Monday, June 20, 2016

About Bluetooth 5

Raytac Corporation
A BT4.1 & BT4.2 module maker based on Nordic nRF51 & nRF52 solution 
(nRF51822 & nRF51422 & nRF52832 & nRF51802)
Tel: +886.2.3234.0208
email: service@raytac.com  
 https://raytacblog.wordpress.com/


Simple Summary


Scheduled to be released in end or 2016 or early 2017


1.Quadruples range

Extending range will deliver robust, reliable Internet of Things (IoT) connections that make full-home and building and outdoor use cases a reality. The expect power consumption of BT5  is expected to remain the same level as BT4.2. 

BT4.2: 10~100M
BT5.X: Upto 400M


2.Doubles speed

Higher speeds will send data faster and optimize responsiveness. Increasing broadcast capacity will propel the next generation of “connectionless” services like beacons and location-relevant information and navigation.

BT4.2: 1M bit/Sec
BT5.X: 2M bit/Sec

3. Data broadcasting capacity by 800%

Bluetooth 5,will quadruple range and double speed of low energy connections while increasing the capacity of connectionless data broadcasts by 800%. 


According to SIG's news press
 “Increasing operation range will enable connections to IoT devices that extend far beyond the walls of a typical home, while increasing speed supports faster data transfers and software updates for devices. And now with the ability to broadcast a much richer set of information, Bluetooth 5 will make beacons, location awareness, and other connectionless services an even more relevant part of an effortless and seamless IoT experience” 

"With the major boost in broadcast messaging capacity, the data being transferred will be richer, more intelligent. This will redefine the way Bluetooth devices transmit information, moving away from the app-paired-to-device model to a connectionless IoT where there is less need to download an app or connect the app to a device."


To redefine the behavior of moving away from app-paired-to-device model must bring a revolutionary user behavior and environment from 2017. That is the most critical point for all product design or related Bluetooth industry need to pay highly attention!

Friday, June 17, 2016

Steps to Qualify Your Bluetooth Products

Raytac Corporation
A BT4.1 & BT4.2 module maker based on Nordic nRF51 & nRF52 solution 
(nRF51822 & nRF51422 & nRF52832 & nRF51802)
Tel: +886.2.3234.0208
email: service@raytac.com  
 https://raytacblog.wordpress.com/


To qualify a Bluetooth product always the issue make people headache.
Here, we summarized the procedure become simple steps to help readers to easy to follow

From Step 3~5, we are sincerely suggest readers to entrust BQB (Bluetooth Qualify Body) to provide the professional service to save time and energy according to our experience.

STEP 1 Become a membership


Adopter Membership: Free--> "Most customers pick"
Associated Membership: US$7,500 or US$35,000 (depends on company size)

For more detail of the benefit between different membership, please visit the link as below


STEP 2. Obtain Production Information from supplier or manufacturer

Make sure your chip supplier or module manufacturer has well certified or not.
All information can be refer to SIG's QDID information in public.
Makes sure the supplier or manufacturers' QDID has well certified including both Hardware and Profile QDID

STEP 2-1. Qualify Your Products


a. Customers can log in SIG's website to create a project in Test Plan Generator.
b. Pick up the type of qualification, such as End Product/Subsystem/Component/Development tool/Test equipment...etc.)
c. Link Layer, Spec, Profile 


STEP 3. Purchase the Declaration ID (DID)

Readers can buy the DID from SIG's website directly.


STEP 4. Submit Qualification Document

The Qualification Documents must been signed by BQE (Bluetooth Qualify Engineer) by BQB

STEP 5. Create and Submit the qualification


STEP 6. Brand Your Bluetooth Product




 


Thursday, June 9, 2016

Raytac Module MDBT40/MDBT40-P Certified Automotive Standard JASO D001-94

Raytac Corporation
A BT4.1 & BT4.2 module maker based on Nordic nRF51 & nRF52 solution 
(nRF51822 & nRF51422 & nRF52832 & nRF51802)
Tel: +886.2.3234.0208
email: service@raytac.com  
 https://raytacblog.wordpress.com/

Along with Nordic nRF51824 is qualified to the automotive AEC-Q100 stress test qualification, Raytac's Module MDBT40-256V3 & MDBT40-P256V3 also has been qualified in reliability test based on automotive standard JASO D001-94.

1. Operating under low temperature test (-30℃  for 72 hrs)
2. Operating under high temperature test (85℃  for 120 hrs)
3. Thermal Shock Test (-40℃ ~85℃ )
4. Temperature Cycling Test(-40℃ ~85℃ )

During the JASO D001-94 testing, the module is based on working status and confirmed not data or package loss during the whole testing.




Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Nordic Semiconductor launches nRF51824 Bluetooth low energy SoC

Raytac Corporation
A BT4.1 & BT4.2 module maker based on Nordic nRF51 & nRF52 solution 
(nRF51822 & nRF51422 & nRF52832 & nRF51802)
Tel: +886.2.3234.0208
email: service@raytac.com  
 https://raytacblog.wordpress.com/



The nRF51824 is qualified to the automotive AEC-Q100 stress test qualification for integrated circuits and delivers the same flexible feature range and performance as Nordic’s highly successful nRF51822 SoC

Nordic Semiconductor today announces the immediate availability of the nRF51824 Bluetooth® low energy (formerly Bluetooth Smart) SoC for the latest connected car intelligent automotive applications and wireless in-car charging.

The nRF51824 is qualified to the automotive AEC-Q100 stress test qualification for integrated circuits, and delivers the same flexible feature range and performance as Nordic’s highly successful and field-proven nRF51822 Bluetooth low energy SoC (256kB Flash and 16kB RAM variant) upon which the nRF51824 is based.

“The world of automotive is evolving rapidly towards the emergence of the connected car, and connected in-car ecosystems” says John Leonard, Product Marketing Manager at Nordic Semiconductor. “This will expand from Bluetooth enabled smartphones and tablets being wirelessly linked to in-car user interfaces to having a vast array of other factory-fitted elements being made wirelessly controllable and configurable.

“This will lead to connected in-vehicle ecosystems that contain ‘swarms of wireless sensors’ for driving experience enhancement, safety, and diagnostics. Examples will include intelligent seats, intelligent steering wheels, remote keyless entry [RKE] systems, intelligent mirrors, infotainment systems, and intelligent accident or incident proximity reporting. It also brings exciting opportunities for after-market equipment suppliers to deliver innovative in-car systems that communicate with each other and with smart mobile devices. The nRF51824 is the world’s most powerful automotive qualified Bluetooth low energy SoC and as such is very well suited to these application demands”

Under-the-hood systems could also benefit from Bluetooth wireless functionality, because this would enable manufacturers to reduce the cost and weight of traditional cable looms to offer simpler factory assembly, maintenance, and replacement, plus increased fuel economy.

Friday, June 3, 2016

Several Things About Bluetooth Effective Range

Raytac Corporation
A BT4.1 & BT4.2 module maker based on Nordic nRF51 & nRF52 solution 
(nRF51822 & nRF51422 & nRF52832 & nRF51802)
Tel: +886.2.3234.0208
email: service@raytac.com  
 https://raytacblog.wordpress.com/

Although the article pointed out the BLE effective range is upto 100M, the primary factors that determine the  still mostly depends on the transmission output power, hardware design, Receiver sensitivity. The related article may be referred in another Raytac's blog: 

Bluetooth Power Classes VS Working Range


Following contents quoted from Nordic Blog by By Jon Gunnar Sponås June 2, 2016

Things you should know about Bluetooth range



Like all communication technologies, Bluetooth is a better fit for some applications than other. If you're considering to use Bluetooth, there are some basic things that are really good to know! Here’s an outline of the primary factors that determine the effective range of Bluetooth communications, plus some ways to improve it with networking.

Bluetooth Classic vs. Bluetooth Low Energy


Bluetooth was originally designed to exchange a lot of data at close range in continuous, streaming data applications. The devices are able to both send and receive data at the same time. This is perfect for many common consumer products, such as computer headsets, where the two devices are close together.
When Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE, formerly called Bluetooth Smart) hit the market in 2011, the key advantage over earlier versions was lower power consumption over the same range, but with lower bandwidth. It’s intended for devices that only need to exchange small amounts of data periodically, extending battery life by months or even years.

Comparison table for Bluetooth ranges:


Range depends on surroundings, radio performance and antennas


There are many factors affecting Bluetooth range, typically:
  • The output power of the transmitter
  • The sensitivity of the receiver
  • Physical obstacles in the transmission path
  • The antennas
While the radio performance and antennas are pretty static for a given Bluetooth device, the surroundings can vary a lot. Outdoors, in an open field, you can get a range of up to a hundred meters. But that is a rare situation. Indoors, obstacles like concrete walls will attenuate the radio signal and the effective range will be drastically reduced. In normal use, ten meters is a good guide to what can be achieved between two Bluetooth devices indoors.
When developing a Bluetooth device, you can give your device a better range by selecting the Bluetooth chip with the best receiver sensitivity and output power, and making sure that you use a good antenna.
Sometimes you may need to use Bluetooth over hundreds or thousands of meters. In the next section we will discuss how to extend Bluetooth range using networks.

Typical use of Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy:


How to improve Bluetooth range with networking


cloud-network-internet.jpg

You can connect Bluetooth devices to multiple distributed gateways connected to the internet. The Bluetooth devices can communicate with each other, and with online services, via these gateways. This is an ideal solution if the devices are spread over a large geographical area. Each hub can usually only handle a few directly connected devices, which is another limitation of Bluetooth. You are likely to run into a situation where you want to handle hundreds or even thousands of Bluetooth devices in a relatively small area, such as an office building. For this you need to use a Mesh Network to connect the gateway and the local Bluetooth devices.

The power of mesh networks.

mesh-network-internet.jpg
The number of devices that require low-power operation and communication with other devices - and online services - is growing daily. In order to support this, BLE introduced support for Mesh Networks. A Mesh Network allows you to connect a large number of Bluetooth devices over a wider area. In this situation, all devices, or “nodes”, in the same mesh are able to communicate with each other, either directly or via one or more intermediate nodes, as long as each node is close enough to at least two others.
This way, the network does not depend on a central gateway to pass all traffic.
Just like the Internet, data packets can find the most efficient route via any nodes between the sender and the receiver.


In a Mesh Network you can also use a “broadcasting” approach, where all nodes within the Mesh Network receive the same message, and then interpret it and take appropriate action.
room-lights-on-smart-lightbulb.png
One example could be a smart lighting system. Each switch or bulb is a node on a Mesh Network using Bluetooth Low Energy. Each bulb is configured to know which room it’s in. The message is broadcast from Node 1, a light switch, via the mesh. The connected light bulbs in Room 1 receive this message, but they will not act upon it, as they know they are not in Room 2. The message is passed along and when it reaches the bulbs in Room 2, they turn on. Room 2 could be hundreds of meters away from Room 1, but will still receive the message via the other nodes in between. This way there could be a thousand or more rooms, all with lighting controlled from anywhere, using a Bluetooth Low Energy Network.