This one both surprises me and puts a smile on my face: more than 60 qualified Bluetooth Mesh products have completed the Bluetooth Qualification Process. It surprises me because I’ve been on the lookout for such products and frankly haven’t seem them (note that we do technology here at Embedded Computing Design. We leave the marketing to other folks.). The second surprise is that it’s only been a year since the launch. I would have guessed it was far longer than that.

This announcement makes me smile because Bluetooth Mesh is a technology with a huge upside. In my opinion, the last drawback of Bluetooth was its ability to reach all corners of the home or office. The Mesh protocol effectively eliminates that barrier. I know that WiFi is really made for that application, but the device makers don’t always seem to agree, and many deploy Bluetooth only. With Mesh, my Smart home just got a lot smarter.

The full list of qualified products includes silicon, stacks, components, and end products.

In a nutshell, Bluetooth mesh networking enables many-to-many device communications and is optimized for creating large-scale device networks. Designed to meet the scalability, reliability, and security requirements of commercial and industrial environments, Bluetooth mesh is poised to become the backbone of the smart building.

Specifically, lighting control systems serve as a great starting point for the technology, as it creates a natural grid through which all devices in a Bluetooth mesh network can pass messages and establish whole-building control, monitoring, and automation. Such a solution can also function as a platform to enable indoor positioning and location services.

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