The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) today announced the adoption
of Bluetooth® low energy wireless technology, which is the
hallmark feature of the Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0.
As an enhancement to the specification, Bluetooth low energy
technology opens entirely new markets for devices requiring low cost and
low power wireless connectivity with this evolution in Bluetooth
wireless technology that will enable a plethora of new applications –
some not even possible or imagined today. Many markets such as
healthcare, sports and fitness, security, and home entertainment will be
enhanced with the availability of small coin-cell battery powered
wireless products and sensors now enabled by Bluetooth wireless
technology.
“With today’s announcement the race is on for product designers to be
the first to market,” said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director,
Bluetooth SIG. “Bluetooth low energymodules for all sorts
of new products may now be qualified – this is an important step towards
our goal of enabling new markets with Bluetooth wireless
technology. For example, the Continua Health Alliance has already
selected Bluetooth low energy as a transport for the next version
of its guidelines.”
“Today’s news from the Bluetooth SIG is an exciting step forward for
technology in mobile health and wellness devices,” said Rick Cnossen,
president and board chair, Continua Health Alliance. “Our selection of Bluetooth
low energy for the Continua Version Two Design Guidelines extends
exciting new capabilities to manufacturers and consumers alike, as well
as enabling additional use cases within the Continua ecosystem."
“Nokia has been committed to this ultra low power wireless technology
since its Wibree technology development. Now we are happy to see the
adoption of the Bluetooth low energy specification, which will
open up new market opportunities and space to innovate for the industry.
The wide manufacturer base behind Bluetooth low energy technology
and the combined industry effort will result in exciting new user
experiences in the mobile space,” said Markku Verkama, Director, Devices
R&D Nokia.
Bluetooth lowenergy wireless technology, the hallmark
feature of the V4.0 Bluetooth Core Specification, features:
Ultra-low peak, average and idle mode power consumption
Ability to run for years on standard coin-cell batteries
Low cost
Multi-vendor interoperability
Enhanced range
This enhancement to the Bluetooth Core Specification allows two
types of implementation, dual-mode and single-mode. In a dual-mode
implementation, Bluetooth low energy functionality is integrated
into an existing classic Bluetooth controller. The resulting
architecture shares much of classic Bluetooth technology’s
existing radio and functionality resulting in a minimal cost increase
compared to classic Bluetooth technology. Additionally,
manufacturers can use current classic Bluetooth (Bluetooth V2.1
+ EDR or Bluetooth V3.0 + HS) chips with the new low energy
stack, enhancing the development of classic Bluetooth devices
with new capabilities.
Single-mode chips, which will enable highly integrated and compact
devices, will feature a lightweight Link Layer providing ultra-low power
idle mode operation, simple device discovery, and reliable
point-to-multipoint data transfer with advanced power-save and secure
encrypted connections at the lowest possible cost. The Link Layer in
these controllers will enable Internet connected sensors to schedule Bluetooth
low energy traffic between Bluetooth transmissions.
Technical Details
Data Transfers – Bluetooth low energy supports very
short data packets (8 octet minimum up to 27 octets maximum) that are
transferred at 1 Mbps. All connections use advanced sniff-subrating to
achieve ultra low duty cycles.
Frequency Hopping – Bluetooth low energy uses the
adaptive frequency hopping common to all versions of Bluetooth technologyto minimize interference from other technologies in the 2.4 GHz
ISM Band. Efficient multi-path benefits increase the link budgets and
range.
Host Control – Bluetooth low energy places a significant
amount of intelligence in the controller, which allows the host to
sleep for longer periods of time and be woken up by the controller
only when the host needs to perform some action. This allows for the
greatest current savings since the host is assumed to consume more
power than the controller.
Latency
– Bluetooth low energy can support connection
setup and data transfer as low as 3ms, allowing an application to form
a connection and then transfer authenticated data in few milliseconds
for a short communication burst before quickly tearing down the
connection.
Range – Increased modulation index provides a possible range
for Bluetooth low energy of over 100 meters.
Robustness – Bluetooth low energy uses a strong 24 bit
CRC on all packets ensuring the maximum robustness against
interference.
Strong Security – Full AES-128 encryption using CCM to provide
strong encryption and authentication of data packets.
-
Topology – Bluetooth low energy uses a 32 bit access
address on every packet for each slave, allowing billions of devices
to be connected.The technologyis optimized for
one-to-one connections while allowing one-to-many connections using a
star topology. With the use of quick connections and disconnections,
data can move in a mesh-like topology without the complexities of
maintaining a mesh network.
Bluetooth
Technology in Telehealth Solutions
Today’s announcement also advances the requirements of the Bluetooth
SIG’s agreement with Continua Health Alliance, the industry coalition of
leading health care and technology companies charged with establishing a
system of interoperable personal telehealth solutions. Continua has
voted to include the Bluetooth low energy wireless technology
specification, Bluetooth low energy, in Version Two of its
Continua Health Alliance Design Guidelines. The selection of Bluetooth
low energy extends the current Continua standard for the Bluetooth
Health Device Profile, the only wireless technology specification
included in Continua’s Version One Design Guidelines.
About Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
Bluetooth wireless technology is the global short-range wireless
standard for personal connectivity of a broad range of electronic
devices. The technology continues to evolve, building on its inherent
strengths – small-form factor radio, low power, low cost, built-in
security, robustness, ease-of-use, and ad hoc networking abilities. This
evolution now provides manufacturers and consumers with three options
for connecting wirelessly – classic Bluetooth technology for use
in a wide range of consumer electronics; Bluetooth high speed
technology for the transfer of video, music and photos between phones,
cameras, camcorders, PCs and TVs; and Bluetooth low energy for
low power sensor devices and new web services within the healthcare,
fitness, security, home entertainment, automotive and automation
industries. More than eight new Bluetooth enabled products are
qualified every working day and more than 19 million Bluetooth
units are shipping per week. There are nearly three billion Bluetooth
devices in the marketplace and that number climbs daily, making it the
only proven wireless choice for developers, product manufacturers, and
consumers worldwide.
About Bluetooth low energy Wireless Technology
Bluetooth low energy is a new low energy enhancement to the Bluetooth
wireless technology Core Specification that paves the way to a vast new
market for watches, remote controls, and healthcare and sports sensors.
It has the potential to communicate with the hundreds of millions of Bluetooth
enabled mobile phones, PCs and PDAs that are shipped each year.
Consuming minimal power, it offers long-lasting connectivity,
dramatically extending the range of potential applications and opening
the door to brand new web services. Bluetooth low energy features
ultra-low peak, average and idle mode power consumption; ultra-low cost
plus small size for accessories and human interface devices (HIDs);
minimal cost and size addition to handsets and PCs; global, intuitive
and secure multi-vendor interoperability.
About the Bluetooth SIG
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), comprised of leaders in the
telecommunications, computing, consumer electronics, automotive and
network industries, is driving development of Bluetooth wireless
technology and bringing it to market. The Bluetooth SIG includes
Promoter member companies Ericsson, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola,
Nokia and Toshiba, along with over 12,000 Associate and Adopter member
companies. The Bluetooth SIG, Inc. headquarters are located in Bellevue,
Washington, U.S.A. For more information please visit www.bluetooth.com.
The Bluetooth word mark and logo are registered trademarks and
are owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc.
Note to Editors: Media assets (stills and video) to accompany
stories about Bluetooth wireless technology are available on Bluetooth.com,
hosted by The NewsMarket: http://www.bluetooth.com/thenewsmarket.
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