The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) recently announced its full-stack standard for wireless lighting control, Bluetooth Networked Lighting Control (NLC). Specifically designed to meet the scale, reliability, and security demands required in commercial settings, Bluetooth® NLC enables multi-vendor interoperable wireless lighting control systems and unlocks the potential for mass adoption of wireless lighting control.
The benefits of standardization are well documented and illustrated. With standardization comes interoperability, and with interoperability comes trust – trust that products from different manufacturers can work together seamlessly, making it easier to combine products from multiple manufacturers to create fit-for-purpose, value-added systems. Standardization also helps reduce the costs of development, expand the overall size of the market, and encourage innovation by allowing manufacturers to focus their engineering efforts on higher-level, value-added capabilities.
Ensuring global interoperability requires standardization across all three layers of a wireless lighting control solution – the radio layer, communication layer, and device layer. Before Bluetooth® NLC, a wireless standard to define functionality at the device layer did not exist, limiting global mainstream adoption and preventing the market from reaching its full potential. Bluetooth® Networked Lighting Control (NLC) solves this challenge. By offering standardization from the radio through the device layer, Bluetooth NLC enables true multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control.
Developing standards to enable interoperability is at the heart of the Bluetooth SIG’s mission. But it is not a binary one-time event. Interoperability is a mindset and a journey.
What is Networked Lighting Control? Networked lighting control systems feature an intelligent network of individually addressable and sensor-rich luminaires and control devices that allows each component of the system to send and receive data. Three key benefits are driving the demand for advanced networked lighting controls.
Specifically designed to meet the scale, reliability, and security demands required in commercial settings, Bluetooth® NLC is the only full-stack standard for wireless lighting control. By offering standardization from the radio through the device layer, Bluetooth® NLC enables true multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control.
The benefits of standardization are well documented and illustrated. With standardization comes interoperability, and with interoperability comes trust – trust that products from different manufacturers can work together seamlessly, making it easier to combine products from multiple manufacturers to create fit-for-purpose, value-added systems. Standardization also helps reduce the costs of development, expand the overall size of the market, and encourage innovation by allowing manufacturers to focus their engineering efforts on higher-level, value-added capabilities.
Ensuring global interoperability requires standardization across all three layers of a wireless lighting control solution – the radio layer, communication layer, and device layer. Before Bluetooth® NLC, a wireless standard to define functionality at the device layer did not exist, limiting global mainstream adoption and preventing the market from reaching its full potential. Bluetooth® Networked Lighting Control (NLC) solves this challenge. By offering standardization from the radio through the device layer, Bluetooth NLC enables true multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control.
Developing standards to enable interoperability is at the heart of the Bluetooth SIG’s mission. But it is not a binary one-time event. Interoperability is a mindset and a journey.
What is Networked Lighting Control? Networked lighting control systems feature an intelligent network of individually addressable and sensor-rich luminaires and control devices that allows each component of the system to send and receive data. Three key benefits are driving the demand for advanced networked lighting controls.
Specifically designed to meet the scale, reliability, and security demands required in commercial settings, Bluetooth® NLC is the only full-stack standard for wireless lighting control. By offering standardization from the radio through the device layer, Bluetooth® NLC enables true multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control.
KIRKLAND, Wash., Sept. 19, 2023 -- Today, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the organization that oversees Bluetooth® technology, announced the completion of Bluetooth® Networked Lighting Control (NLC), the first full-stack standard for wireless lighting control. By offering standardization from the radio through the device layer, Bluetooth® NLC enables true multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control.
Over a decade ago, the lighting industry began a journey towards standardization of wireless lighting control using Bluetooth® technology, first by leveraging Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) at the radio layer and then adopting Bluetooth® Mesh to standardize the communication layer. Today's release of new Bluetooth® NLC Profile Specifications adds standardization at the device layer, completing the full stack Bluetooth® NLC standard.
With the introduction of Bluetooth® NLC, lighting suppliers will benefit from lower cost and faster innovation, increased market opportunity, and additional revenue models.
"The establishment of globally available wireless standards has always been a key landmark in enabling connected device ecosystems to achieve their full promise. Wireless lighting control is no different," said Andrew Zignani, Senior Research Director at ABI Research. "Bluetooth® NLC expands the supplier opportunity by instilling buyer confidence and peace of mind, increasing the likelihood of adoption, and unleashing the lighting control market's total potential."
Bluetooth® NLC will also bring benefits to lighting buyers, including true, multi-vendor interoperability, ease of deployment, and greater scalability.
"The impact of the Bluetooth® Mesh standard on the wireless lighting control landscape has been truly transformative. Bluetooth® NLC is the last missing link required to achieve global interoperability in wireless lighting control," said Rafał Han, CEO of Silvair. "We're excited about how it will benefit the market and shape the future of the lighting industry, allowing components from different vendors to work seamlessly with each other. At Silvair, we believe in staying at the forefront of innovation with a strong emphasis on security and scalability, and interoperability is the way towards mass adoption."
"Without a full-stack wireless lighting control standard that includes device profiles, adoption of wireless lighting control was limited and fear of vendor lock-in was high. Bluetooth® NLC solves this challenge, ensuring open, standardized interoperability," said Edward Lees, Head of Technical Product Development - Digital Solutions and Services at Feilo Sylvania International. "We are excited to see a standard that meets the scale, reliability, true interoperability, and security demands required in modern, digital, commercial applications. Bluetooth® NLC will help the wireless lighting control market breakdown barriers to adoption and realize its full potential."
To learn more about the benefits of networked lighting control and the role of Bluetooth® NLC, visit bluetooth.com/nlc. For more information about recent enhancements to Bluetooth® Mesh, visit bluetooth.com/mesh. To access the new Bluetooth® NLC Profile Specifications, visit bluetooth.com/nlc-specs.
About Bluetooth® Technology
With over 5 billion products shipping each year, Bluetooth technology is the global standard for simple, secure wireless device communications and positioning. Since its formation in 1998, the Bluetooth SIG community has continued to expand the capabilities of Bluetooth technology — powering innovation, creating new markets, and redefining communication worldwide. Today, Bluetooth is the wireless technology of choice for developers in many solution areas, including audio streaming, data transfer, location services, and large-scale device networks.
About the Bluetooth SIG
Formed in 1998, the Bluetooth SIG is the not-for-profit trade association that oversees Bluetooth® technology. In support of more than 40,000 member companies, the Bluetooth SIG facilitates the collaboration of its members to create new and enhanced specifications that expand the technology, drives global interoperability via a world-class product qualification program, and grows the brand by increasing the awareness, understanding, and adoption of Bluetooth technology.
