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Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensor Networks".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 47167

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Carles Gomez

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Guest Editor

Department of Network Engineering, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, 08860 Castelldefels, Spain
Interests: low-power wireless technologies; IoT; WSNs; BLE; LPWAN; 6LoWPAN; 6Lo; IP-based protocols for constrained-node networks
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Dear Colleagues,

Bluetooth low energy (BLE) was first specified in 2010. Since then, its popularity has not ceased to increase. In fact, BLE has become the dominant low-power wireless technology in a variety of consumer electronics devices, including the smartphone. The latter is crucially important, as it brings widespread presence to BLE. This feature of BLE, along with its suitability for simple, energy-constrained devices (e.g., battery-enabled sensors), allows positioning BLE as a fundamental enabler of networking paradigms such as wireless sensor networks and the Internet of Things.

BLE technology and BLE-based networking have also expanded in parallel to their success. The panoply of BLE features, options, and mechanisms has significantly increased in the last few years. Significant additions to the BLE universe include several Bluetooth specification updates (the latest being Bluetooth 5 and Bluetooth 5.1), IPv6 support for BLE devices, and many initiatives for enabling BLE mesh networks.

BLE applications can be found in a wide range of domains, e.g., smart home, smart cities, smart health, smart agriculture, or Industry 4.0. BLE is enabling the interaction between humans and smart objects, as well as between smart objects themselves. BLE has also been leveraged for innovative location-based applications, opportunistic data collection, crowd-sensing, etc.

Remarkably, BLE is also playing a fundamental role in the context of combatting COVID-19. BLE-enabled sensors are being used in hospitals to remotely collect vital parameter readings (e.g. temperature, blood pressure, etc.), minimizing the risk of infection for medical personnel. Furthermore, the widespread presence of BLE in smartphones is crucial to enable contact tracing applications being developed and used worldwide.

This Special Issue aims at collecting high quality research papers and review articles focusing on recent advances in BLE. Original, high-quality contributions that have not been published before and are not currently under review by other journals or conferences are sought.

Dr. Carles Gomez
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Potential topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

Performance evaluation (e.g., mathematical analysis, simulation and/or experimentation) of BLE networks
BLE version-oriented studies (Bluetooth 4.x, Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth 5.1)
Internet connectivity of BLE devices: 6LoWPAN/6Lo, gateway-based approaches, etc.
BLE mesh networking standardization efforts: Bluetooth Mesh (Bluetooth SIG), IPv6 mesh over BLE (IETF), etc.
Novel approaches to BLE mesh networks
Coexistence of BLE with other wireless technologies
BLE beacons
BLE-based localization
BLE-based opportunistic sensor data collection
Innovative applications of BLE in smart home, smart cities, smart transportation, smart agriculture, smart health, Industry 4.0, etc.
Applications of BLE for combatting COVID-19: parameter monitoring, contact tracing, etc.

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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24 pages, 6130 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Detecting Proximity with Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons for Cultural Heritage

by Paolo Barsocchi, Michele Girolami and Davide La Rosa

Sensors 2021, 21(21), 7089; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21217089 - 26 Oct 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4213

Abstract

The RE.S.I.STO project targets visitors of Pisa medieval city, with the goal of providing high-quality digital contents accessible with smart devices. We describe the design, implementation and the test phases of the RE.S.I.STO application, whose goal is to automatically detect the proximity between visitors and artworks. Proximity is detected with a set of algorithms based on the analysis of Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. We detail our experimental campaigns which reproduce several museum layouts of increasing complexity at two pilot sites, and we compute the performance of the implemented algorithms to detect the nearby artworks. In particular, we test our solution in a wide open space located in our research institute and by performing a real deployment at the Camposanto Monumentale located in Pisa (Italy). The obtained performance varies in the range of 40% to perfect accuracy, according to the complexity of the considered museum layouts. We also describe a set of stress and stability tests aimed at verifying the robustness of the application during the data collection process. Our results show that the mobile application is able to reduce the beacon loss rate, with an average value of 77% of collected beacons. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications)

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22 pages, 935 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimizing the Bluetooth Low Energy Service Discovery Process

by Kristof T’Jonck, Bozheng Pang, Hans Hallez and Jeroen Boydens

Sensors 2021, 21(11), 3812; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21113812 - 31 May 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4403

Abstract

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a short-range and low-power communication protocol, has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. A part of BLE is the Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) which defines the data communication between two devices. During the initial connection between two BLE devices a discovery of services, characteristics and descriptors is required for the GATT to operate. During this discovery phase, the device is unusable as it builds the foundation for further data transactions. When unoptimized, this discovery step can take up to a few seconds, leading to frustrations for the end user or delays in some applications. In this paper, we aim to find guidelines on how to optimize this discovery process. A simulation framework was developed, able to simulate and analyze the packet exchange of the service discovery, while taking link layer parameters into account. The results show that minimizing the connection interval and maximizing the data length leads to the lowest discovery times. Practical experiments in real environment, however, show that the theoretically calculated times are not reachable due to processing overhead and retransmissions. Theoretical results also show that the current BLE discovery process, even after optimizations, has a lot of overhead. To fix the problems with the current protocol, this paper proposes a new Rapid Service Discovery Protocol, which enables a fast and efficient service discovery. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications)

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22 pages, 2306 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Empirical Study of a Room-Level Localization System Based on Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons

by Pedro J. García-Paterna, Alejandro S. Martínez-Sala and Juan Carlos Sánchez-Aarnoutse

Sensors 2021, 21(11), 3665; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21113665 - 25 May 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3059

Abstract

The ability to locate an object or a person at room-level inside a building or a house could have multiple applications. In this study, we adapt the fingerprint technique using Bluetooth Low Energy to locate the exact room of a person, seeking a simple and low-cost solution. The system is based on BLE beacons deployed at fixed positions and a person carrying a BLE scanner that generates fingerprints from the BLE beacons in coverage. We formulate it as a classification problem where each room is a class; the objective is to estimate the exact room, trying to maximize the area and number of rooms, but also trying to minimize the number of BLE beacons. The room estimation engine is based on a kNN (k-nearest neighbors) classifier. We evaluate the accuracy in two real scenarios and empirically measure the room estimation success related to the number of BLE beacons. As a proof-of-concept, a laptop and a Raspberry Pi are used as BLE scanners to test different hardware. We follow a measurement campaign for several days at different times to evaluate the stability and repeatability of the system. With just a few beacons an accuracy between 70 and 90% is achieved for house and university scenarios. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications)

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22 pages, 2604 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bluetooth Low Energy Interference Awareness Scheme and Improved Channel Selection Algorithm for Connection Robustness

by Bozheng Pang, Kristof T’Jonck, Tim Claeys, Davy Pissoort, Hans Hallez and Jeroen Boydens

Sensors 2021, 21(7), 2257; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21072257 - 24 Mar 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 6183

Abstract

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a popular wireless communication protocol heavily used in Internet of Things applications. Nowadays, robustness is considered a key requirement in wireless communication. However, radio interference from various sources may affect the performance of BLE devices, leading to channel congestion. Therefore, there is a broadly recognized need of methodologies capable of sensing and avoiding interference. In this paper, two improvements at the data link layer for interference detection and channel selection are proposed to enhance the BLE connection robustness. This paper also presents a wide range of experimental evaluations aiming at validating the improvements and providing insights on both these improvements. Particularly, the communication performance of the BLE link layer is assessed in terms of channel usage distribution, supervision timeout ratio (STR) and packet loss rate (PLR) under different interference environments. Results from these experiments (reliability over 97% and 99% under two different harsh environments) highlight the effects of both improvements on the BLE robustness. Meanwhile, the authority of scheduling the whole mechanism is given to the link layer and even the higher application layer. This paper provides a set of solutions for BLE confronting interference in link layer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications)

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28 pages, 6506 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Obstruction-Aware Signal-Loss-Tolerant Indoor Positioning Using Bluetooth Low Energy

by Aybars Kerem Taşkan and Hande Alemdar

Sensors 2021, 21(3), 971; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21030971 - 1 Feb 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4099

Abstract

Indoor positioning is getting increased attention due to the availability of larger and more sophisticated indoor environments. Wireless technologies like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) may provide inexpensive solutions. In this paper, we propose obstruction-aware signal-loss-tolerant indoor positioning (OASLTIP), a cost-effective BLE-based indoor positioning algorithm. OASLTIP uses a combination of techniques together to provide optimum tracking performance by taking into account the obstructions in the environment, and also, it can handle a loss of signal. We use running average filtering to smooth the received signal data, multilateration to find the measured position of the tag, and particle filtering to track the tag for better performance. We also propose an optional receiver placement method and provide the option to use fingerprinting together with OASLTIP. Moreover, we give insights about BLE signal strengths in different conditions to help with understanding the effects of some environmental conditions on BLE signals. We performed extensive experiments for evaluation of the OASLTool we developed. Additionally, we evaluated the performance of the system both in a simulated environment and in real-world conditions. In a highly crowded and occluded office environment, our system achieved 2.29 m average error, with three receivers. When simulated in OASLTool, the same setup yielded an error of 2.58 m. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications)

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19 pages, 1328 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Efficient Communication Scheme for Bluetooth Low Energy in Large Scale Applications

by Maciej Nikodem, Mariusz Slabicki and Marek Bawiec

Sensors 2020, 20(21), 6371; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20216371 - 8 Nov 2020

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4007

Abstract

The use of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications has become widespread and popular. This has resulted in the increased number of deployed BLE devices. To ensure energy efficiency, applications use connectionless communication where nodes broadcast information using advertisement messages. As the BLE devices compete for access to spectrum, collisions are inevitable and methods that improve device coexistence are required. This paper proposes a connectionless communication scheme for BLE that improves communication efficiency in IoT applications where a large number of BLE nodes operate in the same area and communicate simultaneously to a central server. The proposed scheme is based on an active scanning mode and is compared with a typical application where passive scanning mode is used. The evaluation is based on numerical simulations and real-life evaluation of a network containing 150 devices. The presented scheme significantly reduces the number of messages transmitted by each node and decreases packet loss ratio. It also improves the energy efficiency and preserves the battery of BLE nodes as they transmit fewer radio messages and effectively spent less time actively communicating. The proposed connectionless BLE communication scheme can be applied to a large variety of IoT applications improving their performance and coexistence with other devices operating in the 2.4 GHz band. Additionally, the implementation complexity and costs of the proposed communication scheme are negligible. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications)

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24 pages, 7546 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Experimental Evaluation of 6BLEMesh: IPv6-Based BLE Mesh Networks

by Seyed Mahdi Darroudi and Carles Gomez

Sensors 2020, 20(16), 4623; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20164623 - 17 Aug 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4025

Abstract

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has become a major wireless technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). Recent efforts of academia, industry and standards development organizations have focused on creating BLE mesh network solutions. 6BLEMesh is a specification being developed by the IETF that defines an IPv6-oriented approach for BLE mesh networking. In this paper, we perform an experimental evaluation of 6BLEMesh, based on a real implementation. We evaluate latency, round trip time (RTT) and energy consumption. For the latter, we model the device current consumption, we determine the energy efficiency of communication, and we obtain the theoretical device lifetime (for battery-operated devices), for three different hardware platforms. Under the assumptions in our study (including a simple 235 mAh battery, and periodic data transmission), the maximum, asymptotic, device lifetime is 573 days, whereas battery-operated router devices can also achieve 3-digit lifetimes (in days) in many scenarios. Our results also illustrate the impact on performance of BLE-level and application-level parameter settings, adaptation layer mechanisms such as IPv6 header compression, and device hardware characteristics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications)

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13 pages, 5618 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Modeling of Neighbor Discovery in Bluetooth Low Energy Networks

by Bingqing Luo, Jincheng Gao and Zhixin Sun

Sensors 2019, 19(22), 4997; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19224997 - 16 Nov 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2921

Abstract

Given that current Internet of Things (IoT) applications employ many different sensors to provide information, a large number of the Bluetooth low energy (BLE) devices will be developed for IoT systems. Developing low-power and low-cost BLE advertisers is one of most challenging tasks for supporting the neighbor discovery process (NDP) of such a large number of BLE devices. Since the parameter setting is essential to achieve the required performance for the NDP, an energy model of neighbor discovery in BLE networks can provide beneficial guidance when determining some significant parameter metrics, such as the advertising interval, scan interval, and scan window. In this paper, we propose a new analytical model to characterize the energy consumption using all possible parameter settings during the NDP in BLE networks. In this model, the energy consumption is derived based on the Chinese remainder theorem (CRT) for an advertising event and a scanning event during the BLE NDP. In addition, a real testbed is set up to measure the energy consumption. The measurement and experimental results reveal the relationship between the average energy consumption and the key parameters. On the basis of this model, beneficial guidelines for BLE network configuration are presented to help choose the proper parameters to optimize the power consumption for a given IoT application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications)

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Review

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16 pages, 11916 KiB

Open AccessReview

Bluetooth 5.1: An Analysis of Direction Finding Capability for High-Precision Location Services

by Giovanni Pau, Fabio Arena, Yonas Engida Gebremariam and Ilsun You

Sensors 2021, 21(11), 3589; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21113589 - 21 May 2021

Cited by 82 | Viewed by 10180

Abstract

This paper presents an in-depth overview of the Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding standard’s potentials, thanks to enhancing the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) firmware. This improvement allows producers to create location applications based on the Angle of Departure (AoD) and the Angle of Arrival (AoA). Accordingly, it is conceivable to design proper Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS), for instance, for the traceability of resources, assets, and people. First of all, Radio Frequency (RF) radiogoniometry techniques, helpful in calculating AoA and AoD angles, are introduced in this paper. Subsequently, the topic relating to signal direction estimation is deepened. The Bluetooth Core Specification updates concerning version 5.1, both at the packet architecture and prototyping levels, are also reported. Some suitable platforms and development kits for running the new features are then presented, and some basic applications are illustrated. This paper’s final part allows ascertaining the improvement made by this new definition of BLE and possible future developments, especially concerning applications related to devices, assets, or people’s indoor localization. Some preliminary results gathered in a real evaluation scenario are also presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bluetooth Low Energy: Advances and Applications)

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