RE: BLE communication

Simonr — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 10:42:02 GMT

If you're new to the Bluetooth Low Energy world, I would recommend starting out with some of Novelbits.io blog posts, where you can find multiple introductionary blog posts (BLE advertisements) to the various aspects of BLE. If you want to get right into development, you can check out our getting started with developing BLE product tutorials.

As for the BLE range, that depends on multiple factor. First off, the nRF52/53 series support three various PHYs (physical layers) that will affect the range quite a lot. You have the 2MBPS uncoded PHY, which is able to throughput data up to ~1.3Mbps at ranges from 10-100 meters (dependent on the environment). There's the 1MBPS PHY which is the most versatile and is supported by all BLE devices, able to throughput data up to ~700kbps. Lastly we have the Coded PHY which is designed as a long-range feature that's able to transmit ~125kbps over distances up to 1300 meters.

Additionally, your exact range will depend heavily on what kind of environment the devices are in. Outside in a field with a line of sight these maximum ranges are achieveable, while inside in a busy office environment with a lot of interference from other 2.4GHz devices and multiple BLE devices, you might not be able to get more than 10 meters of range.

Best regards,

Simon