Silicon Labs has released a new Bluetooth software for the Wireless Gecko portfolio, the most comprehensive connectivity solution for the Internet of Things (IoT). Silicon Labs' commercial, industrial and retail customers can enhance their location-based services, such as indoor navigation, asset tracking, space utilization, and point-of-interest engagement, using the direction finding feature added to Bluetooth in version 5.1 of the Bluetooth Core Specification, which was recently released.

To help meet the growing demands of the location services market, Bluetooth has added a new direction-finding feature, allowing devices to determine the direction of a Bluetooth signal. The new feature supports multiple methods for determining signal direction including angle-of-arrival (AoA) and angle-of-departure (AoD), and Silicon Labs' implementation of the new Bluetooth feature enables detection of signal direction within 5 degrees. To date, Bluetooth asset tracking and indoor positioning solutions have typically provided location accuracy within a range of 3-4 meters. With the Silicon Labs Bluetooth 5.1 solution, developers can create products that improve location accuracy down to the sub-1-meter level, opening the door to applications previously not possible.

In addition to improved location services, Bluetooth 5.1 also helps developers:

• Reduce power consumption with sleep clock accuracy updates
• Improve smart home connection performance using GATT caching functionality
• Optimize beaconing for Bluetooth mesh in crowded RF environments with the advertisement channel index feature

Silicon Labs' direction finding software, including support for the AoA method, is available today to selected customers through the Silicon Labs Simplicity Studio development kit. Click here for more information.