Experimental Application of Bluetooth Low Energy Connectionless in Smart Cities

Abstract

Communication networks are a key element in the development of Smart Cities. This field is a constantly evolving environment, for which new protocols are constantly appearing. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the technologies, the most appropriate candidate must be selected in order to get the best performance to satisfy the application requirements. One of these protocols is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), particularly with the upgrades introduced in version 5.x. Its new features are focused on providing increased range, improving robustness, and expanding beaconing capabilities. Connectionless applications such as information broadcasting in Smart Cities could take advantage of this protocol. Furthermore, the wide availability on common devices (mobile phones, car infotainment, etc.), the deployment of these applications can be carried out easily and at low cost. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the new robust, long-range radio mode of BLE over a set of Smart Cities scenarios, taking into account different conditions such as wireless interference, distances, dynamicity, etc. The results show a promising performance of the protocol even with these constraints.