Comparing data transmission efficiency in Bluetooth Standards

Gašper Kojek (2019) Comparing data transmission efficiency in Bluetooth Standards. MSc thesis.

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Abstract

This master thesis presents the work done to measure and compare power efficiency of Bluetooth Low Energy technology versions is presented. More specifically, comparisons between different BLE core specification versions are made with regards to power consumption in relation to throughput. A brief history of Bluetooth Low Energy is presented, as well as the main improvements and differences between core specification versions. Measurements were performed with a single pair of devices, which had their connection parameters tuned in line with BLE version they were targeting. Power consumption was measured with different parameters, with read, write, notify and write without response BLE operations. As expected, results revealed that newer BLE versions offer higher throughput, as well as the fact that average power consumption is independent from the amount of data transmitted. Interestingly enough, with each BLE version, power consumption per transmitted amount of data is decreasing, even when the throughput is increased. It was also discovered that total energy needed to transmit some amount of data is constant when changing the throughput in a single core specification version. The findings in this thesis prove that there is no reason not to switch to developing and using devices that use Bluetooth Low Energy 5, as BLE 5 brings higher throughput, extended range and better coexistence while consuming the same or lower amount of energy for transmissions.

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