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Bluetooth 5 from My Perspective
Friends in the background have been asking about BLECODER, what can Bluetooth 5 do, and what are its good applications? My judgment is that the application direction is basically consistent with Bluetooth 4.x, and it can only temporarily replace the applications of Bluetooth 4.x, and even replace the original classic Bluetooth SPP transparent transmission applications due to the higher speed of Bluetooth 5.
Regarding the high speed and long-distance transmission of Bluetooth 5, I have previously discussed a lot from both market and technical perspectives in my articles, which can be searched through historical records, but currently, the Bluetooth 5 market is not mature, and there are too few smartphones supporting Bluetooth 5. The application direction needs a 1-2 year market cultivation period, and it is estimated that good applications can only be seen around mid-2019.
The other half of Bluetooth 5, the Bluetooth Mesh protocol, currently has shown great potential in smart home and Bluetooth lighting control. Major Internet companies have begun to layout Bluetooth Mesh smart home products, ultimately connecting to the Internet through smart speakers as the entry point for smart homes. What needs to be done now is to verify the maturity of various original factory solutions and choose one to deeply cooperate with for product development. The following two paragraphs are excerpts from the Bluetooth Alliance:
Alibaba A.I. Labs is a department under Alibaba Group responsible for the development of consumer-level artificial intelligence products. The head of this institution, Chen Lijuan, stated: “For our smart home strategy, adopting Bluetooth as the communication platform is an inevitable strategic decision. Bluetooth mesh is a wireless protocol that helps developers meet customer requirements for scale, performance, and reliability in home applications. Bluetooth has already become an industry-recognized, trusted, and widely used wireless standard. We believe that in the coming years, Bluetooth mesh will become the standard for home and building automation.”
Market research organization ABI Research Chief Researcher Stuart Carlaw stated:“Bluetooth mesh is one of the enablers of the future IoT market, capable of achieving strong, secure, and scalable interconnectivity in smart homes, commercial building automation, and industrial sectors. The mutual application of Bluetooth mesh and Bluetooth Beacon not only promotes a higher degree of automation and perception in these fields but also enables real-time location services (RTLS) with added value. By 2022, the annual shipment of Bluetooth smart building devices is expected to reach nearly360 million units.”
Next, let’s first take a look at the manufacturers and application directions of Bluetooth 5:
(Images from ITTBANK)
My Perspective on Bluetooth 5 Chips
I personally think it is inappropriate to place CSR first, as CSR’s position in audio has been repeatedly challenged by domestic chips, and its market share in low-power Bluetooth is poor. Toshiba’s rise is also quite unexpected, as it is not considered mainstream.
Apart from these seven Bluetooth 5 chips, there is one severely underestimated company that has not been mentioned, Siliconlab! You can refer to Siliconlab’s official website. Among these Bluetooth chips, there is a trend where the chips not only support Bluetooth 5 but also various 2.4G protocols like Zigbee and Thread. TI and Siliconlab even combine small wireless and 2.4G into a single SoC. (Many companies in the market have already combined small wireless and Bluetooth into a single chip solution, but essentially, it is a chip that packages small wireless, Bluetooth, and MCU together).
Some mid-to-low-end Bluetooth chip manufacturers and emerging companies in Taiwan and mainland China are also actively laying out, such as Taiwan’s ISSC (acquired by Microchip), Zhuhai Jieli, Beijing Quintic, Shanghai RDA, Guangzhou Ankai Microelectronics, Beijing Zhongxing Micro, Taiwan’s MTK, Taiwan’s RDA, Shanghai Shanjing, Zhuhai Jieli, Shanghai Broadcom, Shanghai Juwei, Shanghai Tailin Micro. Low-end products can be considered, but caution is needed in Bluetooth 5 applications.
My Perspective on Bluetooth MESH
The biggest flaw of Zigbee is its inability to interconnect with mobile phones. MESH, as an emerging technology, facilitates real-time interaction between devices and mobile phones, and everyone is certainly very willing to invest in the layout. The big names in the Bluetooth Alliance, together with Alibaba, have released very clear signals to us in various public occasions that new technologies mean new opportunities!
Promising Markets for MESH: 1. Lighting Control. 2. Smart Home.
MESH Chip Suppliers: 1. Nordic 2. SiliconLab 3. Tailin Micro
Is the MESH solution stable?
Let’s look at Alibaba.
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