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Bluetooth 4.0

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

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.

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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.

Direct Hit!

Applies To: Everyone



Price: N/A


USP: Low power technology to drive devices for years without
recharge



Primary Link:
www.bluetooth.com




Search Engine Keywords: Bluetooth 4.0, low power technology

 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Devices and products that will benefit from low power

Bluetooth 4.0 technology giving new definition to mobility
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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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