Tag Archives: Speed

How Bluetooth Became the Gold Standard of Wireless Audio Technology

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Bluetooth technology has established itself over the years as the premiere wireless audio technology and a staple of every smartphone user’s daily mobile experience. From wireless headphones, to speakers, to keyboards, gaming controllers, IoT devices, and instant hotspots—Bluetooth is used for a growing variety of functions every year.

While Bluetooth is now a household name, the path to popularity was built over the course of over 20 years.

CONCEPTION

In 1994, Dr. Jaap Haartsen—an electrical engineer working for Ericsson’s Mobile Terminal Division in Lund—was tasked with creating an indoor wireless communication system for short-range radio connections. He ultimately created the Bluetooth protocol. Named after the renowned Viking king who united Denmark and Norway in 958 AD, the Bluetooth protocol was designed to replace RS-232 telecommunication cables using short range UHF radio waves between 2.4 and 2.485 GHz.

In 1998, he helped create the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, driving the standardization of the Bluetooth radio interface and obtaining worldwide regulatory approval for Bluetooth technology. To this day, Bluetooth SIG publishes and promotes the Bluetooth standard as well as revisions.

BLUETOOTH REACHES CONSUMERS

In 1999, Ericsson introduced the first major Bluetooth product for consumers in the form of a hands-free mobile headset. The headset won the “Best of Show Technology” award at COMDEX and was equipped with Bluetooth 1.0.

Each iteration of Bluetooth has three main distinguishing factors:

  • Range
  • Data speed
  • Power consumption

The strength of these factors is determined by both the modulation scheme and data packet employed. As you might imagine, Bluetooth 1.0 was far slower than the Bluetooth we’ve become accustomed to in 2021. Data speeds capped at 1Mbps with a range up to 10 meters. While we use Bluetooth to listen to audio on a regular basis today, it was hardly equipped to handle music and primarily designed for wireless voice calls.

THE BLUETOOTH EVOLUTION

The Bluetooth we currently enjoy in 2021 is version 5. Over the years, Bluetooth’s range, data speed, and power consumption have increased dramatically.

In 2004, Bluetooth 2.0 focused on enhancing the data rate, pushing from 0.7Mbps in version 1 to 1-3Mbps while increasing range from 10m to 30m. Bluetooth 3.0 increased speeds in 2009, allowing up to 24Mbps.

In 2011, Bluetooth 4.0 introduced a major innovation in BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). BLE is an alternate Bluetooth segment designed for very low power operation. It enables major flexibility to build products that meet the unique connectivity requirements of their market. BLE is tailored toward burst-like communications, remaining in sleep mode before and after the connection initiates. The decreased power consumption takes IoT devices like industrial monitoring sensors, blood pressure monitoring, and Fitbit devices to the next level. These devices can employ BLE to run at 1Mbps at very low power consumption rates. In addition to lowering the power consumption, Bluetooth 4.0 doubles the typical maximum range from 30m in Bluetooth 3.0 to 60m.

BLUETOOTH 5

Bluetooth 5 is the latest version of the technology. Bluetooth 5 doubles the bandwidth by doubling the speed of transmission. In addition, it quadruples the typical max range, bringing it up to 240m. Bluetooth 5 also introduces Bluetooth Low Energy audio, which enables one device to share audio with multiple other devices.

CONCLUSION

Bluetooth is a game-changing technology which stands to revolutionize more than just audio. IoT devices, health tech, and more stand to improve as the Bluetooth SIG continues to upgrade the protocol. After thirty years of improvement, the possibilities remain vast for savvy developers to take advantage of the latest Bluetooth protocols to build futuristic wireless technologies.

How 5G Will Inspire a Technological Revolution

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In our last blog 5G: Exploring the Fifth Generation of Cellular Mobile Communications, we explored an overview of what 5G is and when it will be rolling out in your city.

Now, it is time for the fun stuff! 5G will change the way we interact with technology on a daily basis. Here’s a rundown of some of the revelatory applications enabled by 5G which will shape the future of our world:

THE INTERNET OF THINGS

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Via Toxsl Technologies

In 2016, we wrote about how the Internet of Things will eventually enable smart-worlds. 5G is necessary in order to facilitate those changes. Most of the biggest innovations enabled by 5G are related to the Internet of Things. The world currently has sensors that are embedded in devices and objects and can communicate with each other, but they require a great deal of resources and quickly deplete LTE’s data capacity. 5G will give these sensors the ability to transmit data at speeds necessary to operate more efficiently. It will save lives by enabling smart bridges to communicate with cities and municipalities about when they require maintenance, among many other potential applications.

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

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Via Seeking Alpha

The world is at a cross-roads when it comes to autonomous vehicles. The demand is here, but in order to justify legislation, autonomous cars must be ostensibly fool-proof. 5G will enable the speed necessary for autonomous vehicles to communicate with other vehicles on the road, saving lives in the process. According to Joy Laskar, CTO of Maja Systems, self-driving cars of the future will generate an estimated two petabits of data—that’s two-million gigabits! When dealing with automotive vehicles, people’s lives will be dependent on the transmission of data. Put it simply, until 5G receives a mass roll-out, it’s unlikely that autonomous cars will become the primary vehicles on the road.

HEALTHCARE

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Via Fortinet

Imagine remote diagnoses that enable people worldwide to have access to expert doctors. Imagine robot-assisted surgery that is more precise and cost-effective. Imagine 5G-powered Augmented Reality applications allowing physical therapists and patients to communicate remotely.

These are just a few of the innovations that 5G will enable within the healthcare space. 5G will eventually enable much more precise and efficient hospitals. It will give patients more personal care. Consulting firm IHS Markit reported that “5G-enabled” output between 2020 and 2035 will total at $12.3 trillion. Of that amount, roughly $1.1 trillion will encompass sales enablement in healthcare.

VIRTUAL REALITY AND AUGMENTED REALITY

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Via Upload VR

Experts within the VR and AR industry believe 5G will unlock the full potential of VR and AR technology. 5G will enable VR devices to offload intensive computational work to the cloud, making VR devices smaller and increasing the fidelity of VR experiences. AR displays in autonomous cars will likely become the norm. 5G will enable VR live streaming of sporting events, creating a revolutionarily immersive viewing experience. As with autonomous cars, we will not see the full potential of VR until 5G receives mass adoption.

TAKEAWAYS

5G will permanently change the global economy. 5G will generate new revenue, facilitate new growth, and accelerate innovations beyond our wildest dreams. Dr. David Teece wrote that 5G will put mobile technology at the center of a global economy characterized by the Internet of Things turning into a true general-purpose technology. While each evolution of the cellular generation has brought amazing advancements to society, 5G promises to bring the most radical breakthroughs of any of previous generations. Ready or not, 5G is about to bring interconnectivity to a whole new level.

5G: Exploring the Fifth Generation of Cellular Mobile Communications

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In December 2018, AT&T made history by becoming the first mobile carrier to roll out 5G service. The average person probably thinks that 5G is merely a high-speed cellular service, however, technology aficionados know it’s much more than that—5G has the potential to facilitate major technological shifts in the way our world works. In our two-part series, the Mystic Media Blog will take a look at what 5G is and how it could shift our society.

WHAT IS 5G?

Let’s start with the basics. The G in 5G stands for Generation. 5G is the 5th generation of wireless technology. 5G will bring exponentially faster download & upload speeds with reduced latency, enabling many practical high-tech innovations across many different industries, in addition to many new consumer applications.

SPEED

4G has been the prevailing cellular technology for the past 5-8 years. 4G is currently responsible for the high speeds powering your phone. While 4G speeds average about 16.9 megabits per second (Mbps), 5G promises to deliver speeds at the Gigabit level, greatly enhancing the things your devices can do. For example, while 4G allows for streaming in HD, 5G will make it possible to stream 4K HDR content.

ACCESS

The appeal of 5G is not just speed, but access as well. 5G will allow many more devices to connect to 5G networks at once. In order to facilitate this, carriers will have to use more cell sites. Currently, there are about 25,000 200-foot cellular towers blanketing large portions of the US with cellular service. 5G will change that, in fact, there will be far more 5G cell sites in the future, each covering a smaller region. These are called “Small Cells” and function differently from large cellular towers.

Check out Verizon’s awesome breakdown of what “Small Cells” are and their importance below.

LATENCY

5G will also greatly reduce latency, or the amount of time it takes for devices to communicate with each other’s wireless networks. For online gamers, reduced latency has a great deal of applications, as well as in healthcare, autonomous vehicles, and many other examples which we’ll cover in our next blog on what 5G can do for the future.

SPECTRUMS

Unlike 4G LTE, 5G operates on three different spectrum bands.

Low-band spectrum is a sub-1GHz spectrum. It is primarily used by carriers in the US for LTE and offers great coverage area, great building penetration, and peak data speeds of 100Mbps.

Mid-band spectrum provides faster coverage and lower latency than low-band, but fails to penetrate buildings as well as LTE. Peak speeds are up to 1Gbps on mid-band spectrum.

High-band spectrum, also known as mmWave, can offer peak speeds of up to 10Gbps with lower coverage area and weak building penetration.

The real innovations facilitated by 5G are happening at high spectrum bands which are less used by cellular companies. Frequencies of 28GHz and 39GHz have large sections of spectrum available to create big channels for high speeds. Those bands have been used for very advanced technologies previously, such as connecting base stations to remote internet links, but they have never been used for consumer devices.

WHEN IS IT ROLLING OUT?

5G’s roll out will be gradual. As mentioned earlier, until there are enough cellular cites for 5G to cover the entire nation, 5G will work together with 4G to augment connection speeds.

AT&T  officially become the first carrier to roll out 5G service earlier this month when the carrier began offering 5G in parts of Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Louisville, Jacksonville, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, New Orleans, Waco and San Antonio. AT&T will expand 5G in early 2019.

Verizon began offering 5G fixed in homes in October 2018. Verizon’s 5G is currently available in portions of Houston, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles, with plans to roll out standards-based mobile 5G in 2019.

T-Mobile expects to launch 5G in New York, LA, Dallas, and Las Vegas in 2019 with nationwide rollout in 2020.

Sprint will deploy 5G in early 2019 with additional markets in the future.

In our next blog, we’ll explore how 5G will enable innovations that will change the way our world works. Stay tuned!