Combating BLE Weak Links by Combining PHY Layer Symbol Extension and Link Layer Coding

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology supports various Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. However, because of their limited transmission power and channel interference, their performance is deficient over weak links. Extending physical layer symbols or using error correction code to the link layer is effective somehow. Introducing excessive BLE bits to both respectively can also decrease the network throughput. To optimize the BLE technology performance, we propose CPL, a combining PHY and link layer optimization technology that adaptively allocates BLE bits to both the physical layer and link layer. Then we propose the Cross-Layer BLE Bits Dynamic Allocation Model that unifies the gain of BLE bits in different layers. Finally, we propose an Interference-Aware Controlled CFO Fine-Tuning Method that calibrates the model according to different interference patterns. We implement CPL on Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) BLE chips and SDR. The experiment results show that under various interference conditions, CPL achieves 50× and 32.16% throughput improvement over RSBLE and Symphony. CPL reduces energy consumption by 60.42% to 97.95% compared to RSBLE, and 11.04% to 25.15% compared to Symphony.