What is Bluetooth Low Energy?

At a very basic level IoT can be described as a network of things (physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and what not), which when augmented with sensors and servers enables these objects or things to collect and exchange data. A major driver behind this growth has been the advent of a comparatively lesser-known technology known as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

In this chapter, we discuss this technology in the light of the following topics:

• An Overview of Bluetooth Low Energy
• The Need for Bluetooth Low Energy
• Bluetooth Low Energy versus Bluetooth Classic
• Architecture of Bluetooth Low Energy
• Profiles
• Services
• Characteristics
• Indications
• Notifications
• Bluetooth 5, Meshes, and Beacons