How Can Bluetooth Improve Your Project?

2019-09-18 | By Maker.io Staff

Sometimes a project is going to need some form of wireless connection, but why would choosing Bluetooth be beneficial? What can Bluetooth offer over other methods of communication?

DigiKey’s bluetooth modules

Finding the Right Wireless Option

While many projects can rely on wires for communication, it is not always convenient (and sometimes even unsuitable!). For example, an advanced light bulb that can display a wide range of colors, change throughout the day, and even perform rudimentary neural nets could be controlled with a control panel that has a wired connection to it. However, this would be really impractical and even potentially dangerous, as the bulb would be connected to mains voltage and requiring wire routing between the control panel and the bulb.

In this case, a wireless connection can provide connectivity between the control panel and the bulb while keeping the two electrically isolated. This means that a standard bulb fitting can be used to provide power to the bulb while wireless communication allows for remote controlling. Of course, this is only one example, but there are many other cases where a wireless connection can be highly beneficial.

Wireless Technologies for your Maker Projects

Currently, there are many different wireless technologies on the market, but not all are equal, and some may be completely inappropriate. One common technology is the 433MHz band of transmitters/receivers that use a rudimentary transfer protocol. While this technology is inexpensive and easily implemented, it does have some issues. For instance, 433MHz is an unregulated open channel that can result in interference with other devices using that same band. Secondly, most (if not all) 433MHz transceivers on the market include few security features, which can leave devices open to vulnerability (since this frequency band is typically used for trivial devices such as doorbells).

Wi-Fi is another wireless technology that can be used for wireless communication and has many benefits including strong security, internet capabilities, and a wide range of transceivers on the market with security features including encryption. However, Wi-Fi is also a more heavy-duty technology, as it is designed for high-speed internet with the need for connecting to a router, obtaining IP addresses, secure connections, and capability for long-range communication. Because of this, Wi-Fi can draw significant amounts of power that can make battery-powered projects struggle.

Bluetooth -- a Simple, but Secure, Solution

Bluetooth is a proprietary wireless technology that provides a balance between Wi-Fi and 433MHz. The range of Bluetooth is nowhere near that of Wi-Fi (30 feet as opposed to 300 feet), but it uses considerably less power than Wi-Fi. Bluetooth, although not up to the level of Wi-Fi, provides significantly better features than typical 433MHz transceivers. Since Bluetooth is not an internet connection system, it is simpler to implement into projects, and with so many Bluetooth modules on the market, there are typically many resources online (including examples, code, and libraries). Bluetooth 5 has significantly improved speed, bandwidth, and range compared to earlier Bluetooth versions, and it is compatible with the Raspberry Pi 4.

So, integrating Bluetooth into your project can provide a wireless communication system that uses low amounts of power, can isolate devices from each other, and provide some level of security, but the real advantage of Bluetooth goes beyond all of this. Most, if not all, modern smartphones have Bluetooth integrated into them, which essentially means that any project that integrates Bluetooth can interact with smartphones as well as tablets (and even laptops). The result is that your project can be controlled by a large number of devices, and since Bluetooth itself is platform-independent, an app written on any platform can read and write to your device!

The Increasing Importance of Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a technology that dates back to 1994 but is ever-increasing in importance. While it's not designed for high-speed communications, it can provide your project with wireless connectivity to the majority of portable devices, isolate your design from physical contact, improve convenience, and even allow for remote mounting in locations that would otherwise be too difficult to get to. We’ll be digging into this convenient, yet powerful, technology with our upcoming series of articles!

To see all of DigiKey’s bluetooth modules go here: