A Low Power and Low Latency Scan Algorithm for Bluetooth Low Energy Radios with Energy Detection Mechanisms

Abstract

A novel Bluetooth Low Energy advertising scan algorithm is presented for hybrid radios that are additionally capable to measure energy on Bluetooth channels, e.g. as they would need to be compliant with IEEE 802.15.4. Scanners applying this algorithm can achieve a low latency whilst consuming only a fraction of the power that existing mechanisms can achieve at a similar latency. Furthermore, the power consumption can scale with the incoming network traffic and in contrast to the existing mechanisms, scanners can operate without any frame loss given ideal network conditions. The algorithm does not require any changes to advertisers, hence, stays compatible with existing devices. Performance evaluated via simulation and experiments on real hardware shows a 37 percent lower power consumption compared to the best existing scan setting while even achieving a slightly lower latency which proves that this algorithm can be used to improve the quality of service of connection-less Bluetooth communication or reduce the connection establishment time of connection-oriented communication.