Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has officially announced Bluetooth 5, the new version of the wireless standard, as expected. Bluetooth 5 will boast of double speeds and quadruple range of low energy connections.
It also comes with an improved broadcast messaging capacity while increasing the capacity of connectionless data broadcasts by 800 percent. Bluetooth 5 sports eight times the broadcast messaging capacity, that will increase the adoption and deployment of beacons and location-based services in the home automation, enterprise, and industrial markets.The Bluetooth Special Interest Group anticipates there being 371 million of these beacons distributed throughout the developed world by 2020.
Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG said,
Bluetooth 5 will transform the way people experience the IoT by making it something that happens simply and seamlessly around them. 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.
In addition, Bluetooth 5 will also provide significant new functionality for connectionless services like location-relevant information and navigation. The Bluetooth 5 specification is scheduled to be released by late 2016 or early 2017.