The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has finished work on the 4.0 specifications of the Bluetooth wireless technology standard and said that the update will be brought to market by the end of Q2.
Bluetooth 4.0 features the same transfer speed as its predecessor - 24 Mbps (3 MB/s), but due to its emphasis on power requirements, it will be able to deliver such capabilities to more compact devices like watches, pedometers and glucose monitors. The new specs also feature AES-128 encryption, an expanded range of 100+ meters and low latency (3ms) to make transfers even more efficient and secure.
"Bluetooth v4.0 throws open the doors to a host of new markets for Bluetooth manufacturers and products such as watches, remote controls, and a variety of medical and in-home sensors. Many of these products run on button-cell batteries that must last for years versus hours and will also benefit from the longer range enabled by this new version of the Bluetooth specification," said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG.
The first Bluetooth 4.0-supporting devices are predicted to arrive late this year or in early 2011.
Source: tcmagazine
