With the arrival of the Bluetooth 6.0the world of wireless connections takes a leap forward, offering new solutions for find lost items more accurately and quickly. This new version of the standard, announced a few days ago by the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group) – the non-profit organization that oversees the development of Bluetooth technology – introduces advanced technologies such as “Channel Sounding”useful for detecting the location of object trackers (such as Apple’s AirTags and Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTags 2) with greater accuracy without having to resort toUWB (Ultra Wideband). But it’s not just about improvements in tracking: Bluetooth 6.0 also brings significant benefits in terms of security, energy efficiency, and communication capabilities between devices.
It’s too early to say when it will be implemented on hardware devices from various manufacturers. One thing is certain: when it does, smartphones, tablets, wireless headphones, laptops, etc., will improve the accuracy and reliability with which they use the “Find My Device” networks of major tech manufacturers, including Apple, Google, and Samsung.
Bluetooth 6.0: What is Channel Sounding?
Bluetooth 6.0 represents a significant evolution over previous versions, especially thanks to the Channel Sounding which, according to the Bluetooth SIG, allows you to track objects and devices with a «precision to the centimeter“. This system allows you to find the exact distance between devices using radio wavessimilar to sonar (which uses sound waves instead of radio waves to detect the distance of objects and surfaces).
In particular, two methods are used to calculate the distance: PBR (Phase-Based Ranging) And RTT (Round Trip Timing). The PBR method measures the phase differences between the sent and received signals, ensuring great precision on short distances. The RTT methodinstead, is used to measure the time it takes for a radio signal to travel back and forth between two devices, which makes it suitable for measurements in long distancesThe combined use of these two methods makes the new Bluetooth 6.0 standard extremely versatile, being able cover up to 150 meters (at least under certain conditions), without losing precision.
Unlike Ultra Wideband technology, which works on higher frequencies, Bluetooth 6.0 continues to use the 2.4GHz ISM bandbut improving the efficiency of radio channel division and this allows the Channel Sounding feature to eliminate many of the measurement ambiguities that plagued systems based on RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator). While the latter parameter was used to determine how strong a radio signal coming from a device was, using this data to calculate the distance, the Channel Sounding function, once synchronized with the device it is searching for, picks up specific signals that make the measurement much more accurate.
This system, whose functioning we have briefly described, in addition to improving the accuracy of measurements also constitutes an important step forward in the field of safetyas Bluetooth technology is increasingly used for unlocking cars or opening/closing hotel room doors using digital keys. With the possibility of having more precise tracking information, in fact, it is possible to ensure that a device (the door or the entrance door) is actually unlocked when the digital key is within a specific range. This can contribute greatly to combating the so-called attacks man-in-the-middlewhere an attacker intercepts communications between the phone and the lock, allowing them (at least potentially) to unlock the lock.
Other advantages of the new Bluetooth 6.0
In addition to Channel Sounding, The new Bluetooth 6.0 brings several other advantagessome of which are summarized in the following points.
- Decision-Based Advertising Filtering: This system reduces search and connection times between devices by analyzing information from the primary channel and optimizing searches on secondary channels, which increases the overall speed of connection operations.
- Monitoring Advertisers: reduces the waste of resources and data packets between already connected devices, making communication more streamlined and less energy-intensive. This feature is particularly useful for devices that need to maintain a connection constantlike the wearable (wearable devices such as smartwatches and smart rings) or which concern theIoT (Internet of Things).
- ISOAL Enhancement: This update improves latency and reliability, which are crucial when using devices that require precise synchronization, such as wireless headphones or augmented reality devices.
- LL Extended Feature Set: Thanks to this new feature, when two Bluetooth 6.0 devices connect to each other, they can exchange information about the features supported by each of them, so that they are able to determine which of these they are able to use while they are paired.
Given all the benefits that Bluetooth 6.0 offers, you may be wondering when it will be possible to use devices compatible with the new standard. Although the Bluetooth SIG has not commented on this matter, It is possible that the first devices compatible with Bluetooth 6.0 will arrive as early as 2025.
