Next Generation BLE BeaconsJ O E T I L L I S O N | S R . M A N A G E R , R E G I O N A L P R O D U C T M A R K E T I N G

E M B E D D E D W O R L D : F E B R U A R Y 2 6 - 2 8 , 2 0 1 9

§ Simplest of Bluetooth Low Energy devices

§ Periodic broadcast of a pre-defined advertising packet

§ One-way transmitter

§ Enabler for “proximity aware” smartphone apps

§ Small and typically battery powered

§ Sometimes integrated with other services§ e.g. temperature, open/close sensors, etc.

§ Not defined by the Bluetooth SIG§ All beacon formats are pseudo-standards§ e.g. iBeacon and Eddystone

What Is a Beacon? – A Brief Review

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§ Retail marketing push notifications§ Personalized greetings§ Loyalty programs – coupons, points

§ Point-of-sale§ Fast food pick up§ Vending machine secure payments

§ Indoor navigation and information§ Hospitals, museums, airports, shopping centers§ Could be integrated with Bluetooth mesh nodes e.g. commercial lighting

§ Asset tracking§ Location awareness of goods/containers within supply chain§ Geo-fencing for inventory control and management

Proximity Aware Applications

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§ Up to 47 byte packet§ Variable data payload up to 31 bytes§ Organized as tuplets – length, type, data

§ 376 µs for a full packet

§ 3 packets per advertising event§ One packet on each of three advertising channels

BLE 4.x Advertising Packet

Prea

mbl

e

Acce

ssAd

dres

s

CRC

Protocol Data Unit(protected by CRC)

(1) (4) (3)(0 to 31)

PDU Header Data Payload

(2) (bytes)

Adv

376µs

Adv

376µs

Adv

376µs

~ 1ms

Adv

376µs

min: 100ms

. . .

Adv Addr

(6)

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§ Limited 31-byte payload§ iBeacon – UUID, major, minor§ Eddystone – Four different beacon formats

§ Interleaving multiple beacon formats§ e.g. iBeacon @ 100 ms + Eddystone @ 1000 ms

§ Crowded advertising channels§ Especially with arrival of Bluetooth mesh

§ Range

Challenges

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§ Two new PHYs

§ LE 2M PHY - 2Mbps

§ LE Coded PHY (500kbps, 125kbps)

§ New channel selection algorithm

§ Enables +20dBm in EU

§ Advertising Extensions

§ Secondary advertising channels

§ Advertising Packet Chaining

§ Advertising Sets

§ Periodic Advertising

§ High Duty Cycle Advertising

New in Bluetooth 5

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Description PDU Type ADV PDU 4.x 5.01M 2M Coded

Connectable and scannable undirected advertising ADV_IND • • • • Primary

Connectable directed advertising ADV_DIRECT_IND • • • • Primary

Non-connectable and non-scannable undirected advertising ADV_NONCONN_IND • • • • Primary

discoverable undirected advertising event replaced by ADV_SCAN_IND

ADV_DISCOVER_IND • • Primary

replaced by CONNECT_IND CONNECT_REQ • Primary

Scan request SCAN_REQ • • • Primary

Scan request AUX_SCAN_REQ • • • • Secondary

Scan response SCAN_RSP • • • Primary

Connection request CONNECT_IND • • Primary

Connection request AUX_CONNECT_REQ • • • • Secondary

Scannable undirected advertising ADV_SCAN_IND • • • • Primary

All advertising events(except connectable and scannable undirected)

ADV_EXT_IND • • • • Primary

All advertising events(except connectable and scannable undirected)

AUX_ADV_IND • • • • • Secondary

AUX scan response AUX_SCAN_RSP • • • • Secondary

Periodic advertising AUX_SYNC_IND • • • • • Secondary

Additional advertising data AUX_CHAIN_IND • • • • • Secondary

Connection response AUX_CONNECT_RSP • • • • Secondary

Allowed LE PHY Advertising channel

Advertising PDU Types

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§ Channels 37, 38, 39: primary advertising channels

§ Channels 0 – 36: data and secondary advertising channels

§ New packet type for Primary Channels ADV_EXT_IND§ Only contains header with Aux pointer to secondary advertising channel

Secondary Advertising Channels

4.x 5.0

PRIMARY CHANNELS

SECONDARY CHANNELS

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§ Can use any PHY: 1M, 2M or LE Coded PHY

§ Up to 254 byte payload

§ Can include Aux pointer to another packet - Advertising Packet Chaining§ Multiple packets can be chained for payloads larger than 254 bytes

§ Offloads traffic from primary advertising channels§ Especially important with Bluetooth mesh

Secondary Advertising Channels

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§ Advertising Data Sets§ One device acts as a multiple beacons§ Separate instances of the advertising state§ Each uses different advertising parameters§ PHY, power level, interval, packet format, etc.

§ Interleaving is managed by link layer§ No host CPU involvement necessary§ More power efficient

§ Scan Event Reporting§ Scan requests notified to the host processor§ Positive indication that advertisement was successfully heard§ Host can take action e.g. stop successive advertisements

Advertising Data Sets and Scan Event Reporting

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Other Advertising Enhancements

§ High Duty Cycle Non-Connectable Advertising§ Minimum interval reduced from 100 ms to 20 ms§ Better location accuracy for moving objects

§ Periodic Advertising§ Deterministic timing between advertising events§ Used to stream data over secondary channels§ Multiple receivers sync to advertising stream

Air Interface Protocol PRELIMINARY 22 August 2016

Bluetooth SIG Proprietary & Confidential

BLUETOOTH SPECIFICATION Version Shanghai | Vol 6, Part B page 2782

Link Layer Specification

the auxiliary packet within 2.5*T microseconds of the start of auxiliary packet of the original PDU. [ID7466_r07]

4.4.2.2.3 Periodic Advertising Events [ID7202_r06]

The Periodic Advertising Interval is the interval between the start of two AUX_SYNC_IND PDUs from the same advertising set. The Periodic Advertising Interval shall be an integer multiple of 1.25 ms in the range of 7.5 ms to 81.91875 s.

A periodic advertising event for a given advertising set consists of an AUX_SYNC_IND PDU and zero or more AUX_CHAIN_IND PDUs pointed by the AUX_SYNC_IND PDU that occur during the periodic advertising intervalits subordinate set. [ID7251_r06]

Figure 4.6: Example of Periodic Advertising Events from the same Advertising Set

Two periodic advertising events for the same advertising set shall not overlap each other.

4.4.2.3 Connectable and Scannable Undirected Event Type

When the connectable and scannable undirected advertising event type is used, advertising indications (ADV_IND PDUs) are sent by the Link Layer. [E6586]

The connectable and scannable undirected advertising event type allows a scanner or initiator to respond with either a scan request or connect request. A scanner may send a scan request (SCAN_REQ PDU) to request additional information about the advertiser. An initiator may send a connect request (CONNECT_REQIND PDU) to request the Link Layer to enter the Connection State. [E6672]

The Link Layer shall listen on the same primary advertising channel index for requests from scanners or initiators.

If the advertiser receives a SCAN_REQ PDU that contains its device address from a scanner allowed by the advertising filter policy, it shall reply with a SCAN_RSP PDU on the same primary advertising channel index. After the

Adve (ADV_EXT_IND

AUX_ADV_IND

Adve (ADV_EXT_IND

AUX_SYNC_IND

AUX_CHAIN_IND

AUX_CHAIN_IND

AUX_ADV_IND

AUX_SYNC_IND

AUX_CHAIN_IND

AUX_CHAIN_IND

Pe EveS ar

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§ Virtually limitless content (large packets or chained packets)§ All-inclusive beacons§ e.g. Eddystone UID + URL + TLM

§ No more compressed URLs§ Better network security

§ Polymorphic beacon formats (advertising data sets)§ e.g. iBeacon + Eddystone-UID + proprietary

§ Long-range beacons (+20 dBm, Coded PHY, CSA#2)

§ Offloaded traffic from Primary Advertising Channels

§ Enabled with firmware update (AE)

§ Backward compatible

§ The future: Precision location with Angle-of-Arrival§ Check schedule for the next presentation

Advanced Beacons

Beacon (TX)

Locator (RX)

!

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Silicon Labs Devices for Bluetooth 5 Beacons

SoC EFR32BG12 EFR32BG13

Bluetooth version 5.0 and mesh (2M and Bluetooth 5 Æ)

5.1 and mesh (2M, LE LR and Bluetooth 5 Æ)

Proprietary 2.4G and sub-GHz 2.4G and sub-GHz Modules BGM13P BGM13S

Max TX power +19 dBm +19 dBm Bluetooth version 5.1 and mesh (2M, LE LR and Bluetooth 5 Æ)

5.1 and mesh (2M, LE LR and Bluetooth 5 Æ)

CPU (Clock Speed) Cortex M4 (38.4 MHz) Cortex M4 (38.4 MHz) SoC EFR32BG13 EFR32BG13

Flash size (kB) 1024 512 Antenna Chip or U.FL Chip or RF pin

RAM (kB) 256 64 Max TX power +8 / +19 dBm +8 / +18 dBm

Sleep Current (EM2) 1.5µA (16kB RAM, LFXO)

1.3µA (16kB RAM, LFXO) Flash size (kB) 512 512

Active Current (EM0) 70 µA/MHz 70µA/MHz RAM (kB) 64 64

Max GPIO 65 31 Max GPIO 25 30

Crypto Acceleration 2x AES-128/256, ECC, SHA-1/224/256, TRNG

2x AES-128/256, ECC, SHA-1/224/256, TRNG

Operating Voltage 1.8V – 3.6V 1.8V – 3.6V

Operating Voltage 1.8V – 3.6V 1.8V – 3.6V Max Operating Temp -40 to +85C -40 to +85C

Max Operating Temp (TA / TJ)

-40 - +85C / -40 -+125C

-40 - +85C / -40 - +125C Package dimensions (WxLxH) (mm) 13.0 x 15.0 x 2.2 LGA 6.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 LGA

Packages (mm) 7x7 QFN48, 7x7 BGA125

5x5 QFN32, 7x7 QFN48 Certifications BT, CE, FCC, ISED, Japan, S-Korea and Taiwan

BT, CE, FCC, ISED, Japan & S-Korea

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Thank You