Mesh networking has never been a part of the Bluetooth SIG until their release of Bluetooth Low Energy. The SIG reshaped the whole idea of Bluetooth communication in version 4.0. The low-energy version of Bluetooth is now more device friendly, as it offers low power and low cost. Although Bluetooth Low Energy v4.0, v4.1, and v4.2 provided a foundation for the Internet of Things, they missed their mark by not providing two things:

• High speeds with longer range
• Mesh networking capabilities

These two complaints were rectified in their announcement of Bluetooth 5. It is not called Bluetooth v5 or v5.0, but Bluetooth 5. Although the Bluetooth SIG disclosed their plans to launch Bluetooth 5 at the Bluetooth World Conference of 2016 (in Santa Clara), it was not sure when exactly they were going to do it. In June 2016, in a media event in London, the SIG unveiled Bluetooth 5 with a special focus on the Internet of Things.

Traditionally, Bluetooth technology was born in a star-based topology, where the devices were unable to communicate with each other in a mesh. This was the fundamental problem with Bluetooth before it was widely adopted in IoT. Fortunately, Bluetooth 5 was unveiled last year, which brings:

• 2x speed as compared to Bluetooth 4.2
• 4x increase in range over Bluetooth 4.2
• Mesh-enabled networking (with an infinite theoretical range)

With all the advantages of mesh networking, Bluetooth 5 is now be able to communicate over longer distances. Not only will the packet be relayed over longer distances, but the broadcast messages should also be able to relay over longer distances. This means that even if the device is not close to you, you will be able to hear its broadcast message as the middle nodes would be relaying it.