BLE : frequency, range, data rate, power consumption

Introduction : Bluetooth performance is defined by technical parameters such as operating frequency, communication range, data rate and power consumption. Understanding these terms is essential for building optimized wireless solutions.

Bluetooth Range

The typical Bluetooth coverage range spans from 1 to 100 meters.

This range is largely determined by the Bluetooth power class of the device. Bluetooth is a short range Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) technology.

The following table outlines the different Bluetooth power classes and their corresponding ranges:

Bluetooth Frequency

• The frequency spectrum occupies 2.4 to 2.4835 GHz range.
• The spectrum is segmented into 40 number of channels, each occupying 2 MHz bandwidth.

Bluetooth Data rate

It depends on the version and mode such as classic bluetooth or BLE. In classic Bluetooth, there are different data rates as follows as per version.

• Bluetooth 1.2 supports raw data rate of 1 Mbps
• Bluetooth 2.0 supports raw data rate of 3 Mbps In BLE, different verions support different data rates as follows.
• Bluetooth 4.0 & 4.1 supports up to 1 Mbps
• Bluetooth 4.2 supports up to 1 Mbps
• Bluetooth 5.0 supports 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps and lower rates (125 kbps, 500 kbps), LE Coded S=8 supports 125 kbps data rate, LE Coded S=2 supports 500 kbps data rate.
• Bluetooth 5.1/5.2/5.3 supports as 5.0 version.

It supports data rates ranging from 720 kbps to 24 Mbps, depending on the specific Bluetooth version (V1.2 to V4.2).

Bluetooth Power Consumption

Power consumption depends on various BLE parameters and chipset used. It varies in different applications. The peak current consumption of BLE chipset during radio transmission is usually less than 15mA.

Conclusion: A clear grasp of Bluetooth’s key performance terms allows for better device design, troubleshooting, and feature optimization. These fundamentals are the building blocks of efficient and reliable BLE applications.