connectBlue Enables IoT Gateway Feature in Bluetooth Dual-mode Access Point

April 7, 2014
connectBlue has added Internet of Things (IoT) Gateway functionality to its Bluetooth Dual-mode Access Point RBE221s which is also referred to as a Bluetooth Smart Ready Access Point.

Whenever the RBE221s now is connected to the Internet via Ethernet, any web application running on a web server can be used to access data in Bluetooth low energy (Bluetooth Smart) devices connected to the access point.

With the introduction of IoT Gateway functionality in the Bluetooth Dual-mode Access Point RBE221s, the RBE221s can now allow for web applications to - via HTTP commands - simultaneously access any Bluetooth low energy device. The RBE221s is a Bluetooth Smart Ready Gateway which means that it can use the standard Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) to access any Bluetooth low energy (Bluetooth Smart) device.

"Internet of Things is the hottest topic right now and the potential is huge; predictions span from 25-50 billion IoT devices by 2020," says Rolf Nilsson, CEO of connectBlue. "But in order to fully utilize the IoT architecture, you need a Gateway to get access to the Bluetooth low energy sensor nodes and this IoT Gateway is now added via our Access Point."

connectBlue customers are found in demanding wireless applications in the industrial and medical industries. A popular application for the IoT Gateway in an industrial application would be to, for instance, read temperature data from various sensors via a web interface on a commercially available device such as a smartphone. In a medical application one can, for instance, access real-time data from various patients’ heart rate monitors in customized web applications on any internet connected web device.

In order to enable the IoT Gateway feature, customers simply can follow the just published guide "RBE221s as Bluetooth Low Energy Gateway Application Note".

The connectBlue Bluetooth Dual-mode (Smart Ready) Access Point RBE221s is a complete Bluetooth to Ethernet enabler that supports point-to-multipoint connectivity with several slaves / clients simultaneously to the 10/100 Base-T Ethernet network. The RBE221s follows the Bluetooth Specification v4.0 and depending on the connected device, the wireless range can be up to 300 meters. The RBE221s supports the two Personal Area Network (PAN) roles PAN User (PANU) and Network Access Point (NAP) as well as the generic Bluetooth low energy GATT-based services. The RBE221s Bluetooth Access Point can be configured smoothly either via physical configuration buttons and indication LEDs or a web interface. For those that wish to access more advanced settings and use cases, one can also configure the RBE221s through AT Commands and SNMP protocol. The RBE221s is radio type approved for USA (FCC Part 15), Europe (ETSI R&TTE), Japan (MIC - formerly TELEC), Canada (IC RSS) and hazardous location UL/cUL Class 1 Div 2.

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