Bluetooth 5 power consumption for an opportunistic edge computing system based on low-power IoT devices

The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) has created a growing demand for efficient and reliable wireless communication, particularly in environments with limited network coverage. Opportunistic Edge Computing (OEC) has emerged as a viable solution by leveraging smart IoT gateways to provide Edge Computing services, route communications and store data in a distributed way, thus reducing reliance on Cloud infrastructure. This article explores the potential of Bluetooth 5 as a low-power communications protocol for OEC systems based on Single Board Computers (SBCs). For such a purpose, a novel OEC architecture and stack protocol are proposed to integrate a version of Bluetooth 5 adapted to enable opportunistic data exchanges in resource-constrained IoT environments. To evaluate the proposed solution, a testbed was built and experiments were carried out to measure the system latency and power consumption. The obtained results demonstrate the differences between using Bluetooth Legacy and LE Coded modulations in four different OEC scenarios. The findings show the Bluetooth 5 potential for enhancing decentralized IoT networks while maintaining low power consumption, making it a suitable choice for developing OEC IoT applications. Thus, this article provides useful guidelines for selecting the most appropriate Bluetooth 5 mode for the researchers and developers of the next-generation OEC solutions.