Glossary · Industrial wireless and positioning
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Also known as: BLE, Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth Smart
German: Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
In wireless communication, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the low-power variant of Bluetooth, introduced with Bluetooth 4.0 and specified by the Bluetooth SIG, designed for short-range exchange of small amounts of data by battery-powered devices, as well as for beacons and indoor positioning.
- Industrial wireless
- Standards
In one sentence
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the low-power Bluetooth variant for short-range data from battery devices, beacons and positioning.
Example
A technician uses a smartphone app to read the diagnostics of a pressure sensor via BLE without opening the enclosure.
How it applies
- Engineering: BLE is used for device configuration via smartphone, wireless sensors, asset tags and beacons. Range is typically tens of meters, depending on power, antenna and environment. Newer versions add direction finding for positioning.
- Security: Pairing method and encryption decide whether nearby persons can read or change device settings. Write access to parameters should require authentication and, where relevant, be disabled by default.
- Operation: In metal-rich industrial environments, reflections and shadowing affect range and positioning accuracy.
- Documentation: The documentation team documents the supported Bluetooth version, range under stated conditions, pairing and security settings, how to switch the radio off, and the radio regulatory information for each market.
BLE vs. classic Bluetooth
Classic Bluetooth (BR/EDR) supports continuous streams such as audio. BLE uses short bursts and sleep periods to save energy. Both are specified in the Bluetooth Core Specification but are not compatible radio protocols; dual-mode devices support both.