The Internet of Things has always been a hot topic, and one important reason should be people's yearning for smart homes. However, with the development of technology, people's requirements for smart homes are no longer limited to controlling one or two objects, but rather to extending smart tentacles to every corner. In the past, we may have relied more on WiFi for this kind of intelligent extension, but on July 19, 2017, SIG announced the arrival of the "Bluetooth Mesh" network, which made the connection and application scenarios of the Internet of Things more diverse.

Comparison of Bluetooth and Wi Fi Advantages

Bluetooth has lower power consumption, smaller size, and lower cost, making it suitable for short distance data transmission between several devices; The characteristics of Wi Fi are high bandwidth, long distance, and a larger number of connected devices, making it suitable for large-scale and large-scale data transmission and signal coverage. But with the popularization of the Internet of Things, Bluetooth and Wi Fi have been upgraded one after another, and Bluetooth has been upgraded to version 5, improving bandwidth and transmission range; Wi Fi promotes "Wi Fi HaLow" to reduce power consumption and extend battery life. It can be seen that both of these focus on upgrading their strengths, which also means that they will compete head-on in the consumer and enterprise level IoT markets.

Comparison of Bluetooth Mesh and Wi Fi Transmission Range

A major drawback of Wi Fi is its distance limit, which means that once you leave this area, your device loses its usefulness. In addition, Wi Fi also has power consumption issues. For mobile phones, turning off the screen can result in significant power consumption.

And Bluetooth Mesh has found a clever solution. These devices are connected to each other and transmit signals to another nearby device, forming an interconnected device network or grid for metadata transmission. This means that messages can be transmitted from one device to another, and then to the next device, achieving relay transmission, theoretically with infinite coverage. Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that the Bluetooth Mesh network does not require complex settings, pairing, or the use of access devices such as routers, so it does not cause installation burden. On the other hand, when using other smart home networking technologies such as ZigBee, Z-wave, or other proprietary communication technologies between manufacturers, it is necessary to install a gateway to ensure communication between various devices.

The left image shows the traditional Wi Fi connection method, which requires a hub to connect to other devices, hence distance limitations. The image on the right shows the Bluetooth Mesh method, and the more devices are connected to this network, the wider the range will be.