GAP & Advertising

Extended Advertising

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Bluetooth 5.0 feature allowing advertising payloads up to 255 bytes using secondary advertising channels.

    


    
    
    

      Also known as:
      
      AE
      
      Extended ADV
      
    

    
  


  




  
  

    
Extended Advertising


advertising/" class="glossary-term-link" data-term="Extended advertising" data-definition="BLE 5.0 advertising with up to 255-byte payloads." data-category="GAP & Advertising">Extended advertising is a Bluetooth 5.0 feature that overcomes the 31-byte payload limitation of legacy advertising by using secondary advertising channels from the data channel pool. It supports payloads up to 255 bytes per advertising PDU and enables advanced features like periodic advertising and advertising on LE Coded PHY for long-range broadcasts.


Architecture


Legacy BLE advertising uses only the three primary advertising channels (37, 38, 39) and is limited to 31 bytes per packet. Extended advertising introduces a two-stage process:


    

  1. Primary advertisement: A short packet on channels 37/38/39 containing a pointer (AuxPtr) to a secondary advertisement.
    2. 

  2. Secondary advertisement: The full payload transmitted on one of the 37 data channels, using any supported PHY (LE 1M, LE 2M, or LE Coded).
    3. 



This separation allows the primary channels to remain lightly loaded while the data channels carry the bulk of the advertising payload. The primary packet serves as a signpost telling the scanner where and when to find the secondary packet.


Advertising Sets


Extended advertising introduces the concept of advertising sets. A single BLE device can run multiple independent advertising sets simultaneously, each with its own interval, PHY, data, and device address. This is useful for devices that need to advertise different services to different audiences -- for example, one advertising set for GATT connection and another for beacon data broadcasting.


Benefits Over Legacy Advertising


Extended advertising provides larger payloads (up to 255 bytes versus 31 bytes legacy), PHY flexibility where secondary advertising can use LE 2M PHY for faster transmission or LE Coded PHY for extended range, multiple independent advertising sets with separate parameters, and it serves as the foundation for periodic advertising and PAwR.


Backward Compatibility


Extended advertising is backward compatible with legacy scanners through the primary advertising channels. However, a legacy scanner cannot decode the secondary channel payload -- it only sees the primary PDU. For maximum compatibility, devices can run both legacy and extended advertising sets simultaneously, serving legacy and modern scanners from the same device.

  

  

  
  
  




  
  
Related Terms

  

  

    
    Advertising
    
    Periodic Advertising
    
  





  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  

    
Related Content

    

      
      
        

          
          
BLE Advertising and Scanning: How Devices Discover Each Other

          
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…Passive scanning centrals never trigger scan responses. Extended Advertising (BLE 5.0+) Extended advertising overcomes the 31-byte PDU…

        
      
      
      
        

          
          
BLE Version History: From 4.0 to 6.0 Compared

          
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…PDU), IPv6 / 6LoWPAN 5.0 2016 LE 2M PHY , LE Coded PHY , Extended Advertising , 4× range 5.1 2019 Direction Finding ( AoA/AoD ), GATT…

        
      
      
      
        

          
          
Auracast Broadcast Audio: Deployment and Use Cases

          
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…transmitter sends a Broadcast Audio Announcement in its Extended Advertising PDU, containing the Broadcast_ID and audio stream…

        
      
      
      
        

          
          
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…cost of fast advertising over a typical product lifetime. Extended advertising on BLE 5.0+ adds a secondary advertising channel with…

        
      
      
      
        

          
          
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          Troubleshooting
          
        

        
        
        
…= BT_GAP_ADV_SLOW_INT_MAX, }; // NOTE: Coded PHY uses [extended advertising](/glossary/extended-advertising/) — PDU type AUX_ADV_IND…

        
      
      
    

  

  

  
  




  
Frequently Asked Questions


  

    
    

      
      

        
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