Bluetooth Low Energy Communication

Read from and write to Bluetooth^® Low Energy peripheral devices

Bluetooth Low Energy (formerly known as Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless communication protocol that uses Bluetooth with low-power peripheral devices. These peripheral devices include fitness trackers, health monitors, and personal electronics such as smartwatches or wireless headphones. Bluetooth Low Energy communication support is different from the Bluetooth Communication interface in MATLAB^®.

The Bluetooth Low Energy interface is supported on these platforms:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later
Windows^® 10, version 1709 or later

To connect to peripheral devices that support Bluetooth Low Energy, your computer needs to have a built-in or external Bluetooth 4.0 adapter. After you connect to a device, use MATLAB to read from or write data to it. You can work with both standard and custom services, characteristics, and descriptors.

To learn more about the standards and specifications of Bluetooth Low Energy communication, see Bluetooth SIG.

To simulate, analyze, and test Bluetooth communications systems, see Bluetooth Toolbox.

Functions

`blelist`	Scan nearby Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral devices (Since R2019b)
`ble`	Connect to Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral device (Since R2019b)
`characteristic`	Access a characteristic on Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral device (Since R2019b)
`descriptor`	Access a descriptor on Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral device (Since R2019b)
`read`	Read characteristic or descriptor data on a Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral device (Since R2019b)
`write`	Write data to a characteristic or descriptor on a Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral device (Since R2019b)
`subscribe`	Subscribe to characteristic notification or indication (Since R2019b)
`unsubscribe`	Unsubscribe from characteristic notification and indication (Since R2019b)

Topics

Bluetooth Low Energy Communication Overview
Learn about the basic concepts and terminology for working with the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol.
Find Your Bluetooth Low Energy Peripheral Devices
Scan for and connect to a Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral device. You can view the advertising data of each device to determine the device type and whether it is connectable before creating a connection.
Work with Device Characteristics and Descriptors
Control Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral devices by reading or writing characteristics and descriptors. You can work with both standard and custom characteristics and descriptors.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Bluetooth Low Energy

Troubleshoot the Bluetooth Low Energy interface.

Featured Examples

Collect Data from Fitness Monitoring Devices

Collect and plot data from fitness monitoring devices using Bluetooth® Low Energy communication.

Open Live Script

Track Orientation of Bluetooth Low Energy Device

Track device orientation with device motion sensor data using Bluetooth® Low Energy communication.

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Log Characteristic Value from Bluetooth Low Energy Peripheral Device Using Callback Function

Access a characteristic of your Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) device, create a callback function to read the raw BLE characteristic value for a fixed duration, and log it in a text file.

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Log Characteristic Value from Bluetooth Low Energy Peripheral Device Using a MATLAB Class

Implement a MATLAB® class and object to collect on demand the value of a characteristic of your Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) device for a desired duration.

Open Live Script