Bachelor Thesis BCLR-2023-31

BibliographyGrütter, Marc: Bluetooth broadcasting revisited: experiments and comparison to 2009.
University of Stuttgart, Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Information Technology, Bachelor Thesis No. 31 (2023).
67 pages, english.
Abstract

The world of technology is rapidly changing and advancing, including Bluetooth. In 2009 an experimental study at the university of Groningen was conducted to evaluate Bluetooth technology on the premise of broadcasting data to a multitude of devices. The authors especially had a look at the performance and scalability. They concluded that it was suitable for broadcasting data although there are limitations in the technology, such as the limitation of seven simultaneous devices connected to a single dongle (Bluetooth antenna). In 2023, a review was conducted to examine how this statement has held up and to assess how Bluetooth, with its new development versions, can contribute to broadcasting today. Hence, this thesis aims to investigate the evolution in Bluetooth technology, including changes in its functioning, hardware compatibility, and current market share. Furthermore, experimental studies have been conducted similar to 2009 to compare the performance and scalability with real-life data. In 2009 the authors used Bluetooth version 2.1 for their experiment, whereas in 2023 version 5.4 was used. Over the years many improvements have been added with each version of Bluetooth. Especially with the better data rates and better reliability of Bluetooth, the technology has great promises. A promising change is the addition of Bluetooth Low Energy (LE), which can be beneficial in the aspect of broadcasting data. While Bluetooth LE has the ability to reach an unlimited number of devices with greater distances using just one dongle, it is important to note that it also has limitations. Specifically, it is only compatible with apps and does not work natively on a phone. In our experimental studies, it was discovered that Bluetooth technology performed better in terms of data transmission success rates and distance coverage when connecting with compatible devices. However, despite the increasing number of Bluetooth-enabled devices in 2023 compared to 2009, Bluetooth was able to locate fewer devices. This is mainly due to the fact that devices need to be in their Bluetooth settings to be detected, and there are many other non-phone devices, such as TVs, smartwatches, headphones, and more that are also utilizing the software. Additionally, Bluetooth technology is mainly compatible with Android devices using the open standard profile Object Push Profile (OPP). This poses an issue for the many iPhones in the market, as they are not compatible and can only work with an app or their own Airdrop standard. The conclusion is that Bluetooth broadcasting is possible, yet Bluetooth Classic is not that suitable with all its current limitations. The recommendation for broadcasting data is, that people must have an app where they want to receive data and use Bluetooth LE, since it is better in distance, and has no limitations on the number of devices. Keywords: Bluetooth, Broadcasting, Experimental Study, Bluetooth Low Energy, market share, Bluetooth history, compatibility, app, scalability

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Department(s)University of Stuttgart, Institute of Architecture of Application Systems
Superviser(s)Georgievski, Dr. Ilche
Entry dateSeptember 15, 2023
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