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Remember when Bluetooth was also used to transfer entire images, videos, and apps across mobile phones? That’s obviously a thing of the past now thanks to significantly faster technologies like NFC and Wi-Fi which continue to pick up steam. Instead, Bluetooth’s scope has expanded far beyond file transfers.
With the advent of IoT and affordable wearables, there was a need for a standard that would be far more energy-efficient to keep these devices running for weeks or even months. That’s when Bluetooth Low Energy was released with a vision to create a radio standard with the lowest possible power consumption. Below, we take a deeper look at this groundbreaking technology.
Bluetooth Low Energy is a version of Bluetooth technology that uses less power and is designed for connecting Internet-enabled devices and appliances. It is also known as Bluetooth Smart and was introduced as part of the Bluetooth 4.0 specification back in 2010, meaning it’s present on the latest Bluetooth 5.x versions as well.
Bluetooth Low Energy works by using a wireless technique called frequency hopping, which allows devices to communicate in the 2.4 GHz radio band without interfering with each other. However, Bluetooth Low Energy has a lower data rate than Bluetooth Classic, reaching only up to 1 Mbps. It also consumes much less power, ranging from 0.01 to 0.5 watts.
The standard is ideal for the Internet of Things (IoT), which is the network of devices that can interact with each other and the Internet. For example, BLE can be used for personal health, fitness, sports, entertainment, and location services, and it can connect with modern smartphones and tablets. The battery life of Bluetooth Low Energy devices depends on various factors, such as hardware, transmission distance and frequency, and it can last anywhere between 1 to 40 months.
One of the main advantages of BLE is that it consumes much less power than Classic Bluetooth. But how does it achieve this feat? The answer lies in how BLE devices communicate with each other.
BLE devices use the same radio frequencies as Classic Bluetooth, and they can exchange data in similar ways. However, unlike Classic Bluetooth, which is always active and designed for continuous data transmission, BLE devices are mostly in sleep mode and only wake up briefly to send or receive data. These data exchanges are very short and last only a few seconds.
By staying asleep most of the time and minimising the duration of data transfers, BLE devices can save a lot of energy and extend their battery life significantly. Since these devices’ batteries last for so long, they’re ideal for hardware applications that require low data rates and infrequent communication.
One of the main differences between Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE is how they handle power consumption and data transmission. Bluetooth LE was designed to be more energy-efficient than Bluetooth, which it achieves by using a sleep mode that only wakes up when it needs to send or receive data. Bluetooth, on the other hand, is always active, which drains more power.
Bluetooth LE also sends smaller packets of data than Bluetooth, which reduces the energy required for each transmission. However, this also means that Bluetooth LE has a lower data transfer rate than Bluetooth. Bluetooth can send up to 2.1 Mbps of data, while Bluetooth LE can only send up to 1 Mbps. This makes Bluetooth more suitable for applications that need to stream large amounts of data continuously, such as audio or video.
Another key difference between Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE is how they respond to user input. Bluetooth LE has a lower latency than Bluetooth, which means it can react faster to user commands. Latency is the time it takes for a device to respond to a signal from another device. Bluetooth LE has a latency of about 6 milliseconds, while Bluetooth has a latency of about 100 milliseconds. This makes Bluetooth LE more responsive for applications that need to interact with user input quickly, such as keyboards or mice.
Internet of Things (IoT): BLE enables smart home devices such as lights, thermostats, locks, and sensors to communicate with each other and with your phone. You can control your home environment with a tap or a voice command, or set up routines and schedules for your devices.
Audio devices: BLE has made its way into the audio industry with the new LE Audio standard. This standard offers better sound quality, lower battery consumption, and support for hearing aids than the traditional Bluetooth Classic.
Fitness tracking: BLE is the technology behind many of the wearable devices that monitor your health and activity. Your smartwatch or fitness tracker can send data such as heart rate, steps, calories, and sleep quality to your phone via BLE.
Smart tags: BLE can help you locate your lost or misplaced items with precision tracking devices such as AirTags or Tiles. These devices attach to your belongings and send their location to your phone via BLE. You can then use an app to find them on a map or make them play a sound.
Inventory management: BLE can also help optimise the logistics and storage of goods in warehouses. BLE solutions can track the temperature, humidity, drop, and location of sensitive or fragile items during transit and storage. They can also use artificial intelligence and BLE to suggest the best storage locations for assets within a warehouse.
