Topics Tagged ‘Bluetooth Low Energy’
Wibree
Now that wireless connections are established solutions in various sectors of consumer electronics, the question arises whether devices that draw long life from a small battery could find benefit as well in a global standard for wireless low energy technology. Makers of sensors for sports, health and fitness devices have dabbled in wireless but not together, while manufacturers of products like watches have never even considered adding wireless functionality because no options were available. Several wireless technologies have tried to address the needs of the button cell battery market, but most were proprietary and garnered little industry support. However, none of these technologies let smaller manufacturers plug in to a global standard that provides a viable link with devices like mobile phones and laptops.
However, companies that wants to make their small devices wireless need to build and sell either a dedicated display unit or an adapter that connects to a computing platform such as a mobile phone, PC or iPod. There have been few successful products that followed this route to a mass market. A new flavor of Bluetooth technology may be just the answer, and a more efficient alternative for yet another wireless standard.
In the ten years since engineers from a handful of companies came together to create the first Bluetooth specification, Bluetooth technology has become a household term, a globally recognized standard for connecting portable devices. The Bluetooth brand ranks among the top ingredient technology brands worldwide, recognized by a majority of consumers around the world. A thriving global industry of close to 11,000 member companies now designs Bluetooth products and works together to develop future generations of the technology, found in well over 50 percent of mobile phones worldwide and with more than two billion devices shipped to date. Bluetooth wireless technology has established the standard for usability, ease of setup and compatibility across all manufacturers. A well-established set of Bluetooth profiles define the communication needs for a wide range of applications, making it easy for a manufacturer to add Bluetooth wireless connectivity to new devices — from phones to headsets to printers — with a minimum of programming and testing work.
