Formulation of BLE Throughput Based on Node and Link Parameters

Abstract

We present a novel scheme to formulate the throughput and the average number of successfully transmitted packets in a multinode Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) platform during each connection event. In this scheme, the wireless link is considered to be error prone which leads to the existence of uncorrelated bit error. Our proposed scheme considers factors that cause a connection event to close. The effect of master’s scheduling algorithm and BLE parameters on this scheme are also discussed to establish a comprehensive study on finding the throughput of a peripheral node in a BLE network. It is clear that an analytical model to formulate the throughput of a node offers a beneficial guideline for understanding the BLE throughput and ultimately the types of applications for which BLE technology would be a suitable option. We performed extensive experiments on the BLE v4.2 platform to investigate the throughput of a BLE node in a multipacket data transmission during a connection event. The results of our experimental study show some of the deficiencies that exist in the existing BLE devices such as the limitation on the maximum allowable packets during a connection event or the design of the scheduling process used by the central node.