Bluetooth Low Energy Error Correction Based on Convolutional Coding

Abstract

Contemporarily, the Internet of Things (IoT) is recently a newly emerging technology for connecting small devices into a platform; the IoT has been an increasingly demanded front-edge technology in terms of connecting different devices using information transmission and storage technology. To adapt to the small capacities of device batteries, Bluetooth Low Energy is adopted as the protocol of communication. However, the existing standards do not have a suitable and specific error correction method. As there is no ideal information transmission channel, there must be errors that occurred during message transmission. The performance and capacity of error correction become decisive factors in evaluating how efficient the IoT communication system performs. This article uses convolutional coding—a better-performing coding scheme than block coding—to correct errors in information transmission and reception on Internet of Things devices. It is better competent to control and correct bit errors in information transmission. To achieve this goal, convolutional coding algorithms devised by Dr Justin Coon at the University of Oxford have been referred to. By simulation using MATLAB, it has been found that the error rate is enhanced significantly for high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in convolutional codes compared to uncoded messages.