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On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the birth of Bluetooth technology, the Bluetooth SIG held a media communication conference titled "2023th Anniversary of Bluetooth: Committed to Building Meaningful Connections" during the 25 Shanghai International Consumer Electronics Show (Tech G), and invited Mr. Ken Kolderup, Chief Marketing Officer of the Bluetooth SIG, to introduce the latest progress of Bluetooth technology and market in detail, and answer relevant questions for online and offline participants. In this article, I love audio network to make a detailed report for you.

Looking back on the 25 years of development of Bluetooth technology, wireless audio, Internet consumer electronics, and the Internet industry are the three major waves that promote the strong growth of Bluetooth. In the field of wireless audio, Bluetooth technology enables wireless headphones, wireless speakers, in-car systems, hearing aids and many other products to eliminate the annoyance of cables, bringing users a convenient and efficient experience. Wireless audio has a very large market, with shipments expected to reach 2023.13 billion in 2027 and continue to grow to 16.<> billion by <>.

The Internet consumer electronics market includes wireless mice and keyboards that make work more efficient, healthy sports and fitness equipment that improves athletic performance and health, medical and health devices that improve the quality of patient care, and all products that can be connected to mobile phones and computers with Bluetooth. This market is also characterized by high growth rates, with shipments reaching 2023.16 billion in 2027 and expected to reach 30 billion by <>.

In addition to personal applications, Bluetooth has also been extended to commercial, industrial and other connected industries to improve production efficiency and ensure production safety. Bluetooth is already a pioneer in introducing commercial agreements to reduce plant downtime and predictive maintenance systems. In order to reduce the energy consumption of buildings, lighting control systems were introduced; In order to ensure the safety of assets and employees, an indoor real-time tracking system has been launched; There is also the newly launched electronic shelf label system for interoperability, operability between different shelf labels, which is a very large market in the future, and billions of new Bluetooth devices are expected to be added to this field every year.

As Bluetooth technology continues to evolve, the Bluetooth SIG is actively developing new use cases to bring meaningful connectivity to the world. According to Ken Kolderup, "more than 50 projects are in development at any given time each year", such as the latest use cases for the next generation of low-power audio, where the Auracast™ broadcast audio feature enables an audio source device (such as a smartphone, tablet, TV, or public audio system) to stream one or more audio streams to an unlimited number of audio receiving devices (e.g., earbuds, speakers, hearing aids, etc.), allowing participants to capture clearer audio content.

There are also important upcoming updates, including high-precision distance measurements, higher throughput, and Bluetooth Low Energy in higher frequency bands, that will further optimize many use cases, as well as create new use cases to better connect with the world around you.

In response to questions related to Bluetooth technology, the media will conduct a QA Q&A on the spot, and I love the audio network to conduct a detailed combing, let's take a look at what questions everyone has raised, and what kind of answers Mr. Ken Kolderup has given~

Q1

Is there a threat to Bluetooth technology from NearLink, and does NearLink have the ability to compete with Bluetooth?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

We also have a good understanding of Huawei's NearLink technology and the market opportunities it hopes to obtain. From the Bluetooth SIG perspective, we are also continuing to push the boundaries of Bluetooth technology and push for technology updates that target similar market opportunities.

Q2

I saw that the Bluetooth SIG's Auracast™ broadcast audio feature was said to be "helpful for all people with hearing impairments", so I would like to ask, how is it broadcast to people with hearing impairments?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

I don't know if you know that there is already a related technology in the field of hearing aids. For example, assistive/assistive listening in public places uses a method similar to an induction coil to turn the sound from public address into a signal that is transmitted to the hearing aid, so that the sound can be heard. This solution has been around for some time, however, it faces some challenges. For example, its sound and audio quality are not so ideal; The cost of deployment is relatively high; Not all places can do the relevant "induction coil" design.

We, and the hearing industry as a whole, believe that Auracast can be the next stage of hearing solutions. The difference is that although it is the same location, we can turn the sound from the radio and speakers in public places into a Bluetooth transmitter, and when people wear earphones, hearing aids and other hearing devices with Bluetooth function and Auracast function, they can hear the sound emitted by the transmitter very clearly, so as to improve their experience in public places.

Compared to other hearing aid technologies, Auracast is relatively low to deploy, and the audio quality can be better while ensuring security and privacy, so the entire hearing aid industry is now looking to deploy this technology in a faster way.

Q3

The Bluetooth SIG predicts that "dual-mode audio" will account for more than 2027% in 50, and I would like to ask, have we evaluated how much the cost of dual-mode documentary mode and classic Bluetooth audio chips will increase? The advantages of Bluetooth Low Energy are pairing, authentication, and some location finding, can Ken Kolderup explain the advantages of this technology in more detail?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

In terms of cost, in general, it may not be possible to comment on it from the perspective of the Bluetooth SIG, or it is not very well understood about the costs associated with chips from various manufacturers. But what I understand is that most chip manufacturers have multi-protocol chips, and I think its consideration is more out of product strategy or pricing strategy, rather than simply thinking about cost from the perspective of development and R&D.

As for the advantages of switching from Bluetooth Classic to Bluetooth Low Energy? As you can see from my presentation, the last seven years, and new updates in the future, have been using Bluetooth Low Energy. However, it is true that there will be a small number of dual-mode Bluetooth that need to be continuously updated, as there are also devices like those in the car that are only equipped with classic Bluetooth. We believe that in terms of platform devices such as mobile phones and computers, dual-mode will continue to be supported in the next few years, but for two-way peripherals such as headphones, the transition may be faster.

Q4

What is the maximum transmission distance of Auracast? The Auracast transmitter can broadcast to an unlimited number of receivers within range, so will there be any latency when there are enough receivers?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

Auracast covers a wide range of distances. Because its power is relatively high, in some large places, such as cinemas and conference halls, there is no problem with coverage, and there is no problem with the effect of "one-to-many". As for whether there will be a delay in multi-device use, there is actually no relationship between the two. Think about it from another angle, just like the transmission method of a standard FM radio, there will be no restrictions on the receiving end, because there is no upper limit to the connection of many devices to listen at the same time, as long as it is within the signal coverage of the transmitter, there is no problem.

Q5

The future growth of Bluetooth that you mentioned in your sharing process mainly comes from the field of connected consumer electronics. I would like to know where its incremental market will come from in the future. In addition, do the 2022,7 new products validated in <> provide a direction for innovation? Which new products will become mainstream in the market in the future?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

For me, I think the consumer electronics industry always surprises me, because every year I see hundreds of different categories and new products that I can't even imagine. There are indeed many products in it, in terms of scale, the development may not be particularly large, but there are also many categories with relatively large development, such as: wearable devices, due to people's increasing attention to health, so this field is developing very well. There are also telemedicine monitoring and so on, all of which are new devices that use Bluetooth technology.

One of the biggest growth areas that we expect to grow in the future, and one of the areas that I am most personally interested in, is the application in industrial and commercial scenarios, which we think has the potential to grow to a very large scale. For example, electronic shelf labels, both from an economic point of view and from the perspective of regulators, are promoting the development of the electronic shelf label industry; There is also the possibility of a large environmental IoT in the future, which is defined as being able to obtain energy from the surrounding environment, without the need for batteries or very small batteries, which will help existing use cases become more sustainable, and will also give rise to new use cases.

One that we're very interested in right now, and one that a lot of companies are doing, is extreme supply chain visibility, using very low-cost Bluetooth tags in the supply chain industry, which can display positioning, location, temperature, humidity and other information. Because this Bluetooth tag can directly obtain energy from the surrounding area, it can be used to transport agricultural products from the field to the shelves and cold chain processes; The pharmaceutical industry traces all the way from production to its transportation and finally to the consumer. We think that this market can really have the potential to reach the trillion level, and we will be able to see more use cases develop in this area in the future.

Q6

We just talked about IoT, and in the future, we may feel that IoT will have a very big development prospect in smart homes. But Matter, which is currently popular in this field, actually has two technical routes. Under such a plan, will it affect the future application of Bluetooth in smart homes? Is there some irreplaceable technology in this field?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

We're very aggressive about the Matter standard, whether it's using Wi-Fi or Thread, and we think it's interesting and necessary, especially in terms of advancing the smart home. However, Bluetooth radios have also been built into various devices, so the role that Bluetooth can play in smart homes continues to expand. On the other hand, Matter is more focused on the automation side of the home, but smartphones can use the Bluetooth functionality already built into the device to connect to any smart home appliance.

Q7

Can you tell us more about electronic labels? Because we know that there may be some other technologies on the market to do these tags, such as NFC and other technologies. Bluetooth wants to promote, where are the current market difficulties?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

It's a market that's really growing well, but it's mostly relying on its own wireless technology. It started with retailers who approached electronic shelf label manufacturers and wanted to achieve interoperability and operability between different shelf labels or between different ESL vendors. To achieve this, there was a need for a uniform technical standard, so many chain stores and some ESL suppliers contacted Bluetooth at that time. So fundamentally speaking, Bluetooth's entry into the field of electronic tags is driven by market demand, which is to achieve this interoperability.

Q8

Bluetooth wants to develop in the direction of higher frequency bands from 2.4G to 5G/6G, but when the frequency increases, the propagation distance will become shorter, and if you want to achieve the same distance, the power consumption will increase, which will lead to the opposite of Bluetooth Low Energy. Therefore, if we develop towards 5G/6G, what are our main application scenarios and demand scenarios?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

The 5G/6 band you mentioned will indeed bring higher power consumption and energy consumption, and we are now working with the relevant regulatory authorities around the world to ensure that especially when using Bluetooth Low Energy in the 6GHz band, we can increase its power consumption when necessary to achieve the same distance and coverage as it is now. The ultimate goal is to provide developers with more tools to help them build the performance and performance they need.

As for the use cases that you just mentioned, because we continue to update and evolve the Bluetooth technology to provide higher and faster data transfer rates, more accurate positioning, and so on, but after all, there is a limit to what we can do in the 2.4GHz range, and if we want to continue to evolve the technology, we need to go to higher frequency bands. Of course, we have no hope of going and Wi-Fi than the rate. However, we want to continue to increase the data transmission rate and bring lower latency, and if we want to do this, we need to develop into the higher 5GHz~6GHz frequency band.

Q9

Bluetooth technology can achieve functions such as full traceability, location information, interoperability and other functions in industrial and commercial application scenarios. However, the requirements for their stability, reliability, and security are also particularly high, especially in terms of data security, privacy, and access control. So, how can we ensure the security of Bluetooth technology applications?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

Security is critical to Bluetooth, and we've been working on a project to improve it, and every specification we introduce is carefully reviewed for security issues. We are an open standard, so we will invite relevant researchers to review these specifications from time to time to see if there are any problems in them, and we will make improvements in time. At the same time, because of the continuous evolution, there are also some norms that will have problems, as long as we find them, or someone proposes them, we will correct them in time.

As for security and robustness, it can be said that Bluetooth is the most advanced technology so far, which is why in many industrial scenarios, including many companies that develop industrial products, prefer to use Bluetooth radios. Because of the reliability and robustness of Bluetooth technology, it can still run very smoothly under conditions such as factories that are not very superior and the environment is relatively harsh.

Q10

Apple's iPhone 15 series began to use the second generation of ultra-wideband chips (UWB), will this drive the growth of UWB, and what will the development of Bluetooth and UWB look like in the future?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

UWB is a very powerful technology that provides very accurate ranging capabilities, which is required by many products. Although Bluetooth can't solve all the problems, we are also involved in this field. For example, high-security, high-precision ranging, positioning functions, Bluetooth can reach the centimeter-level level, we think this can meet most of the use cases, for a few that require extremely high accuracy of the ranging function, we think UWB can be well met.

Q11

There are already transitional accessories for low-power audio, such as Type-C adapters that plug into mobile phones or computers. Will this product form be around for a long time, or will there be a transition period, and how long will this transition period be?

Ken Kolderup, Bluetooth SIG:

For some use cases, it's possible to use this approach for a long time, as the technical approach is the most suitable. But there have been similar situations in the past, such as the introduction of a new technology by Bluetooth, the first wave of use is through the Type-C or USB interface, which is a very common phenomenon, and we feel lucky that we can make the transition in this way. We think this solution will exist for some time, even a few years, but we expect it to slowly decline in the future, as the technology will gradually become embedded in new devices, and the market will be more inclined to devices that are already embedded with new technologies.

Bluetooth technology, as a global wireless standard, brings us simple and secure connections, and the annual shipment of Bluetooth® products has reached 50 billion. Since its inception in 1998, the Bluetooth SIG community has continued to expand Bluetooth capabilities, drive innovation, create new markets, and redefine global communications. Today, Bluetooth is the wireless technology of choice for developers in a wide range of solution areas, including audio transmission, data transmission, location services, and large device networks.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) was founded in 1998 as a not-for-profit trade association responsible for the development of Bluetooth technology. Backed by 40,000 member companies, the Bluetooth SIG is committed to fostering collaboration among members, creating new and more robust specifications, expanding technology, developing world-class product certification programs that drive global interoperability, and furthering its brand by increasing awareness, understanding, and adoption of Bluetooth technology.

I love the audio network summary

As a global wireless standard, Bluetooth technology has a wide range of application scenarios in many fields such as wireless audio, Internet consumer electronics, and interconnection industries, providing simple and secure wireless connections for products. With the continuous development of Bluetooth technology, Bluetooth use cases have been continuously optimized, and more emerging use cases have been expanded, promoting the continuous expansion of the Bluetooth market, and the shipment of Bluetooth products has also shown a steady and rapid growth trend.

In this media conference, Mr. Ken Kolderup led us to review the 25th anniversary of the birth of Bluetooth and empower many products; It also introduces the future development direction of Bluetooth technology in response to changes and new requirements in market demand, as well as important updates that have been released or will be released soon, hoping to provide developers with more tools to help them build the performance and performance they need.

In the QA session, Mr. Ken Kolderup gave detailed answers to various questions about the application of Bluetooth technology in various fields, the difference between it and other technologies, reliability, security, etc., so that we have a deeper understanding of Bluetooth technology. In the future, let's witness the changes that the innovative application of Bluetooth technology will bring to the world!