The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) is working to finalise the next Bluetooth release which will add “significantly more capacity” for advertising transmissions, meaning that longer messages can be communicated through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons, the organisation says.

Bluetooth 5 will “double the speed and quadruple the range of low energy Bluetooth transmissions,” executive director Mark Powell reveals in an email sent to members of the Bluetooth SIG.

“On the technical side, Bluetooth 5 has a lot to offer,” Powell adds. “Bluetooth 5 will also provide significant new functionality for connectionless services like location-relevant information and navigation. By adding significantly more capacity to advertising transmissions, Bluetooth 5 will further propel the adoption and deployment of beacons and location-based services to users around the world.”

The organisation announced its plans to update the Bluetooth specification to bring longer range, higher speeds and mesh networking in November 2015. Further details are scheduled to be released at an upcoming event in London on June 16.

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