Optimizing the BLE Transmission of Sensor Data: An Exploratory Study

Diabetic foot is a condition caused by long-term diabetes side effects, such as feeling disorders (neuropathy) and blood flow disorders (angiopathy). This condition can cause painful ulcers, which severely affect the patient’s quality of life and makes up an estimated 40% of diabetes care costs worldwide. To help prevent this condition, ExPressure-1 is being developed to allow for early detection of foot ulcers, as well as to quantitatively assess therapeutic measures, such as specialized shoes and in-soles. ExPressure-1 forms a grid of pressure sensors inside of a textile sock, which covers the whole foot and can thus form an accurate image of the pressure profile around the foot. This research is an exploratory study into finding ways to optimize the existing data transfer protocol over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), so that the relatively large amount of data generated by the sensor array can be transmitted within the required time. During this research it was demonstrated that certain BLE parameters, such as the connection interval, can be adjusted to optimize performance. Lastly, a rudimentary data compression scheme is shown to improve the stability of the connection