Bluetooth Low Energy Details: Bluetooth 4
Since its inception quite some years ago, this technology developed by a spin-off company from Cambridge University has become ubiquitous. Nowadays we find it everywhere and just some examples are in mobile phones, computers, laptops, computer mice, audio systems, car phones and devices to control your home remotely.
That the technology was named Bluetooth is due to some tongue in
the cheek humour by its inventors. They named it Bluetooth after
a Danish King, �Harald Bluetooth Gormson�, who ruled from around
958 to 970. He was famous for uniting Danish tribes into a
single nation under a banner of Christianity. The analogy is the
Bluetooth wireless technology unifies disparate devices into a
single network.
Bluetooth is simply a specification for a specific wireless
technology. This technology provides physically small and low
cost wireless connectivity between a variety of diverse devices
to create a personal area network.
SUMMARY
Bluetooth Low Energy is embodied in
the Bluetooth 4 protocol announced recently by the Bluetooth
Special Interest Group (SIG)
The major features are:
- Ultra-low peak, average and idle mode power consumption
- Ability to run for extended periods (years) on standard button batteries
- Low cost
- Interoperability between vendors
- Enhanced range
There are two implementations: single-mode and dual-mode:
Dual-mode implementation
Bluetooth low energy functions are integrated with standard
Bluetooth chips. All the features of standard Bluetooth
including Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR or Bluetooth V3.0 + HS are
available along with the new Bluetooth Low Energy functions at
essentially the same cost as conventional Bluetooth.
Single-mode Implementation:
These are single low cost Bluetooth Low Energy chips which
provide a Link Layer with ultra-low power idle, simple device
discovery, and point-to-multipoint data transfer including
power-save and updated security.
Author: Gary Shorthouse
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