A Protocol Bridge Between Bluetooth Low Energy and IEEE 802.15.4 Based LR-WPANs: Concept, Design and Prototype

Abstract

The interconnection between electronic devices is increasing and wireless technologies are replacing wires at a high pace. Smartphones are today common property and their area of application is growing rapidly. Even so, a smartphone is still no unified device capable of transceiving every possible wireless protocol. Especially are the standards of the industry often not supported by consumer products.This master thesis presents a possible design for a protocol bridge between Bluetooth Low Energy and LR-WPAN protocols based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The presented solution is based on extending the interface of the LR-WPAN through Bluetooth GATT services and characteristics.To show the feasibility of the aforementioned protocol bridge, a prototype device enabling control of a power plug from an iPhone application has been implemented and demonstrated to work. It is shown that the present protocol bridge solution may be feasible to overcome some of the barriers encountered between different wireless protocols and segments.