RE: Time sychronization in BLE communication

Ziyao Zhou — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:27:27 GMT

Thank you so much for your reply!

RE: Time sychronization in BLE communication

Hieu — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 20:17:21 GMT

Hello Ziyao,

This highly depends on the data rate and number of nodes, requirement for latency and packet losses.
Below I list a few potential technologies and some relevant overviews. You can use this as a starting point and look further into each technology to see which suits your need best.

Periodic Advertising with Response
- Precise/strict packet timing, no timestamp needed, as data can only be transferred in specific timeslot.
- Packet losses possible.
- Limited throughput.
- Reference time synchronization might not be necessary, but also possible thanks to strict packet schedule.
BLE Connection
- No timing guaranteed at application layer, timestamp needed.
- Packet losses not possible, the connection itself is terminated in case of loss.
- High throughput.
- Reference time synchronization might be a challenge. Refer: BLE Time Synchronization between devices
Bluetooth Mesh with Time Models
- No timing guaranteed at application layer, timestamp needed.
- Packet losses possible.
- Limited throughput.
- Time Models provide a mean for reference time synchronization.

Hieu