Bluetooth Discovery Time with Multiple Inquirers

Abstract

Although the discovery time between a pair of Bluetooth devices has been well characterized, the impact of multiple inquiring devices on the discovery time has not. Discovery time must be considered when forming or maintaining Bluetooth networks with multiple inquiring devices. The presence of a second inquiring device can significantly delay, and even preclude, the discovery of a scanning device by an inquiring node. When a scan window opens, each inquiring device does not have an equal likelihood of discovering the scanning node since one inquirer may consistently transmit on the scan frequency before the other. The discovery time probability density function with multiple inquiring devices is presented.