15 Key Points on BLE / Bluetooth 5.0 boosting Industrial IoT revolution

BLE / Bluetooth 5.0 is becoming more popular and profitable among the Industrial IoT.

1. Allows operating a lot of wireless devices in the same space and Various characteristics of BLE together ensure that they can operate large numbers of devices in close proximity. The short data packages that it has are perfect for industrial measurement and control applications. They spend short time periods on the airwaves.

2. Furthermore, BLE’s automatic power control makes sure that data is broadcasted at the required strength. And both these factors help free up airwaves for other devices. And for IIoT, BLE is optimized to coexist with WiFi, and BLE can easily integrate with existing Industrial systems

3. In industrial applications, serial ports have wide use. BLE has a serial port profile and hence, it can easily fit in Industrial designs. The serial port profile imitates a full serial interface, complete with hardware handshaking via BLE. Ultimately, you can replace the serial cable with a wireless BLE link with either multi-point or point to point operation. 

4. BLE uses smart ways to send messages to their destinations. However, it uses a busy 2.4 GHz ISM frequency but easily ensures that all the messages reach their defined destinations. All this happens because of the ability of adaptive frequency hopping. In this hopping, Individual messages are broken into small data packets that are sent over different channels in a predefined sequence. This sequence is known to the receiving and transmitting devices. 

5. Furthermore, around 1600 channel switches can take place in a single second. In case, any data packet does not reach its respective destination in the proper way, such data packets are sent again. If the issue was because of a channel, this is put in light so that it can be avoided in the future. 

6. It can easily identify and solve Bit errors

7. In environments that are quite noisy or whenever data is transmitted over long distances, there are chances of Bit errors slipping into messages. BLE has the capability of recognizing all these errors and can take the necessary action to avoid these unreliable channels. 

9. Furthermore, it has the capability of using Forward error correction. In this correction, BLE can rectify errors once the data reaches the receiver.

10. The standard of BLE is vast & is global. It means that you can use the same device anywhere on the planet. You do not need to source different components for industrial facilities in different markets. 

11. Furthermore, BLE is quite common in smartphones. Hence, you can interact with BLE enabled IIoT devices with the help of devices you probably own. 

12. BLE is secure enough to transfer crucial data. It has three inbuilt characteristics that make it a trustworthy means of data transfer. The first one is frequency hopping looks at the transmitter sending out data on a pseudo-random sequence of channels. 

13. Now, the second inbuilt characteristic is a pairing mechanism that stops in-transit data from being intercepted in man-in-the-middle attacks (LE secure connections). 

14. Furthermore, the third inbuilt characteristic is that BLE devices can be set as invisible. It means that hackers would not be able to recognize whether BLE devices are there or not. Hence, connections are only possible between devices that have been paired in the past. 

15. Many people assume that the BLE technology works at ranges of up to a few meters. But actually BLE has the potential of operating at much larger distances, even in harsh industrial conditions. Furthermore, the latest generation BLE / Bluetooth 5.0 supports long-range mode and it is used to transmit messages up to 1.7 km. There are Mesh networks where data is passed from one node to another until it reaches its destination. They can also help boost range, particularly in dense environments.