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BLE Connection Parameters: Optimizing Power and Latency

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Connection interval, slave latency, and supervision timeout

  
  

    
    
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    2 min read
    
  


  
  







  
  

    
    
      
      
  1. 
        Connection Parameters Optimization
      
    2. 
      
      
  2. 
        Connection Interval
      
    3. 
      
      
  3. 
        Slave Latency
      
    4. 
      
      
  4. 
        Supervision Timeout
      
    5. 
      
      
  5. 
        Advanced Throughput Features
      
    6. 
      
    

  









  
  

  
  

    
    

      
Connection Parameters Optimization


Once a BLE link is established, three parameters govern timing and power behavior: connection interval, peripheral can skip." data-category="Fundamentals">slave latency, and supervision timeout. Tuning these correctly is one of the most impactful optimizations in BLE product development.


Connection Interval


The connection interval defines how frequently devices exchange packets in a connection event. Specified in units of 1.25 ms, range 7.5 ms to 4000 ms.






Interval
Use Case
Avg Power
Latency






7.5 ms
Real-time control, HID
High
< 10 ms




15–30 ms
Continuous sensor streaming
Medium-high
< 30 ms




100 ms
Periodic sensor notifications
Medium
~100 ms




500 ms
Background sync, OTA chunks
Low
~500 ms




1000–4000 ms
Deep sleep sensors
Very low
Seconds






iOS enforces a minimum of 15 ms and recommends 100–1000 ms for background apps. Android allows shorter intervals.


Slave Latency


Slave latency allows a peripheral to skip up to N consecutive connection events without responding when it has no data. A peripheral with slave latency = 9 and interval = 100 ms wakes only every 1000 ms at idle while maintaining 100 ms response latency when data is queued.


Supervision Timeout


The supervision timeout must exceed (1 + slave_latency) × connection_interval × 2.






Timeout
Behavior






100 ms
Fast disconnect detection, higher reconnect overhead




1000 ms
Balanced for most consumer apps




6000 ms
Tolerant of interference






Advanced Throughput Features






Feature
BLE Version
Benefit






DLE
4.2
Up to 9× throughput via 251-byte LL PDU




LE 2M PHY
5.0
2× throughput, lower time-on-air




Connection subrating
5.3
Low-latency wake without renegotiation






DLE increases the Link Layer PDU payload from 27 to 251 bytes, amortizing packet overhead across larger payloads without shortening the interval. Connection subrating allows skipping base intervals (factor 1–500), enabling fast transitions between active and idle modes.


Use the BLE Power Estimator to model the combined effect of interval, latency, PHY, and DLE. For the advertising phase before connection, see Advertising and Scanning.

    

    

    
    

    
    
    
    

    
    

      




  
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