Internet of Things

Bluetooth Low Energy

Miguel Pajares Hernández Carlos Agustín Diez Sanchez-Muliterno

Escuela Politécnica Superior Escuela Politécnica Superior
Universidad Francisco de Vitoria Universidad Francisco de Vitoria
Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—We will show the state of the art and the connection that requires very little energy to work,
latest advancements that have been released in the but only to one device simultaneously.
Bluetooth Low Energy, as well as technical knowledges.
By using the non-persistent connections and a
Keywords — Internet; Things; IoT; BLE; Energy; smaller range of them, the BLE can save much more
Low; Bluetooth; connectivity.
energy, allowing the devices to have a battery life
close to a year if not longer.

I. WHAT IS A BLUETOOTH LOW

Also, the small amount of energy consumption
ENERGY? means that the total amount of information that the
BLE device sends is reduced.
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), also known as
Bluetooth Smart, are devices included in the WPAN Let's start by some definitions that are relevant for
(Wireless Personal Area Network). However, its BLE:
range can easily reach 30-40m at the cost of a
reduction in the capabilities of bidirectional ● GENERIC ATTRIBUTE PROFILE
information transfer. These devices are developed by (GATT): Ones that the dedicated connection
Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) to is established between two devices is when
fill the necessity in the areas of health control, the GATT starts working and making sure
security and many others. By using the Bluetooth that the information that is flowing from one
device to the other, by making connections
 exclusive between the BLE device and the o UNIVERSALLY UNIQUE
currently connected device. The GATT is IDENTIFIER (UUID): This UUID
based on the Attribute Protocol (ATT). can be either a 16-bit number or 128
bit, and it allows to determine the type
As we can see the BLE is only able to connect of device that is sending the
to a single central device, but the central information
device can be connected to several devices.
o VALUE ATTRIBUTE: The actual

● ATTRIBUTE PROTOCOL(ATT): The ATT information of the specific attribute

protocol is based on the low-layer level and that the device is sending information

defines the way to transfer data from one about.

device to the other.

o SECURITY ATTRIBUTE: The
This protocol is
security layer is defined in the GATT
reduced to the search
protocol and it will define if the
for other devices to
Ilustración 1: ATT device can write, read or neither of
protocol operation connect, reading y and
them according to the security level
sending attributes
defined for each attribute.
from one device to another. It is the base of
the GATT protocol which has a 16-bit ID for
the mentioned attributes and there are two
ways to connect either as a server or as a Ilustración 2: BLE frame

client. The client does not store any

● CHARACTERISTIC: A single value of an
information, only the server. In the exchange
attribute and includes the descriptor for the
of information, the client sends the
value of the characteristic.
information and the server answers. In this
protocol there’s no security implemented, ● DESCRIPTOR: Gives human information
everything is implemented in the GATT (1). that allows to understand and evaluate the
characteristic received from the device.
o HANDLE ATTRIBUTE: Allows to
know the attribute that is being sent as ● SERVICE: Collection of characteristics
each attribute has normally and about a specific attribute.
unique value.
 II. HISTORY III. DIFFERENCES WITH CLASSIC
BLUETOOTH
In the early 90s (2), Erikson created the idea of a
device with a short-range and small consumption of
Classic Bluetooth was originally designed for
energy, the project was called MCLink, from this
continuous streaming of data applications, for
project the Bluetooth was born. Until 2003 when
example, is ideal for connecting mobile phones to
Nokia created the project MiMOSA (3) with the help
Bluetooth-enabled headsets to make phone calls, this
of the European funds and other companies in six
means that you can exchange a lot of data at a close
different European countries, Spain included and
range. That is why Bluetooth is such a good fit for
represented by Cardiplus, started this project with a
consumer products.
total budget around of 23 million euros. The project
ended on the 30th of June 2006 and it was called Instead, low-energy Bluetooth is an ultra-low-power
Wibree this name came from Wireless and Bree. version designed for low-power sensors and
accessories. It is ideal for applications that do not
In 1998 September Bluetooth Special Interest Group
require a continuous connection, remaining in sleep
(SIG) was created by the union of Ericsson, Nokia,
mode constantly except for when a connection is
IBM, Intel Corporation and Toshiba and by 2007
initiated and since doesn't have to transmit large
SIG was formed by more than 9000 companies and
amounts of data, can be running on a battery for years
this organization is in charge of the development of
at a cheaper cost. It is not suitable for audio
the Bluetooth technology and for any company that
transmission but, for example, for remote control (4).
wants to use the Bluetooth technology is mandatory
to be part of SIG. The following table shows the differences between
the main features of the classic Bluetooth and the
In 2009 SIG announced the 4.0 version of Bluetooth
BLE (5):
which included the Bluetooth Low Energy, this was
the first version of the actual BLE, along with the
BLE(Bluetooth
years it has been not only the specifications changed SPECIFICATIONS BLUETOOTH
Low Energy)
also the name, was renamed as Bluetooth Smart but
in 2016 was rebranded as Bluetooth Low Energy. Network/Topology Scatternet Star Bus

The main intention of SIG was to get onto the IoT Low (less than Very Low (less
Power consumption
30 mA) than 15 mA)
market so that they can be on the wave of it and be
able to be the reference standard for it.
Speed 700 Kbps 1 Mbps Application less than 0.3
0.7 to 2.1 Mbps
throughput Mbps
50 meters( 150
Range <30 m meters in open Nodes/Active Slaves 7 Unlimited
field)

RF Frequency band 2400 MHz 2400 MHz Tabla 1: Comparison between BLE and classic Bluetooth

40 channels from
79 channels
from 2.400 GHz
2402MHz to IV. STRUCTURE
Frequency 2480 MHz
to 2.4835 GHz
Channels (includes 3
with 1 MHz
advertising and The BLE is a subset of the Bluetooth v4.0 standard.
spacing
37 data channels)
It has a protocol stack in reference to the OSI layer

GFSK
and oriented to simple connections in very low-
(modulation GFSK power applications (2).
Modulation index 0.35) , π/4 (modulation
DQPSK, index 0.5)
8DPSK

Latency in data
transfer between Approx. 100 ms Approx. 3 ms
two devices

FHSS (1MHz FHSS (2MHz

Spreading
channel) channel)

Link-layer TDMA TDMA

message size(bytes) 358 (Max) 8 to 47

8 bit
Ilustración 3: BLE protocol stack - OSI Layer
CRC(header),
Error 24 bit CRC,
16 bit CRC, 2/3
detection/correction ACKs
FEC(payload),
ACKs The BLE protocol stack is composed of two parts:
the Controller and the Host. The Controller has the
64b/128b, user- 128 bits AES,
Security defined user-defined Physical Layer and the Link Layer and is
application layer application layer implemented as a System-on-Chip (SOC). The Host
runs on an application processor and includes upper
layer functionality, like the Logical Link Control and messages received. The connections use a stop-
Adaptation Protocol, the Attribute Protocol, the and-wait mechanism which provides error
Generic Attribute Profile, the Security Manager recovery capabilities. Each data channel packet
Protocol (SMP) and the Generic Access Profile contains two one-bit fields called the Sequence
(GAP). The communication between the Host and Number (SN) and the Next Expected Sequence
the Controller is standardized by the Host Controller Number (NESN). The SN bit identifies the packet
Interface (HCI) (6). while the NESN indicates which packet from the
peer device should be received next.

1. Physical Layer
It also offers the definition of roles (Advertiser,
The physical layer contains the communications Scanner, Master and Slave) that allow to logically
processes of performing the modulation and identify each device in the communication
demodulation processes of analogue signals and process.
subsequently transforming them into digital
symbols. BLE technology is capable of using up The link-layer level is similarly responsible for
to 40 2MHz channels in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. control processes such as changing connection
The standard uses the “frequency hopping” or parameters or encryption.
“frequency hopping” technique, following a
sequence of pseudo-random hops between the
mentioned frequency channels that It offers a high 3. Host-Controller Interface
degree of robustness against interference. The Host-Controller Interface (HCI) is a standard
protocol that allows communication between a
An adaptive frequency mechanism is used on the host and a controller to be carried out through a
data channels in order to face interference and serial interface. Usually, the controller is located
wireless propagation issues. It selects one of the on separate hardware, connected via UART or
37 available data channels for communication USB.
during a given time interval.
The Bluetooth standard defines HCI as the set of
commands and events for the interaction of both,
2. Link Layer host and controller.

The link layer is responsible for managing

features such as the requirements of the standard,
message check and forwarding of erroneous
4. Logical Link Control and Adaption
The client can modify the attributes of the server
Protocol Layer
by sending requests, which receive responses
The Logical Link Control and Adaption Protocol messages from the server. For a major efficiency,
Layer (L2CAP) is an optimized and simplified the server can also send to the client two types of
protocol based on the classic Bluetooth and is messages that contain attributes:
responsible for two fundamental tasks in a - Notifications, which are unconfirmed
communication process. First, the process of - Indications, which require confirmation
formatting messages from the upper OSI layers by the client.
and encapsulating them in standard BLE packages
as well as the reverse process. It is responsible for
giving access and support to the two fundamental 6. Generic Access Profile
protocols that we will see in the next point.
The Generic Access Profile (GAP), at the highest
level of the protocol layer with the GATT, allows
a device to be visible to other devices and also
5. Security Manager and Attribute
determines how one device can interact with
Protocols
another. Establishes different standards and
The Security Manager Protocol (SMP), provides concepts to standardize the lowest level
a framework to generate and distribute security operations like:
keys between two devices.
- Interaction roles
- Modes of operation
The Attribute Protocol (ATT) is based on
- Procedures for the discovery of devices
attributes presented by device with client-server
and services.
architecture, which allows the exchange of
- Management of connections.
information defining the communication between
- Security.
two devices.

7. Generic Attribute Profile

The Generic Attribute Profile (GATT), defines a
framework that uses the ATT for the discovery of
services and how two BLE devices transfer
information between them. This process takes
Ilustración 4: Example of client-server concept place when two devices have passed the
 communication establishment phase (controlled 2. Home devices
by GAP) and the transfer of information Nowadays, smart houses are more and more
(characteristics) begins and can be bidirectional, common and BLE technology is one of the main
being this characteristics a set of data which keys that is allowing this advancement in this
includes a value and properties. field (9). The temperature sensors are one of the
most common usages of the BLE technology in
smart houses, using them allows us to control
V. APPLICATIONS OF BLUETOOTH constantly the temperature of a room and to
LOW ENERGY adjust it according to each moment necessities.

Below are some of the applications for which this

technology was conceived and in which it is
beginning to start it use because BLE (7) is expected
to be used in billions of devices in the now and the
near future:

1. Security and proximity sensors

The security field is turning into a more and more
technologic based area, so the BLE is perfect for
Ilustración 5: Example of BLE working in home devices
it (8).

Sensors in doors, windows allow the alarms to be It also allows controlling the lights of the house
sure that the houses/warehouses are locks and to from a smart device that integrates Bluetooth and
check the state of them all at any moment and can connect to them and control the intensity of
from anywhere. the light and the color and many other
functionalities (10).
Also, for industry and business allows
controlling the flow of people/workers so that, The domotic is using BLE to connect the
the proximity sensors can get information about different smart devices using a simply WIFI
the devices that are connected and for shops can gateway that integrates both WIFI and Bluetooth
allow to show up more accurate publicity. Or and allows us to connect different devices like
simply control the time that workers are in their smoke sensors, motorized blinds that can be
workspace how they move inside of the office
and what are they routines while working.
controlled from other devices or create an by using the BLE technology the batteries will
automatization for habits. long longer and the user experience will be much
better.

Below in the following list we can see an

example of pathologies that we can monitor with
the use of BLE in sensors:
• Blood pressure.
• Weighing scale.
• Pulse oximeter.
• Heart rate.

Ilustración 6: Example of using a smartphone with WiFi as a

Asthma controller helps to control the quality of
gateway
the air that creates asthma problems and can give
the users a forecast based on the routines, it also
3. Devices for health and well-being
has an inhaler integrated so the device can control
The application of BLE within the medical field
also the medication consumption.
is enormous (11). Every equipment that controls
any aspect of health can include BLE and will
4. Automotive sector
allow better control without being physical with
Bluetooth is getting more and more common in
the patient. Some of the examples are:
the automotive sector and by 2023 the 93% of the
BMP Cores, by using them either in a hospital, a new vehicles will include Bluetooth by default,
clinic can help get better control of the blood so BLE is the best option for all of then (13). The
pressure, EGG and digital stethoscope also help usage of BLE will allow the users to use the
the doctors to find heart problems and to have a smartphone to get basic information about the car
better historical record of each patient (12). and to control several aspects of the vehicle like
turn on the car, open it or get alerts about the
The smart thermometer allows get better control relevant information.
of the patient's corporal temperature and as said
before can give better historical record The ConnectedDrive packages are normal
something critical for healthcare. nowadays, and this is BLE based in the big
majority of cars, and allow to the user to connect
Also for personal use in healthcare are the smart the phone to the vehicle so that the user can pick
scales that are getting more and more trending, up calls, reproduce music, see the wheels
pressure and many other relevant live turn on the light and ones gets disconnected the
information about the car. lights will turn off, and also control parking and
understand the way that the citizens move inside
5. Smart meters in the energy sector their city (15).
The smart meters are one of the most important
Also, a new concept for the smart cities are
advancements in the energy sector for the past
emergency services related to the lights control,
years, making the process much faster (14).
if a device connects suddenly and keeps there for
Before the IoT came up with the BLE solution
a long time, the emergency service will get an
for the measurement was read and handwritten
alert as the system will understand that an
by the employees, but once the new
accident occurred in that position.
automatically system was implemented, the
employees only need to connect to the smart As seen all along this seven points, we can see
meter and will automatically get all the that the BLE is used along all the situations of the
consumption metrics. Not only makes faster but day a day lifestyle and the more that the smart
also allows understanding the patterns of energy devices are getting develop it will get more and
usage of each customer. more common.

6. Smart luggage
VI. CONCLUSIONS
BLE is also used in other daily items like
luggage, more and more companies are including In this work, we have seen the state of the art and the
BLE into them to make easier the control over latest advances that have been developed in low
them, not only to be able to get the luggage to the energy Bluetooth technology along with its
correct plane, also to claim the suitcases (15). application areas.

Also in the smart luggage field, we find the

We have decided to organize the work the way we
suitcases that can follow the owner by using BLE
have done it, first to take a look at what BLE was and
and wheel motors that allow the suitcase to move
second, to see what were the main differences we
independently to the user.
found with classic Bluetooth technology. Next, we
thought it was very interesting to see the structure of
7. Smart cities
protocols that it implements according to the OSI
The smart lighting is a real way to save energy in
layers in order to better understand the technical
the future smart cities, by using BLE and getting
knowledge related to its internal functioning.
connected to the pedestrian devices will allow to
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introduccion-la-tecnologia/.
important part of the IoT and how it gets connects
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automatizate some activities, and in other cases
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even though of not being physically there.
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Bluetooth Low Energy: An Emerging Low-Power
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