If Everything is SMART then the Bluetooth is Smart?

This year has been full of innovations in terms of devices evolution, wireless technology applications and mainly it’s been a remarkable year for the diffusion of the Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology; this time, also the eHealth sector was deeply affected by the new technology applications.
In March 2012, Continua’s new Design Guidelines ('Catalyst' 2012) [2] were already available to Continua’s members. Continua's 2012 Design Guidelines introduces for the first time products that include the Bluetooth Smart technology, based on the Bluetooth v4.0 specifications. Currently this new version of Design Guidelines is under interoperability testing and will be officially released by the end of this year for free. Bluetooth Smart is a new variety of Bluetooth v4.0 peripherals, thus, mainly sensors devices used in eHealth such as blood-glucose meters that are designed on small batteries. The Bluetooth Smart devices include a single Bluetooth v4.0 radio that will connect only to Bluetooth Smart Ready devices.

According to the IMS research latest report, “Wireless Opportunities in Health and Wellness Monitoring – 2012 Edition,” Bluetooth Smart will be the dominant wireless technology for medical devices by 2016, even if today only 5% of the medical devices have a wireless connection. In addition IMS research estimates that more than 50 million wireless health monitoring devices will be used during the next five years. With the constant expansion of the Bluetooth wireless technology we all know that we can easily connect different devices together, but we need firstly to understand which devices can really work together. For example we should know if our watch can send information to the IPad or if our IPhone can communicate with the TV. Here comes the idea of developing the new Bluetooth Smart: if a device has the Smart logo then you will easily be able to define compatibility. More in specific, the Bluetooth Smart devices are implemented in such a way that, if you want for example to know how much you weight today, or better if you want to have information about your glucose level, the Smart devices collect the specific part of data that is relevant for the required information and then send it to a Bluetooth Smart device. Bluetooth Smart devices gather medical data and then transfer the information to a Bluetooth Smart Ready device such as TVs, tablet, phone and even game consoles. Once these data are collected by the Bluetooth Smart Ready devices, the consumer can put to work the data using a WiFi connection to a cloud platform such as Microsoft Health Vault Platform where the a healthcare system can monitor them. One of the biggest advantages of the Bluetooth Smart Ready devices is that by using a dual-mode radios it is possible to efficiently receive data from both the Classic Bluetooth and the Bluetooth Smart Devices and in addition a Smart Ready device allow the software to be updated by the consumer in order to enhance compatibility with a variety of products. In contrast The Bluetooth Smart devices include a single Bluetooth 4.0 radio that will connect only to Bluetooth Smart Ready, having only a single mode low energy radio. This means that a typical Bluetooth Smart device is an exception in the Bluetooth “family” because it can connect only with Bluetooth Smart Ready devices and Bluetooth devices explicitly mentioned by the manufacturer. Now a question I have since I read about the Smart technology is how are related the Bluetooth Low Energy and the Bluetooth Smart? If the Bluetooth Smart is just slightly different from the Bluetooth 4.0, then why not call it simply Bluetooth? Bluetooth Smart is a new definition for Bluetooth Low Energy devices. As we saw previously, Bluetooth low energy is based on extremely low energy devices, those that run on button-cell batteries for several months and even years. So, once you have a wireless connected device with these features, it is a direct consequence that it will encourage the development of other advanced Bluetooth devices, and Bluetooth Smart devices in particular. Here comes the problem and the solution at the same time: allowing small devices to establish ultra low power wireless connection means also a better need to understand what devices work together. The Bluetooth Smart technology is the solution and the first step to ensuring compatibility of all the Bluetooth devices. The ultra low power consumption is the key feature to be considered when choosing Bluetooth profile for healthcare. A possible contender to the Bluetooth technology can be seen when analyzing alternative ultra low power technology such as ANT+. Precisely, ANT+ is a wireless standard connectivity that provides a low power solution for short range wireless communication for automatic transfer of medical data, that can be a possible alternative to the Bluetooth technology, but the fact that consumers and companies offering chips are way more familiar with the Bluetooth technology than with ANT+ indicates already who is going to be the winner.

References:
[1] http://imsresearch.com/press-release/Consumers_Not_Telehealth_Patients_to_Drive_Adoption_of_Wireless_Technology_in_Medical_Devices
[2] http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/continua-health-alliance-design-guidelines-now-available-free-to-developers-reducing-development-costs-for-plug-n-play-personal-health-solutions-147148915.html