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Bluetooth mesh positioned to provide de-facto protocol for smart homes
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) is vying to make Bluetooth mesh the de facto protocol for the smart home. Today the industry group announced that it created a new Smart Home Subgroup, with the aim of pushing the adoption of Bluetooth mesh networking as the strategic protocol for smart home products and solutions.
Many of the world leaders in both Bluetooth products and smart home solutions are behind the new subgroup. Some of the key names include Alibaba, GCT Semiconductor, Lierda, Midea Group IoT Company, MediaTek, Nordic Semiconductor, Novel Bits, S-Labs, Telink Semiconductor, Synopsys, UL Verification Services, and Xiaomi.
Bluetooth mesh was launched in 2017 and uses the standard Bluetooth protocols but with the added concept of a mesh of connected devices. When you have a mesh of devices, compatible devices can relay messages from one node to another. So even if the recipient device is out of the range of the transmitting device, it can still be reached because the message is relayed over the network from one device to another until it gets to its destination.
The Smart Home Subgroup has been set up to create additional Bluetooth mesh model specifications for the smart home. These mesh models define the behavior of devices connected to a Bluetooth mesh network. For example, there is a mesh model which defines how a Bluetooth mesh light is controlled by a Bluetooth mesh switch.
The key here is interoperability, the ability for a Bluetooth mesh device from one manufacturer to connect securely to another device from a different manufacturer and for everything to work seamlessly. Bluetooth mesh models also play an important role in defining the reliability, performance, and scalability of smart home solutions using Bluetooth mesh.
What do you think about Bluetooth Mesh, is it the best solution for the smart home? Please let me know in the comment below.