Ever Wondered how smart devices discover one another, query for services, and exchange information? Yes, it’s cool and just as helpful that your fitness tracker can share information about how you successfully ran in the morning with your smartphone. So, we ask, what is the underlying technology that makes any of this possible? Bluetooth Low Energy takes the spot. What is Bluetooth Low Energy? BLE (aka Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless means of data transfer specially designed for low cost, low bandwidth, and low power applications/devices. The keyword is low. It is a variant of the Bluetooth communication protocol introduced in June 2010 in the Bluetooth 4.0 Core Specification by the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group). This standard is optimized to provide the lowest power consumption compared to other wireless communication technologies. Thus, it has opened many doorways of opportunity for product designers on a low-cost budget and a tight energy budget where battery life is a higher priority than high data transfer speeds.
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