Bluetooth is a relatively inexpensive, energy-efficient, and ubiquitous way to transfer data between devices in a personal area network (PAN). But it’s not without its downsides. Its connections are not always as secure as they could be, it operates in a crowded band of the frequency spectrum and it’s not specifically designed for true mesh networking, even if it now supports mesh networks to a degree.
That’s why several companies have seen the opportunity to create their own personal area network standards to rival Bluetooth. None have yet taken off in the way Bluetooth has—but their creators surely remember that Bluetooth took nearly 20 years to achieve the ubiquity it enjoys today and that it still hasn’t completely conquered the still-evolving IoT market.
These four rival standards all have tempting upsides that Bluetooth lacks, and each is waiting for the chance to prove itself. Not all are widely available yet, but anyone of them could give Bluetooth a run for its money in the coming battles over IoT networking.
1. Zigbee
Zigbee is currently the most competitive Bluetooth alternative, thanks to its active targeting of the smart home market and its inclusion on Amazon Echo products. Zigbee’s key feature is that it’s designed especially for mesh networks, and it’s exceptionally good at what it does. Its mesh networking is easy to use and doesn’t require a centralized hub, and it can connect to an eye-popping 65,000 devices at once.
Zigbee’s pitfalls include the fact that it’s considerably slower than Bluetooth, at only 250 kbps compared to Bluetooth 5’s 2 mbps. It also uses the same jam-packed 2.4 GHz band that Bluetooth does, and its range is also substantially shorter than Bluetooth’s—just 10 to 20 meters. These limits mean that it’s better suited to the home automation market than to high-stakes, data-intensive applications of industrial and business settings. So, while Zigbee certainly appears built to compete in the home IoT market, it’s not ready to deliver the knockout punch to Bluetooth just yet.
2. HaLow/Wi-Fi 802.11ah
The techie’s Bluetooth alternative HaLow is a cousin of the Wi-Fi standard that offers impressive features and specs. It uses the 900 MHz spectrum, which is much less crowded than the 2.4 GHz, and its power consumption is around the same as Bluetooth’s. Its range and throughput are the real kickers: low-mbps transmissions at over half a mile, and up to 70 mbps at the distances you might find in the average home or business. It also offers superior performance in penetrating walls and other obstacles—and with backing from the Wi-Fi Alliance, which administers all Wi-Fi protocols, it’s got the official credentials it needs to make serious inroads.
With both distance and power built into the standard, it’s hard not to like the upside that HaLow offers. So, why hasn’t it taken off yet? Some blame the Wi-Fi Alliance’s focus on the rollout of Wi-Fi 6 for diverting resources away from HaLow, and the technology’s implementation on smart devices has been delayed by the market’s current lack of any device chipsets that support the standard. However, the Wi-Fi 6 rollout is just around the corner, and a startup called Morse Micro has been pulling in big-time funding to begin manufacturing the first mass-produced HaLow chipset. Once HaLow chipsets actually make their way inside the electronics enclosures of IoT devices, the technology could be primed for takeoff within a few years.
3. Ultra Wideband
Ultra wideband (UWB) is a technology first developed by the U.S. government for radar applications, but developers of consumer devices are increasingly looking to its many capabilities. As its name would suggest, it uses an antenna to transmit millions of pulses per second over a massive frequency range (from 3.1 GHz all the way up to 10.6 GHz). Because it uses such a wide spectrum, it’s also less prone to interference.
UWB has many advantages over Bluetooth, including extremely high potential throughput rates of up to 100 mbps, and its energy consumption is comparably low. Unfortunately, however, UWB has a similar downfall to HaLow—it’s simply still not particularly widespread, and you won’t find UWB smart home devices yet.
However, UWB has had a few very important adopters. One is the NFL, which uses UWB trackers in tiny waterproof enclosures embedded in players’ shoulder pads to track movement and provide advanced player statistics. The other is Apple. The tech giant has said that the iPhone 11 will include UWB capabilities that enable it to perform functions like unlocking your car’s doors. So, although UWB hasn’t yet found widespread favor with other manufacturers, at least two cultural giants believe in its potential.
4. Z-Wave
If Zigbee is built to compete with Bluetooth, Z-Wave is built to compete with Zigbee. It’s another networking standard focused on mesh networking and localized speed, using a similar frequency range to HaLow rather than Zigbee’s 2.4 GHz. It’s also got a longer range at 30 meters, and Z-wave also introduced a new feature called SmartStart in 2017 that makes it considerably simpler to install a suite of smart home devices all at once.
However, Z-Wave has some challenges that are currently causing it to lag behind in adoption. Unlike Zigbee, it requires a hub device, potentially limiting its range, and it’s also slower than some of its competitors. Finally, Z-Wave is a closed standard, meaning that any device using it has to be certified by its developer, Silicon Labs—good in that this tighter control guarantees interoperability, but problematic in that it delays the widespread adoption of Z-Wave.
From Z-Wave to Zigbee to UWB, there’s no shortage of contenders for Bluetooth’s spot at the top. And while none has yet had a true breakthrough moment, each has the potential to find its killer app and make itself indispensable in the world of smart technology.
