core SDK iOS 1.9.0

Finally, there is an FAQ section containing answers to some of the questions that you may have.

Last updated on 2024-06-21 by Vineet Puri (v1.19.0)

Disclaimer

Trademarks

NuraLogix, Anura, DeepAffex and other trademarks are trademarks of NuraLogix Corporation or its subsidiaries.

The following is a non-exhaustive and illustrative list of trademarks owned by NuraLogix Corporation and its subsidiaries.

• Affective Ai™
• nuralogix®
• Anura®
• DeepAffex®
• TOI®
• Anura® - Telehealth
• Anura® - MagicMirror

Introduction

Before you begin, we recommend perusing the DeepAffex Developer Guide so that you have a basic understanding of NuraLogix's DeepAffex technologies and terminologies. Please be sure to read the first two chapters - Introduction and Getting Started.

Anura Core SDK

NuraLogix provides the DeepAffex Cloud for Affective AI. It is used to analyze facial blood-flow information that is extracted from image streams using the DeepAffex Extraction Library.

Anura Core SDK is a mobile software development kit designed to help developers quickly add NuraLogix Affective AI to in-house or commercial mobile applications. It contains the DeepAffex Extraction Library and also provides all additional features required for doing DeepAffex analysis on mobile platforms - camera capture and preview, face tracker integration and a cloud module for interacting with the DeepAffex Cloud etc.

Anura Core SDK is available on both Android and iOS and is distributed privately via secure Git repositories to companies in partnership with NuraLogix.

It is canonically documented inside the Android and iOS Git repositories respectively.

Architecture

The architecture of typical Anura Core SDK-based application is shown below:

Localization

For demonstration purposes, the Anura Core SDK Sample App includes a subset of the UI prompts used by NuraLogix Anura. You can change these prompts and add more according the needs of your app and it's users.

Anura Core SDK package manifest

Package contents of Anura Core SDK for Android

The Anura Core SDK for Android sample project looks like:

Binaries included

1. Anura Core SDK (~26.9 MB): includes arm64-v8a DFX SDK native libraries

2. OpenCV (~6 MB): a streamlined OpenCV package

Source included

1. ExampleStartActivity: An Activity for entering user demographics information and Partner ID. It also demonstrates communicating with DeepAffex Cloud API to register the license and validate the device token

2. AnuraExampleMeasurementActivity: The main Activity with the measurement UI that demonstrates how to use Anura Core APIs, and it is similar to the NuraLogix Anura app

3. ExampleResultsActivity: An example activity that displays all of the results received from DeepAffex Cloud in a list

4. SampleTokenStore: A sample implementation of the TokenStore required for Anura Core to handle expired/invalid tokens and to renew them automatically

Package contents of Anura Core SDK for iOS

The Anura Core SDK for iOS sample project looks like:

Binaries included

1. AnuraCore.xcframework (~4.6 MB): Anura Core dynamic framework

2. libdfx.xcframework (~10.5 MB): DeepAffex Extraction Library dynamic framework

3. FaceMesh.xcframework (~26.6 MB): MediaPipe FaceMesh dynamic framework

Sources included

1. Config: A configuration file used by the Sample App to set the application's DeepAffex configuration: license key, study ID, and API hostname

2. StartViewController: A UIViewController for entering user demographic information and Partner ID. It also demonstrates how to setup AnuraMeasurementViewController and DeepAffexMiniAPIClient to begin taking measurements using DeepAffex Cloud.

3. UserDemographics: A struct that validates user demographic information

4. MeasurementUIConfiguration+CustomTheme: an example theme to show how to customize the measurement UI

5. MeasurementDelegate: An example class to respond to various events from DeepAffex Cloud and AnuraCore to customize the app behaviour

6. MeasurementResultsSubscriber: Creates and Manages a WebSocket connection to DeepAffex Cloud API to subscribe to realtime results

7. ExampleResultsViewController: An example UIViewController that displays all of the results received from DeepAffex Cloud in a list

Anura Core SDK for Android

Anura Core SDK for Android provides all the essential components for integrating NuraLogix Affective AI and DeepAffex into your Android application. It includes DeepAffex Extraction Library, a DeepAffex Cloud API client, a camera control module, a face tracker, and other components to allow your application to take measurements using DeepAffex. This is the same SDK used to build Anura Lite by NuraLogix.

Anura Core SDK for Android has a pipeline architecture (Source, Pipe and Sink modules). A typical measurement pipeline is shown below:

Requirements

The latest version of the Anura Core SDK for Android is 2.4. It requires Android 7.1 (API Level 25) or higher. For a detailed list of requirements, please refer to the platform requirements chapter.

Getting Started

Accessing Anura Core SDK and Sample App

Please contact NuraLogix to get access to the private Git repository.

Dependencies

Anura Core SDK for Android AARs are included in the app/libs folder of the Sample App. You can set up project dependencies in your build.gradle as shown below:

    // Anura Core SDK
    implementation(name: 'anura-core-sdk-2.4.0.5264', ext: 'aar')
    implementation(name: 'anura-opencv-4.5.1', ext: 'aar')

    // Anura Core SDK Dependencies
    implementation "com.google.mediapipe:solution-core:$mediaPipeVersion"
    implementation "com.google.mediapipe:facemesh:$mediaPipeVersion"
    implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-serialization-json:$kotlinXJsonSerialization"
    implementation "com.google.code.gson:gson:$gsonVersion"
    implementation "org.java-websocket:Java-WebSocket:$websocketVersion"

DeepAffex License Key and Study ID

Before your application can connect to DeepAffex Cloud API, you will need a valid DeepAffex license key and Study ID, which can be found on DeepAffex Dashboard.

The included Sample App sets the DeepAffex license key and Study ID in app/server.properties file, which would get included in the application at build time.

Below is the included starting template app/server.properties.template:

# Caution: Do not use quotation marks when filling the values below.

# Your DeepAffex License Key and Study ID can be found on DeepAffex Dashboard
# https://dashboard.deepaffex.ai

DFX_LICENSE_KEY=
DFX_STUDY_ID=

# These URLs are for the International DeepAffex service.
# If the app is operating in Mainland China, replace "ai" with "cn"
# See more regional clusters: https://docs.deepaffex.ai/guide/cloud/2-1_regions.html

DFX_REST_URL=https://api.deepaffex.ai
DFX_WS_URL=wss://api.deepaffex.ai

You can then remove the .template suffix and you should be able to run sample app and take a measurement.

Measurement Pipeline

Anura Core SDK for Android provides a MeasurementPipeline interface that connects the various components of the SDK, from fetching camera video frames all the way through rendering the video in the UI. It also provides listener callback methods to observe the measurement state, and to receive and parse results from DeepAffex Cloud.

The included Sample App demonstrates how to set up a MeasurementPipeline and manage its lifecycle. The example provided in AnuraExampleMeasurementActivity showcases how to use and setup MeasurementPipeline.

Starting a Measurement

The MeasurementPipeline interface provides a simple function call to start a measurement. The SDK will automatically handle making the API calls to DeepAffex Cloud API over WebSocket:

• Create Measurement: Creates a measurement on DeepAffex Cloud and generates a Measurement ID.
• Subscribe to Results: Get results in real-time during a measurement, and when a measurement is complete.
• Add Data: Send facial blood-flow data collected by DeepAffex Extraction Library to DeepAffex Cloud for processing

Measurement Questionnaire and Partner ID

Your application can include user demographic information and medical history when taking a measurement:

 val exampleDemographics = mapOf(
    "gender:1" to "female",
    "age:1" to "23",
    "height:1" to "175",
    "weight:1" to "60"
    "smoking:1" to "0",
    "diabetes:1" to "type2",
    "bloodpressuremedication:1" to "1"
)

measurementPipeline.startMeasurement(
    exampleDemographics,
    BuildConfig.DFX_STUDY_ID,
    "",
    "example-partner-id-1"
)

Partner ID can hold a unique-per-user identifier, or any other value which could be used to link your application's end users with their measurements taken on DeepAffex Cloud. This is because your application's end users are considered anonymous users on DeepAffex Cloud.

For more information, please refer to:

• Measurement Questionnaire
• Partner ID

Handling Measurement State

Your application can observe MeasurementState of MeasurementPipeline through this MeasurementPipelineListener callback method:

fun onMeasurementStateLiveData(measurementState: LiveData<MeasurementState>?) { ... }

This allows your application to respond to events from MeasurementPipeline and update the UI accordingly. Please refer to AnuraExampleMeasurementActivity for an example on how to best handle MeasurementState changes.

Measurement Results

MeasurementPipelineListener provides 2 callback methods for getting measurement results during and after a measurement is complete:

/**
* Called during a measurement
*/
fun onMeasurementPartialResult(payload: ChunkPayload?, results: MeasurementResults) { ... }

/**
* Called when a measurement is complete
*/
fun onMeasurementDone(payload: ChunkPayload?, results: MeasurementResults) { ... }

These callback methods pass a MeasurementResults instance that contains the results of the current measurement so far, which can be accessed through 2 methods:

/**
* Returns all the current results for each signal ID in a `[String]: [SignalResult]` hash map
*/
val allResults : Map<String, SignalResult>

/**
* Get the current result for a [signalID]
* @return A Double value of the result. If the provided signal ID doesn't have a result,
* it returns `Double.NaN`
*/
fun result(signalID: String): Double

For a list of all the available results from DeepAffex and signal IDs, please refer to DeepAffex Points Reference.

Measurement Constraints

Anura Core SDK utilizes the Constraints system of DeepAffex Extraction Library to check the user's face position and movement, and provide actionable feedback to the user to increase the chances of a successful measurement. MeasurementPipelineListener provides a callback method to check for constraint violations:

fun onMeasurementConstraint(
    isMeasuring: Boolean,
    status: ConstraintResult.ConstraintStatus,
    constraints: MutableMap<String, ConstraintResult.ConstraintStatus>
) { 
    ...
}

Please refer to AnuraExampleMeasurementActivity for an example on how to best handle constraint violations and display feedback to the user.

Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Early Measurement Cancellation

DeepAffex Cloud will occasionally fail to return a measurement result. This usually occurs when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the extracted blood-flow signal isn't good enough due to insufficient lighting or too much user or camera movement.

In such a scenario, your application might prefer to cancel the measurement early and provide feedback to the user to improve the measurement conditions.

MeasurementPipeline interface provides a method to check the SNR of the measurement and determine if the measurement should be cancelled:

fun shouldCancelMeasurement(SNR: Double, chunkOrder: Int): Boolean

The SNR of the measurement so far is available from MeasurementResults. Below is an example of how to cancel a measurement early:

fun onMeasurementPartialResult(payload: ChunkPayload?, results: MeasurementResults) {
    ...
    if (measurementPipeline.shouldCancelMeasurement(results.snr, results.chunkOrder)) {
        stopMeasurement()
        // Show feedback to the user that the measurement was cancelled early
        return
    }
    ...
}

Measurement UI Customization

The measurement UI can be customized through MeasurementUIConfiguration. By default, MeasurementUIConfiguration will provide a measurement UI similar to the one in Anura Lite by NuraLogix.

Below is an example of the parameters that can be adjusted by MeasurementUIConfiguration:

val customMeasurementUIConfig = MeasurementUIConfiguration().apply {
    measurementOutlineStyle = MeasurementUIConfiguration.MeasurementOutlineStyle.OVAL
    showHistograms = true
    overlayBackgroundColor = Color.WHITE
    measurementOutlineActiveColor = Color.BLACK
    measurementOutlineInactiveColor = Color.WHITE
    histogramActiveColor = Color.YELLOW
    histogramInactiveColor = Color.GREEN
    statusMessagesTextColor = Color.CYAN
    timerTextColor = Color.BLUE
}

measurementView.setMeasurementUIConfiguration(customMeasurementUIConfig)

The MeasurementView class also provides some helper methods to modify the icon at the top, the methods are;

  with(measurementView) {
    showAnuraIcon(boolean show)
    setIconImageResource(int resourceId)
    setIconHeightFromTop(int marginTop)
  }

A screenshot is shown below:

Anura Core SDK for iOS

Anura Core SDK for iOS provides all the essential components for integrating NuraLogix Affective AI and DeepAffex into your iOS application. It includes DeepAffex Extraction Library, a DeepAffex Cloud API client, a camera control module, a face tracker, and other components to allow your application to take measurements using DeepAffex. This is the same SDK used to build Anura Lite by NuraLogix.

Requirements

The latest version of the Anura Core SDK for iOS is 1.9.2. It requires Apple iOS 13.0 or higher. For a detailed list of requirements, please refer to the platform requirements chapter.

Setup

Accessing Anura Core SDK and Sample App

Please contact NuraLogix to get access to the private Git repository.

Dependencies

1. Run pod install under the root folder of the sample project. If you start your own project, please configure your podfile accordingly.

2. Anura Core SDK for iOS frameworks are included in ./Frameworks. They are already configured in sample project's target Build Settings. If you start your own project, please configure the frameworks in your project's target Build Settings.

Using the Core SDK

DeepAffex License Key and Study ID

Before your application can connect to DeepAffex Cloud API, you will need a valid DeepAffex license key and Study ID, which can be found on DeepAffex Dashboard.

The included Sample App sets the DeepAffex license key and Study ID in Config.swift file, which would get included in the application at build time.

AnuraMeasurementViewController

Anura Core SDK for iOS provides a AnuraMeasurementViewController class that integrates the various components of the SDK, from fetching camera video frames all the way through rendering the video in the UI. It also provides delegate methods to observe the measurement state and lifecycle.

Measurement UI Customization

The exact measurement UI from the Anura App is available in AnuraMeasurementViewController (including stars, beating heart etc.) You can programmatically show or hide any element on the screen through MeasurementUIConfiguration. If you want to create your own UI, can you use MeasurementUIConfiguration to hide all the default UI elements and implement your own UI and place them on top of the camera view.

@objc @objcMembers public class MeasurementUIConfiguration : NSObject {
    
    ......
    
    @objc public var showHeartRateDuringMeasurement: Bool
    @objc public var showHistograms: Bool
    @objc public var showStatusMessages: Bool
    @objc public var showMeasurementStartedMessage: Bool
    @objc public var showCountdown: Bool
    @objc public var showOverlay: Bool
    @objc public var showMeasurementOutline: Bool
    @objc public var showLightingQualityStars: Bool
    @objc public var showFacePolygons: Bool
    
    
    ......
}

And you can also customize the font and color of some elements according to your needs：

static var exampleCustomTheme : MeasurementUIConfiguration {

    ......

    // Customize Fonts
    uiConfig.statusMessagesFont = UIFont(name: "AmericanTypewriter", size: 25)!
    uiConfig.countdownFont = UIFont(name: "AmericanTypewriter", size: 80)!
    uiConfig.heartRateFont = UIFont(name: "AmericanTypewriter-Bold", size: 30)!
    uiConfig.timerFont = UIFont(name: "AmericanTypewriter-Bold", size: 10)!
    
    // Customize Colors
    let greenColor = UIColor(red: 0, green: 0.77, blue: 0.42, alpha: 1.0)
    let darkMagentaColor = UIColor(red: 0.77, green: 0, blue: 0.35, alpha: 1.0)
    uiConfig.overlayBackgroundColor = UIColor(red: 0.2, green: 0, blue: 0.09, alpha: 0.75)
    uiConfig.measurementOutlineInactiveColor = .darkGray
    uiConfig.measurementOutlineActiveColor = darkMagentaColor
    uiConfig.heartRateShapeColor = greenColor
    uiConfig.lightingQualityStarsActiveColor = darkMagentaColor
    uiConfig.lightingQualityStarsInactiveColor = .darkGray
    uiConfig.statusMessagesTextColor = .white
    uiConfig.statusMessagesTextShadowColor = .black
    uiConfig.timerTextColor = .white
    uiConfig.heartRateTextColor = .white
    uiConfig.heartRateTextShadowColor = .black
    uiConfig.histogramActiveColor = greenColor
    uiConfig.histogramInactiveColor = darkMagentaColor
    
    ......

}

You can refer to MeasurementUIConfiguration+CustomTheme file for an example

A screenshot of the default measurement UI is shown below:

Sample Applications

Anura Core SDK for Android and iOS each includes a basic Sample App. These apps demonstrate how to use the SDK, and can be used as a reference to build your own apps.

Anura Core Android Sample App

The Sample App for Android showcases a basic integration of Anura Core in Kotlin. The full source code of the application is included, and it demonstrates how to:

• Setup app configuration including DeepAffex License and Study ID in server.properties.
• Communicate with DeepAffex Cloud API:
  • Register your DeepAffex license key
  • Validate API access token, and refresh token if need
  • Get DeepAffex study config file
• Initialize the measurement pipeline in AnuraExampleMeasurementActivity
• Pass user provided demographic information (age, sex at birth, height, and weight) as part of the measurement data.
• Utilize MeasurementResults to get results from DeepAffex to display

Screenshots

< >

Enter Demographics

< >

Measurement Activity (Provided by Anura Core SDK)

< >

Results

Anura Core iOS Sample App

The sample application for iOS showcases a basic integration of Anura Core in a native app written in Swift. The full source code of the sample application is included, and it demonstrates how to:

• Setup app configuration including DeepAffex License, Study ID, API Hostname in Config.swift.
• Communicate with DeepAffex Cloud API:
  • Register your DeepAffex license.
  • Validate API token.
  • Create a measurement.
  • Send measurement data.
  • Receive measurement results through a WebSocket connection.
• Initialize and configure AnuraMeasurementViewController, the main UIViewController that displays the Anura measurement UI and controls the camera.
• Implement AnuraMeasurementDelegate methods, and how to handle various events from AnuraMeasurementViewController (e.g. face detected, measurement started/completed/cancelled, etc.)
• Pass user-provided demographic information (age, sex at birth, height, and weight) as part of the measurement data.
• Decode measurement results from DeepAffex Cloud API, with a basic display of the final results in a UITableViewController.

Screenshots

< >

Enter Demographics

< >

Measurement UI

< >

Results

Adapting cameras and face trackers

Camera capture and face tracking are two important parts of the DeepAffex solution and there are numbers of third-party camera and face tracker components available in the market. To allow you to use them in your own app, Anura Core SDK provides adapter interfaces.

Anura Core SDK provides default implementations for camera and face tracker adapters. We recommend using the default implementations as demonstrated in the include Sample Apps.

Camera Adapter

Core SDK for Android provides the CameraAdapter in interface. You can implement it as shown below:

public interface VideoSource extends Module {

     /**
     * Creates a camera source instance, which is used to capture video frames and
     * pass them to the down streaming pipeline.
     * @param name the name of this camera source
     * @param core   {@link Core} the core instance
     * @param format {@link VideoFormat} the format of this video source
     * @param cameraAdapter {@link CameraAdapter} the implementation of camera adapter
     * @return a camera source instance
     */
    static VideoSource createCameraSource(
            @NonNull String name,
            @NonNull Core core,
            @NonNull VideoFormat format,
            @NonNull CameraAdapter cameraAdapter) {
        return new CameraSourceImpl(name, core, format, cameraAdapter);
    }
}

Face Tracker

Core SDK for Android and iOS both provide a face tracker interface:

Android provides FaceTrackerAdapter:

public class UserFaceTracker implements FaceTrackerAdapter {
        ... ...
}

public interface VideoPipe extends VideoSource {
    /**
     * Creates a face tracker pipe instance
     *
     * @param name   the name of this pipe
     * @param core   {@link Core} the core instance
     * @param format {@link VideoFormat} the format of this video pipe
     * @param faceTracker the implementation of {@link FaceTrackerAdapter}
     */
    static VideoPipe createFaceTrackerPipe(
            @NonNull String name,
            @NonNull Core core,
            @NonNull VideoFormat format,
            @NonNull FaceTrackerAdapter faceTracker) {
        return new FaceTrackerPipeImpl(name, core, format, faceTracker);
    }
    ... ...
}

and iOS provides FaceTrackerProtocol:

public protocol FaceTrackerProtocol {

    init(quality: FaceTrackerQuality)

    func trackFace(from videoFrame: VideoFrame, completion: ((TrackedFace) -> Void)!)

    func lock()

    func unlock()

    func reset()

    var trackingBounds: CGRect { get set }

    var quality: FaceTrackerQuality { get set }

    var delegate: FaceTrackerDelegate? { get set }
}

Localization

Anura Core SDK allows you to customize the text displayed in the measurement view to suit your application's needs. It utilizes the system's localization features to ensure that the correct language is displayed.

Platform-Specific Localization Guides

Android

For Android, Anura Core SDK uses the strings.xml file of your application for localization. The Sample Application includes example strings.xml files for various languages, which you can reference and adapt to your project.

iOS

On iOS, Anura Core SDK utilizes the Localizable.strings file of your application for localization. The Sample Application also includes example Localizable.strings files for various languages that you can use as a starting point.

Available Localization Strings

Below is a list of localized string names/keys used by Anura Core SDK:

Measurement Questionnaire

Measurement questionnaires are used to further enhance the accuracy of the measurement results. To know more about questionnaires, please refer to the Measurement Questionnaire Section in our developers guide.

Interpreting Results

The DeepAffex Cloud can process blood flow information and provide estimates for many different biological signals. Please refer to the DFX Points Reference for further interpretation of these signals.

Best Practices

DeepAffex License Registration and Token Validation

1. Use the provided DeepAffex license key to register the license by calling the Organizations.RegisterLicense endpoint. A pair of tokens (a Device Token and a One-Time Refresh Token) is returned. To learn more about tokens, please refer to the authentication chapter in our developer guide.

2. Store tokens safely in the device's secure storage. Tokens must be used for any subsequent DeepAffex API calls.

3. To ensure that a token is valid before making a DeepAffex Cloud API call, you can call the General.VerifyToken endpoint which returns the token's status.

4. Your application should call Auths.Renew endpoint if the Device Token has expired. If the Refresh Token has also expired or was not available, your application may need to call the Organizations.RegisterLicense endpoint again to obtain a fresh pair of Device and Refresh Tokens

Measurement Questionnaire and User Demographics

1. Upon your app's initial launch, prompt the user to complete the measurement questionnaire. For further details on questionnaires, please refer to the Measurement Questionnaire Section in our developer's guide. This information will enhance the accuracy of future measurements, some of which will depend on these data.

Taking Measurements

1. Your application needs to request camera permission before taking measurements. Anura Core SDK will not work without access to the camera, and your application needs to handle the case when the user denies the camera permission.

2. You can customize the look and feel of the measurement UI though MeasurementUIConfiguration. To learn more on how to customize the measurement UI, please refer to Measurement UI Customization iOS and Measurement UI Customization Android.

3. To obtain measurement results in real-time, your application can set up a WebSocket connection and use the Measurements.SubscribeResults endpoint. After the measurement is complete and all results are received, your app may disconnect the WebSocket connection.

4. Before your app can start sending measurement payloads to obtain results, it must first create a measurement using the Measurement.Create endpoint. The endpoint will return a measurement ID, which is used to refer to the measurement in subsequent API calls.

5. After the measurement starts, each extracted payload needs to be sent to DeepAffex Cloud in sequence. For information about this interface, please refer to the Measurement.AddData endpoint.

6. If your application is subscribed to results over WebSocket, the results can be obtained from the MeasurementResults object. Your application can then display these results on the measurement screen (e.g. heart rate), and on a separate results screen after the measurement is complete. For more information on how to interpret the results, please refer to the DFX Points Reference.

Cross-Platform Apps

Anura Core is a native SDK for iOS and Android. It can be integrated into applications that are built using cross-platform frameworks such as React Native, Flutter, Cordova, and Ionic.

We recommend that you follow the official guides of the cross-platform framework of your choice to integrate it into your application. The links below are to the native component integration section in the official guides of some of the most common cross-platform frameworks:

• React Native iOS
• React Native Android
• Flutter
• Cordova
• Ionic
• .NET MAUI
• Xamarin iOS
• Xamarin Android

Platform requirements

Camera Resolution:

• Minimum pixel density of ~30 pixels/inch (~12 pixels/cm) applied to the face
• In a mobile phone "selfie portrait" scenario, this converts to an image resolution of 480p (i.e. 640 x 480, 4:3 aspect)

Camera Frame Rate:

• Minimum: 25 frames per second
• Recommended: 30 frames per second
• Accurate frame timestamps (in milliseconds) are required

Face Tracker:

• External face tracker that provides MPEG-4 FBA feature points
• Anura Core SDK includes support for MediaPipe FaceMesh by default. Support for visage|SDK FaceTrack is also included.

Supported CPU Architectures:

• ARMv8-A (64-bit): Android and iOS

Supported OS bindings/wrappers:

• Android: Java and Kotlin
• iOS: Swift and Objective-C
• Cross-Platform: Please refer to the Cross-Platform Apps section for more information

OS Specific Requirements:

Android

• OS Version: Android 7.1 (API level 25) and later

• Camera2 API: The platform must support Camera2 API, specifically with FULL or LEVEL_3 support. Platforms that only have Camera2 API LEGACY are not supported by Anura Core SDK. While it may still run, measurement performance cannot be guaranteed.

  For more information on Camera APIs on Android, please refer to these online resources:

  • Camera Version Support | Android Open Source Project
  • How to find Camera Level programmatically

iOS

• Minimum OS Version: iOS 13.0 and later
• iPadOS 13.0 and later are also supported

Platform Performance Guidelines:

• Comparable with Snapdragon 632 or better for Android
• Comparable with Apple A10 or better for iOS
• Minimal RAM footprint (6x frame buffer overhead)

Internet connectivity requirements

The payload data chunks are not very heavy (mostly less than 500 KB). Any stable internet connection which can handle such payloads is expected to work fine.

Troubleshooting

SNR-related issues

Low SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) can lead to measurement cancellations. By default, Anura Core SDK follows the rules given in this guide to cancel a measurement early based on SNR.

For more information about SNR related issues and how to solve them, please refer to this troubleshooting guide.

Visage Face Tracker Issues

Managing your Visage License File

Your visage|SDK FaceTrack license is distributed as a file with the extension .vlc.

• When you receive your license file, please ensure that the Application ID in it matches your app's bundle id. Please contact NuraLogix if it doesn't.

• You should treat your license file as a binary file. If you plan to check it into Git, configure it as a binary file using the following code in your .gitattributes file: *.vlc -merge -text

Using your Visage license file

• For Anura Core SDK for Android

  • Copy your visage|SDK FaceTrack license file to app/src/main/assets/visage/

  • Update your server.properties file with your visage|SDK FaceTrack license key (typically, it's the filename of the .vlc file excluding the file extension).

  • Ensure that the APPLICATION_ID exactly matches the Application ID field in your visage|SDK FaceTrack license file.

• For Anura Core SDK for iOS

  • Replace the placeholder license file in SampleApp/VisageFaceTracker/visage.vlc with the license file provided by NuraLogix (Do not copy and paste the contents of the license file in sample app visage|SDK FaceTrack file.)

Visage Licensing Error Codes

Please check the following common error codes if you are facing issues with visage|SDK FaceTrack licensing:

• Error code 0x00000001 (VS_ERROR_INVALID_LICENSE): This error indicates that the license is not valid. The error occurs when the BundleID is not the same as the one in your application, or when the license that is registered to one product is used with another product. Please check if you’re using the correct license.

• Error code 0x00000002 (VS_ERROR_EXPIRED_LICENSE): This error indicates that your Visage license has expired. Please consider renewing your license. If you obtained your license directly from Visage Technologies, please contact them; if you obtained your license through NuraLogix, please contact Nuralogix.

• Error code 0x00000008 (VS_ERROR_MISSING_KEYFILE): This error indicates that the application cannot locate the license key file. Please verify that the license key file is present in the folder used as a path to initialize the license manager.

• Error code 0x00000100 (VS_ERROR_TAMPERED_KEYFILE): This error indicates that the license key file was modified. Please try using a clean copy of the license key file that was sent to you, and see if the error still occurs.

• Error code 0x00000010 (VS_ERROR_NO_LICENSE): This error indicates that there is currently no license available.

• Error code 0x00001000 (VS_ERROR_INVALID_OS) The error you received indicates that your license key does not support the platform (operating system) on which you are trying to use it.

Anura Core SDK Android 2.4.0 Migration Guide

Anura Core SDK Android 2.4.0 is a major update that includes the following improvements and features:

• Significant camera and face tracker performance improvements
• New measurement UI that utilizes the device's screen as a light source for more accurate and reliable measurements
• Replaced the existing Visage FaceTracker with MediaPipe face tracker for improved performance and simplified integration
• Improved WebSocket handling in poor network conditions
• Simplified measurement results parsing
• DeepAffex token security enhancements

Upgrading to Anura Core Android 2.4.0

A few steps are required to upgrade your existing app from Anura Core 2.3.x to 2.4.0.

Updating SDK Binaries

Replace the existing Anura Core SDK AAR binary, and update your application's build.gradle file:

• anura-core-sdk-2.3.0.aar to anura-core-sdk-2.4.0-XXXX.aar

Remove the existing anura-cream-ui-1.1.0.aar AAR binary. It's no longer needed and its functionality has been merged into anura-core-sdk-2.4.0-XXXX.aar

Adopting the new UI

Anura Core SDK 2.4.0 features a new measurement UI that utilizes the device's screen as a light source for more accurate and reliable measurements.

Adopting the new measurement UI is as simple as passing a new instance of MeasurementUIConfiguration to your application's MeasurementView instance:

measurementView.setMeasurementUIConfig(MeasurementUIConfiguration())

If you would like to continue to use the exiting UI, you can use MeasurementUIConfiguration.anuraDefaultLegacyUIConfiguration instead:

measurementView.setMeasurementUIConfig(MeasurementUIConfiguration.anuraDefaultLegacyUIConfiguration)

The Measurement UI is also now very easy to configure, here are all of the configuration options;

// create a custom UI configuration and set the desired values
val customMeasurementUIConfig = MeasurementUIConfiguration().apply {
    measurementOutlineStyle = MeasurementUIConfiguration.MeasurementOutlineStyle.OVAL
    showHistograms = true
    overlayBackgroundColor = Color.WHITE
    measurementOutlineActiveColor = Color.BLACK
    measurementOutlineInactiveColor = Color.WHITE
    histogramActiveColor = Color.YELLOW
    histogramInactiveColor = Color.GREEN
    statusMessagesTextColor = Color.CYAN
    timerTextColor = Color.BLUE
}
// set the measurement view's configuration
measurementView.setMeasurementUIConfig(customMeasurementUIConfig)

The updated Sample App also includes code to automatically maximize the brightness of the screen when a face is detected and during the measurement. Your existing application should be updated to include this functionality to best utilize the device's screen brightness as a light source.

Face Position & Distance Constraint

As part of the new measurement UI, Anura Core SDK 2.4.0 requires users to come closer to the device's camera. This is done to allow the light from the device's screen to illuminate the user's face and get more reliable and accurate measurements. You should update your application's DfxPipeConfiguration instance to set CHECK_FACE_DISTANCE to true as shown below:

private fun getDfxPipeConfiguration(): DfxPipeConfiguration {
    val dfxPipeConfiguration =
    DfxPipeConfiguration(applicationContext, null)
    // set face_distance constraint on
    dfxPipeConfiguration.setRuntimeParameter(
        DfxPipeConfiguration.RuntimeKey.CHECK_FACE_DISTANCE,
        true
    )
    return dfxPipeConfiguration
}

The updated Sample App also includes code to show the users instructions to come closer before the measurement starts. Please refer to the Sample App's AnuraExampleMeasurementActivity code, specifically under onMeasurementConstraint() callback method.

MeasurementPipeline Updates

The updated MeasurementPipeline interface and default implementation utilize a new MeasurementState class to manage the internal state. Your application can observe the state as demonstrated in the updated Sample App:

override fun onMeasurementStateLive(measurementState: LiveData<MeasurementState>?) {
    measurementState?.observe(this) { newState: MeasurementState ->
        handleMeasurementViewState(state = newState)
    }
}

Refer to the Sample App's example implementation of handleMeasurementViewState() in AnuraExampleMeasurementActivity on how to handle state changes.

The updated MeasurementPipeline also includes a new method for determining if a measurement should be cancelled early:

measurementPipeline.shouldCancelMeasurement(results.snr, resultIndex)

In previous versions of the Sample App, the measurement early cancellation logic was in the example code. If your application was using that code, you should replace that code with a call to this new method.

MediaPipe Face Tracker

Anura Core Android 2.4.0 includes support for MediaPipe face tracker which provides improved performance, a smaller binary size, and simplifies integration with your application.

To start using MediaPipe, include it as a dependency in your application's build.gradle:

mediaPipeVersion = "0.10.2"

implementation ("com.google.mediapipe:solution-core:$mediaPipeVersion")
implementation("com.google.mediapipe:facemesh:$mediaPipeVersion")

You may also remove Visage FaceTracker and its dependencies and assets:

• anura-visage-2.3.0.aar
• visage assets folder
• Any .vlc license file

Visage FaceTrack support

If you would like to continue using Visage FaceTrack, please use the updated anura-visage-2.4.0.XXXX.aar. The updated binaries and Visage assets folder are included under this repo's /visage directory.

New MeasurementResults Class

The new MeasurementResults class replaces the existing AnalyzerResult and AnalyzerResult2 classes for parsing real-time results from DeepAffex Cloud. MeasurementResults has a simple allResults interface to get all the available results and notes for each point in key/value pairs. MeasurementResults can be serialized into JSON or parceled for passing to another Android activity.

AnalyzerResult and AnalyzerResult2 classes are still available in Anura Core Android 2.4.0, but these are deprecated and will be removed in the future.

MeasurementResults requires kotlinx.serialization to work. If your application does not use kotlinx.serialization, follow these steps:

1. Update kotlin_version to '1.8.0' or newer
2. Add the Kotlin serialization Gradle plugin to your project's build.gradle:

   classpath "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-serialization:$kotlin_version"
   

3. Add Kotlin serialization dependency to your application's build.gradle:

   implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-serialization-json:1.1.0"
   

4. Optional: If your application does not utilize getDefaultProguardFile in its build.gradle file, you need to add the proguard rules to your proguard-rules.pro file not to break kotlin-serialization when minifying and obfuscating the code in release mode.

Removing Protobufs

Protobufs are no longer used in Anura Core Android 2.4.0, and can be removed from your application's dependencies.

Improved DeepAffex Cloud API Client

Anura Core Android 2.4.0 includes an improved DeepAffex Cloud API client that can better handle WebSocket connections in poor network conditions.

Your application will automatically get these improvements by simply using the latest Anura Core SDK Android 2.4.0 binaries and implementing the TokenStore. Please refer to the included SampleTokenStore for an example.

An important security update to the DeepAffex Cloud API was released on November 28, 2023, which expires tokens after a fixed duration. This will impact your user's experience if you choose to keep using the older Anura Core SDKs. Upgrading to the latest Anura Core SDKs ensures seamless adaptation to these API changes.

Miscellaneous Changes

ProGuard Rules

Anura Core SDK 2.4.0 includes consumer ProGuard rules, so your application will no longer need to maintain its own ProGuard rules to support Anura Core SDK if used in conjunction with getDefaultProguardFile in build.gradle:

proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt')

You may safely remove existing ProGuard rules from your application that were added to support previous versions of Anura Core SDK.

RestClient

The token has been renamed to actionId.

The endpoint getLicenseStatus has been renamed to verifyToken to better match the api naming.

The constant RestClient.ACTION_EXPIRE_LICENSE has changed to RestClient.ACTION_VERIFY_TOKEN

AnuraError

AnuraError Class has been split into either Network related errors or Core related errors.

For example, AnuraError.LICENSE_EXPIRED is now AnuraError.Network.LICENSE_EXPIRED

Network errors

RestClient's onError callback now provides AnuraError.NetworkErrorInfo data class rather than just a message and token number.

The class will now provide the actionId, errorCode, errorMessage and the responseCode.

Measurement Pipeline Listener

Added callback method onMeasurementFaceDetected that provides a boolean isFaceDetected.

Added two other callback methods for debugging purposes onCameraFrameRate and onFaceTrackerFrameRate, which provide the frames per second (fps) measured.

Anura Core SDK iOS 1.9.0 Migration Guide

Anura Core SDK iOS 1.9.0 is a major update that includes the following improvements and features:

• New measurement UI that utilizes the device's screen as a light source for more accurate and reliable measurements
• Replaced the existing visage|SDK FaceTrack with MediaPipe FaceMesh for improved performance and simplified integration
• Improved WebSocket handling in poor network conditions
• DeepAffex token security enhancements

Upgrading to Anura Core iOS 1.9.0

A few steps are required to upgrade your existing app from Anura Core 1.8.x to 1.9.0.

Updating SDK Binaries

Replace the existing AnuraCore.xcframework and libdfx.xcframework frameworks in your application with the latest versions.

Adopting the new UI

Anura Core SDK 1.9.0 features a new measurement UI that utilizes the device's screen as a light source for more accurate and reliable measurements.

Existing applications will adopt the new measurement UI and behaviour automatically through the defaultConfiguration property of MeasurementConfiguration and MeasurementUIConfiguration. If your application needs to maintain the UI and behaviour of previous versions of Anura Core SDK, you may use the corresponding defaultLegacyConfiguration

MediaPipe FaceMesh

Anura Core SDK 1.9.0 includes support for MediaPipe FaceMesh which provides improved performance, a smaller binary size, and simplifies integration with your application.

To start using MediaPipe, you will need to add FaceMesh.xcframework to your application's embedded frameworks. You can simply initialize an instance of MediaPipeFaceTracker and pass it to AnuraMeasurementViewController during initialization. Be sure to add <AnuraCore/MediaPipeFaceTracker.h> to your application's bridging header.

You may also remove visage|SDK FaceTrack and its dependencies and assets:

• visageSDK-iOS folder
• bdtsdata assets folder
• libVisageVision.a static library
• TFPlugin.xcframework dynamic library
• Any .vlc license files

You may also update your Xcode build target's settings to remove any settings related to visage|SDK FaceTrack:

• Remove "$(SRCROOT)/Frameworks/visageSDK-iOS/include" from Header Search Paths
• Remove VISAGE_STATIC and IOS from Preprocessor Macros

Note: MediaPipe is not tied to your application ID, and does not require a separate license file for each variant of your application.

visage|SDK FaceTrack support

If you would like to continue using visage|SDK FaceTrack, you may use the Visage classes and binaries provided in previous versions of Anura Core SDK.

MeasurementResults Changes

MeasurementResults class has been updated to parse the Notes field from DeepAffex Cloud that provide additional information about the computation of the results. The allResults property has been changed to return [String: SignalResult] instead of [String: Double], with SignalResult having 2 properties: value: Double and notes: [String].

Your application should be updated to read the value property for each SignalResult, and the notes property will contain additional information about the computation of the that result. For more information on notes, please refer to DeepAffex Cloud API - Subscribe to Results endpoint documentation.

Early Measurement Cancellation Logic

AnuraMeasurementViewController includes a new shouldCancelMeasurement(snr: Double, chunkOrder: Int) -> Bool method in AnuraMeasurementViewController to determine if a measurement should be cancelled early.

In previous versions of the Sample App, the measurement early cancellation logic was in the example code. If your application was using that code, you should replace that code with calling this new method.

Improved DeepAffex Cloud API Client

Anura Core SDK iOS 1.9.0 includes an improved DeepAffex Cloud API client that can better handle WebSocket connections in poor network conditions.

Your application will these improvements by using the updated DeepAffexMiniAPIClient and MeasurementResultsSubscriber classes included in the Sample App.

An important security update to the DeepAffex Cloud API was released on November 28, 2023, which expires tokens after a fixed duration. This will impact your user's experience if you choose to keep using the older Anura Core SDKs. Upgrading to the latest Anura Core SDKs ensures seamless adaptation to these API changes.

Your application must use the new beginStartupFlow(_:) method of DeepAffexMiniAPIClient to ensure that it has a valid token prior to taking a measurement. This method encapsulates the code that was in previous versions of StartViewController, and your application should replace that code with calling the new beginStartupFlow(_:) method.

Anura Core SDK Frequently Asked Questions

Which devices is Anura Core SDK supported on?

Please refer to the Platform requirements page in the Anura Core SDK Developer Guide.

How is Anura Core SDK distributed?

Anura Core SDK is distributed privately via secure Git repositories.

How can I integrate Anura Core into my Android app?

Please refer to the Anura Core Android section in our developer guide.

How can I integrate Anura Core into my iOS app?

Please refer to the Anura Core iOS section in our developer guide.

How can I integrate Anura Core into my web application?

Anura Core is designed for native mobile apps (iOS and Android). To integrate DeepAffex technology into your web app, you can use the NuraLogix Web Measurement Service (WMS).

Where can I find the DeepAffex Extraction Library for Android or iOS?

For Android and iOS, the DeepAffex Extraction Library is embedded into the Anura Core SDK and is not distributed separately.

Can the measurement UI in the Anura Core SDK be customized?

Yes, the UI can be customized.

On iOS, the default colors, fonts, and images can be changed using MeasurementUIConfiguration. If you need more customization, you can hide all the existing elements using MeasurementUIConfiguration and implement your own UI by subclassing AnuraMeasurementViewController or directly adding your own views to the UIViewController.

On Android, you have direct access to the UI as demonstrated in the sample app.

Are the measurement result dials and screens of Anura Lite part of the Anura Core SDK?

Only the measurement UI is part of the Anura Core SDK. The measurement result dials are not part of the SDK. Other screens, if included, may be different from Anura Lite.

How does the data flow in the SDK? Does the SDK store the face scan data locally and then make an API call to server to get the results? Or will we have to make the API call?

The SDKs and Sample App do not use any local storage, except for storing the API token. The data flow is documented in the Sample Apps and also in our Anura Core SDK Developer Guide.

How to hide/remove the Anura logo at the top of the screen in the Android SDK?

You can use measurementView.showAnuraIcon(false) to hide it.

Anura Core SDK Developer Guide Changelog

1.19.0 - 2024-06-21

• Internal improvements

1.18.0 - 2024-05-10

• Added a section on localization

1.17.0 - 2024-05-03

• Language and formatting updates

1.16.0 - 2024-03-01

• Removed a note about iOS Simulator support on Intel-based Macs

1.15.0 - 2023-12-04

• Updated the information about the DeepAffex Cloud API changes in the Android and iOS migration guides

1.14.0 - 2023-11-07

• Updated the iOS Package Information, Anura Core iOS, Sample Applications, Platform Requirements, and Troubleshooting pages
• Updated Sample application images to match Anura Core SDK 1.9.0
• Updated Best Practices chapter with info on DeepAffex token renew
• Added a new chapter - iOS 1.9.0 SDK Migration Guide
• Update release date of the upcoming DeepAffex Cloud API changes
• Added a new FAQ
• Updated the About This Guide page

1.13.0 - 2023-09-20

• Added information about how to modify icons in the Android SDK
• Some language edits

1.12.0 - 2023-08-31

• Added a Frequently Asked Questions section

1.11.0 - 2023-08-04

• Updated the Android Package Information, Anura Core Android, Sample Applications, Platform Requirements, and Troubleshooting pages
• Updated Sample application images to match Anura Core SDK 2.4.0
• Added a new chapter - Android 2.4.0 SDK Migration Guide

1.10.0 - 2023-07-13

• Removed Partner id mentioned on the Sample Applications page
• Added Xamarin under cross platform section

1.9.0 - 2023-05-29

• Added more information about the API levels on the platform requirements page
• Updated the iOS Package Information and the iOS project screenshot on the package information page
• Updated the iOS Core SDK usage description and Measurement UI Customization on the Anura Core iOS page
• Updated the iOS SDK Binaries size based on arm64 architecture on the package information page

1.8.0 - 2023-04-19

• Added an SNR-related issues section on the troubleshooting page
• Updated the iOS Sample App instructions and the FaceTrackerProtocol code
• Separated iOS and Android best practices sections and updated the iOS part
• Formatting improvements

1.7.0 - 2023-02-14

• Updated server.properties file info on the Anura Core Android page
• Added visage instructions for Android on the troubleshooting page
• Reformatted the troubleshooting page

1.6.0 - 2022-11-28

• Removed content from the questionnaires page and referred to the developers guide
• Removed content from the results section
• Added info about adding a fixed cluster URL in Android sample app
• Added a disclaimer page
• Added a troubleshooting guide

1.5.0 - 2022-10-31

• Added .NET MAUI in cross platform section
• Formatting improvements

1.4.0 - 2022-09-29

• Added a new chapter on platform requirements
• Added Fasting Blood Glucose risk chapter in interpreting results section
• Added Hemoglobin A1C risk chapter in interpreting results section
• Modified interpretation tables for Hypertension risk, Type 2 diabetes risk, Hypercholesterolemia risk, and Hypertriglyceridemia risk.
• Some language edits

1.3.0 - 2022-08-15

• Added information about the acceptable Calculated BMI range

1.2.4 - 2022-06-17

• Added a change log
• Updated best practices chapter with refresh token info
• Added recommendation about user login in best practices chapter

1.2.3 - 2022-06-02

• Updated the extraction pipeline diagram
• Updated sample app screenshots
• Updated iOS SDK version

1.2.2 - 2022-05-12

• Updated package info
• Updated screenshots of sample packages
• Updated the link for the private repo

1.2.1 - 2022-04-07

• Updated the architecture diagram

1.2.0 - 2022-03-31

• Updated SDK architecture diagram indicating extraction library.

1.1.2 - 2022-02-09

• Replaced infinity symbol
• Place quotes around demographics keys.
• Removed older MSI file with name conflict
• Updated the colour tables on metabolic risks pages
• Updated Questionnaire page with more info
• Updated acceptable ranges for user height and weight
• Fixed link to MSI page and renamed it

1.1.1 - 2021-08-13

• Some word edits and spell checks
• Added section for cross-platform apps