Unlike wireless lighting systems like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Mesh is designed for large collections of devices, numbering into the thousands. Switches, HVAC, sensors, light fixtures, and shades can communicate with each other by forwarding a message, or command, across all the devices in that Bluetooth chain until reaching the destination to perform said operation, (i.e. turn ON the 3rd floor office lights). The communication, instead of passing through your WiFi router, comes from the originating device and travels from light fixture to sensor, to AC unit, to any other chain of Bluetooth Mesh enabled devices, like a Bluetooth highway or a body’s central nervous system, until the command reaches the lights on the 3rd floor.
This is the first post in a new series about essential commercial and architectural lighting terms. The terms, which will be presented in sets of five terms per post, are curated. The terms in this post: CRI (Color Rendering Index), Color Temperature, Bluetooth Mesh, Architectural Lighting and UL Vs. ETL Listing.