An Efficient Route Maintenance Protocol for Dynamic Bluetooth Networks

Abstract

Bluetooth is a widespread technology for small wireless networks that permits Bluetooth devices to construct a multi-hop network called scatternet. Routing in multi-hop dynamic Bluetooth network, where a number of masters and bridges exist creates technical hitches. It is observed that frequent link disconnections and a new route construction consume extra system resources that degrade the whole network performance. Therefore, in this paper an Efficient Route Maintenance Protocol for Dynamic Bluetooth Networks (ERMP) is proposed that repairs the weak routing paths based on the prediction of weak links and weak devices. The ERMP predicts the weak links through the signal strength and weak devices through low energy levels. During the main route construction, routing masters and bridges keep the information of the Fall Back Devices (FBDs) for route maintenance. On the prediction of a weak link, the ERMP activates an alternate link, on the other hand, for a weak device it activates the FBD. The proposed ERMP is compared with some existing closely related protocols, and the simulation results show that the proposed ERMP successfully recovers the weak paths and improves the system performance.