Performance Improvement on Reception Confirmation Messages in Bluetooth Mesh Networks

Abstract

Bluetooth mesh is a recent technology built on the Bluetooth low energy protocol stack architecture, focusing on the Internet of Things. It represents an excellent solution for commercial and industrial lighting applications, though it is still evolving. One of the biggest challenges of the Bluetooth mesh network is the improvement of confirmation messages reception. In a Bluetooth mesh network, determining the Status of the received messages is a critical aspect that can generate unexpected issues when multiple devices respond simultaneously, as it may occur in some lighting applications. This behavior can reduce the probability of message delivery due to collisions, especially when the number of devices in the network increases. This article aims to improve the reliability in receiving confirmation messages in a Bluetooth mesh network by proposing a new technique of spreading Status overtime. To evaluate the proposed technique's performance, we compare our technique with a Bluetooth mesh network with standard configuration (SC) using real nodes experimental setup. We evaluated our results in terms of packet-loss rate, obtaining 98.84% of the Status received for the network with our optimized configuration and 96.98% for those with the SC. Finally, an in-depth performance evaluation method for the analysis of the lost Status was also conducted.