IoT

Brings proven, global interoperability and the mature, trusted ecosystem of Bluetooth technology to industrial-grade device networks

Kirkland, Washington – July 18, 2017 – The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced today that Bluetooth® technology, the global standard for simple, secure wireless connectivity, now supports mesh networking. The new mesh capability enables many-to-many (m:m) device communications and is optimized for creating large-scale device networks. It is ideally suited for building automation, sensor networks and other IoT solutions where tens, hundreds, or thousands of devices need to reliably and securely communicate with one another.

“By adding support for mesh networking, the Bluetooth member community is continuing a long history of focused innovation to help new, up-and-coming markets flourish,” said Mark Powell, executive director for Bluetooth SIG, Inc. “In the same way the connected device market experienced rapid growth after the introduction of Bluetooth Low Energy, we believe Bluetooth mesh networking can play a vital role in helping early stage markets, such as building automation and wireless sensor networks, experience more rapid growth.”

Industrial-grade solution

Commercial building and factory automation represent major market opportunities for wireless mesh networking technologies. These markets demand true industrial-grade solutions, which Bluetooth mesh uniquely delivers.

• Reliability: Enables inherently self-healing networks with no single points of failure
• Scalability: Supports thousands of nodes with industrial-level performance
• Security: Provides industrial-grade security for protection against all known attacks
  Proven, global interoperability

Time and time again it has been shown that markets flourish when multi-vendor interoperability exists. Bluetooth mesh delivers proven, global interoperability that assures products from different vendors work together.

• Full-stack solution: A unique full-stack approach that defines the low-level radio up to the high-level application layer, ensuring all aspects of the technology are fully specified
• Interop-centric specification: Comprehensive, multi-vender interoperability testing is conducted during the specification development process, not after specification release
• Time-tested tools and processes: A 20-year history of delivering the qualification tools and processes needed to ensure global, multi-vendor interoperability

“Multi-vendor interoperability is a major factor in determining how fast markets develop,” said Russ Sharer, VP Global Marketing and Business Development, Fulham. “Fulham is excited to finally see a wireless, multi-vendor, interoperable standard for lighting controls and we believe Bluetooth mesh networking will greatly expand the size and functionality of the market.”

Mature, trusted technology

Selection of a mesh networking technology is a critical decision for any developer, and it is a make or break factor in the success of a solution. By selecting Bluetooth technology, developers can deliver richer solutions with a faster time to market.

• Value-added services: A mesh network built using Bluetooth technology can support additional services, such as asset tracking and way finding
• A mature ecosystem: The Bluetooth ecosystem provides the best enabling technology, along with the tools and services that shrink the time to market
• Global brand awareness: Bluetooth is a trusted global brand that stands for simple, secure wireless connectivity

“Within the building automation market, there is a growing focus on connected lighting and the role it can play as a platform for providing automation services throughout a facility,” said Szymon Slupik, president and CTO of Silvair and chairman of the mesh working group within the Bluetooth SIG. “A smart lighting platform built on top of Bluetooth mesh networking can also support asset tracking, point of interest, and way-finding services. These value-added capabilities are part of why we believe Bluetooth is an ideal technology for enabling a mesh network.”

Bluetooth Mesh Availability

The Bluetooth mesh networking specifications, as well as the tools required to qualify Bluetooth products with mesh networking support, are now available at the Bluetooth website. Bluetooth mesh networking operates on Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) and is compatible with core specification version 4.0 and higher.

To learn more about Bluetooth mesh, visit bluetooth.com/mesh.

Dialog Semiconductor is aiming to simplify smart home device creation with its development kit, promising reduced time-to-market and increased functionality of smart home and other IoT devices. With the recent introduction of iOS 10, Apple HomeKit is – Dialog observes – now an integral part of iOS, including its dedicated app that creates an enhanced user experience. The Apple Home app is compatible not just with iPhone, but is also optimized for iPad and the Apple Watch running watchOS 3. With the app, an Apple TV or iPad can easily be turned into a smart home hub, enabling home control from anywhere.

Dialog’s second-generation kit supports all current HomeKit Accessory Profiles within Apple’s updated IoT platform. The kit itself is built on Dialog’s DA14681 System-on-Chip (SoC), a highly-integrated single chip that is purpose-built for IoT development, providing connectivity to a variety of battery-powered devices. It is presented as the first SoC on the market with dedicated hardware acceleration for HomeKit security operations which ensures end-to-end application encryption, safeguarding personal information in transit.

“Our new development kit lowers the barriers for smart home device development,” said Sean McGrath, SVP and GM Connectivity, Automotive and Industrial Business Group. “Beyond the simplicity of the highly integrated connectivity SoC at the heart of the kit, its fastest response times create the best possible user experience for end devices, with initial pairing taking less than 2.8 seconds and responding faster than 250 msec whenever an iOS device issues a command. This creates an instant response whenever a user interacts with a HomeKit-powered light, door lock, smoke detector or other accessory.”

The DA14681 supports Bluetooth 4.2 to provide seamless connectivity, and balances power efficiency and performance, with an ARM Cortex M0 processor, expandable flash memory, a Power Management Unit (PMU) for sensors and motors, and built-in charger that supports a USB interface. The kit consumes less than 5 µA on standby, uses 170 kB of Flash memory and provides 64 kB of RAM for apps to utilize, even allowing user defined profiles to further customize applications on top of pre-configured HomeKit profiles.

To give developers all of the tools they need to create next-gen IoT applications, the DA14681 development kit consists of the HomeKit SDK, Basic and Pro versions of the kit, and a flexible add-on board to interface with the separately available MFi chip.

The HomeKit development kit and add-on board are now available from Avnet, Digi-Key and Mouser.

Dialog; www.dialog-semiconductor.com/products/da14681-homekit-development-kit

Wireless component manufacturer Nordic Semiconductor introduces a Bluetooth® Smart system-on-chip that handles complex processes with minimal power use. U.S.-based developer and engineering firm Rigado presents a pre-certified, comprehensive Bluetooth® Smart module using Nordic’s SoC to deliver a secure, cost-effective solution to IoT developers.

Nordic Semiconductor’s new system-on-chip is set to revolutionize development for the Internet of Things. On Oct. 5, Nordic launched the Global Tech Tour in Boston, Mass. to introduce the nRF52832 system-on-chip, an ultralow power Bluetooth® Smart solution that can handle complex multivalent processes while maintaining ultralow power consumption. The nRF52 is the basis of Rigado’s newest Bluetooth® Low Energy module, the BMD-300, an easy-to-implement component that shortens IoT developers’ time to market and reduces development costs.

The Global Tech Tour visits thirty cities, including nine in the U.S. The free presentations will feature a thorough introduction of the nRF52 chipset family, along with presentations on RF connectivity and layout, power devices, software development kits and more. Attendees will receive a free nRF52 development kit

The nRF52 is an ultralow power multiprotocol system-on-chip that supports Bluetooth® Smart, ANT and 2.4GHz ULP wireless applications. The chipset is Nordic’s smallest Bluetooth® Smart SoC to date, measuring just 3.0 x 3.2 mm, and is the first Nordic SoC to feature near field communication (NFC) protocol, allowing developers to implement “touch-to-pair” functionality in their designs. Its comprehensive digital and analog interfaces and peripherals address a variety of Bluetooth® Smart design requirements, including digital audio processing, FFT/FIR and security algorithms, driving device displays and user interfaces.

Rigado, a provider of embeddable Bluetooth® Smart modules, is an early adopter of the nRF52 for its next generation of Bluetooth® Smart modules, the BMD-300 and will have a presence at the Seattle, Portland, San Jose and Orange County Tech Tour stops. The BMD-300 is an integrated system-on-module that includes a comprehensive set of RF components, along with all of the features of the nRF52, allowing developers to forgo engineering design and costs when producing wireless products. The module is pre-certified and tested, and it includes added security, libraries and firmware to protect customers’ products, lower their development costs and shorten their time to market. Samples are scheduled to be available in Q4 with production quantities available in early Q1 2016.

Rigado also helps customers seeking assistance with design or chip-down solutions by offering complete, multidisciplinary engineering services and expertise in low power and wireless designs. Rigado provides electrical, industrial, mechanical, software and application engineering to support customers from concept to production.
For more information on the nRF52, visit
https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/nRF52-Series-SoC.
Learn more about and register for the Global Tech Tour at https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Events/Global-Tech-Tour-2015/US.
 

CSR plc (LSE: CSR; NASDAQ: CSRE) announced the latest version of its Bluetooth® Smart solution for the smart home – CSRmesh® Home Automation. The latest software release adds sensor and actuator models to build on the original protocol that was designed for lighting control. This makes it possible for developers to deliver a wider range of home automation solutions including control of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, door locks and window sensors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtLBazKoFq8&feature=youtu.be
Seamless and Secure

The new flood mesh solution combines a configuration and control protocol based on CSR’s proven Bluetooth Smart devices, including the CSR101x™ family, and allows for an almost unlimited number of devices to be networked together and directly controlled from a smartphone, tablet PC or wearable device. The system does not require a hub or router to function locally, or an end-to-end IP connection which means it offers a simple and seamless user experience. An encrypted network key, combined with other measures, ensures security against eavesdroppers, as well as man-in-the-middle and replay attacks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB-NyMr_ifA

Extended battery life

Importantly, for a positive user experience, CSRmesh for Home Automation significantly extends battery life for sensors and actuators such as door locks. Multiple devices can be easily grouped together with a mains powered proxy device in the group, for example a light bulb, holding data from a battery powered sensor device. This proxy device can then relay that information without ‘waking’ the battery powered sensor. By doing this, manufacturers can reduce the duty cycle of each mesh device to as little as two percent, ensuring long battery life without any impact to the consumer experience. Some battery powered devices, such as security sensors and light switches, need only wake up when they are triggered by user activation such as a window being opened. At all other times the devices would be in sleep mode, providing extremely long battery life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmdM0gVjCLg

Seamless End-User Experience

A recent study commissioned by CSR found that consumers are increasingly interested in home automation, but a quarter (26%) are concerned connected devices would be too difficult to set up and too complex to use (25%). A significant amount is also anxious about security, with 26% worried about devices being open to hacking.

“Consumers want a simple, secure smart-home experience that works with a wide range of devices and smartphones. The set-up process has to be simple and low maintenance with minimal need to change batteries,” says Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President, Business Group at CSR. “This latest version of CSRmesh meets increasing consumer demand for a much wider range of home automation applications that are seamless and secure. And it’s significantly more cost-effective than other RF technologies designed for the smart home market.”

Interoperability to prevent fragmentation

The solution can provide whole building coverage, even in RF dead zones, without the need to add relays or set up routing tables for each device. It does this by enabling an almost unlimited amount of Bluetooth Smart sensors and actuators to be simply networked together. CSR is working in the Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s (SIG) Smart Mesh Study Group to help create a global standard for Bluetooth Smart mesh to ensure interoperability of all compatible devices and prevent fragmentation.

Developer ready

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRJ3RQvsgn8

To enable developers to get products to market quickly the CSRmesh Development Kit provides a complete set of tools for evaluation and software development, including Android and iOS source code. New example applications for the HVAC market, including those that allow developers to set thermostats, trigger air conditioning or heating, or display the current temperature, are also available.

For more information on the new release a whitepaper with more details on the technology and how it works for key applications will be available in the coming weeks. Register today to receive your copy.