Just like when the WLAN (Wireless LAN) became the connectivity standard since the approval of 802.11b in 1999, (follow on next year the Wi-F Alliance being formed), Bluetooth has become the PAN (Personal Area Network) standard through the formation of the SIG. (Special Interest Group). This definitely was cemented in place when smart phones and tablet devices simply built it in; that is Bluetooth low energy (LE) (also called Bluetooth Smart or version 4.0). So while proprietary PAN (Personal Area Network) technologies like Zigbee and ANT still exist; when the enterprise adopts a standards based technology, it is hard to stay in the space. That is why WMTS (Wireless Medical Telemetry Service) is fading. WLAN additionally simple has become the adopted standard for the majority of medical device companies whether infusion pumps or patient monitoring. Any new product development should now realize that Bluetooth 4.0 has been tightly integrated into the 802.11 embedded solutions for all the major SOC (system on chip) suppliers. This follows the path of the enterprise requirements, i.e. the smart phones, thus also driving down cost since the COGS (cost of goods) by being driven down by the millions of SOCS produced. With the recent announcement of Bluetooth 5 (June 15, 2016), this definitely changes the game for medical devices in a most positive way. It has always been a major concern to locate medical devices such as infusion pumps. As a result many proprietary RTLS systems and tags have been implemented to provide location based accuracy solutions. Bluetooth 4.0 is additionally being incorporated in WLAN based Access Points of which at least two top tier companies in the enterprise WLAN space have this built in. The value is the ability to provide location based accuracy of WLAN devices with BTLE to unique enterprise software solutions. The Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group), on June 16, announced it’s next release coming late 2016 to early 2017. It will be called Bluetooth 5 and will include significantly increase range, speed, and broadcast messaging capacity. Increasing the broadcast capacity will move forward the next generation of “connectionless” services like beacons and location relevant information. Range will be quadrupled. Using biometric enabled solutions to authorize the use of the medical device (that is Bluetooth enabled); can then provide enterprise location awareness through the now enhanced BTLE WLAN access points and controllers. New opportunities to enhance device security and productivity are right around the corner. See attached Q1 2016 Wireless Newsletter from Nordic. Have worked with Nordic in the past on design projects.
