BLE Insights | Sumble

What is BLE?

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), also known as Bluetooth Smart, is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) aimed at novel applications in the healthcare, fitness, beacons, security, and home entertainment industries. Compared to Classic Bluetooth, BLE is designed for significantly reduced power consumption while maintaining a similar communication range. It's commonly used for applications like wearable devices, IoT sensors, and proximity marketing.

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What other technologies are related to BLE?

BLE Competitor Technologies

Zigbee

Zigbee is a low-power, low-data rate wireless communication protocol that competes with BLE in IoT applications, especially for mesh networking.

mentioned alongside BLE in 25% (2k) of relevant job posts

NFC

NFC competes with BLE for short-range communication, especially for applications like contactless payments and device pairing, though range is limited.

mentioned alongside BLE in 21% (1.4k) of relevant job posts

WiFi

WiFi competes with BLE where higher bandwidth and longer range are needed, though it typically uses more power. Some applications could choose either.

mentioned alongside BLE in 8% (3.4k) of relevant job posts

UWB

UWB competes with BLE in applications needing precise location tracking and secure communication due to its high bandwidth and short-range capabilities.

mentioned alongside BLE in 26% (838) of relevant job posts

LoRa

LoRa is a long-range, low-power wireless communication technology that competes with BLE in IoT applications where long-range connectivity is required. Typically used for sensor networks rather than mobile connections.

mentioned alongside BLE in 17% (1.1k) of relevant job posts

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi competes with BLE where higher bandwidth and longer range are needed, though it typically uses more power. Some applications could choose either.

mentioned alongside BLE in 7% (2.4k) of relevant job posts

Z-Wave

Z-Wave is a low-power wireless communication protocol primarily used in home automation, competing with BLE for similar applications.

mentioned alongside BLE in 30% (353) of relevant job posts

NB-IoT

NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT) competes with BLE in long-range, low-power IoT applications, particularly those requiring cellular connectivity.

mentioned alongside BLE in 23% (449) of relevant job posts

BLE Complementary Technologies

FreeRTOS

FreeRTOS is a real-time operating system that can be used to develop BLE applications, making it a complementary technology.

mentioned alongside BLE in 10% (990) of relevant job posts

ESP32

ESP32 is a microcontroller that often includes BLE connectivity, making it complementary for building BLE-enabled devices.

mentioned alongside BLE in 18% (505) of relevant job posts

RTOS

RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) is used to manage the resources and scheduling of tasks in embedded systems, and can be used for BLE applications, thus it is complementary.

mentioned alongside BLE in 5% (1.6k) of relevant job posts