Since the "smart city" was proposed in 2009, the Internet of things has developed rapidly in China, becoming one of the strategic development industries in China's "Twelfth Five Year Plan". This year, the State Council has issued a series of development plans to support this sunrise industry.

      With the continuous development of Internet of things technology, the major semiconductor designers pay more and more attention to it. At the beginning of this month, Intel publicized the establishment of the Internet of things department, specializing in the field of Internet of things. In addition to the low-power chip quark, which was specially launched for wearable devices, its determination to enter the Internet of things can be seen. Arm has always been optimistic about the Internet of things, and low-power chips based on ARM architecture also play an important role in the development of Internet of things technology; Samsung's proprietary embedded system, tizen, is not about smart phones, but about the Internet of things; IBM and Semtech are making new breakthroughs in wireless network technology to boost the development of the Internet of things

      As an important application field of Internet of things, smart home is also one of the national key development objects. As an important support technology of smart home, the short-range wireless communication technology is also one of the hot spots. Distance wireless communication technology is also the battlefield of Wi Fi and Bluetooth. Their first encounter took place in 2009. In that year, the Bluetooth Technology Alliance released the 3.0 technical specification. The new technology introduced WLAN, and the transmission speed became 8 times of the original, which also enabled Bluetooth to realize high-speed transmission. But WLAN is the focus of Wi Fi. Bluetooth invades this field, which is just like moving the cheese of Wi Fi. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, half a year later, the Wi Fi Alliance announced that it would launch a new standard, Wi Fi direct, so that Wi Fi devices can connect to each other without connecting to traditional home, office or hot network. This means that Wi Fi can also realize the direct connection between Bluetooth devices. For a while, there were many opinions that Wi Fi direct technology means the end of Bluetooth technology.

      But the Bluetooth Technology Alliance quickly responded, saying that Bluetooth 3.0 technology has more advantages and is more convenient to use. And announced the launch of Bluetooth 4.0 in 2010, which is only one year after the release of Bluetooth 3.0. Such a fast Bluetooth version iteration is rare in the past. Up to 2012, Bluetooth technology has not decayed, and Wi Fi direct has not become the standard configuration of consumer electronic products. Even in the understanding of ordinary consumers, Wi Fi direct is still a very obscure term. The confrontation between the two will continue, and it is up to the market to decide who will win. There are also views that Bluetooth and Wi Fi direct have their own strengths. They are not substitutes, but coexist.

      Recently, with the maturity of low-power Bluetooth technology, as well as the maturity of mobile phone and tablet peripheral markets, the application of Bluetooth technology has entered an unprecedented outbreak period. Among them, the Bluetooth chip market is hot. This year, the global Bluetooth chip market is about 100 million, and it is estimated that it will increase to 13 billion in seven years. More and more semiconductor factories have begun to realize the development potential of Bluetooth low-power technology, including many large-scale and well-established heavyweight manufacturers, such as rufa semiconductor, Broadcom, etc.; in addition, silicon labs, quintic and other industries of core technology laboratories are also actively cutting in with RF technology expertise, hoping to occupy a place in the low-power Bluetooth field.