Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed around 10 years ago.

Bluetooth SIG is privately held non

profit organisation whose main tasks are to publish Bluetooth specifications, administer the qualification
program, protect the Bluetooth trademarks and evangelize Bluetooth wireless technology.

The Bluetooth SIG global headquarters are in Bellevue, Washington, USA and has local offices in Hong Kong,
Beijing, China, Seoul, Korea, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, Taiwan and Malmo, Sweden
During the presentation in the conference there were discussions on technical and general stuff about short
range wireless and hence I learned some amazing things especially about Bluetooth technology and its
application in our daily life. Although my expertise and main focus lies in the area of 3GPP technology i.e.
HSPA+, LTE etc I occasionally do pay an interest in Bluetooth and other W-Fi technologies. After attending the
SIG conference I do know now that there are some amazing things that can be done with Bluetooth other than
just using it as a Hands free kit while talking on you mobile. There are already around 2 billion Bluetooth
enabled devices in various forms in the market place.
In terms of business there is also an enormous scope to develop customized applications that can work with
Bluetooth and UWB (ultra-wide band, ultraband, etc.).
UWB is advanced form of Bluetooth where the MAC/PHY layer is changed to accommodate high data rates.
UWB is a radio technology that can be used at very low energy levels for short-range high-bandwidth
communications by using a large portion of the radio spectrum thus enabling higher data rates. UWB
communications transmit in a way that doesn't interfere largely with other more traditional 'narrow band' and
continuous carrier wave uses in the same frequency band. IEEE 802.15.4a in its draft standard and working
group has proposed UWB as an alternative PHY layer.
Low energ

y Bluetooth is another emerging flavour which will be talked very often in the coming

days. Bluetooth low energy is the next generation of wireless standard from the Bluetooth Special Interest
Group (SIG) addressing a completely new set of applications but building on the installed base of Bluetooth
devices. As the name implies devices based on Bluetooth low energy consumes only a fraction of the power of
the classic Bluetooth radio thus allowing small and low cost implementations.
Bluetooth low energy technology is designed with two equally important implementation options:

Single-mode (stand-alone) implementation: Targeted at applications requiring low power consumption

and small size; typically button cell battery -powered devices, for e.g. sports & fitness equipment and
sensor devices

Dual-mode implementation - an extension to a classic Bluetooth radio: Targeted at mobile phones and
PCs.

Bluetooth low energy is very robust through frequency hopping compared to other similar technologies. It is
very secure through optional 128 bit AES encryption.
The significant factor of Bluetooth low energy is its low power consumption which is by very low standby
activity, fast connection setup and low overhead in data packets.
Bluetooth low energy technology explores new market opportunities. It is sometimes unbelievable to see
where and how Bluetooth low energy technology can be used. One of the most amazing uses of this technology
which I came across was when I came to know that a double amputee can walk again using Bluetooth. Marine
Lance Cpl. Joshua Bleill (USA Army) lost both his legs above the knees when a bomb exploded under his
Humvee while on patrol in Iraq on October 15, 2006. He has 32 pins in his hip and a 6-inch screw holding his
pelvis together.
Low energy Bluetooth device thus helps play a significant role in sports persons real time activity and training
monitoring.
I have seen Golfers using Bluetooth devices to record their swing. Golfers can thus monitor the real time data
and thus can improve their swing. Golf players motions are recorded with sensor devices and the data is

uploaded to a host device. The recorded data or values are transmitted to web service where the athletes can
be remotely monitored online or offline by coach, audience, etc.
Health care is another major area where low energy Bluetooth devices have a significant role to play. There is
a potentially market of greater than US$1 Billion for wireless health monitoring products. Examples of
currently available medical devices using Classic Bluetooth technology are:

ECG Monitors

Cardiac Defibrillators

Blood Glucose Meters

Insulin Pumps

Pulse Oximeters

Blood pressure Monitors

Weight Scales

Examples of healthcare devices suited to Bluetooth low energy technology, requiring very low power and long
battery life are:

Thermometer

Blood pressure monitor

Weight Scale

Heart Rate Monitor

PERS

Blood Glucose Meter

Lets consider the example of how the technology can help in the case of Diabetes management. The patient
will be fitted with a small low energy Bluetooth device i.e. Blood Glucose meters typically powered by small
coin batteries, operating for a year or more. Blood glucose measurement, data is automatically sent to the
mobile phone and to the central Personal Health Record. Patient and care providers automatically alerted if
the sugar level is outside preset limits and reminders and advice can be sent back to the patient and test
compliance can be monitored.