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BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
500 108
TH
Avenue NE, Suite 250 Bellevue, WA 98004
 
Will
Bluetooth 
low energy wireless technology finally push IR intoretirement?
By Alf Helge Omre, Business Development Manager,
Bluetooth
low energy wirelesstechnology, Nordic Semiconductor 
 Remote control support in the upcoming
Bluetooth 
low energy specification promisesa new generation of interoperable remote controls
RF has several inherent advantages over infrared for domestic remote controls. For example, contemporary ultra-low power (ULP) consumption RF transceivers can bepowered for months or even years by AA or AAA batteries, and offer 10 metre (plus) rangeswhile operating in the global licence free 2.4GHz band.Moreover, RF offers high bandwidth bi-directional communication through walls and doors(albeit with a reduction in range). In comparison, IR has limited range and is restricted toline-of-sight-operation. And, while it is possible to create bi-directional communication withIR, it’s far from an ideal solution. The cost rapidly escalates and there are performancechallenges caused by (light) interference and low data rates.Unfortunately, the big disadvantage of today’s RF remotes is that the radios and protocolsare proprietary, effectively ending any possibility that a mainstream CE manufacturer willembrace the technology for fear of being held hostage by a single supplier. What’s neededis an interoperable standard for RF remote control
RF remote control using
Bluetooth 
low energy
In June 2007, the Bluetooth SIG announced
Bluetooth
low energy wireless technology(formerly known as ultra low power 
Bluetooth
and prior to that as Nokia’s Wibree).The
Bluetooth
low energy specification details a short-range RF communication technologyfeaturing ultra-low power consumption, a lightweight protocol stack and integration with
Bluetooth
wireless technology. (However, it is important to note that
Bluetooth
low energywill
not
communicate with legacy
Bluetooth
chips adhering to the current v2.1 + EDRstandard or older versions. Communication will require
Bluetooth
chips to be revised toinclude additional circuitry and software to ensure compatibility with
Bluetooth
low energy. Itis expected that this revision will become common in “dual-mode” devices – chips thatinclude both traditional
Bluetooth
circuitry and the additional circuitry to communicate with
Bluetooth
low energy “single-mode” devices - as the addition of 
Bluetooth
low energy toexisting
Bluetooth
devices requires minimal effort. The full specification is currently beingdrafted for release in the (northern) summer of 2009.
 
 
 
BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
500 108
TH
Avenue NE, Suite 250 Bellevue, WA 98004
 
Bluetooth
low energy will be power and cost optimised to provide compact, low-cost andultra-low power (ULP) transceivers for sport, wellbeing and HID product categories. What’smore,
Bluetooth
low energy wireless technology will feature a stack meeting therequirements of the consumer products industry for interoperable, universal remote controls.
Bluetooth
low energy will be available as an open standard, encouraging many vendors tomanufacture the chips, thus ensuring the multiple sources of supply the CE makers crave.The Bluetooth SIG says the standard will allow the remote control to be designed as a lowcost, non-intelligent peripheral. The target receiver product, whether it’s a TV, DVD player,set-top box, or media player, can control the operation of the remote control so that it learnsto work with each new device that’s purchased. Unlike conventional IR remote controls,each
Bluetooth
low energy remote control always uses a secure, unique link to the deviceit’s controlling. It’s also fast, interference immune and bi-directional.
ULP RF operation will be critical to maintain reasonable battery life for a remote control withhigh duty-cycle operation. (Courtesy: Bluetooth SIG.)
 
 
 
BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
500 108
TH
Avenue NE, Suite 250 Bellevue, WA 98004
 
Lowering the power 
While RF has some inherent advantages over IR as a modern remote control solution, thereare some engineering challenges to overcome when developing the optimum RF remotecontrol.In summary, these are:
•
 
Low power consumption – so that batteries last a reasonable time;
•
 
Low latency – so that the user is unaware of any delay between button press onthe remote and the response from the appliance being controlled even if thetransceiver has to wake up from an ULP ‘deep sleep’ mode;
•
 
The ability to control several devices simultaneously in a point-to-multipointPersonal Area Network (PAN) – so that the user is able to employ just one remotefor all appliances.
Bluetooth
low energy silicon has two characteristics that meet the ULP requirements for remote controls: a modest peak current requirement and wide bandwidth. The BluetoothSIG says the chip’s peak current consumption will be less than 15mA when transmitting at0dBm (sufficient for a range of up to 10 metres while obeying the authorities’ power restrictions for operation in the licence-free 2.4GHz band) and slightly less than this whenreceiving. (See Table 1.) Putting the RF transceiver into a deep sleep mode if it is inactivefor long periods can further reduce power consumption in the remote.
Table 1: Provisional specifications of 
Bluetooth
low energy chips
In addition, the Bluetooth SIG says
Bluetooth
low energy chips will have a bandwidth of 1Mbps.
Bluetooth
low energy chips running at 1Mbps only have to transmit at the peakcurrent of 15mA for one quarter of the time of a typical IEEE 802.15.4 radio running at
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