What is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)?

What is Bluetooth Low Energy?

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), also marketed as Bluetooth Smart, is a wireless personal area network technology developed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). Unlike Classic Bluetooth which is designed for continuous streaming (audio, file transfer), BLE is optimised for periodic bursts of small data with minimal power consumption.

A BLE device can operate for months or years on a coin-cell battery, making it the protocol of choice for IoT sensors, medical devices, and battery-powered equipment like Battery Management Systems (BMS).

BLE vs Classic Bluetooth

BLE in the BAT BMS Exploit

The BAT BMS “Tirri Control” vulnerability exploits a fundamental BLE security gap: the BMS units broadcast advertising packets with a known UUID and accept connections without authentication. This allows any device with the BAT BMS app within BLE range (10-15m) to connect and send discharge control commands. See our security advisory for full technical details.

Key BLE Concepts

• Advertising — Devices broadcast their presence periodically so scanners can discover them
• GATT (Generic Attribute Profile) — Defines how data is organised into services and characteristics
• Services and characteristics — Services group related data; characteristics are individual data points with read/write/notify permissions
• Pairing and bonding — Optional security mechanisms for encrypted communication
• Connection interval — How frequently devices exchange data (trade-off between responsiveness and power)

Related Services

Our IoT development team builds BLE-enabled applications for EV battery monitoring, industrial sensors, and consumer devices.