Low-Latency Group Communication in BLE Networks via Whisper-Inspired L2CAP Relaying

Abstract

Reliable group communication in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) networks is constrained by limited broadcast support, high advertising congestion, and lack of structured flow control. Existing mechanisms such as GATT notifications and BLE Mesh either do not scale well or introduce latency and energy inefficiencies under dynamic or mobile conditions. This paper presents a theoretical yet implementation-aligned broadcast architecture that adapts the Whisper Protocol—a low-redundancy flooding strategy from wireless sensor networks—for BLE using L2CAP Connection-Oriented Channels (CoC). The proposed system enables decentralized, peer-assisted data dissemination across bonded devices by integrating randomized backoff, relay suppression, flow control awareness, and QoS tagging. Unlike BLE Mesh, this approach leverages secure ACL links and credit-based gating to prevent packet loss and ensure low-latency message propagation in trusted peer clusters. Though no prototype is implemented, the paper contributes a deployment blueprint with detailed evaluation metrics—delivery ratio, latency, energy consumption, and memory overhead—suitable for simulation or future testbed validation. The architecture is designed for real-time use cases such as wearable coordination, smart home alerting, and industrial safety messaging, where deterministic behavior and energy-aware group communication are essential.