Bluetooth 4.

0: Low Energy

1
 References
Specification of the Bluetooth System, Covered Core
Package, Version: 4.0; The Bluetooth Special Interest
Group: Kirkland, WA, USA, 2010.
Gomez, C., Oller, J., & Paradells, J. (2012). Overview
and evaluation of bluetooth low energy: An emerging
low-power wireless technology. Sensors,12(9),
11734-11753.

2
 Bluetooth 4.0
The Bluetooth 4.0 standard, also known as
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), is a new short
range radio technology, optimized for ultra
low power applications.
It is different from Bluetooth classic (BR/EDR),
but with same benefits like robustness,
interoperability, royalty free or connectivity
with smart phones and PCs.

3
 Bluetooth 4.0
Different Bluetooth standards

4
 How much energy does traditional Bluetooth
use?
Traditional Bluetooth is connection oriented.
When a device is connected, a link is maintained, even if there is no
data flowing.

Sniff modes allow devices to sleep, reducing power

consumption to give months of battery life

Peak transmit current is typically around 25mA

5
 What is Bluetooth Low Energy?
Bluetooth low energy is a NEW, open, short
range radio technology
Different to Bluetooth classic (BR/EDR)
Optimized for ultra low power
Enable coin cell battery use cases
< 20mA peak current
< 5 uA average current

6
 Basic Concepts of Bluetooth 4.0
Everything is optimized for lowest power
consumption
Short packets reduce TX peak current
Short packets reduce RX time
Less RF channels to improve discovery and
connection time
Simple state machine
Single protocol

7
Bluetooth low energy factsheet
Range: ~ 150 meters open field
Output Power: ~ 10 mW (10dBm)
Max Current: ~ 15 mA
Latency: 3 ms
Topology: Star
Connections: > 2 billion
Modulation: GFSK @ 2.4 GHz
Robustness: Adaptive Frequency Hopping, 24 bit CRC
Security: 128bit AES CCM
Sleep current: ~ 1A

8
 Bluetooth low energy factsheet
Data Throughput
For Bluetooth low energy, data throughput is not a
meaningful parameter. It does not support
streaming.
It has a data rate of 1Mbps, but is not optimized
for file transfer.
It is designed for sending small chunks of data
(exposing state)

9
 Designed for exposing state
23.2C 60.5 km/h 12:23 pm

Gate 10
3.2 kWh
BOARDING
PLAY >> Network
Available

Its good at small, discrete data transfers.

Data can triggered by local events.
Data can be read at any time by a client.
Interface model is very simple (GATT)
10
Bluetooth Low Energy Architecture

11
 Device Modes
Dual Mode
Bluetooth BR/EDR and LE
Used anywhere that BR/EDR
is used today

Single Mode
Implements only Bluetooth low energy
Will be used in
new devices / applications

12
 Device Modes
Dual mode + single modes
BR/EDR stack Dual-mode stack Single-mode stack

13
 Physical Layer
2.4 GHz ISM band
1Mbps GFSK
Larger modulation index than Bluetooth BR (which means better
range)
40 Channels on 2 MHz spacing

14
 Physical Channels
Two types of channels

15
 Link Layer
Link Layer state machine
Scanner
Listen to Advertising packets

Advertiser
Tx Advertising
packets

Initiator
Listen to Advertising
packets and respond
to initiate a
connection
16
Tx/Rx data packets
 Advertising events

Devices can advertise for a variety of reasons:

To broadcast promiscuously
To transmit signed data to a previously bonded device
To advertise their presence to a device wanting to connect
To reconnect asynchronously due to a local event
17
 Connection events

Once a connection is made:

Master informs slave of hopping sequence and when to wake
All subsequent transactions are performed in the 37 data channels
Transactions can be encrypted
Both devices can go into deep sleep between transactions

18
 Link Layer Connection
Passive scanning

19
 Link Layer Connection
Active scanning

20
 Link Layer Connection
Broadcasting data

21
 Link Layer Connection
Initiating a connection

22
 Link Layer Connection
PDU

23
 Link Layer Connection
advertising PDU

24
 Link Layer Connection
data PDU

25
 HCI specification
The HCI provides a uniform interface method
of accessing Bluetooth Controllers
capabilities
command PHY and LL
access hardware status
control registers)
Optional implementation
Possibility of realizing separate Host and Controller
interoperability of different subsystems

26
 L2CAP
L2CAP provides connection-oriented and
connection-less data services to upper layer
protocols
Protocol multiplexing capability (not in case of LE
only Controller)
Segmentation and reassembly
Per-channel flow control and retransmission

27
 Host specification
Attribute Protocol (ATT)
ATT is a peer-to-peer protocol between a server and a
client
Server: contains attributes, receives requests, executes, responds,
can indicate values
Client: sends requests, commands, waits for responses, can
confirm indications
Operations on attributes
Push: the server sends the data to the client when it changes or
according to configuration
Pull: a client request the data from the server when it needs it Set:
configuring a server (actuator)
Broadcast: the server periodically broadcast the data (using LL advertising
PDUs)
Get: the client requests for attributes handles and UUID to discover the
services that the server offers

28
 Host specification
Generic Attribute Profile (GATT)
The GATT profile is designed to be used by an
application or another profile
It defines how to use the ATT Protocol to discover,
read, write and obtain indications of server attributes,
as well as configuring broadcast of attributes
Attributes are grouped in services
service = collection of data and associated behaviors
characteristic = value used in a service along with properties
and descriptors (how it is accessed, displayed and
represented)

29
 Generic Access Profile (GAP)
A bluetooth profile defines the required functions and
features of each layer in the Bluetooth system
GAP: base profile implemented by all devices
Basic requirements of a device
Description of behaviours and methods for device discovery,
connection establishment, security, authentication,
association models, service discovery
Four LE device roles:
Broadcaster
Observer
Peripheral
Central

30
 Device profiles
Profiles can be organized in a hierarchy

Application profile: top level profile that

describes application interoperability

31
 Security specifications
Bluetooth Low Energy provides
Eavesdropping protection
Man In The Middle protection
Privacy of devices
Security functions are split between host and
controller
Controller LL: encryption and authentication
Host SMP: security protocol

32
 Security specifications
Encryption and authentication
AES128 CCM cryptography
Both hardware and software solutions
A Message Integrity Check field is included in
every encrypted PDU at the end of the payload

33
 Security specifications
Privacy
Feature used to prevent device tracking
Two types of key
1. Public: IEEE MAC address
2. Random: obtained through a hash function from the
IRK (Identity Resolving Key)

34
Competitive perspective

35