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BLE & WiFi for Embedded

Two wireless worlds: BLE's ultra-low-power short-range GATT model (wearables, sensors, phone-tethered) vs WiFi's high-bandwidth, IP-native, internet-direct connectivity, and the power tradeoff.

24 min read

In this lesson:

BLE: ultra-low-power, short-range; the GATT data model and roles
WiFi: high-bandwidth, IP-native, internet-direct, but power-hungry
power as the dominant axis for battery IoT
the BLE-via-gateway vs WiFi-direct connectivity patterns
the gotchas: range, GATT MTU, provisioning, 2.4 GHz coexistence

A fitness band runs for days on a coin cell talking to a phone; a camera streams over WiFi on mains power. Same goal, wireless data, very different tradeoffs.

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5 interview questions on this topic

Each one opens a full worked answer.

When would you choose BLE over WiFi, and vice versa?Explain the BLE GATT model.Why is WiFi often impractical for a coin-cell battery device?A BLE sensor needs to get its data to the cloud. How?What practical issues arise when deploying WiFi (or 2.4 GHz wireless) on embedded devices?

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BLE & WiFi for Embedded | EmbeddedPrep.io