Bluetooth 4.0 will be contributing to the new generation devices in the year 2010. The hallmark of the standard is low power technology which promises to run devices on coin-cell batteries for years. Bluetooth 3.0 standard released in April 2009 was focused on providing high speed rate; however it was unable to convince manufacturers to implement it on devices because of high power consumption by application during data transfer. Bluetooth 4.0 is considered as an improvement over its predecessors due to lower power consumption, lower cost of implementation and co-existence with previous Bluetooth devices.
The all new Bluetooth technology is aimed at smaller integrated devices many of which run on button cell batteries like watches, remote controls, etc. It will allow a whole new range of gadgets like toys, sports and healthcare gadgets. Hence you'll be able to convert your home network into an extended personal area network controlling various devices remotely from anywhere in the house.
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It will allow low power devices to access wide area networks (WLAN,3G and GSM) via mobile phones which will give rise to enhanced connectivity hence enabling new dimension applications in the low battery devices. People will be able to download bus schedules from bus stops or product information from a store. Although, being a new technology some new changes will be required for optimizing low power radio protocol; it can also be incorporated into existing Bluetooth technologies which contributes to lower cost of implementation. Another eye catchy feature of the technology is that it consumes very less power due to low standby currents as a result of long idle times between active radio use. Due to low power and higher range, the technology has an ability to extend the network coverage.
The most widely implemented version of Bluetooth is 2.1+EDR. While Blutooth 4.0 provides similar feature as Bluetooth 2.1+EDR like maximum data transfer speed of 1Mbps and 100 mts range but at low power consumption. Bluetooth 3.0, released last year, in spite of providing data transfer rates comparable to Wi-Fi, was not accepted by the device manufacturers due to high power consumption and the bandwidth requirements .
Inside the technology
Some technical details of this technology are:
Dual and single mode operation: Dual mode alternates between high speed and low power modes. This implementation will find its way into the consumer devices where the technology already has a strong hold --mobile phones and PCs for multiple roles and data storage. Dual mode integrates the functionality of classic Bluetooth controller resulting into an architecture using classic Bluetooth technology with low energy functionality and hence minimizing cost increment. Single mode works for ultra low power uses like sensors and displays. The single mode implementation is for highly integrated and compact low power devices and it will feature a lightweight Link Layer providing ultra-low power idle mode operation, simple device discovery, and reliable point-to-multi point data transfer with advanced power-save and secure encrypted connections at the lowest possible cost.
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| New Bluetooth technology allows small devices to be connected to various services via mobile phones. |
Host control: The host controller is programmed to keep the host dormant for longer periods and wakes up the host only when there is some action to perform. This results in saving significant power since host consumes more power than controller.
Latency: The Bluetooth low energy technology supports connection setup and data transfer with low latency (3ms) allowing an application to transfer data in few milliseconds.
Enhanced Data Rate: Enhanced Data Rate is a method of extending the capacity and types of Bluetooth packets to increase maximum throughput, providing better support for multiple connections, and lowering power consumption; while the remainder of the architecture is unchanged. Very short data packets (8 octet minimum and 27 octet maximum) are transferred at a speed of 1Mbps with all connections using advanced sniff-subrating to achieve ultra low duty cycles.
Range: Increased modulation Index provides a range up to 100 meters.
Topology: The Low energy piconet supports any number of devices limited only by resources of the master and there is virtually no limit on the number of transports however a LE (low energy) device can belong to only one piconet at a time.
Market potential
The target domains for Bluetooth 4.0 will be healthcare, sports, and entertainment. The devices with this technology will be watches which will work as CLI displays for mobile phones and controllers for various entertainment devices. In the healthcare arena, new range of wrist-bands for measuring your jogging speed and pulse rate will hit world markets soon this year.
Low power consumption of Bluetooth 4.0 will be attracting manufacturers to make low power wireless and light weight devices. These will be followed by fitness devices which will be using the handset as a gateway transferring data to remote service.
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| Devices and products that will benefit from low power Bluetooth 4.0 technology giving new definition to mobility |
Home and entertainment market is also on the top list of Bluetooth 4.0 target markets. Remote controls with low power Bluetooth technology will allow usage of single remote control with wide range of consumer products. Think, you can control your TV and air conditioner with the same remote.Since the market of gaming consoles and controllers is rapidly growing, it has become the hot target for Bluetooth low power technology. The main use of Bluetooth in gaming is to connect multiple controllers with a single console. Some of the medical equipment benefiting from this technology will be devices like heart rate monitors, glucose monitors, blood pressure monitors.
Bluetooth 4.0 vs other low power technologies
There are many other low power technologies in the market which are already being implemented. Zigbee is best known one and Z-Wave, which is widely implemented in automation devices.
We also see a large range of propriety radios which has already covered a large area of wireless products market. Although the devices use different spread spectrum technologies, the throughput and range is more or less similar. The difference between these technologies and Bluetooth 4.0 lies in power management front.
The power consumed by a device widely depends on the speed with which it wakes up, transfer data and return to sleep. Another differentiation factor is ease of implementation. The Bluetooth 4.0 is expected to quickly get widespread adoption since the incremental cost and effort for integration in mobile phones are quite minimal.
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