Will Bluetooth low energy wireless technology finally push IR into

retirement?
By Alf Helge Omre, Business Development Manager, Bluetooth low energy wireless
technology, Nordic Semiconductor

The IR remote control is a senior citizen. The 50-year-old technology is struggling in

the multimedia age, but in the absence of a worthy successor, the CE industry won’t
let IR fade away. However, with the Bluetooth SIG’s recent announcement of remote
control support in the upcoming Bluetooth low energy specification, that’s about to
change

Bluetooth wireless technology owes a lot to the ubiquitous infrared (IR) remote control.
Humble and affordable devices, IR remote controllers have done more to educate
consumers about the benefits of short-range ‘wireless’ than any other technology.

When IR remotes were originally launched in the late 1950s, the concept of being able to
control a consumer electronics (CE) product from the sofa without wires was virtually
unknown (although RCA had launched a remote control based on ultra sound some years
before). Yet, by the end of the century, IR became so pervasive it was not unusual for a
household to play host to ten different remotes.

Fifty years is an incredibly long time for a technology to endure. And while the IR remote
control has evolved, the underlying technology remains the same. That’s testament to its
reliability, simplicity and cheapness and explains why the vast majority of CE manufacturers
still rely on this optical veteran to provide the interface between their products and
customers.

But while changing channels and adjusting the volume might have been enough to keep
consumers happy the 1970s and 80s, with a few more functions to keep them quiet in the
90s and early 2000s, today’s IR remotes are showing their limitations alongside the latest
digital products.

End users now expect a high level of intuitive functionality when controlling any consumer
electronics (CE) product. Unfortunately, multi-layered menus, ‘live’ two-way status displays
(for example, track playing information), HID refresh rates for track ball or joystick navigation
and the ability to operate reliably regardless of whether physical objects happen to be in the
way or if the user is in another room, are beyond the capability of IR remote controls.

Yet RF remote controls can do all this and more, so why hasn’t this technology pushed IR
aside? The answer is because CE companies are yet to see RF as a natural successor to

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IR. While competent proprietary RF technology alternatives certainly exist, in comparison to

IR, these lack interoperability and the second sourcing required to form the competitive
market the CE makers demand.

Bluetooth low energy wireless technology is be about to change all that. Remotes equipped
with Bluetooth low energy chips will have all the advantages of RF technology at slightly
cost than IR. This, however, will be more than compensated for by lots of useful added
functionality, and with comprehensive interoperability. And over time the cost differential will
practically be eliminated.

Moreover, Bluetooth low energy wireless technology will extend remote RF control
functionality to watches, cell phones, PDAs and more, to give end users an array of
ubiquitous portable devices with which to control their CE appliances.

RF remotes to date

RF has made inroads into the remote control market in some specialist applications, for
example MP3 player docks. Here users want a ‘live’ menu of whatever is being played
displayed on the remote control because the display on the MP3 player is too small to be
read across a room. They also want to be able to drill down into various nested folders of
stored content in a way that closely mimics how this would be done on the actual MP3
player.

It is surprising that RF has not penetrated more application because RF has several
inherent advantages over IR. For example, contemporary ultra-low power (ULP)
consumption RF transceivers can be powered for months or even years by AA or AAA
batteries, and offer 10 metre (plus) ranges while operating in the global licence free 2.4GHz
band. And RF offers high bandwidth bi-directional communication through walls and doors
(albeit with a reduction in range). In comparison, IR has limited range and is restricted to
line-of-sight-operation. And, while it is possible to create bi-directional communication with
IR, it’s far from an ideal solution. The cost rapidly escalates and there are performance
challenges caused by (light) interference and low data rates.

Unfortunately, the big disadvantage of today’s RF remotes is that the radios and protocols
are proprietary, effectively ending any possibility that a mainstream CE manufacturer will
embrace the technology for fear of being held hostage by a single supplier.

That’s not to say that IR remotes are themselves truly interoperable. They don’t, for
example, adhere to the Infrared Data Association (IrDA) protocols that are commonly used
for fast communication between, for example, PDAs and cell phones. All too often, the
remote that comes with the DVD player from one manufacturer typically won’t work with the
TV from another. That’s why most home coffee tables groan under the weight of five or six
separate remotes.

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However, so-called ‘universal’ IR remotes are available. These devices can be ‘trained’ to
operate all the IR devices in the house to offer true interoperability. (This is because most IR
remotes use frequency or format variations of just a few base protocols allied to a library of
commands that map a button to a particular function that a universal remote can quickly
decode and memorise.)

This convenience, however, comes at a price – typically upwards of US$100. Consumers

are yet to be convinced a universal remote is worth that outlay. Potential vendors of RF
remote controls should take note: new devices must offer useful additional functionality to
justify the inevitable extra cost over the cheap IR remote controls supplied by the CE
makers.

In summary, to displace IR, RF must do the following:

• Deliver the ‘next generation’ functionality that IR can’t;

• Become less expensive;
• Offer genuine interoperability;
• Be available from many vendors.

RF remote control using Bluetooth low energy

In June 2007, the Bluetooth SIG announced Bluetooth low energy wireless technology
(formerly known as ultra low power Bluetooth and prior to that as Nokia’s Wibree).

The Bluetooth low energy specification details a short-range RF communication technology

featuring ultra-low power consumption, a lightweight protocol stack and integration with
Bluetooth wireless technology. (However, it is important to note that Bluetooth low energy
will not communicate with legacy Bluetooth chips adhering to the current v2.1 + EDR
standard or older versions. Communication will require Bluetooth chips to be revised to
include additional circuitry and software to ensure compatibility with Bluetooth low energy. It
is expected that this revision will become common in “dual-mode” devices as the addition of
Bluetooth low energy to existing Bluetooth devices requires minimal effort. (See sidebar
“Inside Bluetooth low energy wireless technology” for definitions of dual- and “single-mode”
devices.)) The full specification is currently being drafted for release in the (northern)
summer of 2009.

Bluetooth low energy will be power and cost optimised to provide compact, low-cost and
ultra-low power (ULP) transceivers for sport, wellbeing and HID product categories. What’s
more, Bluetooth low energy wireless technology will feature a stack meeting the
requirements of the consumer products industry for interoperable, universal remote controls.
Bluetooth low energy will be available as an open standard, encouraging many vendors to
manufacture the chips, thus ensuring the multiple sources of supply the CE makers crave.

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“Remote controls were identified as one of the key markets when we were designing this
specification,” says Mike Foley, PhD, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “Every
customer is aware of the frustration of owning a handful of different, incompatible remote
controls. By bringing the experience of the Bluetooth community to bear on a low cost,
interoperable solution, we hope to make that frustration a distant memory.”

The Bluetooth SIG says the standard will allow the remote control to be designed as a low
cost, non-intelligent peripheral. The target receiver product, whether it’s a TV, DVD player,
set-top box, or media player, can control the operation of the remote control so that it learns
to work with each new device that’s purchased. Unlike conventional IR remote controls,
each Bluetooth low energy remote control always uses a secure, unique link to the device
it’s controlling. It’s also fast, interference immune and bi-directional.

Lowering the power

While RF has some inherent advantages over IR as a modern remote control solution, there
are some engineering challenges to overcome when developing the optimum RF remote
control.

In summary, these are:

• Low power consumption – so that batteries last a reasonable time;

• Low latency – so that the user is unaware of any delay between button press on
the remote and the response from the appliance being controlled even if the
transceiver has to wake up from an ULP ‘deep sleep’ mode;
• The ability to control several devices simultaneously in a point-to-multipoint
Personal Area Network (PAN) – so that the user is able to employ just one remote
for all appliances.

The amount of data typically transmitted by a remote is small, dictating than the remote
doesn’t have to be ‘on’ for very long each time a button is pressed. In addition, users don’t
press buttons very often, perhaps 50 to 100 times a day. Consequently, IR remotes have a
very low duty cycle and exhibit battery life measured in months or even years; RF devices
need to match this benchmark to meet consumer aspirations. (However, note that while this
is the case today, it’s not difficult to imagine a bi-directional link being used to carry more
data as manufacturers come up with new functions. (For example, interactive menus on the
remote itself.) When this happens the duty cycle will dramatically increase and ULP
operation will be critical to maintain reasonable battery life.)

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ULP RF operation will be critical to maintain reasonable battery life for a remote control with
high duty-cycle operation. (Courtesy: Bluetooth SIG.)

According to the Bluetooth SIG’s provisional figures for “single-mode” Bluetooth low energy
silicon, it has two characteristics that meet the ULP requirements for remote controls: a
modest peak current requirement and wide bandwidth. The Bluetooth SIG says the chip’s
peak current consumption will be less than 15mA when transmitting at 0dBm (sufficient for a
range of up to 10 metres while obeying the authorities’ power restrictions for operation in the
licence-free 2.4GHz band) and slightly less than this when receiving. (See Table 1.)

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Table 1: Provisional specifications of Bluetooth low energy chips

In addition, the Bluetooth SIG says Bluetooth low energy chips will have a bandwidth of
1Mbps. This bandwidth has been carefully chosen because years of field experience with
ULP proprietary technology has shown that 1Mbps is the optimal trade-off in exactly the kind
of wireless applications Bluetooth low energy wireless technology will target. The trade-off is
between transmit power – which goes up with increasing bandwidth – and duty cycle –
which decreases with increasing bandwidth for a given amount of data. For example,
Bluetooth low energy chips running at 1Mbps only have to transmit at the peak current of
15mA for one quarter of the time of a typical IEEE 802.15.4 radio running at 250kbps and a
transmission current of 28mA, to send the same amount of data. (Although some lower
power, higher bandwidth IEEE 802.15.4 radios are available.)

Putting the RF transceiver into a deep sleep mode if it is inactive for long periods can further
reduce power consumption in the remote. While figures for Bluetooth low energy’s sleep
modes have yet to be released, a comparison with a similar ULP RF proprietary technology
shows it’s likely a ‘stand-by’ mode will consume tens of microamps and a deep sleep (or
‘power down’ mode) will consume perhaps 900 nanoamps. This level of power consumption
is low enough for a pair of AA batteries to last for months or years. (To put this in
perspective, the self-discharge current of an AA battery is around one microamp.)

A fast response

However, low power consumption in the remote control is only part of the challenge. Several
countries, including Australia, Japan and the US, are voluntarily adopting the International
Energy Agency’s One-Watt program. This program is designed to encourage manufacturers
to develop products – such as TVs and DVDs - that consume less than one watt when in
standby mode (and, almost inevitably, that target will become lower in time). Achieving this

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target allows the product to be Energy Star certified, an important selling point for
environmentally conscious consumers.

Appliances with a one watt or less standby restriction will have little power to spare for the
built-in RF transceiver required to ‘pair’ with an RF remote control. This means that the
transceiver in the appliance will have to spend much of its life in a stand-by mode to save
power, waking up periodically to check if the remote is trying to communicate.

It turns out there is a linear trade-off between power consumption and the frequency with
which the transceiver in the TV or DVD wakes up to check for transmissions; the more often
the transceiver wakes up, the higher the power consumption. However, a Bluetooth low
energy chip will be able to wake up, for example, every 10ms, listen for transmissions
(consuming around 15mA for very short period) and then return to a deep sleep state while
maintaining an average current consumption as little as some tens of microamps.

The start-up time for a Bluetooth low energy chip has yet to be revealed, but a proprietary
chip with comparable architecture has an equivalent start-up time from deep sleep of 2.5ms,
an insignificant time after a button on the remote is pressed from the user’s perspective.
However, there is more to establishing communication than this; for example, if the receiving
chip in the appliance to be controlled happens to be in a stand-by state at the time the
remote control button is pressed the transmission will fall on deaf ears.

Nonetheless, by repeatedly polling the receiver, the remote’s transceiver’s communication

will eventually coincide with the waking mode of the receiver. Even if this doesn’t happen
after the first 10ms interval – perhaps due to interference from other 2.4GHz transmitters in
the vicinity such as a home Wi-Fi network – it is likely to be received the second or, at worst,
the third time. Consequently, the maximum latency when both chips start from deep sleep or
standby modes is likely to be less than 50ms. In comparison, the minimum latency of an IR
remote between button press and response from the unit being controlled is between 70 and
110ms.

One of the major advantages of Bluetooth wireless technology, the bigger brother of
Bluetooth low energy, is that it was designed from the beginning to operate as a Personal
Area Network (PAN) with one master controlling up to seven slaves. Bluetooth low energy
will build on that legacy. The Bluetooth low energy chip in the remote control will be the
“master” with its retinue of “slaves” being the TV, DVD player, MP3 dock, hi-fi, games
console and the other CE appliances typical of the modern home. A consumer will be able
to use a single remote confident that it will instantly communicate with any of the seven
devices with which it is paired (providing all types of device adhere to the Bluetooth low
energy specification).

As Mike Foley of the Bluetooth SIG explains: “A major drawback of other proposed
standards for remote controls is that they easily become confused when working with
multiple consumer devices. Bluetooth low energy technology provides the ability for remote

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controls to talk to multiple devices with total assurance that they will control the correct piece
of equipment.”

Trusting the Bluetooth brand

By the end of 2008, cumulative shipments of Bluetooth technology reached around 2 billion
with 1 billion shipping in 2008 alone. And according to US analysts IC Insights, the
technology’s growth is going to do anything but slow. The company predicts that between
2006 and 2010, unit shipment growth will average 33 percent per year and revenues will rise
from US$1.47 billion in 2006 to more than US$3.2 billion in 2010.

While the first Bluetooth low energy chip is still some way from shipping, Bluetooth low
energy will inevitably benefit from commercial and consumer awareness of the Bluetooth
brand (reported to be above 80 percent in recent Bluetooth SIG surveys). For example,
Bluetooth low energy seems likely to enjoy the confidence of the CE makers who will rightly
regard it as an extension of the established, interoperable classic Bluetooth technology with
which they are familiar, and consumers will feel comfortable about buying Bluetooth low
energy products carrying the familiar Bluetooth trademark.

The maturity of Bluetooth technology means the 9000 plus members of the Bluetooth SIG -
including industry heavyweights such as Ericsson, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia
and Toshiba - have many years of design expertise with Bluetooth chips. That experience
will accelerate Bluetooth low energy chip manufacturing (including the revised Bluetooth
chips with the additional circuitry need to communicate with Bluetooth low energy - ensuring
security of supply for the CE manufacturers – and a wide range of OEM products, including
many variations on the RF remote control, for the consumer.

The remote control on your wrist

Bluetooth wireless technology’s ubiquity in portable products such as cell phones, PDAs and
laptops provides a platform for Bluetooth low energy wireless technology to change remote
control from dedicated device to an extremely useful added function of existing portable
products (as these portable products migrate to dual-mode plus Bluetooth low energy). In
other words, it promises to change the way people use remote controls.

Consider, for example, the wristwatch powered by a coin cell battery. Apart from being able
to connect to a range of peripheral devices, such as heart rate monitors or speed & distance
monitors, a wristwatch with a Bluetooth low energy chip will also be able to operate as a
remote control for a suitably Bluetooth-equipped cell phone or MP3 player. And a Bluetooth
low energy equipped-wristwatch will also be able to talk to the Bluetooth chip in a cell phone
to let the user know who’s calling, display e-mails, SMS and much more. Hands up who
wants one?

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Because Bluetooth low energy wireless technology enables interoperability, a suitably

equipped cellphone or MP3 player will be able to control the TV, DVD, hi-fi and more. A
compact device that everybody carries everywhere with them already will suddenly be able
to replace a multitude of clunky remotes.

In a second example, imagine a smart phone with mobile browsing capabilities. These
devices will inevitably migrate from conventional Bluetooth connectivity to dual-mode
devices that will be able to communicate directly with Bluetooth single-mode low energy
chip-equipped devices. It’s not hard to imagine a user browsing the web while on the move
for the schedules of their favourite TV programmes. Then, with one press of a button when
the user returns home, the Bluetooth dual-mode chip in the cellphone will connects
wirelessly with the Bluetooth low energy chip in the set-top box and/or TV, and the week’s
viewing will be automatically programmed.

The wireless remote control has a history spanning five decades. IR has done the heavy
lifting thus far, but the future belongs to RF. RF’s advantages over IR make it the only
technology that can meet the aspirations of tomorrow’s consumers and CE equipment
makers. Bluetooth low energy wireless technology has the technical capabilities and
interoperability to be the best RF solution. The technology will liberate the remote control
from a dedicated device to become a function of the portable devices we already carry in
our pockets or wear on our wrists. What’s more, not only will Bluetooth low energy be the
obvious choice for the new remote control standard, it will also be the missing link enabling
a merger between PC and TV.

SIDEBAR

Inside Bluetooth low energy wireless technology*

Bluetooth low energy wireless technology will encourage rapid deployment of ultra-low
power wireless by providing a technology that is interoperable. Moreover, Bluetooth low
energy wireless technology-equipped RF remotes will be able to communicate with cell
phones and PCs featuring modified Bluetooth wireless technology transceivers opening up a
whole new range of possibilities. In summary, Bluetooth low energy wireless technology is
an ultra-low power wireless solution featuring:

• Ultra-low peak, average and idle mode power consumption;

• Ultra-low cost plus small size for accessories and human interface devices (HID);
• Minimal cost and size addition to handsets and PCs;
• Global, intuitive and secure multi-vendor interoperability.

The technology will operate in the globally accepted 2.4GHz Industrial, Scientific & Medical
(ISM) band. It features a physical layer bit rate of 1 Mbit/s over a range of 5 to 15 metres.

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The Bluetooth low energy wireless technology specification will feature two implementations,
namely “dual-mode” and “single-mode”. In the dual-mode implementation Bluetooth low
energy functionality is integrated into traditional Bluetooth circuitry. The resulting
architecture shares much of Bluetooth technology’s existing functionality and radio and
results in a minimal cost increase compared to contemporary chips. (See figure A.)

Figure A: Bluetooth low energy wireless technology features dual-mode and single-mode
implementations

Single-mode chips will be highly integrated and compact devices. The simplified Bluetooth
low energy wireless technology protocol stack features a lightweight Link Layer (LL)
providing ultra-low power idle mode operation, simple device discovery and reliable point-to-
multipoint data transfer with advanced power-save and encryption functionalities. The LL
provides a means to schedule Bluetooth low energy wireless technology traffic between
Bluetooth transmissions. Profiles will include support for HIDs, sensors and sports watches.

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Ultra-low power consumption is critical to Bluetooth low energy wireless technology’s

success. Single-mode devices will be expected to run for many months or even years on
standard coin-cell batteries (for example, CR2032, 3 V lithium devices). Single-mode chips
will typically operate with low duty cycles, entering ultra-low power idle and sleep modes, to
wake up periodically for a communication “burst”.

Dual-modes chips are targeted at handsets, multimedia computers and PCs. The dual-mode
specification is also advanced and it is envisaged chips will feature power consumptions of
around 75 to 80 percent of conventional Bluetooth chips when operating in Bluetooth low
energy wireless technology mode and cost just tens of cents more. These next generation
dual-mode Bluetooth chips will share much of Bluetooth technology’s existing functionality
and radio in a single die. However, because dual-mode devices will use parts of Bluetooth
technology’s hardware, power consumption is ultimately dependent upon the Bluetooth
implementation. Consequently, dual-mode devices will not enjoy all of the benefits and
possibilities outlined in the Bluetooth low energy wireless technology specification.

*Note: Technical information is provisional and subject to change prior to the publication of
the industry open standard.

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