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Real-time communications over Bluetooth Low Energy

Communications SystemInformatica Tsd EnReal-time communication

Introduction

RESEMBLE is a real-time version of the Bluetooth Low Energy standard for mesh networks, which jointly supports guaranteed bounded delivery times for real-time traffic in the presence of non-real-time traffic, node mobility and clock synchronization. RESEMBLE is a low-cost solution that can run on industrial devices and also on common mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets), as it does not need hardware modifications.

RESEMBLE is suitable to support AI-based industrial applications (e.g. predictive maintenance, condition monitoring) and Industrial IoT.

Technical features

The invention, called RESEMBLE, REaltime Synchronized mEsh Mobile BLE, is a software-only solution that runs on top of the BLE standard to support:

– Real-time multihop communications, providing predictable message delivery times over mesh networks.

– Node mobility, through suitable message forwarding policies for mobile nodes that meet both the temporal constraints on the message delivery times and the reliability requirements.

– Both real-time and non-real-time traffic on the same channel, as the transmission of non-real-time traffic does not affect the delivery times of real-time traffic.

– A clock synchronization mechanism, which enables a common notion of time for all the network devices.

Possible Applications

•Process control, e.g., food industry, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industry.
•Advanced Metering in factories for resource efficiency.
•Smart Manufacturing.
•AI-based industrial applications (e.g., predictive maintenance, condition monitoring)
•Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

Advantages

• Is compliant with the BLE standard and can be implemented on COTS devices.
•Supports both real-time and non-real-time communications over mesh networks.
•Enables clock synchronization of the network nodes.
•Supports the mobility of the nodes
•Is a low-cost technology.