Planet Bluetooth

Bluetooth’s spread and evolution continue, and suppliers of the omnipresent tech are innovating across applications once unimagined

Delivering in-depth analysis of fitness and performance levels to amateur and professional athletes on the run. Sending alerts and precise locations of potentially dangerous incidents to emergency contacts who can respond accordingly. Providing medical grade assessments of an individual’s health concerns without a health practitioner in sight. These are just some of the many scenarios in which near ubiquitous wireless tech is making everyday life simpler, safer and healthier for billions. And as ambitious developers take advantage of evolving technologies, connected devices with smaller form factors will do even more using even less power.

An inflection point in the remarkable rise of wireless innovation can be traced back a quarter of a century to the emergence of an interoperable protocol that formed a standard, alongside an open specification for hardware and software. That technology came to be known as Bluetooth, which in its various forms has powered a significant segment of the connected world ever since. Within two years of Ericsson, Nokia, Intel, IBM and Toshiba creating the Bluetooth SIG in May 1998, the Bluetooth 1.0 Specification had been launched and the first Bluetooth cellphone and wireless headset developed. From there the rate of adoption accelerated impressively. The Bluetooth SIG’s membership skyrocketed and last year over 5 billion Bluetooth-enabled devices were shipped worldwide – a figure expected to climb to 7 billion by 2026.

Today wearables are universal, while smart homes, smart industries and even smart cities are transforming life on ‘Planet Bluetooth’. The release of the standard drove impressive growth, but things really got going with the release of an energy efficient version, Bluetooth Low Energy, in 2010 as a hallmark element of the Bluetooth 4.0 Specification. Bluetooth LE was born out of a 2001 Nokia venture to develop a wireless technology which would operate from coin cell batteries and allow peripherals such as heart rate monitors to connect to the Finnish company’s handsets. It was further developed with partners including Nordic Semiconductor – a company that was already a renowned pioneer in ultra low power, high performance wireless connectivity. Nordic’s technology enabled, among other applications, a heart rate belt to wirelessly connect to a Nokia phone. Nokia’s initiative was eventually released to the public in October 2006 under the brand name Wibree - and it soon attracted the attention of the Bluetooth SIG.

Crucially, although it was a leader in proprietary wireless tech, Nordic took the decision to back the open standard—just as it has with cellular IoT, DECT NR+ and Wi-Fi in more recent times—ceding much of its hard-won intellectual property (IP) to the Bluetooth SIG. It proved a masterstroke; the low power wireless market exploded, with Nordic’s share making it a global market leader.

Bluetooth LE was a game changer because its ultra low power consumption meant data could be gathered from sensors without requiring frequent battery recharge or replacement. And because handset makers were familiar with the original Bluetooth tech, they rapidly adopted the low power version in their new models. That was the catalyst for a huge market in ‘appcessories’, wirelessly linked peripheral devices such as fitness bands that leveraged the smartphone’s computational horsepower. Today’s high end wearables represent just the latest chapter of this story.

The rise and rise of Bluetooth

The expansion of Planet Bluetooth has been built on both constant enhancements to the Bluetooth Core Specification—the technical name for the document that details how to build Bluetooth devices—and the powerful Bluetooth SoCs with their associated application software that power increasingly sophisticated applications.

“The Bluetooth SIG member community is dedicated to delivering innovations that improve the capabilities of Bluetooth technology and help shape new market trends,” said Mark Powell, CEO, Bluetooth SIG, in a statement. For example, the introduction of Bluetooth 5 in mid 2016 added some key capabilities to Bluetooth tech, notably increased range or higher data throughput. Bluetooth 5 sensors removed some of the barriers to retrieving data across longer distances, improving functionality across a gamut of wireless applications from smartwatches to smart agriculture.

The July 2017 release of the Bluetooth Mesh 1.0 specification—as the name suggests, a mesh networking technology—extended the capabilities of Bluetooth LE for the first time allowing devices within a network to communicate using radio packets relayed via other nodes without recourse to a central hub device. Bluetooth Mesh provides vital functionality for applications in smart lighting, predictive maintenance, asset tracking and positioning among others.

The Bluetooth SIG member community is dedicated to delivering innovations that improve Bluetooth technology and help shape new market trends

In 2019, a further update to the Bluetooth Specification, Bluetooth 5.1, brought another powerful application of the technology to the fore – direction finding. Designed to enhance location services where previously Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) offered limited precision, Bluetooth Direction Finding offered new and improved use case for real time location systems (RTLS) such as indoor asset tracking. The feature yields an improvement in location accuracy from meters to centimeters, opening up new possibilities for accurate indoor positioning of both assets and people. It is anticipated that smartphones supporting Bluetooth Direction Finding will enable scenarios like locating lost personal items and wayfinding in large spaces such as airports and hospitals. There will be a total of 178,000 Bluetooth RTLS implementations by the end of 2023, with 262 million Bluetooth location services device shipments anticipated this year, according to data by analyst ABI Research.

In the lucrative audio market, Bluetooth tech described as the ‘future of wireless sound’ now allows engineers to enhance the sound quality and power consumption of wireless audio products. Bluetooth 5.2 added capabilities to the specification that support LE Audio. The tech enables audio developers to meet increasing consumer performance demands and drive continuous growth across the audio peripheral market. It also enables Auracast broadcast audio and will standardize the implementation for Bluetooth audio in hearing aids. In 2022, 1.36 billion Bluetooth audio streaming devices—including headsets, headphones, speakers and earbuds—were shipped globally.

Year 2023 brought major improvements for device networks - Electronic shelf labels (ESL) based on PAwR (Periodic Advertising with Responses) introduced in the Bluetooth 5.4 specification and Bluetooth Networked Lighting Control (NLC). NLC was released along with more improvements and new features in Bluetooth Mesh, including standardized Mesh Device Firmware Update (DFU) and Remote Provisioning.

Bluetooth tech is also the radio of choice for commissioning smart home devices. While smart home device manufacturers can select from several low power wireless protocols such as Thread or Zigbee, Bluetooth’s unique advantage is its interoperability with smartphones and tablets. And with its inclusion in Matter, Bluetooth tech’s place in the smart home is now cemented. With support from the biggest tech companies in the world, including Nordic Semiconductor, Matter stands to revolutionize the smart home by uniting disparate ecosystems and bringing the world of smart devices closer together.

Pioneer becomes leader

Nordic has been part of Bluetooth LE’s success since it joined Nokia’s Wibree initiative in 2006. However, being a pioneer of a technology doesn’t guarantee a company will become a leader. Nordic’s engineering teams have worked hard to establish the company at the forefront of Bluetooth LE tech. The firm built on its early ultra low power wireless experience to become one of the first companies to launch a Bluetooth SoC—a highly integrated chip including radio, microprocessor, memory and other functionality—with its nRF51 Series in 2012. The SoC concept had since been copied by virtually every Bluetooth LE supplier.

Fast-forward over a decade and today, Nordic’s awardwinning, high-performance, yet easy to design-in Bluetooth LE solutions are used by the world’s leading brands in myriad products, including PC peripherals, gaming, sports and fitness, mobile phone accessories, consumer electronics, toys, healthcare and industrial automation. All Nordic solutions are advanced and power efficient, but offer different feature sets and memory configurations. The company ships more than one million Bluetooth LE SoCs every day. According to Bluetooth SIG data compiled by DNB Markets, Nordic had a market share of 39 percent of new design certifications in the Bluetooth LE market in 2021. A total of more than 1,100 new designs were certified in 2022, of which 446 had Nordic inside.

Since the introduction of the nRF51 Series, Nordic’s chips have evolved in performance—primarily based on the use of more advanced semiconductor manufacturing tech, more generous memory, more processing power and speed, and more embedded cores—through successive product introductions. Each new generation has allowed developers to push the boundaries of innovation without making major sacrifices in power consumption.

In late 2019, Nordic Semiconductor announced the launch of the nRF5340 as the latest flagship in its Bluetooth LE SoC family. The nRF5340 is the world’s first wireless SoC based on an Arm Cortex-M33 dual-processor hardware architecture. A high-performance application processor combined with a fully programmable, ultra low power network processor, enables the former to look after advanced processing such as machine learning while the latter supervises the wireless protocol. In addition, the highly integrated SoC has advanced security features, making it ideal for advanced wearables, professional lighting and industrial automation applications.

“Developers are already working on implementing the more complex applications required for the commercial products of tomorrow,” says Bjørn Åge ("Bob") Brandal, VP of Sales and Marketing, Asia Pacific. “These applications require greater computational power and high security, but with the energy efficiency for which Nordic solutions have become renowned. The nRF5340 meets these needs, and together with our design tools will make complex applications much easier and simpler to implement.”

Earlier this year, Nordic Semiconductor announced the first SoC in its nRF54 Series, extending the company’s pioneering approach in Bluetooth LE. The nRF54H20 SoC boasts multiple Arm Cortex-M33 processors and multiple RISC-V coprocessors making it ideal for disruptive IoT applications demanding high processing power, excellent energy efficiency and state-of-the-art security. Capable of supporting Bluetooth 5.4 and future Bluetooth specifications, plus LE Audio, Bluetooth mesh, Thread, Matter and more, the nRF54H20 will be the foundation for a new wave of revolutionary IoT end products. In addition to next-gen wearables, smart home, medical and LE Audio applications, the nRF54H20 SoC is an ideal solution for applications demanding complex machine learning (ML) and support for sensor fusion at the edge.

“Decades of ultra low power wireless expertise have come together to form the nRF54 Series,” says Svenn-Tore Larsen, CEO, Nordic Semiconductor. “Our first SoC from the fourth generation of Bluetooth LE solutions, the product not only represents a significant milestone for Nordic, but also allows Nordic’s customers to build end products far more advanced than those we see today.”

Endless applications

Like the capability of its products, the performance of applications enabled by Nordic’s low power wireless tech continues to improve. For example, a high end health monitoring wearable launched by U.S. based human performance company, WHOOP, can perform continuous physiological data monitoring for up to five days without requiring recharge. “With a breakthrough battery design and extremely low power consumption enabled by the nRF52840 SoC, we can deliver up to five days of continuous physiological data monitoring before needing a recharge,” says Brian Martins, WHOOP.

The WHOOP 4.0 monitors the wearer’s heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen saturation, sleep data, strain and skin temperature. The data is relayed to a smartphone using the Nordic SoC and made accessible via an app where members can get health insights, see improvements and irregularities, as well as download their health records.

Meanwhile, intelligent technology company Magene’s multifunctional GPS bike computer can record over 100 different items of riding data across 13 categories as well as support up to eight peripherals. The C406 Pro uses satellite positioning to accurately record and display a range of data such as speed, mileage, time, temperature and altitude on its 2.4-in (61 mm) LCD screen. The integration of Nordic’s multiprotocol nRF52840 SoC allows the bike computer to support sensor devices such as heart rate monitors, power meters, speed and cadence sensors as well as electronic shifting systems and the company’s L508 Radar Tail Light. The SoC also supports the ultra low power ANT+ wireless protocol which allows the bike computer to be simultaneously linked with complementary ANT+ Magene and third party devices. “As a brand, Nordic has mature market experience, an enormous number of customer success stories, and timely technical support,” says Fanbin Kong, CTO of Magene.

Elsewhere, Anglo-American fitness equipment manufacturer, WaterRower, has developed rowing machine performance monitors to provide users with ‘real time’ access to motivational programs and data-driven incentives to train smarter and keep fit. The machine uses an nRF52811 to send the user’s data to a smartphone app.

And in the industrial sector, China based OctoNet’s Bluetooth positioning gateway uses the direction finding capabilities of Nordic’s nRF52833 SoC to keep track of high value hospital equipment and the whereabouts of staff in hospitals. “The excellent performance, stability and reliability of Nordic’s products are the best in the industry,” says Xin Zhang, CTO at Jiangsu OctoNet Technology. “In addition, Nordic’s sales engineers and technical support engineers showed great professionalism and enthusiasm when providing support.”

These examples stand out, but the list of similarly advanced applications employing Nordic enabled Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity is truly extensive.

Bluetooth LE technology is now synonymous with the connected lifestyle across the globe. Bluetooth LE devices are helping people in a smart home in Los Angeles to those working on an outback ranch in remote Australia and everywhere in between. Whether a dedicated athlete, an intrepid adventurer, a patient with an acute medical condition, or simply a typical consumer in the developed world, we’re all citizens of Planet Bluetooth.

This article was first published in Wireless Quarter magazine, Issue 2, 2023.

What’s in a name?

The Bluetooth brand is universally recognized, but few could immediately explain the origins of the name. Given the level of innovation it’s associated with, ‘Bluetooth’ doesn’t sound particularly geeky. It’s not an acronym, nor does it refer to a form of RF modulation. So where does it come from? Surprisingly, the name dates back more than a millennium to King Harald ‘Bluetooth’ Gormsson, who was well known for two things: Uniting Denmark and Norway in 958, and his dead tooth, which was a dark blue/grey color, earning him the nickname Bluetooth.

Fast forward to 1996, three industry leaders—Intel, Ericsson and Nokia—met to plan the standardization of a short-range radio tech to support connectivity and collaboration between different products and industries. During this meeting, Jim Kardach from Intel suggested Bluetooth as a temporary code name. “King Harald Bluetooth … was famous for uniting Scandinavia just as we intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link,” Kardach later explained.

Bluetooth was only intended as a placeholder until marketing could formally name the nascent technology. Around this time, a number of different companies in the Special Interest Group (SIG) were each developing their own names. The leading contenders were IBM’s proposal, “PAN” (Personal Area Networking), and Intel’s proposal, “RadioWire”. PAN was the frontrunner until an exhaustive search discovered it already had tens of thousands of hits across the Internet, while a full trademark search on RadioWire couldn’t be completed in time for launch. This left Bluetooth as the last option standing. And before the name could be changed it had gathered the industry’s attention, quickly becoming synonymous with short range wireless technology – to the extent the SIG originally had its application for a U.S. trademark rejected on the basis of Bluetooth already being synonymous with short range radios. As for the Bluetooth logo, it represents a ‘bind rune’ merging the symbols for King Harald’s initials.