Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has officially announced the next major version of Bluetooth, the version 5 that is coming late 2016 to early 2017. Called as Bluetooth 5, this connectivity standard is said to be making the range of low-energy connections four times better, and the speed of transfer will double when compared to the current connectivity offered.
“Bluetooth 5 will transform the way people experience the IoT by making it something that happens simply and seamlessly around them,” said Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “Increasing operation range will enable connections to IoT devices that extend far beyond the walls of a typical home, while increasing speed supports faster data transfers and software updates for devices. And now with the ability to broadcast a much richer set of information, Bluetooth 5 will make beacons, location awareness, and other connectionless services an even more relevant part of an effortless and seamless IoT experience”
Bluetooth boasts of an all-time high of 30,000 member companies and the SIG aims at building an accessible, interoperable IoT. Apart from the speed and range, Bluetooth 5 is said to be increasing the capacity of connectionless data broadcasts by 800 percent. With the increase in the broadcast capacity, the adoption and deployment of beacons and location-based services in the home automation, enterprise, and industrial markets will become better.
According to Powell, there are about 8.2 billion products using Bluetooth, and with the introduction of Bluetooth 5, it is expected that by 2020, more than one-third of all IoT devices will have Bluetooth 5 connectivity.
Source: Bluetooth.com
