This paper studies the effects of the Firmware Over-The-Air update process done through Bluetooth Low Energy using a compression-based update solution compared to a non-compressed update solution.

The method that is used in this study is an experimental method using a Nordic semiconductor board as an IoT device. To this, a firmware was sent Over-The-Air and energy consumption along with time was measured using a measuring tool. The firmware was sent compressed and uncompressed. The compression algorithm that was used in the experiment was LZ4. Different sizes of firmware were tested and decompressed through the update process, and by using the measuring tool, the time taken, and average current were measured to get the results of the study. 

The result of this study is that time taken increases as firmware gets larger on both compressed and non-compressed firmware, and the increase in firmware file sizes had no effect on the average current. At the same time, including decompression into the FOTA solution increases the average current and time taken, which led to the conclusion that a compressed FOTA update has a higher total time and average current on the hardware setup tested on. It was also concluded that an embedded system with a faster processor, in conjunction with a higher compression ratio, would be needed to reach a threshold value where a compression based FOTA process is preferable.