The Espressif’s flagship ESP32 chip recently passed the SIG Bluetooth LE 5.0 certification. This confirms that the version of the protocol supported by the ESP32 microcontroller has been upgraded from Bluetooth LE 4.2 to Bluetooth LE 5.0, which is more stable and compatible.
The implementation and development of the Bluetooth LE (BLE) application requires not only a system that supports this function, but also an attached Bluetooth LE protocol stack consisting of a driver and a host.
Bluetooth 5.0 update for ESP32
Thanks to Bluetooth LE 5.0 certification, ESP32 SoC not only updates the system as a whole, but also adds new features that improve the latest software after passing more stringent tests than previous certification.
Due to hardware limitations, ESP32 does not support such functions of Bluetooth LE 5.0 as 2M PHY, LE Long Range, and ADV Extensions.
It is also worth mentioning that the combination of Bluetooth and Mesh networking is expected to become a key technology for the Internet of Things. A Bluetooth® Mesh network enables a „many-to-many” relationship among potentially thousands of wireless devices, where data are transmitted not in a direct radio range but in wide physical areas. Espressif’s contribution in this field is the ESP-BLE-MESH, which got fully certified by Bluetooth SIG in September 2019.
Several Bluetooth-operated products on the market, such as wearable devices, smart speakers, cleaning robots, smart lights/sockets, etc., provide evidence that Bluetooth 5.0 and the Bluetooth Mesh networking technology are mature enough to drive the development of interconnected IoT devices. To this end, Espressif’s chips and ESP-BLE-MESH, in particular, are designed to help customers develop easily secure and cost-effective products for smart homes, smart buildings, healthcare, new automobiles and other smart industries.
Source: https://www.espressif.com/en/news/BLE_5.0_Certification
Industrial use of ESP32-based solutions
One of industrial IoT devices, supporting Espressif’s ESP32 technology is eModGATE from TECHBASE. Economical, ESP32-based solution can serve as an end-point in any installation or works well as a gateway, gathering data from scattered sensor mesh across the installation. For more information check Industrial IoT Shop with all the configuration options for eModGATE.