More precise localization, lower latency, remote object programming… everything you need to know about Bluetooth 6.0

Le Bluetooth 6.0 ouvre la voie à de nouvelles applications. aslysun/Shutterstock

The organization responsible for developing Bluetooth standards has just announced the new features expected to accompany the upcoming Bluetooth 6.0. Among the most notable, there will be the possibility of measuring the precise distance between several connected devices, which opens the way to many practical applications.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has published an article on its blog concerning the upcoming new features of this wireless technology. Bluetooth 6.0 will indeed include major innovations, starting with Bluetooth "Channel Sounding" capable of measuring the precise distance, to the nearest centimeter, between different connected objects.

A real competitor

The most obvious application is obviously the location of these objects. Compatible devices can thus be perfectly located, found even if lost. This advance makes Bluetooth a real competitor to Ultra WideBand (UWB), another wireless communication technology specialized in the location of other devices, which is found for example in Apple AirTags.

But this advance also promises new applications. Car or hotel room keys could thus be programmed to open a door remotely. In another genre, a speaker could also stop working from a certain distance. On the desktop, mice and keyboards could be configured to work only in the vicinity of one or more given computers.

Compatible devices in 2025

For the rest, Bluetooth 6.0 promises ever lower latency, for better responsiveness, thanks to sending data in smaller packets. This should also guarantee better streaming stability, both audio and video.

However, we will probably have to wait until 2025, at best, to see the first compatible devices appear. It may therefore take several more years for them to be truly adopted by the general public.