Blogs

Bluetooth finds its place in IoT

Bluetooth has gone through a number of hype cycles since it was first released, writes Mike Crooks, the head of Innovation at the Mubaloo Innovation Lab.

Initially billed as a new way to send messages and content between devices, it wasn’t long until it developed a reputation for the harbinger of mobile malware attacks. It then had to suffer through the Bluetooth headset phase, before becoming a defacto standard for audio streaming. This then led to criticisms about it being a prime source of mobile phone battery drain, latency issues and a detriment to sound quality.

As the Bluetooth Special Interest Group has improved the specifications and matured the technology, Bluetooth has slowly been transforming itself to become a key connecting technology for the Internet of Things. In many ways, Bluetooth is already acting as a IoT technology, delivering the ability to connect smartphones with laptops and other devices to create mobile hotspots. Additionally, it is a technology that has been used to connect car infotainment systems with our phones, helping to create a form of a connected car experience.

It is over the next few years, however, that the role that Bluetooth plays in IoT will come to the fore. When beacons were first popularised, as a proximity based technology Apple called iBeacon, there was a great deal of hype. The hype largely focused on the potential of the technology to deliver timely, location based offers to consumers. Whilst this has had some success, the true potential of the technology has largely been untapped.

In its first phase, the potential of the technology within the context of IoT was to give physical assets a presence and help to trigger certain actions, or trigger certain content on mobile devices that would help employees to do their jobs. Essentially, beacons used within the confines of IoT delivered the ability to connect physical assets with digital devices and deliver some intelligence, when a human was physically near it.

To be considered as a true IoT technology however, beacons and bluetooth needs to cut the tie with the human. This is where Bluetooth 4.2 and the specifications for 2016 come in. As from next year, the Bluetooth SIG has announced that Bluetooth 4.2 and above will receive a 100% increase in speed, without increasing energy consumption, faster data transfers, increased responsiveness and lower latency. At the same time, IPv6 support is coming, enabling mesh networking from a single Internet access point.

Already, Bluetooth can be used as a control mechanism when people are physically within range. By enabling mesh networking and a direct connection, Bluetooth and the role it plays in the connected world is expected to increase rapidly. Beacon technology will go from being able to deliver intelligence from human interactions, to being a connector and sensor driven node.

Improvements to security, battery life and lower costs of the technology will push it further into this space. Already, energy and transportation companies are looking closely at the potential of this technology, to help understand the role that it plays.

As Mark Powell, executive director, Bluetooth SIG explained recently: “The Bluetooth technology roadmap is a powerful expression of our mission to continue as a catalyst for industry innovation. Bluetooth has been adopted by countless developers and manufacturers as their connectivity solution of choice for the IoT. The new functionality we will soon be adding, will further solidify Bluetooth as the backbone of IoT technology.”

Of course, Bluetooth isn’t the only technology in this space, and nor should it be. The Internet of Things has always involved a vast amount of different technologies, working together to do something greater than the sum of their individual parts. That, in many ways, is what the essence of the Internet of Things is about. It’s evolving the original vision behind the Internet to accelerate progress and create a smarter World, more intelligent business and new ideas.

For the past few years, Bluetooth has been upping its game and throwing off the shackles of its early days. It’s now back into a positive hype, where it deserves to be. It’s only just starting to rise to its position within the IoT world.