Ways to reduce the power consumption of BLE equipment
Published: 2023-07-31 09:51:59

We all know that BLE is Bluetooth low energy technology, which can effectively reduce the power consumption of Bluetooth devices, so that the device can have a good use time under battery power.But you may not know that even the same BLE equipment will produce different power consumption rates under different conditions of use. What causes the power consumption of BLE equipment to change?Today we will take a look.

Before introducing specific factors, we need to know some basic knowledge: BLE host devices are generally in one of the three states of standby, scanning, and connection, while BLE slave devices are in one of the standby, broadcast, and connection states.When the BLE device is not connected, the device will wake up intermittently and broadcast and scan. Except for the broadcast and scan time, the rest of the time will go to sleep to ensure reduced power consumption.

Under the premise of understanding this basic knowledge, let's take a look at what can affect the low-power performance of BLE equipment.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/no6r1tmdxf8yyg0zgspn.png)

#The first is the broadcast (scan) interval of the device
When the device is not connected, the BLE device will continue to broadcast (scan) intermittently. The shorter the interval between each two broadcasts (scans), the more times the device will wake up per unit time, which will naturally increase the power consumption level of the device.Therefore, a reasonable increase in the broadcast (scanning) interval of BLE equipment can effectively reduce the power consumption of the equipment.

However, it needs to be known that in addition to affecting the low-power performance of the device, the broadcast (scan) interval of the device will also affect the connection speed of the device. Too long broadcast (scan) interval will significantly increase the connection speed of the BLE and affect the user experience.Therefore, between low power consumption and connection speed, users need to make a trade-off and choose a level that they can accept.


#The second is the duration of the device broadcast (scan)
That is, in the broadcast (scan) mode, the duration of each broadcast (scan) of the device.The principle is similar to the interval mentioned earlier. The longer the duration of the broadcast (scan), the longer the device will be awakened per unit time, and the shorter the sleep time, which will increase the power consumption level of the device.Similarly, the longer the duration of the broadcast (scan), the faster the connection response speed of the device can be effectively improved, and vice versa.

#Then the connection interval of the device
After the device enters the connection mode, the host device of BLE will send a connection event to the BLE device. After the device receives this event, it will immediately reply to the event to notify the host device that the connection link is normal.The transmission and reply of this data is the highest power consumption after the entire BLE connection, so if you can increase the connection interval, you can effectively reduce the average power consumption level per unit time and effectively reduce power consumption.However, as mentioned earlier, if the power consumption of the device is reduced by increasing the connection interval, the communication response speed of the device will be slowed down. Therefore, when adjusting this parameter, it is necessary to consider whether the communication speed can be accepted by the user.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/47ab97pxvaraqn0lola1.png)

#Finally ignored by the slave
That is, the number of events that the device can ignore when it is connected.In each connection, the BLE host will first send data, and then the device will reply. If the reply is not received, the host will think that the device status is abnormal.However, after setting the number of slave delays, the device will be allowed to not reply to the host for a certain number of times. Failure to reply within the set number of times will not cause the host to judge abnormally.This reduces the overall power consumption of the device by reducing the number of replies.


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Chengdu Yibaite Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. specializes in the research and development and production of wireless data transmission modules with various functions in various frequency bands. The products have been widely used in various application scenarios such as the Internet of Things, consumer electronics, industrial control, medical, smart home, highway, etc. If you have any needs, please contact email:service-es-@cdebyte.com Or visit the website:[https://www.es-ebyte.com/](https://www.es-ebyte.com/)