The incorporation of these new features is being overseen by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), an industry body that counts companies such as Apple, Intel, Microsoft, and Lenovo among its backers.
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The group is moving to position Bluetooth as a key standard for delivering the promise of the internet of things (IoT), and help energise fast-growing areas of interest such as smart homes, industrial automation, location-based services and smart city infrastructure. Mesh networking allows all devices on a network to talk to each other, offering more ways of transferring data between devices, according to Slash Gear.
“There is significant demand from our members and the industry at large to enhance Bluetooth with the new capabilities were announcing today”, said SIG chairman Toby Nixon in apress statement.
Bluetooth connections allow for convenient transfers between devices, but the current standard is starting to struggle to keep up. Now, it’s about to get another serious spec bump, providing four times the range, twice the speed and even mesh networking. SIG explains that this can potentially create new use cases for smart home appliances as you could stay connected to outdoor accessories like a weather sensor while inside, something that is usually beyond current range limitations. The technical updates planned for Bluetooth technology in 2016 will help make these expectations a reality and accelerate growth. We are still in the early stages, but the smart homes and smart buildings of the future will require a smarter network to operate.
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Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG, has said the new functionality will solidify Bluetooth as the framework of Internet of Things (IoT) technology.
