New protocol to run on top of Bluetooth® Low Energy to create mesh networks of many devices with minimal setup and low latency

CSR plc have today announced the launch of their new “CSR Mesh” technology to widen the scope of Bluetooth® Low Energy and take it further into the IoT space.

The new CSR Mesh protocol runs on top of standard Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE; previously known as Bluetooth Smart) but creates decentralized networks of interconnected devices, where any device in a network can communicate with any other and each network can support up to 65,000 devices. As each device extends the range of the entire network, the normal Bluetooth Low Energy range limitations cease to apply.

Since CSR Mesh is built on top of standard Bluetooth Low Energy, most existing Bluetooth Low Energy devices should be capable of being updated to support this new standard. This extends to PCs and smartphones, opening up the possibility of using these to simply and conveniently control large numbers embedded devices.

Initial applications for CSR Mesh are expected to include smart lighting systems, heating control, building control, security systems and asset tracking.

“Unlike other home automation connectivity solutions, such as Zigbee or Z-Wave, CSR Mesh ensures direct control from mobile devices anywhere in the home, because it doesn’t have a limited range or require a hub,” says Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President, Business Group at CSR. “CSR is committed to driving Internet of Things innovation. We believe this Bluetooth Smart solution will be a real game changer for developers because it means they don’t have to turn to proprietary solutions or add anything else to create products that give consumers what they want – complete home automation they can control from anywhere that ‘just works’.”

CSR have released a video demonstrating the new technology, which can be viewed here.

Bluetooth SIG Names Bionym as Overall Winner of The Bluetooth Breakthrough Awards 2014

Congratulations to Bionym who have been declared the overall winner of the 2014 Bluetooth® Breakthrough Awards by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG).

The Bluetooth SIG announced the four category winners and the overall winner for its Bluetooth Breakthrough Awards 2014 competition at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain yesterday. The category winners are: Automatic Labs in the Breakthrough Application category, Nonin Medical Inc. in the Breakthrough Product category, Bionym in the Breakthrough Prototype category (and the overall winner) and Shiva Nathan in the Breakthrough Student category.

“We were blown away at the quantity and quality of submissions in just the second year of our Breakthrough Awards program. Our winners capture how we continue to see Bluetooth Smart empower the Internet of My Things as well as make bigger possibilities with wireless connectivity a reality in the Internet of Everything,” said Suke Jawanda, Bluetooth SIG CMO. “Bionym, our overall winner, is an excellent example of how the power-efficient, intelligent connectivity of Bluetooth Smart makes it possible for developers and OEMs to reimagine their products in a way that makes the consumers’ lives more convenient, smarter and better.”

Winners by Category

Breakthrough Student

Shiva Nathan, Arduino-based Bluetooth Transhumeral Prosthesis – A low cost, brain-controlled interface (BCI) transhumeral prosthetic that fits onto amputees’ hands and relies on a Bluetooth® transmitter to send information and commands to the prosthetic. The quick, efficient data transfer capabilities of Bluetooth technology make Nathan’s prosthesis project a possible reality that will enable those recovering from amputation surgery to lead better, more enriched lives.

Breakthrough Application

Automatic Labs, Automatic – Makes drivers more intelligent by using Bluetooth® Low Energy (previously known as Bluetooth® Smart) technology to send vehicle information to a mobile device app that tracks real-time data about fuel efficiency, trip costs and driving habits.

Breakthrough Product

Nonin Medical Inc., Nonin Model 3230 Bluetooth Smart Finger Pulse Oximeter – The world’s first clinical Bluetooth® Low Energy medical device that measures blood, oxygen, pulse rate and other pulse signal characteristics. With the secure, intelligent connection made possible by Bluetooth Low Energy, the 3230 provides a cost-effective way for patients and healthcare providers to better manage health.

Breakthrough Prototype and Overall Winner

Bionym, the Nymi – The first wearable authentication technology that uses cardiac rhythm recognition for identity verification and communicates that access – via Bluetooth® Low Energy – to nearby devices and systems. The Nymi leverages the reliable, secure and one-to-many features of Bluetooth Low Energy to make identity protection safe and simple for consumers.

Kingston Wireless had a very successful time at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas; we enjoyed seeing all the latest gadgets, met a number of potential new customers and were very pleased to see several products on display that we helped to develop (including one that has one several “Best of CES” awards).

This year’s show had a record 2.0 million square feet of occupied exhibition space, upward of 3,200 exhibitors and an attendance of 150,000+. Taking centre stage were 4K HDTVs and curved screens (with 3D TVs much less prominent than last year). Samsung, for instance, were demonstrating their 105-inch curved 4K HDTV that includes a movie-theatre aspect ratio of 21×9, and boasts 11 million pixels.

Complementing the TV vendors, there were also many manufacturers of audio gear present, with products including a number of innovative new Bluetooth® speakers and multi-room systems.

Connected cars also had a big presence at this year’s show, with a record nine car manufacturers showing off their latest technology (and thus also signalling the growing importance of consumer technology in modern cars). In addition, various suppliers including Google were highlighting the increasing integration between cars and smartphones.

The most exciting products of the show for us, though, were the wearables and other appcessories. Of these, wearables are dominated by fitness gadgets but also include smartwatches, sports gear and augmented reality glasses. The non-wearable appcessories include robots and toys that integrate with a smartphone to provide a control interface. Both of these are areas were there is still lots of scope for new innovation and a vast potential market.

Bluetooth SIG Announces Finalists For The 2014 Bluetooth® Breakthrough Awards

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) have announced the finalists for the 2014 Bluetooth® Breakthrough Awards. Congratulations to all the finalists (as listed below). An overall winner, along with three category winners, will be announced at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 in Barcelona, Spain on the 23rd February.

Breakthrough Products

• 94Fifty Smart Sensor Basketball (InfoMotion Sports Technologies): The 94Fifty® Smart Sensor Basketball is a first-in-class Bluetooth® Low Energy (previously known as Bluetooth® Smart) fitness product that measures and diagnoses both the frequency and quality of key skills critical to building confidence, versatility, and success on the basketball court.
• Nonin Model 3230 Bluetooth® Smart Finger Pulse Oximeter (Nonin Medical Inc): The Nonin Model 3230 is the world’s first clinical Bluetooth Low Energy finger pulse oximeter that measures blood oxygen, pulse rate, and other pulse signal characteristics, and provides the information to help the patient, personal caregiver, and the medical professional.
• Swirl In-Store Mobile Marketing Platform (Swirl Networks): Swirl helps retailers leverage the power of mobile via Bluetooth Low Energy to transform the in-store shopping experience and increase retail store sales.
• Anki Drive (Anki): Anki Drive is a racing game you play on your living room floor. Unlike remote control or slot cars, Anki Drive cars are souped up with robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve levels of speed and precision on the track not otherwise possible. The cars are constantly sending and receiving commands from the iOS device, all using Bluetooth Low Energy.
• DISTO D810 touch (Leica-Geosystems AG): The Leica DISTO™ D810 touch is the first laser distance meter with a touch screen and the ability to take measurements with pictures. The high functionality is completed by the smart free app “Leica DISTO™ sketch,” which uses Bluetooth Low Energy to communicate.

Breakthrough Applications

• Polar Team app (Polar Electro Oy): With its Bluetooth® Low Energy technology, excellent range of transmission that can cover even a large arena and user-friendly app design, Polar Team is a unique solution for indoor sports teams. Polar Team is the only solution with which you can track the performance, intensity, and heart rate of an entire team in real-time without a separate base station – all you need are the sensors and an iPad.
• Automatic (Automatic Labs): Automatic is an app that connects your car’s onboard computer and iPhone through a small hardware accessory, which plugs into your car’s data port (found in all cars sold in the USA since 1996). Your car and phone connect using the Bluetooth Smart Ready device whenever you drive, even if your phone never leaves your pocket.
• Mobilis framework (Mobili): Mobilis helps developers connect more than 50 different Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® Low Energy and internal devices like sensors, buttons, cameras, smartwatches, actuators and is designed as single or multi sensor/user platform.

Breakthrough Prototypes

• Skulpt Aim (Skulpt): Aim™ is an innovative device for measuring body composition and analyzing individual muscles. Any measurements taken will automatically sync, via Bluetooth® Low Energy, to the personal online dashboard.
• H2O-Pal (Out of Galaxy, LLC): H2O-Pal monitors water intake and reminds the user to drink water when needed.
• Smart Plug (BeeWi): The BeeWi Smart Plug is a plug that you can control by smartphone. You can easily switch on/off your electric devices and program them from the app.
• The Nymi (Bionym): Bionym’s premier product, the Nymi, is a wristband that authenticates the identity of the wearer using their ECG (electrocardiogram). Once authenticated, the Nymi is able to communicate the wearer’s identity to nearby devices and systems using Bluetooth Low Energy.

Breakthrough Ideas (Students)

• Catherin Keithline, PianoPedal: A small, portable foot pedal that runs the sheet music on your tablet to the next page.
• Shiva Nathan, Arduino based Bluetooth Transhumeral Prosthesis: A low cost, brain-controlled interface (BCI) transhumeral prosthetic that fits onto amputees’ hands.
• Betty Quinn, Spectrum: A wearable device that tracks pulse and perspiration to give better insight into anxiety disorders, for patients and doctors.
• Temeka Gongs, Kool-Fridge: A sensor device that snaps onto storage container lids to monitor the chemicals released from foods to ensure food is still edible.
• Savannah Cofer, Bicycle SuperVision: An appcessory solution allowing bicyclists to have 360° awareness of his or her surroundings.

Kingston Wireless staff will be present at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January. If you would like to meet us, for example to discuss how we can help you to develop your innovative low-power wireless products, please contact us.

Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) formally adopts Bluetooth® Core Specification Version 4.1

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) today announced the formal adoption of Bluetooth® Core Specification Version 4.1. This new release will “improve consumer usability with increased co-existence support for LTE, bulk data exchange rates, and aid developer innovation by allowing devices to support multiple roles simultaneously” and “lays the groundwork for IP-based connections, extending Bluetooth technology’s role as the essential wireless link for the IoT” (from the SIG announcement).

“Bluetooth Smart technology put us on a rocket ship of growth, with Bluetooth annual product shipment projections skyrocketing to more than 4.5 billion in the next five years,” said Suke Jawanda, Bluetooth SIG CMO. “We updated the Bluetooth specification to address this projected growth, making changes to give developers more control in assigning a role to their product, limiting interference with other wireless technologies, and allowing Bluetooth Smart products to exchange data faster and maintain connections with less manual intervention. These updates reflect the demand we see in the market. We will continue to sculpt Bluetooth wireless technology to extend its critical role in enabling the Internet of Things and ensure it is the very best solution for OEMs, developers and, ultimately, consumers.”

Improving Usability

Bluetooth 4.1 extends the Bluetooth brand promise to provide consumers with a simple experience that “just works.” Major usability updates come in three areas:

• Coexistence — engineered to work seamlessly and cooperatively with the latest generation cellular technologies like LTE. Bluetooth and LTE radios can communicate in order to ensure transmissions are coordinated and therefore reduce the possibility of near-band interference. The coordination between the two technologies happens automatically, while the consumer experiences the high quality they expect.
• Better Connections — provides manufacturers with more control over creating and maintaining Bluetooth connections by making the reconnection time interval flexible and variable. This improves the consumer experience by allowing devices to reconnect automatically when they are in proximity of one another. The consumer can leave the room and upon returning, two recently used devices reconnect without user intervention.
• Improved Data Transfer — Bluetooth Smart technology provides bulk data transfer. For example, through this new capability, sensors, which gathered data during a run, bike ride or swim, transfer that data more efficiently when the consumer returns home.

Empowering Developer Innovation

Bluetooth 4.1 extends the Bluetooth Smart development environment by providing product and application developers with even more flexibility to create products that can take on multiple roles. With this new capability, a single device acts as both a Bluetooth Smart peripheral and a Bluetooth Smart Ready hub at the same time. For example, a smart watch acts as a hub gathering information from a Bluetooth Smart heart rate monitor while simultaneously acting as a peripheral to a smartphone — displaying new message notifications from the phone. As the Bluetooth Smart ecosystem grows, the Bluetooth SIG expects more solutions to play both a hub and peripheral role. Bluetooth 4.1 delivers this type of flexibility to Bluetooth Smart devices and application developers.

Enabling the Internet of Things

By adding a standard means to create a dedicated channel, which could be used for IPv6 communications in the Core Specification, the groundwork is laid for future protocols providing IP connectivity. With the rapid market adoption of Bluetooth Smart and the coming addition of IP connectivity, all signs point to Bluetooth as a fundamental wireless link in the Internet of Things. These updates make it possible for Bluetooth Smart sensors to also use IPv6, giving developers and OEMs the flexibility they need to ensure connectivity and compatibility.

Near Field Communication Forum and Bluetooth SIG Establish a Formal Liaison Relationship to Pursue Collaborative Development and Interoperability Enhancement

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and the NFC equivalent, the Near Field Communication Forum, have announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will enable the two organizations to work more closely together, via a formal liaison relationship.

This agreement should help to ensure the continued interoperability of Bluetooth® and NFC (for instance, as used in some products to simplify the Bluetooth® pairing process) and lead to improved user experiences.

Bluetooth SIG announces dates for Bluetooth World 2014, adds new venues for global reach

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) have announced the dates for Bluetooth World 2014 and have added new events in Asia and Europe. Bluetooth World 2014 will take place in San Jose, California from the 8th to 9th of April 2014, Bluetooth Asia will be held in Shanghai, China from the 19th to 20th of August 2014 and Bluetooth Europe will be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands from the 16th to the 17th of September 2014.

Google Announces New Android 4.3 Jelly Bean Includes Native Bluetooth® Smart Support

Following on from Apple’s recent announcement that iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks will include native support for certain Bluetooth® Smart profiles, Google have now made a similar announcement for their Android OS. During their “breakfast with Sundar Pichai liveblog”, Google announced the latest version of their mobile OS, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and that it includes support for Bluetooth® Smart.

Google also announced the new Nexus 7 tablet, which will be among the first devices to run the updated OS and to also be Bluetooth® Smart Ready.

According to the Bluetooth SIG “The release of Android 4.3 gives Bluetooth Smart developers an easy way to connect their devices to their applications on Android. Developers can now use the new Android API to feed data collected from Bluetooth Smart appcessories, like fitness monitors or medical devices, to their apps running on Bluetooth Smart Ready products, like smartphones or tablets. With an update to Android 4.3, consumers can expect their Android smartphone or tablet to become an even more useful tool as thousands of Bluetooth Smart sensor products and their associated Android apps come to market.”.

Google’s Android Developers Blog states that with Bluetooth® Smart “your apps can communicate with the many types of low-power Bluetooth Smart devices and sensors available today, to provide new features for fitness, medical, location, proximity, and more”.

Combined with Apple’s earlier announcement, this confirms that a very significant portion of all new mobile phones and tablets will now be Bluetooth® Smart Ready, making the potential market for low-power wirelessly-connected accessories huge.

(Note: Bluetooth® Smart is now known as Bluetooth® Low Energy).

Apple iOS and OS X Updates Introduce Native Bluetooth® Smart Support

Apple have announced at their Worldwide Developer Conference that iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks will natively support the Human Interface Device (HID) profile for Bluetooth® Low Energy (previously known as Bluetooth® Smart). This means consumers can expect extremely power-efficient Bluetooth Low Energy game controllers and keyboards that last years without changing batteries.

Apple also announced the launch of Air Drop, which uses Bluetooth Low Energy technology to securely discover and connect devices for file sharing, and its Application State Preservation and Restoration services and Apple Notification Center Service for Bluetooth Low Energy accessories.

The inclusion of Application State Preservation and Restoration services makes it possible to create apps that reliably run in the background, exchanging data with Bluetooth Low Energy peripherals without the need for user intervention. This enables a Bluetooth Low Energy device such as a wearable health monitor to send data to an application on an iPhone or iPad without the user having to press any buttons or open up the application. This should lead to the development of a wide range of new “appcessory” products that leverage the power of the mobile phone, but combine it with external hardware, to open up all kinds of new possibilities!