GearVR Prevent Motion Controller From Sleeping

Anselm

I'm using Unity3D to develop an exhibition app for GearVR on the Galaxy S8.
One issue we have ran into is that if the motion controller for the GearVR isn't used for a short period, it will go to sleep. 
When the controller is woken up again, the orientation of the controller is reset. Meaning users must hold the home button to re-center the controller after it falls asleep.
This is a major issue we have ran into, as the controller falls asleep very quickly. Is there a way to manually disable this sleep feature via a phone option, or programmatically?

Has anyone else found any solutions for this issue of the controller falling asleep?

Anselm

So this appears to only happen when the headset is removed, if the GearVR headset is removed the controller goes to sleep after a short period. I have my app set to continue running even when a user isn't present, but sending commands to the controller doesn't see to do anything while the user is not present. Is there any way to override the user presence functionality? And somehow prevent the headset display from turning off, or allow the display to turn off but somehow continue to send signals to the controller?

imperativity

@Anselm

As the Gear VR controller and associated HMD are Samsung hardware, I know of no current hardware or software setting that can achieve this from our end.

Regarding this:

Is there any way to override the user presence functionality? And somehow prevent the headset display from turning off, or allow the display to turn off but somehow continue to send signals to the controller?

However, if you could continually trigger the HMD's proximity sensor to make it believe it is being worn, this may achieve the result you are looking for.