Headphones with bluetooth 5.0 support. Bluetooth versions and their differences

The news of the appearance of Bluetooth 5.0 flashed on the pages of media resources in June 2016, but the public, busy with more important things, did not pay enough attention to the emergence of a new technological standard in the world. wireless communication... Devices based on Bluetooth 5.0 were not yet released at that time. In May 2017, after the appearance of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Xiaomi Mi 6, they started talking about the new specification in a completely different way. After all, Bluetooth 5.0 brought consumers several long-awaited benefits at once, which we will talk about in this article.

Good news for developers

Wireless coexistence - remember this term. Soon he will change the whole structure of wireless communications. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group promises an unprecedented level of interoperability with other communication protocols. We are even promised a parallel and conflict-free coexistence of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

The 5.0 specification assumes operation in 255 octet packets (instead of 31 packets, as in previous version) and transition to adjacent frequencies without loss of traffic bytes. Consumers, programmers, and even operating systems and chips will breathe easier in the 2.4GHz band overflowing with bits and bytes.

Developers will be able to fine-tune software products, manufacturers will begin to integrate bluetooth modules 5.0 even in irons and vacuum cleaners. And the operating systems will stop overloading the processors, trying to organize the work to streamline the cluttered traffic. Analysts say that this will be the beginning of the very "Internet of things", the appearance of which all futurists have been talking about for so long.

What to expect for the consumer

For regular user The emergence of the 5.0 specification for Bluetooth devices is interesting in two ways. Firstly, new standard increases the speed of file exchange by 2 times. Secondly, the radius of action is increased by 4 times.

In numbers, it sounds even better - the speed of Bluetooth 5.0 has grown to 2 Mbps, and the range is increased to 100 meters. Now you can listen to tracks from high quality sound even if your smartphone is in the house, and you are outside with a wireless speaker or headphones.

In addition, the new protocol allows not only to increase the range - Bluetooth 5.0 is ready to work not with one source, but with several at once. And the power consumption of this process will be significantly lower than that of previous versions of wireless communication modules. Simply put, Bluetooth 5.0 will save the battery of both a smartphone and a mobile speaker.


Another good news is the ability to encrypt traffic transmitted over the Bluetooth channel. Developers and manufacturers are already talking about replacing the NFC short leash with a more advanced protocol that allows you to turn your smartphone into a full-fledged replacement for a bank card.

True, all these benefits are still available to only a few mobile device owners.

Smartphones with Bluetooth 5.0

Right now, you can only buy three devices with Bluetooth 5.0 communication modules. These are smartphones and. So far, the new specification is being implemented only on flagships, so you will have to pay from 500 to 1000 US dollars for the right to use all the innovations of Bluetooth 5.0.

In the second half of May, a premium smartphone will join the line of flagships Samsung and Xiaomi, the official specification of which is a new standard for wireless communication. This time, the benefits of Bluetooth 5.0 will cost between $ 650 and € 750, depending on where the new HTC smartphone is sold.

By the beginning of the summer, about a year after the announcement of Bluetooth 5.0, another flagship with a new wireless specification will appear on the market. The estimated cost of the Japanese device is $ 800.

In the distant future, analysts predict the appearance of the fifth specification in Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and a new Googlephone from the Pixel line. But in cheap mobile Bluetooth phones 5.0 will not be registered very soon. The point is that this specification must be supported by chipsets. Among inexpensive solutions, unfortunately, no processor has such capabilities yet.

Bluetooth is a well-known wireless technology for a long time, which is used today in almost all electronic devices. More and more modernized versions of this technology appear almost every year, and its development does not stand still. Despite this, with the increasing demand for devices based on the IoT, the user wants to get newer and more advanced Bluetooth functionality.

The new Bluetooth 5 provides users best quality communication. Bluetooth 5 has vastly improved performance and functionality.

In this article, we will compare Bluetooth 5 with Bluetooth 4.2, describe all the significant changes and innovations, and reveal all the main characteristics of Bluetooth 5, which became famous thanks to IoT and Bluetooth Beacon. Bluetooth 5 is latest version the Bluetooth specification, which is the successor to Bluetooth version 4.2.

Bluetooth is backed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), a company of over 30,000 member companies in the telecommunications, computing, networking and consumer electronics... IEEE has standardized Bluetooth as IEEE 802.15.1. The Bluetooth SIG oversees technology development, manages qualifications, and protects trademarks. A manufacturer must comply with the Bluetooth SIG standards in order to market it as a Bluetooth device. This technology is covered by a network of patents that are licensed for individual eligible devices.

Bluetooth was developed as a replacement for the RS-232 cable and was created in 1994.

In April 2017, security researchers discovered several exploits in Bluetooth software on various platforms including Microsoft Windows, Linux, Apple iOS and Google android... These vulnerabilities are collectively referred to as "BlueBorne". Exploits allow an attacker to connect to devices or systems without authentication and gain "near-complete control over the device." The research center has contacted developers from Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and Linux so that they can fix their software prior to an agreed vulnerability announcement.

The developers have provided Bluetooth 5 with high privacy and security. Bluetooth is creating the foundation for the future, and is revolutionizing the way people think about the IoT. The new version of this technology has such advantages as low power consumption, inexpensive Hardware and small implementations that are used in large online stores.

Bluetooth 5.0 is a continuation of Low Energy LE. Its speed is 48 Mbps (twice the speed of the previous version). It can be connected up to 300 meters or 985 feet (4 times the latest version). The ISM band is 2.4-2.485 GHz. Slightly disappointing for users that it is not backward compatible with its old or previous versions. This requires new hardware that must be modern and advanced in order for the devices to be Bluetooth v5.0 compliant for it to work smoothly.

Bluetooth 5 speed is faster than Bluetooth 4.2 with 2 Mbps format, which is twice the speed of Bluetooth 4, approximately 1 Mbps, which allows Bluetooth 5 to meet one of the IoT requirements. It's all thanks bandwidth 5Mbps Bluetooth 5 versus 2.1Mbps Bluetooth 4. Support for IoT devices Bluetooth 5 easily meets the requirements of various IoT devices with good range and high data rate, while Bluetooth 4 cannot meet all device requirements due to its low speed and small working range. This means that IoT devices will work well with Bluetooth 5 and use all of its features properly. It is even partially used in turnkey web development.

Bluetooth 4 compatibility works best with devices that are compatible with version 4 of the series, but will not work with devices that have Bluetooth 5, while Bluetooth 5 compiles with v1, v2, v3, v4, v4.1 and version 4.2. however, all Bluetooth 5 functions will not be used.

Bluetooth 4 actively works within a radius of 50 m in open space and within a radius of 10 m indoors, which makes it not very convenient, while Bluetooth 5 actively works within a radius of 200 m in open space and within a radius of 40 m indoors.

Increasing the active work radius will make it possible, for example, to use wireless headphones away from the phone, for example, while running in the stadium. You can safely leave your phone in the locker room and it will not interfere with you while running.

For the organization of the Internet of Things, an increased range is especially important. If the old versions of Bluetooth were somehow enough for apartments, then in a big house it was necessary to make compromises. Now you can easily put some IoT element in the yard, away from the rest.

The Bluetooth 5 Beacon has become more popular due to its increased range and speed, while the Bluetooth 4 Beacon has become less popular due to its slower speed and range and its low message capacity of 31 bytes.

Bluetooth 5 has a large message capacity - about 255 bytes, which gives more space for the actual data payload, while Bluetooth 4 has a small message capacity - about 31 bytes, which gives 17 to 20 bytes for the actual data payload.

And now, using an example, I will tell you why such an improvement is remarkable. Let's say you come to a hospital that uses the Internet of Things. With version 4.2, entering the hospital, a person could receive via Bluetooth only data about which office he needed to receive more information this version not suitable. If a person entered the hospital with version 5, in addition to information about the office, he will also receive information about the doctor, necessary certificates, waiting time and the phone of the head doctor, and all because this technology already has not 31 Bytes, but 255.

Bluetooth 5 has been specifically designed to consume a small amount of power on the device compared to Bluetooth 4. This means you can keep your Bluetooth on for a longer period of time and use it much more actively compared to Bluetooth 4, which consumes more energy than its new counterpart.

Bluetooth 5 works much more reliably in a congested environment than Bluetooth 4.2. This is explained by a new version was created taking into account the fact that important processes involving Bluetooth most often occur in a congested environment, which negatively affects its operation.

Bluetooth 5 consumes several times less power from the battery than its predecessor. For phones with a 3000mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.2 was not a problem, but for smart watch vice versa. Thanks to the changed energy consumption system in Bluetooth 5, most smartwatches will increase their autonomy.

The data transfer rate between Bluetooth 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 is 2 times different - if version 4.2 has a transfer rate of 3.125 Mb / s, then version 5 has 6.25 Mb / s. This indicates that the very concept of technology has been greatly improved. In any case, it doesn't compare to wired competitors like Apple's Lightning, where data transfer speeds reach 60MB / s.

In any case, due to the increase in the data transfer speed in the new version, the speed of synchronization of smart watches with a smartphone, elements of the Internet of Things with each other and with the base, interaction between a computer and wireless or peripheral devices will automatically increase.

Scaling the Internet of Things will be made easier with the new daisy chain system. Previously, each device was connected to a common base, but now it will be enough to connect to a neighboring element.

Maybe someday we will see the urban IoT system not within the framework of an apartment or house, but a whole district or even a city? And it will be based on the energy efficient and highly scalable Bluetooth 5 enhancement.

It should be noted that the introduction of Bluetooth 5 into "beacons" will significantly improve their work, because the new version has increased the capacity of messages. Beacons use Bluetooth because of its ability to transmit information to undefined recipients without establishing a connection.

All of the improvements to Bluetooth relate to the Bluetooth Low Energy specification, which was first used in Bluetooth 4.0, and not to the regular Bluetooth radio, which consumes a lot of energy during its operation. Bluetooth Low Energy was originally designed to reduce power consumption peripheral devices Bluetooth. It was originally used for carriers, beacons, and other low-power devices, but had some serious limitations.

For example, any wireless earbuds lacked the ability to communicate via Bluetooth Low Energy, which forced them to adopt the much more powerful Bluetooth voice standard. With Bluetooth 5.0, all audio devices share data via Bluetooth Low Energy, resulting in lower power consumption and longer battery life.

Oddly, Apple's AirPods don't use Bluetooth 5.0. Their work is based on Bluetooth 4.2 and the specially designed Apple W1 chip, which improves the connection between devices.

It is worth mentioning and new function Bluetooth 5, which makes it possible to recreate sound on two connected devices at the same time. It can be headphones, speakers, TVs - it doesn't matter, these devices will still be connected to one "command" center. Using modern programming languages

Review of fully wireless headphones Syllable D900P on Bluetooth v5.0, comparing them with another TWS-16, as well as recommendations for choosing and buying headphones of this type.
In short: I was completely satisfied with the purchase ...

5.1 Communication - Bluetooth 5.0

5.2 Sound

6. Conclusions

1. Introduction

The task before me was to buy myself Bluetooth headphones. The main criteria were:
1. Complete wireless
2. The presence of a case for carrying and charging
3. Small size and weight
4. Price / quality (20 ~ 30 $)
There is a huge list of criteria and differences when choosing such headphones. In the review, I will try to tell you about these differences, as well as what you should pay attention to when choosing them.

My first attempt was to buy headphones:
At that time, there was a discount on them, and bribed a record low weight, only 3.5 grams (each earphone).
But the first pancake, as they say, is lumpy. Opening the parcel, one earphone was not found in it.
I thought it was a joke, or I didn't see anything in the description, but no. Therefore, in the course of the review, I will compare both models (although this cannot be called a full-fledged comparison), paying attention to the very differences and their importance when choosing.

P.S. Having contacted those support, they offered me a refund of $ 10, and of course, keep the earphone to myself. I'm not one of those people who like to cheat, or profit from sellers. It can be used in bluetooth quality headset, or for listening to music, but still he is alone. I could not sell it, so the amount of $ 10 will not be enough for me to buy new headphones, and I will not be able to fully listen to music either. Consequently, I requested a full refund, explaining my position, and they agreed.

While I was waiting for a refund, I had time to think about buying new ones. Buy the same ones, while keeping the left earphone and charging case in stock, or choose another model.
Realizing what I was missing and what I would like to improve, I set about searching.
The Internet is full of a variety of models, both branded. But often the same headphones can be found under different brands... Therefore, you should be careful. Thinking that you are buying "branded" headphones, you are buying an unnamed product, but under the logo of one of the brands. As a rule, such "brands" are little known, and if you find something new and interesting, take the time for a more detailed study. Perhaps you will find exactly the same headphones, but under another new and interesting name... And in the end, without any mention of the company at all, and besides, it is cheaper.
I narrowed my choice down to two models, the first one, the reviews of which are on this site, and the Internet is simply teeming with them:
1. TWS Touch Two JH-S9100 :,
The second was something new:
2.
The first model completely suited me, both the price and the parameters. But the second bribed, though little-known, but the brand () and the presence.
This model is a novelty of 2018, and there are practically no reviews on it. Only a couple of reviews are not enough useful information... But while I was waiting for the package, the amount of information kept growing, and these were laudatory comments, which cannot but rejoice.

2. Packing & picking

Such a simple detail as a complete set is still worth paying attention to. In the first TWS-16 model, in addition to the earpiece and case, only a cable and instructions were included, there were no additional ones. For me this is not a problem, there are enough spare houses, but! Firstly, not all people have spare ones at home, and secondly, some headphones have a special shape, and apart from relatives, the rest do not fit them.
But Syllable D900P was not greedy for spare ear pads, but this is where all the differences between the bundles end.


Left TWS-16, Right Syllable D900P

3. Appearance

3.1 Charging case

The presence of a charging case in fully wireless headphones is already a plus, in terms of convenience and price, respectively. There are headphones that charge directly from the wire, but they are bulkier and heavier.
Next, you need to decide whether you need the case only for charging, or for transportation. Since not all of them have a protective cover, and can only act as a so-called base. Example:
If you expect to carry headphones in a case, then there are many forms of it.
Without lid, but magnetic and transportable, such as:. By the way, this modification of the headphones exists without a case, but with charging directly from the wire. The difference in price is ~ $ 8.
As for me, this is not a very convenient option, but these headphones are very popular for a long operating time, and a capacious battery, both of the headphones themselves and of the case, which played a role in the overall dimensions.
Quote from him on these headphones:

If you shake the station a little, the earpiece falls out, so it is better to wear this design in a tied complete bag (well, you get the idea).

There are also retractable: or
I cannot judge their practicality, but as for me, quite interesting options.

Returning to the subject of the review, a standard cover is used here. But not on latches, as in most cases, but on magnets. I think this option is much more convenient. You do not need to press any buttons to open the lid, nothing will break, and will not stick over time. The strength of the magnets is sufficient to avoid accidental discoveries, but I would like to have twenty percent more powerful.


Inside we see a button that is responsible for turning on / off charging the headphones, as well as their separate inclusion, but more on that later. A similar implementation with a magnetic cover and a touch button can be seen on:, but despite the requirement to double-tap to turn on, the external sensor raises concerns about accidental clicks.
In the places intended for charging the headphones, there are magnets that allow them to be well fixed and prevent them from falling out. TWS-16 does not have such happiness, and fixation, as well as full contact for charging, occurs only when the lid is closed. This is another plus for the Syllable D900P.
But what is missing is an indication of the percentage of charge of the case itself. I don't quite understand the absence of such a small but important detail.
As a result, the case turned out to be very convenient and useful, with a set of everything you need for comfortable use, except for the lack of indication of the battery status.






Case weight without headphones: 42g.

For comparison, a little photo of TWS-16, I hide it under the spoiler.

If we compare both cases, then the TWS-16 turned out to be smaller in size, and as for me it is more convenient, but for the sake of functionality this can be sacrificed. Since the Syllable D900P has a large battery, magnets, a power button, and headphone recesses allow you to fix them with different sizes of ear pads, while the competitor only fits in the standard small size. If you change the ear cushion for a larger one, then the earpiece simply will not fit.

3.2 Headphones

If the case is just an add-on, then the headphones themselves are the main "player" with which you will have to spend a lot of time, therefore, their choice should be taken more seriously.
Form and type.
Starting from parodies of which are much larger, worse, and in general there is no need. (Example:). Basically they are all similar, but each manufacturer claims that they have found the perfect shape that will adhere perfectly to your ears. If not, there are many options with ear hooks, which give more fixation, but also additional pressure on the auricle, keep this in mind. Examples:,. For those for whom ordinary hooks are not enough, and an active style of use is meant, there are completely wireless options with earhooks similar to bluetooth headsets: (By the way, also on bluetooth v5.0).


Everything is standard, two charging pads, left / right markings, indicators.
Control... We decided on the mount in the ears, then we need to somehow manage all this. Switch tracks, it is possible to answer calls, and of course turn on and off the device itself. Everything is simple here, control is either mechanical, the button is located on the earpiece itself, or touch.
It's up to you to decide which method is more convenient, but I have a few doubts about touch controls. These are accidental presses while attaching the earphone to the ear (I met a similar problem in the comments), as well as the behavior of the sensor in the cold, or with wet / sweaty hands. Accordingly, for me the button is more acceptable, although I rarely use it. The player is controlled mainly either through a watch or through a smartphone. The headphones are turned on either by pressing the buttons, or, while on charge, when taken out of the case, they automatically turn on and mate with each other. Very convenient and no need to press anything. As for pairing with each other: in this type of headphone (not only in this model), one headphone is the main one, to which the second headphone is connected, and the signal is transmitted from one headphone to another. The Syllable D900P is dominated by the left side. When turned on (it does not matter, from the button or after taking it off the charge), they automatically pair with each other and carry out a roll call. Something like this: Power on -> Left channel -> Right channel -> Connected -> Pairing. That is, they always automatically go into pairing mode, but if you do not manually connect to them within 15 seconds, they will connect to a previously paired device. In simple words, when turned on, they pair with the phone after 15 seconds, or you can manually connect to them, speeding up the process. A bit strange logic, but you get used to it quickly. Turning off is also very interesting: you only need to hold down the button on one of the headphones, and they understand themselves, and both are turned off.
But I noticed one oddity, when connected to the phone, they always tell me: second device connected, but when connected to a laptop, watch, or other phones, I hear this every other time. That is, sometimes they perceive something as a second device, but sometimes they do not, but my phone is always called the second device. Tried to reconnect many times without success. Doesn't affect work, just infuriates.

The weight of each earphone is ~ 4.5g. Since I have scales with a step of 1 g, they show the weight of the earphone either 4 or 5. But, in total, both headphones are stable at 9 g.
With regards to the fit in the ears, everything is fine here. Although vacuum headphones are not really mine, my fears were in vain. Correctly matched ear pads, and no problem. Brisk walking, head banging, gum chewing, treadmill, all tests passed. With regards to those who are afraid of losing such headphones - complete nonsense. Of course, it can fall out, the situations are different, I did not fix it well, my ears were sweating. But in order not to feel it, you need to have a complete lack of head sensitivity. Well, there are no such headphones, the presence and absence of which is not felt at all.


Compared to the TWS-16 (pictured below in the middle), the Syllable D900P is slightly larger, and, accordingly, by 1gr. heavier

I have no complaints about the headphones. Light weight and good fit are key.

4. Battery

The manufacturer claims the presence of 400mAh in the case and the possibility of 3 additional recharges. Judging by the measurements, the way it is:


The capacity of the headphones themselves is unlikely to be measured correctly, and for nothing.
At full volume, the headphones lost: 3h 40min. !! I think it excellent result! Since the average operating time of similar, basically 2-2.5 hours.


The competitor played: 2 hours, but it should be taken into account that in this case he was alone. And two headphones consume more, since you need to transmit a signal. Accordingly, the right earbud charges a little faster.

5. Sound - communication (Bluetooth 5.0)

5.1 Communication - Bluetooth 5.0

I contacted several sellers on Aliexpress regarding the availability of Bluetooth 5.0. Two of them replied that they had no idea about the versions, wrote what they were told, and two more (one of which is an official store) assured that there was indeed a fifth version. There is no mention of this model yet, but there is a link to their store in, where this model is already listed.
For me this was an important criterion, therefore this is one of the reasons why I chose this model... In case of cheating, I think I would return some of the money.
I found an article on the Internet on how to find out the version of a bluetooth device: (Link only for)
And to be honest, with little faith, I was pleasantly surprised, they did not deceive:


In the LMP Version field, we see the coveted inscription 5.0.
Why was the 5th version so important for me? The fact is that this type of headphone (any model) does not keep the connection with the phone so well. This is due to their small size, and how they are generally arranged (one earpiece sends a signal to the other ...). I even had the problem of interrupting the connection. bluetooth headsets, and no big obstacles are needed. Put the phone in the opposite pocket, or cover it with your palms. This is fine! I also hoped for a longer range, because this is written in the specification. But to the seller's question: why is only 10m indicated, is this the 5th version? Nobody knows anything. Plus, the data transfer rate should be higher, and the power consumption should be less. Well, on top of all this - because I want to!
So, with regards to communication, I can say that everything suits me. Carrying your phone in your pocket or laptop bag does not cause interference. If the phone is in the opposite pocket (from the main earpiece), then occasionally you can catch an interruption. But even here they are arranged very interestingly, interruptions do not occur abruptly, but as if someone pressed pause and again to play. That is, there is no interruption or stuttering, but a slight attenuation of the sound. It is difficult to describe in words, but in fact I have met such an implementation for the first time, and I am pleasantly surprised, in the case of communication dumps, my hearing does not hurt. As for the range, it is unlikely that you will be able to calmly walk around the hall during training, for example, leaving the phone at one end. For me, this is not an obstacle, at training I am without headphones, it seems to me that if during sports I create additional pressure through the headphones, then my head will burst. But for owners of smart watches, you can download music to the watch and connect to it.
There is also frequent problem of a similar type of headphone, this is the lag of the audio track when watching video. The Syllable D900P does not have this problem, which is very important, especially if you are watching any tutorials. So when choosing, pay attention to this, read the reviews.
In general, the quality of the connection suits me perfectly, the Chinese did not cheat with the bluetooth version, which I think played a role, since the competitor TWS-16 is not so smooth.
Considering that I have only one earpiece from them, that is, there is no need for additional costs for signal transmission, but it has very frequent interruptions, which are expressed by stuttering, and which happen even if the phone was nearby. And getting rid of them is not so easy, they themselves rarely disappear, you have to reconnect.

5.2 Sound

Here we get to the most important thing. Let's take the type and size of the headphones into account, and we get a pretty decent sound for listening to music. For people who are "sick" with sound, this is not quite a suitable option. Here we give a higher score for compactness and portability. For comparison, I have this model: the sound is not inferior. They sound no worse than local wired Sony, Philips, Xiaomi, JBL at a price of ~ $ 20-40.
Bass - Calm, soft, I would say even a little missing, in some cases you want to tighten it up a little. Lovers pile harder - by.
Medium / high - everything is standard for vacuum headphones. Of course, high-pitched ones prevail, but the voice is drawn quite well. Choosing the right ear cushions does not hurt your hearing.
For most users, the sound will be quite enough, the sound does not cut, does not rattle, it is quite pleasant to listen to. For audiophiles, they themselves understand everything perfectly.
Compared to TWS-16, it is certainly difficult to compare, two against one. But Syllable sounds more interesting.
The volume reserve is quite enough.
Speaking of the quality while talking on the phone, everything is obvious here, I hear well, they don't hear me very well, somewhere in the distance. But, I was pleased with one feature. Often in these types of headphones when telephone conversation, you hear speech in only one, the main headphone. Immediately, speech is transmitted to both, this is also a big plus. At the end of the call, you hear: call ended, and if you canceled the call: call canceled.

6. Conclusions

Summarizing all of the above, I am completely satisfied with this acquisition. As I wanted, I received completely wireless headphones, small in size and weight, with a comfortable fit, good time sound and good sound. All this is complete with a case that allows you to conveniently transport them, and also not to worry about discharge. It is very pleasant that all sorts of little things have been thought out, such as: a magnetic cover, a button for turning on the case, smart turning on the headphones when removing, soft attenuation in case of loss of connection. Comparing them with TWS-16, they are inferior only to the size of the earphone and case, but this was not a disadvantage, so even now I would prefer the Syllable D900P.
I liked the review +19 +34

Samsung Galaxy S8 is the first smartphone to be equipped with a Bluetooth 5 chip

Almost everyone uses Bluetooth: on a smartphone, tablet, computer, or to connect accessories such as wireless headphones. The situation will not change in the near future: according to market researchers (ABI Research), about 5 billion Bluetooth devices will be purchased in 2021.

At the same time, a particularly large growth potential will be observed in devices using the "Internet of Things" technology: Wrist Watch, lighting fixtures or automatic temperature control systems.

Fifth Bluetooth generation designed just for the "Internet of Things". The following three innovations apply exclusively to the Low-Energy (LE) mode:

• Increased data transfer rate: the maximum speed is increased from 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps.
• Extended range: in the line of sight (without obstacles on the way), it is increased from 50 to 200 meters.
• Improved data transfer: via the so-called. "Beacons" (beacons) can transmit 8 times more information.

In addition, the new Bluetooth specification uses optimizing solutions to improve immunity to interference. This is very important as Bluetooth operates in the extremely crowded 2.4 GHz frequency band.

The main innovations of Bluetooth 5 - high data transfer rate and increased range - are limited to the energy efficient Low Energy mode. There is a small catch in it: you can only use one of the advantages at a time.

Maximum baud rate only when needed

While Wi-Fi breaks speed records in the gigabit range, Bluetooth LE still sags at around 1 Mbps. However, Bluetooth 5 in LE mode doubles the maximum data transfer rate. Of course, this will not make Bluetooth LE a "rocket", as there are some limitations.

The net transfer rate in Bluetooth LE mode is constantly increasing. But the "gross" speed of 2 Mbps in Bluetooth 5 is only optional.

With a value of 2 Mbit / s, we are talking about the "gross" speed, while the maximum "net" speed will remain at the level of 1.4 Mbit / s. In addition, this value is only valid in the near field, since for the transmission of a larger amount of useful data in one packet, Bluetooth 5 "saves" on error correction.

However, 2 Mbps in LE mode is more of an option that manufacturers can implement in their devices. Alternatively, speeds of 1 Mbps, 500 Kbps and 125 Kbps are also available.

Moreover, by default, all Bluetooth devices have a data transfer rate of 1 Mbit / s, other parameters are optional, and the right to choose the implementation is given to manufacturers.

Also, you cannot blindly rely on the fact that all devices using Bluetooth 5 support the faster LE mode.

Error free internet of things

Although professional equipment provides Bluetooth data transmission up to 500 meters, the Bluetooth standard has only now provided the possibility of energy-saving connections up to 200 meters away.

Bluetooth technology is mainly used in the short range, although there is equipment that can transmit data via Bluetooth up to a distance of 500 meters. However, such extreme operating ranges require significant costs, since this requires a significant increase in the power of the transmitters.

In addition to LE mode, the Bluetooth standard has long defined various classes in which devices can transmit data with a power of up to 100 mW. For such Bluetooth modules, according to the parameters of class 1, too much power is required, which is not suitable for the Internet of things.

From now on, with the use of Bluetooth LE, it looks different, since the Bluetooth modules used in it increase the range thanks to Forward Error Correction (FEC) technology without significantly increasing the transmission power. However, due to the increased range, data transfer rates have to be sacrificed.

If you look at the Bluetooth protocol stack, you can see that the innovations to extend the range of Bluetooth 5 are at the lowest (physical) layer. The payload is transmitted twice and is additionally encrypted, so that the receiving device can often correct errors on its own. In this case, the keystone for encryption is the symbol rate.

Bluetooth 5 in energy-saving mode simply increases the payload portion of the packet to achieve a maximum transfer rate of 2 Mbps.

In the simplest case, each bit is transmitted twice. Each zero is sent as "00", one as "11". This halves the maximum gross data transfer rate, from 1 Mbps to 500 Kbps. However, for even greater range, the Bluetooth standard also defines extended encryption, in which each bit is transmitted in eight characters instead of two. Each zero is encoded with a sequence of characters "00110011", each one is "11001100".

Bluetooth data packet structure for extended range. The error correction system transmits the payload several times and encrypts it in a special way, in the end, less payload is transmitted in each packet. This increases the transmission distance of the Bluetooth-LE data packets from 50 to 200 m.

If the receiver receives the sequence "11001101", it is easy to identify and correct the error in the last bit. However, the data transfer rate is reduced to 125 Kbps.

Beacons and networking

Bluetooth 5 also extends the length of unconnected messages using Bluetooth beacons. Short pieces of information can be sent in this manner. When using beacons, Bluetooth 4.x provides a message length of 30 bytes, Bluetooth 5 provides more than eightfold increase in the amount of transmitted data (256 bytes). Bluetooth 5 devices can operate in all modes of their predecessors and are therefore backward compatible.

The next stage of the Internet of Things will be a special specification for the simplified interconnection of Bluetooth devices into a single network, which is due to be presented in mid-2017. This allows Bluetooth devices to receive messages from one device and send them to another in power saving mode. Similarly, the range should be further increased.

Photo: manufacturing companies, Standardizer / commons.wikimedia.org

Bluetooth 5.0 became a reality. Compared to Bluetooth 4.0, the new version has double the bandwidth, quadruple the range and a whole host of other improvements. Consider the advantages of Bluetooth 5.0 over its predecessors, including an example CPU CC2640R2F from Texas Instruments.

The popularity of the Bluetooth 4 protocol version, as well as some of its limitations, became the reasons for the creation of the next Bluetooth 5 specification. The developers set themselves a number of goals: expanding the range, increasing the bandwidth when sending broadcast packets, improving noise immunity, and so on.

Now that the first devices with Bluetooth 5 have begun to appear, users and developers rightly have questions: which of the previously announced promises have come true? How much has the range and data transfer rate increased? How did this affect the consumption level? How has the approach to the formation of broadcast packets changed? What improvements have been made to improve noise immunity? And, of course, the main question is - is there backward compatibility between Bluetooth 5 and Bluetooth 4? Let's answer these and some other questions and consider the main advantages of Bluetooth 5.0 over its predecessors, including the example of a real processor with Bluetooth 5.0 support from the company. Texas Instruments.

Let's start our review of Bluetooth 5.0 by answering the most frequently asked question about backward compatibility with Bluetooth 4.x

Is Bluetooth 5.0 backward compatible with Bluetooth 4.x?

Yes, it does. Bluetooth 5 has taken over most of the features and extensions of Bluetooth 4.1 and 4.2. For example, Bluetooth 5 devices retain all of the Bluetooth 4.2 data security enhancements and support the LE Data Length Extension. It is worth recalling that thanks to the LE Data Length Extension, starting from Bluetooth 4.2, the packet data unit (PDU) when established connection can be increased from 27 to 251 bytes, which allows increasing the data exchange rate by 2.5 times.

Due to the large number of differences between the protocol versions, the traditional mechanism for negotiating parameters between devices when establishing connections is preserved. This means that before starting to exchange data, the devices "get acquainted" and determine the maximum data transmission frequency, message length, and so on. The default settings are Bluetooth 4.0. The transition to the Bluetooth 5 parameters occurs only if during the negotiation process it turns out that both devices support the later version of the protocol.

Speaking of the tools that are already available for developers, it is worth noting new processor CC2640R2F and free BLE5-Stack from Texas Instruments. To the delight of the developers, BLE5-Stack is based on the previous version of BLE-Stack, and changes in its use only affected the new features of Bluetooth 5.0.

How has the data transfer rate increased in Bluetooth 5?

Bluetooth 5 uses wireless connection with a physical data transfer rate of up to 2 Mbit / s, which is two times higher than that of Bluetooth 4.x. It should be noted here that the effective data exchange rate depends not only on the physical bandwidth of the transmission channel, but also on the ratio of service and useful information in the packet, as well as on the accompanying "overhead" costs, for example, the loss of time between packets (Table 1).

Table 1. Data exchange rate for different versionsBluetooth

In Bluetooth versions 4.0 and 4.1, the physical bandwidth of the channel was 1 Mbit / s, which, with a PDU data packet length of 27 bytes, made it possible to achieve an exchange rate of up to 305 kbit / s. Bluetooth 4.2 introduces the LE Data Length Extension. Thanks to him, after establishing a connection between devices, it became possible to increase the packet length to 251 bytes, which led to an increase in the data exchange rate by 2.5 times - up to 780 kbps.

Bluetooth version 5 retains support for LE Data Length Extension, which, together with an increase in physical bandwidth up to 2 Mbps, allows you to achieve data exchange rates up to 1.4 Mbps.

As practice shows, such acceleration of data transfer is not the limit. For example, the CC2640R2F wireless microcontroller is capable of operating at speeds up to 5 Mbps.

It is worth mentioning a common misconception that the increase in throughput up to 2 Mbps was achieved by reducing the range. Of course, physically the transceiver chip (PHY) when operating at 2 Mbit / s has 5 dBm less sensitivity than when operating at 1 Mbit / s. However, in addition to sensitivity, there are other factors that contribute to an increase in the range, for example, the transition to data encoding. For this reason, all other things being equal, Bluetooth 5 is more reliable and has a longer range than Bluetooth 4.0. This is discussed in detail in one of the following sections of the article.

How to activate high speed data transfer mode in Bluetooth 5?

When establishing a connection between two Bluetooth devices the default settings are Bluetooth 4.0. This means that at the first stage, the devices exchange data at a speed of 1 Mbps. Once the connection is established, the Bluetooth 5.0 wizard can start the PHY Update Procedure, which aims to set the maximum speed to 2 Mbps. This operation will be successful only if the slave also supports Bluetooth 5.0. Otherwise, the speed remains at 1 Mbps.

For developers who previously used BLE-Stack from Texas Instruments, the good news is that a single function HCI_LE_SetDefaultPhyCmd () has been allocated in the new BLE5-Stack to perform this procedure. Thus, when upgrading to Bluetooth 5.0, TI users will have no problem with the initial initialization. An example posted on the GitHub portal will also be useful for developers, which allows you to evaluate the operation of two CC2640R2F microcontrollers operating as part of the CC2640R2 LaunchPads in High Speed ​​and Long Range modes.

How has the range of Bluetooth 5 increased?

The Bluetooth 5.0 specification says it has four times the range of Bluetooth 4.0. This is a rather subtle question that should be discussed in more detail.

First, the concept of "four times" is relative and is not tied to a specific range in meters or kilometers. The fact is that the radio transmission range strongly depends on a number of factors: the state of the environment, the level of interference, the number of simultaneously transmitting devices, and so on. As a result, not a single manufacturer, as well as the developer of the Bluetooth SIG standard itself, gives specific values. The increase in range is estimated in comparison with Bluetooth 4.0.

For further analysis, it is necessary to perform some mathematical calculations and estimate the power budget of the radio channel. When using logarithmic values, the radio channel budget (dB) is equal to the difference between the transmitter power (dBm) and the receiver sensitivity (dBm):

Radio channel budget = powerT X(dBm) - sensitivityR X(dBm)

For Bluetooth 4.0, the standard receiver sensitivity is -93 dBm. Assuming a transmitter power of 0 dBm, the budget is 93 dB.

Quadrupling the range would require a 12 dB increase in budget, resulting in a value of 105 dB. How is this value supposed to be achieved? There are two ways:

• increasing the power of transmitters;
• increasing the sensitivity of receivers.

If you go along the first path and increase the transmitter power, this will inevitably cause an increase in consumption. For example, for the CC2640R2F, switching to an output power of 5 dBm leads to an increase in the current consumption up to 9 mA (Figure 1). At a power of 10 dBm, the current will increase to 20 mA. This approach does not look attractive to most wireless devices battery-powered and is not always suitable for IoT, and this is the area that Bluetooth 5.0 was primarily focused on. For this reason, the second solution seems to be preferable.

There are two ways to increase the receiver sensitivity:

• decrease in transmission speed;
• using data encoding Coded PHY.

Reducing the data rate by a factor of eight theoretically increases the receiver sensitivity by 9 dB. Thus, only 3 dB is not enough to reach the coveted value.

The required 3 dB can be obtained using additional Coded PHY coding. Previously, in Bluetooth 4.x versions, the bit coding was 1: 1 unambiguous. This means that the data stream was directed directly to the differential demodulator. In Bluetooth 5.0 when using Coded PHY, there are two additional format transmission:

• with 1: 2 coding, in which each data bit is mapped to two bits in the radio data stream. For example, a logical "1" is represented as the sequence "10". At the same time, the physical speed remains equal to 1 Mbit / s, while the real data transfer rate drops to 500 kbit / s.
• With 1: 4 encoding. For example, logical "1" is represented by the sequence "1100". In this case, the data transfer rate is reduced to 125 kbps.

The described approach is called Forward Error Correction (FEC) and allows you to detect and correct errors on the receiving side, rather than requesting retransmission of packets, as was the case in Bluetooth 4.0.

Everything looks good on paper. It remains only to find out to what extent these theoretical calculations correspond to reality. Let's take the same CC2640R2F microcontroller as an example. Thanks to various improvements and new modulation modes for Bluetooth 5.0, the transceiver of this processor has a sensitivity of -97 dBm at 1 Mbps and -103 dBm when using Coded PHY and 125 kbps. Thus, in the latter case, only 2 dBm is not enough to reach 105 dB.

To estimate the range of the CC2640R2F, engineers at Texas Instruments conducted a field experiment in Oslo. At the same time, from the point of view of the noise level, the environment in this experiment cannot be called “friendly”, since the business part of the city was located in the immediate vicinity.

To obtain a power budget of more than 105 dB, it was decided to increase the transmitter power to 5 dBm. This resulted in an impressive 108 dBm total (Figure 2). During the experiment, the operating range was 1.6 km, which is a very impressive result, especially considering the minimum level of consumption of radio transmitters.

How has the approach to Bluetooth 5 broadcast messages changed?

Previously, Bluetooth 4.x used three dedicated data channels to establish connections between devices (37, 38, 39). With their help, the devices found each other and exchanged service information. They could also transmit broadcast data packets. This approach has disadvantages:

• with a large number of active transmitters, these channels can simply be overloaded;
• more and more devices are using point-to-point connectionless broadcasts. This is especially important for the Internet of Things (IoT);
• the new Coded PHY coding system will require eight times longer to establish a connection, which will additionally load broadcast channels.

To solve these problems in Bluetooth 5.0, it was decided to switch to a scheme in which data is transmitted on all 37 data channels, and service channels 37, 38, 39 are used to transmit pointers. The pointer refers to the channel on which the broadcast message will be transmitted. In this case, the data is transmitted only once. As a result, it is possible to significantly unload service channels and eliminate this bottleneck.

It is also worth noting that now the data length of a broadcast packet can be up to 255 bytes instead of 6 ... 37 bytes PDU in Bluetooth 4.x. This is extremely important for IoT applications, as it minimizes transmission overhead and eliminates the need for connections, and therefore reduces consumption.

Does Bluetooth 5 support Mesh networks?

Texas Instruments Bluetooth 5 Solutions

One of the very first microcontrollers with Bluetooth 5.0 was the high-performance CC2640R2F processor from Texas Instruments.

The CC2640R2F is based on a modern 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 core with an operating frequency of up to 48 MHz. The radio transmitter is controlled by a second 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 core (Figure 3). In addition, the CC2640R2F features rich digital and analog peripherals.

The advantage of the CC2640R2F microcontroller is also a low consumption level (table 2). This applies to all modes of operation. For example, in active mode, when receiving data over a radio channel, the consumption is 5.9 mA, and when transmitting, it is 6.1 mA (0 dBm) or 9.1 mA (5 dBm). When going into sleep mode, the supply current drops to 1 μA altogether.

The combination of three such important qualities as Bluetooth 5.0 support, low power consumption and high peak performance makes the CC2640R2F a very interesting solution for the Internet of Things. At the same time, using this microcontroller, you can create the entire range of IoT devices: autonomous sensors that operate for several years from one battery, bridges between an additional control processor and the Bluetooth 5.0 channel, complex applications that require high computing power.

Table 2. Consumption of wireless microcontrollerCC2640 R2 Fwith the supportBluetooth 5

Working hours	Parameter	Value (at Vcc = 3V)
Active computing	μA / MHz ARM® Cortex®-M3	61 μA / MHz
	Coremark / mA	48,5
	Coremark @ 48 MHz	142
Radio exchange	Peak current when receiving, mA	5,9
	Peak current during transmission, mA	6,1
Sleeping mode	Sensor controller, μA / MHz	8,2
	Sleep mode with RTC on and memory retention, mA	1

To get started quickly with the CC2640R2F, Texas Instruments has prepared a traditional debug kit (Figure 4). Using a pair of such devices, you can evaluate the speed and range of radio transmission via Bluetooth 5.0. To do this, you can use ready-made examples or create your own application based on the free BLE 5 stack 1.0 protocol (www.ti.com/ble).

Conclusion

The new version of the Bluetooth 5.0 protocol is focused on meeting the needs of the Internet of Things (IoT). Compared to Bluetooth 4.0, it has a number of quality improvements:

• data transfer speed doubled and reached 2 Mbps;
• transmission range has quadrupled due to data coding Coded PHY and Forward Error Correction (FEC);
• the throughput of broadcast messages increased by 8 times.

In addition, Bluetooth 5.0 provides backward compatibility with Bluetooth 4.x devices and also supports most extensions of later protocol versions.

You can evaluate the capabilities of Bluetooth 5.0 right now using instruments manufactured by Texas Instruments. The company produces a high-performance and low-power CC2640R2F microcontroller, provides a free BLE 5 stack 1.0 and many ready-made examples for the LAUNCHXL-CC2640R2 debug kit.

Literature

1. Bluetooth Core Specifcation 5.0 FAQ. 2016. Bluetooth SIG.
2. TI SimpleLink CC2640R2 SDK 1.35.00.33. https://github.com/ti-simplelink/ble_examples.