Manufacturers of Bluetooth devices need to up their production as the increased demand results in the reduction of the device cost. The time to hit the market can become a primary factor in ensuring the success of the wireless product with Bluetooth wireless technology in it. However, the factors such as higher quantities, low cost, and reduced time-to-market can establish a demand for a cost-effective solution to test the quality and certify the compliance in the production line.
Bluetooth is a technology that seems simple from the usability perspective, but it is challenging to test and ensure that it works accurately for all different types of devices serving different transactions. There are two different devices involved that may have distinct development cycles and synchronization issues for Bluetooth connectivity checks.
Bluetooth Device Testing
Device testing for measuring Bluetooth connectivity is important to ensure flawless communication without any noise or interruption between devices. Device testing needs to be done in a controlled and isolated environment that is free from ambient or unwanted interference. For any IoT application, to determine if the Bluetooth technology meets the communication requirement, below are the parameters to be measured:
Maximum Throughput:
It is measured in bits per second (bps) and it defines the rate of data sent over a transmission channel successfully. The formula through which maximum throughput can be measured is R = D/T (R: Throughput rate; D: Data inventory; T: Time).
Here, the value of D can be found by multiplying the total number of packets captured. It determines the total amount of data captured at the receiver node. T is the total time taken to capture the packets.
Round-Trip Time (RTT): When the entire cycle of communication is completed, RTT shows the total time taken by the packet to be transferred from the instant transmitter to the immediate receiver after receiving the acknowledgment.
One-Way Delay:
It shows the amount of time a packet takes to travel to the receiver node. It can also be identified by finding the difference in the time taken by the packet departing from the transmitter node to arrival at the receiver node. Before testing a one-way delay, it is important to synchronize the system clocks from transmitter and receiver nodes to reflect the accurate delay.
Connection Establishment Latency:
It shows the amount of time taken for the connection to be established before the BLE link is ready to transfer the data.
Uncontrolled Factors
While testing a Bluetooth device, it is important to consider that some uncontrollable parameters may affect the testing procedure and the outcome. These factors are:
Environment Noise: It is a signal noise that comes from the environment, and it may cause severe packet losses. It can also possibly degrade the link capacity or increase the packet delay.
System Load: The testing results can be biased if the system load is high while performing the procedure as factors such as speed, scalability, stability, and reliability depend on the load.
The performance evaluation of BLE technology helps in understanding the niche of applications and how to best leverage it. Some of the other essential factors to consider are link capacity, data transfer delay, connection reestablishment latency, connection interval, pairing, packet size, and power consumption. By using the analytical models of these test metrics, the quality of the Bluetooth connection and uninterrupted data transfer can be determined.
One of our clients who is a leader in the audio and consumer electronics segment and has a strong leadership position in the global home audio systems and speakers, noise-canceling headphones, professional audio products, and automobile sound systems, was facing issues with its Bluetooth audio products. The client was looking for a solution partner to uncover Bluetooth connection stability issues and wanted to ensure interoperability between audio devices across five product categories – 20+ product variants and various versions of mobile models (Android/iOS), Tablets, Windows, and Mac station.
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Bluetooth Device Testing: Performance Measurement of Bluetooth Devices
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Leveraging strong experience in wireless testing services, eInfochips delivered a complete turnkey testing solution including audio performance testing based on a range (2-30 meters), Bluetooth connectivity, and profiles testing – A2DP, AVRCP, and HFP. eInfochips’ Bluetooth testing solution helped the client launch new Bluetooth speakers and headsets range in the market ensuring high quality. It also enabled the client to achieve product superiority over competitive audio systems and equipment.
Final Thoughts
Bluetooth has been established as the well-known wireless communication technology for IoT applications and as a short-range radio standard for audio solutions. To ensure the flawless functionality of a Bluetooth device, it is important to evaluate performance and identify the key quality metrics.
eInfochips offers a comprehensive range of test solutions for Bluetooth testing, applicable from design and certification to production. We enable companies to get their connected devices and products to market quickly with testing services for ensuring quality comprising functionality, security, performance, and interoperability.
To know more about our security testing services, talk to our experts today.
