"IT Manager World" magazine published on September 20, 2015

Smart home and medical health will become the main battlefield of Bluetooth, connecting the world with Wi-Fi and LTE.

Mark Powell has more than 25 years of experience in the wireless field and has held leadership positions in a number of large-scale innovative mobile technology companies in the industry. Prior to joining the Bluetooth Technology Alliance in August 2012, Powell held a senior management position at Nokia; at Motorola, he led the mobile phone product business team to launch many innovative products, including some of Motorola's first Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones.

According to data from the research institute IHS Technology, the shipment of Bluetooth devices in 2015 will reach 3 billion units, and it is expected to exceed 4.4 billion units within 4 years; by 2018, 96% of mobile phones that are important personal information portals for the Internet of Things will be equipped with Bluetooth technology.

In the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) in August, the CEO of the Bluetooth Technology Alliance, Mark Powell, came to China for the first time to discuss breakthroughs and innovations in Bluetooth technology with SIG heavyweight members from the technology, market, and application levels.

In his view, SIG will not tell the industry and manufacturers what to do, but to ensure that developers have the best tools and training to create their products. Earlier this year, SIG announced and demonstrated a developer tool, Bluetooth Developer Studio (BDS). BDS makes the development of Bluetooth Smart devices faster and enables developers to have higher interoperability. Perhaps in the near future, with the help of BDS, an ordinary maker will be able to make their own Bluetooth basketball. Bluetooth has attracted more and more developers, and there are more Bluetooth products under development than any other wireless technology. This high-end interview invites Mark Powell to analyze the future of Bluetooth technology in the IoT world.

Q: In your opinion, which areas will become the main battlefield of Bluetooth?

A: Bluetooth is growing rapidly and is at the core of the Internet of Things. Its most exciting area should be smart home. The whole world has been eagerly awaiting breakthroughs in the smart home industry for many years. Now is the time. Although there are other wireless technologies used in smart homes, we believe that Bluetooth must be the most powerful technology in smart homes.

From 2014 to 2019, the compound annual growth rate of Bluetooth Smart in the smart home market is as high as 106%. We already have Bluetooth light bulbs, switches, sockets, door locks, thermometers, security remote sensors, etc. In the future, we will also see sensors and temperature monitors installed on windows. People want to use Bluetooth technology because it is very cheap, has a long battery life, is safe, and is easy to develop. Most importantly, Bluetooth is a brand that everyone knows and trusts.

Bluetooth will also be widely used in other environments. Such as intelligent transportation. The application of Bluetooth is open, not just one category, nor limited to what we see today. In addition, I am personally very concerned about the medical and health field. For example, Bluetooth devices that can measure blood sugar, blood pressure, and pulse, as well as devices that remind the elderly and chronic patients who need long-term medication to take medications are all caring products that improve their lives from the subtleties .

Q: At present, Wi-Fi is also the main force of smart home and other IoT ecosystems. You also mentioned that although Wi-Fi is not so energy-saving and power-saving, Wi-Fi is more suitable than Bluetooth for power-connected devices such as refrigerators. Smart home. So, is it possible that Bluetooth will be replaced with the development of Wi-Fi?

A: Bluetooth can never be replaced by Wi-Fi. The advantages of Bluetooth "low energy consumption and low cost" are beyond the reach of Wi-Fi technology. In the future connected world, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 4G/5G LTE will be divided into three parts, and they will each assume their own roles.

For Bluetooth, "low power consumption, low cost, intermittent transmission of small data" is its role, which is also in line with the needs of the Internet of Things. IoT devices and applications require long battery life and small size. The latest Bluetooth 4.2 version further optimizes the efficiency, so that these facilities can sleep for 99% of the time. They only wake up when they have some relatively small information to communicate. The quality, operability, and reliability of Bluetooth products are remarkable, and are recognized by more and more members, manufacturers, other developer groups and consumers. These products using the Bluetooth brand will be popular. Product innovation will continue to promote the continued reduction of Bluetooth efficiency, and healthy competition will also promote the continued decline of the cost of Bluetooth devices.

We understand that "security" and "privacy" are one of the most concerned issues for consumers and the entire industry. Bluetooth supports very strong security and privacy. Compared with other technologies, Bluetooth has a high level of security. We now have AES128 security encryption technology, and in the recent Bluetooth 4.2 specification, privacy improvements make Bluetooth devices not tracked by others after they are created.