Tree network based on Bluetooth 4.0 for wireless sensor network applications

Abstract

This paper presents an implementation of a tree network topology which serves as the network backbone for a wireless sensor network (WSN) that is composed out of advanced Bluetooth low energy (BLE) wireless technology. Bluetooth LE supports the star network topology; however the tree network topology is not supported. To implement a tree topology, three different nodes are designed: the central or the root node which collects all the data, the intermediate node formed by combining two Bluetooth devices in one package and the leaf node which is the lowest node of the network. Important WSN parameters such as ranges between nodes, power consumption and latency are evaluated. According to the test results, it can be concluded that the tree topology can be used with Bluetooth low energy for the purposes of range extension, extending the number of network nodes or even just data processing by the central node.

Networking solutions for connecting bluetooth low energy devices - a comparison

“…Figure 5 illustrates an example of a tree network topology consisting of different specified nodes. Where each node in any tree based network has different characteristics [ both a central device and a peripheral device which are connected together internally [2].…”

“…These parameters include the power consumption of the network, latency, data transmission speed, node recognition, routing, and failure detection. Power consumption is considered one of the most important parameters, as the node's battery life depends on the power it consumes [2].…”

“…The default BLE specifications support only the star network topology, Where a master device connects to many slave devices to form a star shape. It is impossible to configure more complex network topology depending only on the basic BLE specifications [2], and in turn, the coverage area and scalability of the network is limited.WSN configurations can be one of the Star, Mesh, and Tree topologies or a mixed form. So building BLE networks using different topologies can reduce the power consumption while increasing the network coverage [2].…”

“…In a mesh topology, devices communicate locally to form Pico-nets comprising of devices in master and slave roles. The Pico-nets connect via common devices and form a scatter-net [2].One of the main advantages of tree topology is its simplicity, but sending data directly to the other nodes on the same level of the tree is an impossible task, on the other hand, the main advantage of mesh topology is its ability in increasing the coverage area but mesh topology is very complex structure [3].…”

Mechanisms for improving throughput and energy efficiency of Bluetooth Low Energy for multi node environment

“…In [34] we proposed and reported implementation of the first multihop data transfer solution for BLE. The implementation of tree-based multihop BLE network solution was reported in [32]. The process of neighbour discovery for BLE was analysed in [25] and [27], and a new adaptive discovery mechanism was proposed in [26].…”