Updated 26 May, 2012, 10:08 am IST

Bluetooth SIG Announces v4.0, Low Energy Wireless Technology

22 Dec, 2009, 1:22 pm IST | by Shayne Rana |

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has recently 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. 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 energy modules 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.”

“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 low energy 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

Technical Details
Data Transfers – Bluetooth low energy technology 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 technology uses the adaptive frequency hopping common to all versions of Bluetooth technology to 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 technology 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 technology 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 technology of over 100 meters.
Robustness – Bluetooth low energy technology 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 technology uses a 32 bit access address on every packet for each slave, allowing billions of devices to be connected.The technology is 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.�

Tags: Bluetooth

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