Introduction to Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

What is BLE ?

A short range wireless technology focused on low-power and low-bandwidth applications.

Each wireless technology increased its data rate in newer versions ...except in the case of Bluetooth where the data rate dropped from 54Mbps in version 3 to 0.3 Mbps in version 4 (BLE) and then increased to 2Mbps in version 5

Evolution of wireless technologies

Increased data rate except Bluetooth Low Energy

Bluetooth

v1.1 : 1Mbps BR

v2.0 : 3Mbps EDR

v3.0 : 54Mbps MAC PHY

v4.0 : 0.3Mbps BLE

v5 : 2Mbps BLE

Ethernet

802.3i : 10Mbps

802.3u : 100Mbps

802.3ab : 1000Mbps

802.3an : 10000Mbps

Wi-Fi

802.11 : 2Mbps

802.11b : 11Mbps

802.11g : 54Mbps

802.11n : 135Mbps

Modems

V.21 : 0.3kbps

V.22 : 1.2kbps

V.32 : 9.6bps

V.34 : 28.6kbps

Evolution of Bluetooth Low Energy

Launched in early 2010 (v.4.0)
First smartphone support, October 2011- Iphone 4S
Support for multiple roles simultaneous, December 2013 (v. 4.1)
Security upgrade, IP connectivity and increased speed, December 2014 (v. 4.2)
2x speed increase, 4x range increase,

Bluetooth Low Energy vs. Bluetooth Classic

Bluetooth Low Energy

Low bandwidth applications. E.g. sensor data
Optimized for low power
Operates over 40 RF channels
Discovery occurs over
3 channels, hence quicker connection

Bluetooth Classic

High bandwidth applications. E.g. audio streaming
Not optimized for low power
Operates over 79 RF channels
Discovery occurs over 32 channels

Conclusion

This is all there is for this 5 minutes introduction to Bluetooth Low Energy, I know we are all busy so the aim of this short lecture was to provide you with the most useful information that can be consumed in 5 minutes. Download the lecture here.

If you are really interested in Bluetooth Low Energy and other backbone technologies of IoT then take a look at our Embedded Internet of Things (IoT) Learning Path.

This learning path will help you master 3 key areas of IoT.

You can find out more here:

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