What exactly is BLE? Read it and find out.

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Advance topics in Distributed Systems : Internet of Things
Short Range Wireless Technologies : Bluetooth Low Energy
Velpuru Sri Kashyap
3300927

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Contents
(1) Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
(3) BLE vs Bluetooth Classic vs ANT vs ZigBee
(4) Scope of BLE and Challenges in IOT
(5) Conclusion
(6) References
(2) ANT

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Source www.smartthings.com/home-security
Source www2.meethue.com/en-us
Source www.nike.com
Source www.addidas.com/fitness
Source https://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/home-phones/smart-home.html
Source Amazon.de
Short Range Wireless Technologies
&…..

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BLUETOOTH
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* Source htgiphy.com/explore/google
Audio applications
Advertisments (Beacons)
Car Mutlimedia
Fitness Bands Home automation

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Classic Mode Dual Mode LE Mode
[1] Core5

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• Short range wireless technology operating in 2.4GHz ISM band.
• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) AKA Bluetooth Smart.
• Specifications given by the Bluetooth SIG ( Special Interest Group).
• Originally developed by Nokia as Wibree later adopted by SIG.
• Not an upgrade of Classic Bluetooth but rather a new technology introduced as
a part of specification V4.0 under the Bluetooth brand.
• Currently a part specifications V4.0, V4.1 , V4.2, V5.0
Bluetooth Low Energy
[1] K Torvmark

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Low Energy!!!! But how?
• Sleeps most of the time.
• Hardware optmized to use low power
Sleep Mode 1μA
Active Mode max. 15mA
• Reduced channels : Reduced scanning
Low Energy 40 channels
Classic 79 channels
• Only 3 advertising channels in LE, compared to 16/32 in Classic.
• LE takes 3ms to connect and acknowledge data, while Classic takes upto 100ms.
• Low data throughput : Low power consumption.
• Small connection intervals of 7.5 ms upto 16 seconds.
Source htgiphy.com/explore/google
[2] Core5

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BLE : Device Roles
Broadcaster
• Sends out advertisement packets
• Doesn‘t receive packets nor initates connection
Observer
• Only listens to advertisement packets
• Doesn‘t initiate connections
Central
• Scans and listens to the advertisement
packets
• Initiates connections
Peripheral
• Sends out advertisements and accepts
connections.
Broadcaster Beacon
Peripheral Central
/Observer
*Source htgiphy.com/explore/google
*
*

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BLE : Topologies
Point to Point: P-P
• Sending data from one client to one server to vice versa.
• Large number of connections in LE, 7 connections in Classic Mode.
• 128 bit AES encryption.
Point to Many: Broadcasting
• Sending data from one client to many servers.
• 31 bytes in V4.X & 255 bytes in V5.0.
• Security is user defined on the application layer.
Many to Many: Mesh (V5.0 only)
• Sending data across devices in the network.
• Supports 32,767nodes in the network
• 128 bit AES encryption.
P-P
P-M
M-M
[3] Bluetooth5

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Versions 1, 2.x, 3.x Versions 4.x , 5.0 Versions 4.x , 5.0
[2] Core5

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Architecture
LE Phy: (ISM Band: 2.4 GHz – 2.4835 GHz)
• Physical Radio : Modulation & Demodulation of data.
• 40 Channels : 3- Advertising, 37- Connection data
Link Layer:
• Interface to connect Physical Radio to higher layers.
• Defines device roles & responsible for establishing connections.
L2CAP: Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol
• Encapsulates data into standard BLE packets by interacting with
higher layers and vice versa.
• Fragmentation and re-combination of data.
SMP: Security Manager Protocol
• Implements cryptographic functions in different phases.
• Provides AES 128 bit encryption for the data.
[2] Core5

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Architecture
ATT: Attribute Layer
• Client/Server protocol based on attributes.
• Handles read, write, queuing, error handling operations.
GAP: Generic Access Profile
• Controls advertising and connection operations.
• Specifies device roles and control procedure for discovery,
connection, security establishment etc.
• Defines procedures to achieve consistency and interoperability.
GATT: Generic Attribute Profile
• Adds data model and hierarchy
• Defines how the data is organised and exchanged between different
applications
• Organises data in form of services.
[2] Core5

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Generic Attribute Profile
• There are two roles within GATT : Client & Server
Profiles
• These are basically the use cases.
• Comprises of services. Eg Battery Profile
Services
• Grouping of certain characteristics that satisfy a functionality.
• Eg Battery Service, this contains a Battery level characteristic
Characteristics
• These are a part of service which represent some specific data.
• Eg Battery level characteristic shows remaining battery percentage
Attributes
• Generic term for any type of data exposed by server.
• Eg Services & Characteristics are types of attributes.
Source: www.novelbits.io/what-is-ble-bluetooth-low-energy-iot/
Source. www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/Nordic-mobile-Apps

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Advertisements
• Advertisement packetscontain Peripheral name, UUIDs, broadcasted
data.
• Advertisements from primary advertising channels 37, 38, 39 with
2MHz spacing.
• Packets are of 37 bytes size of which 6 bytes are for header in V4.x
• V5.0 allows the available secondary channels to be used for
advertising data.
• Hence, bigger packet size to 255 bytes in V5.x
• Beacons can now TALK more!!!!
• Reduced duty cycle.
[3] Bluetooth5
Source: http://devtin.io/development/the-physical-web-and-beacons

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What’s new in V5.0?
• 4X Range
• 2X Speed
• Longer Messages
• New Mesh Topology
[2] Bluetooth5

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VS
[3] Bluetooth5

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Source: www.thisisant.com/assets/BenefitsofANTplus.pdf

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ANT
• Short range wireless technology operating in 2.4GHz ISM band.
• Proprietory technology designed and standardised by Dynastream
Innovations Inc., a subsidiary owned by Garmin Ltd.
• Conceptually similar to Bluetooth LE, but mostly used with sensors.
• Widely incorporated in sport & fitness devices which have low data rate
applications.
• ANT is highly flexible & scalable in its design with high cross talk immunity.
• ANT + is a wireless protocol built upon the ANT protocol to add up
interoperability function to the ant devices.
[3] ANT
Source. www. https://www.thisisant.com/
Source. https://buy.garmin.com

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ANT+
ANT devices may receive data, but may not
understand the data.
ANT+ profiles provide the ability for the
devices to understand each other.
ANT
Source. www. https://www.thisisant.com/

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ANT : Topologies
Point to Point M-M
• Sending data from one node (master) to another node (slave).
• AES 128 bit & 64 bit key encryption.
Point to Many Broadcasting
• Sending data from one node to many nodes.
• Unlimited number of nodes.
Many to Many Mesh
• Sending data across many nodes in the network.
• Supports 32,767nodes in the network
• 128 bit AES encryption.
P-P
P-M
M-M
[4] ANT
Tree

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ANT – Protocol Stack
[5] Nathirulla Sheriff

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Adaptive Isochronous Network Operation
• Based on Time Division
Multiplexing
• Concurrent Master/Slave
capability
• Capability to adjust the clock
incase of any drifts
• Agility in shifting paths incase
of high traffic.
Source : https://www.thisisant.com/developer/ant/ant-basics/#106_tab[4] ANT

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Test Case
20 4 485 380 95
15 2 584 533 130
11 2 910 635 140
5 1 1210 675 180
120 LOS 105 0 85
80 LOS 278 0 107
60 LOS 577 488 125
Distance
(meters)
Walls
BLE 5
(Kbit/s)
BLE 4.2
(Kbit/s)
ZigBee
(Kbit/s)
OUTDOOR
INDOOR
[6] Giovanni Pau
BLE 5
• Promising results in both indoor
and outdoor scenarios.
• Better throughput than ZigBee
• Longer range
• Low power consumption
compared to ZigBee.
Conclusion :
Note:- This test was carried out for
5 hours in each instance.

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Scope & Challenges of BLE in IOT
Source:www.com-iot.com

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ABI Research forecasts,
• 48 billion connected
devices by 2021.
• 14.4 billion devices
connected over Bluetooth.
• Will Bluetooth 5 change
it all?.
Scope of BLE in IOT
• New mesh topology will further deepen its use in Smart Cities & Industries.
• Low cost, low power consumption and reliable communication promotes it
as a good option.
• Huge advantage over its peers with an existing large user base makes it a
viable option to adopt as a standard in IOT.
• Ease of connectivity to internet without any additional costs.
• LE Coded mode, reduces the number of nodes in the network. Hence
reducing overall setup cost.
[6] Giovanni Pau

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Challenges in IOT
SCALABILITY SECURITY & PRIVACY
EFFICIENT COMMUNICATIONACCESSIBILITY
[6] Giovanni Pau
INTEROPERABILITY HARDWARE/SOFTWARE
COMPATIBILITY

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THANKYOU!
Questions???

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References
[1]Three Flavours of Bluetooth: Which one to choose?, K Trovmark, Texas Instruments.
[2] Bluetooth 5 Core Specification, Bluetooth SIG (Source www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth-
technology/bluetooth5/bluetooth5-paper)
[3] Bluetooh 5. Go Faster. Go Further, Bluetooth SIG (Source www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth-
technology/bluetooth5/bluetooth5-paper)
[4] ANT Message Protocol and Usage, ANT Alliance (Source www.thisisant.com/developer/ant/ant-
basics/)
[5] Time Synchronization in ANT Wireless Low Power Sensor Network, Nathirulla Sheriff (Source Thesis
Work/ Tekniska Högskolan)
[6] Bluetooth 5: a concrete step forward towards the IOT, Mario Collotta, Timothy talty, Oyan K. Tonguz