Design and Implementation of Task Synchronization Method in BLE Mesh Network for Educational Robot

Abstract

Many well-known wireless networks are currently being used to develop educational robots. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is one of the well-suited for educational robotic systems because of its simplicity, low power consumption, low cost, and robustness. To operate several robots simultaneously in a limited space like a classroom, a mesh network topology is necessary to communicate amongst robots. However, the BLE mesh network has a managed flooding protocol, which is inefficient for educational robotic systems since it is appropriate for small networks. Thus, a task synchronization is required to ensures the accuracy and stability of the system. This paper proposes task synchronization method in BLE mesh network to operate educational robots simultaneously and quickly as possible, but not in real-time without a central control system. The results demonstrate that the proposed method operate the task simultaneously and faster than a typical broadcasting in BLE.