You are viewing an older revision! See the latest version
Introduction
Bluetooth Low Energy (aka Bluetooth Smart) is part of the new Bluetooth 4.0 standard, using the same 2.4GHz band as regular Bluetooth (same antennas, etc) but optimized for short range, low power, and generally low cost.
- Bluetooth Low Energy on Wikipedia
This technology will enable a new class of wireless peripherals and devices that connect with mobile platforms - and support is already present in modern mobile platforms such as iOS 5+, Android 4.3+, Windows Phone 8. This could be fixed transmitters sending information to phones in their proximity as with the new iBeacon from Apple which is based on Blueetooth LE, or "appcessories" for mobile platforms such as fitness and healthcare devices. The potential for appcessories is huge, and much like the mobile app revolution will be led by the people dreaming up the ideas!
A paper by Nick Hunn describing how this market might evolve:
New Bluetooth LE APIs in mbed¶
We're already working on Bluetooth LE APIs in mbed, allowing you to rapidly create these products, and in the next few weeks will start releasing some of our early proof-of-concept work for review and to alpha testers.
If you are interested in Bluetooth LE and getting involved as a contributor or developer, we've setup a team for working on this, so you can see what we are up to and get involved at:
New Bluetooth LE Hardware¶
Check out the new mbed-enabled hardware from Nordic:
