Realtek was invited by Communication Components Magazine to jointly explore “The Next Steps in Bluetooth Technology and the Development of the AIoT Ecosystem.”

The article focuses on Realtek’s advancement from Bluetooth 5.2 to 6.2 and provides an in-depth introduction to five key technologies — LE Audio, Auracast, PAwR, ESL, and Channel Sounding — which are driving the comprehensive development of smart audio and AIoT applications.

LE Audio offers better sound quality and lower power consumption, supporting headphones, hearing aids, and smart appliances. Auracast enables “shared listening” broadcasting audio from one device to many ideal for airports, meeting rooms, and malls. In IoT, PAwR allows mass devices to receive commands and send data simultaneously. Paired with ESLs, it powers smart retail and warehouse automation.

Channel Sounding provides centimeter-level accuracy for indoor navigation and device tracking. With integrated RF, MCU, and Audio SoC design, Realtek is building a Bluetooth-based AIoT ecosystem, accelerating smart living across homes, retail, logistics, and cities.

Backed by solid engineering and a full product portfolio, Realtek is advancing the future of smart connectivity. For more insights into emerging applications, see the full interview below.

In recent years, Bluetooth technology has seen great success in low-power mobile applications. Now, entering the era of intelligence and AIoT, it continues to evolve with new features. Since Bluetooth 5.2, advancements such as low-power audio, bidirectional periodic broadcasting, ESL communication, precise ranging, and indoor positioning have been introduced, expanding the scope of Bluetooth far beyond its original focus on low power and simple pairing.

Today, Bluetooth is one of the most widely used wireless technologies. As specifications advance and adoption grows, it becomes increasingly embedded in daily life. According to Chia Chun Hung, Technical Director of Realtek’s Bluetooth Division, the company has long been active in Bluetooth development, covering both Central and Peripheral devices. From Bluetooth 5.2 to 6.2, Realtek is heavily investing in key technologies such as LE Audio, Auracast, PAwR (Periodic Advertising with Responses), ESL (Electronic Shelf Labels), and Channel Sounding. These innovations are redefining how consumers interact with audio devices, IoT products, and retail technologies and driving the next wave of AIoT growth.

LE Audio and Auracast: Unlocking the Potential of Bluetooth Audio

According to Chia Chun Hung, LE Audio is a next-generation Bluetooth audio technology built on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). It adopts Connected Isochronous Streams (CIS) and the new LC3 (Low Complexity Communication Codec) audio standard. Compared to classic Bluetooth audio, LE Audio delivers higher energy efficiency and improved sound quality, overcoming the long-standing trade-off between power consumption and audio performance. It also reduces audio-video latency, making it a major upgrade for devices such as hearing aids, TWS earbuds, AI voice speakers, and smart appliances with voice interaction. As LE Audio becomes widely supported by smartphones, its applications are expected to expand beyond earbuds to end devices like in-vehicle infotainment systems (IVI), OTT boxes, in-flight entertainment panels, and smartwatches.

Auracast takes Bluetooth audio a step further by enabling broadcast audio and ushering in a new era of wireless audio sharing. Using Periodic Advertising and Broadcast Isochronous Streams (BIS), a single Bluetooth transmitter can send audio to countless receivers simultaneously. Auracast supports both private and public broadcast modes, allowing for flexible deployment in airports, malls, convention centers, and smart classrooms. This paves the way for a cross-device, multilingual, and highly scalable audio environment.

PAwR, ESL, and Channel Sounding: Expanding Realtek’s AIoT Strategy

PAwR and ESL are unlocking large-scale IoT deployment and driving a retail revolution, explains Chia Chun Hung. By enabling low-power batch synchronization, PAwR allows tens of thousands of IoT devices — such as sensors and tags — to receive commands and return data simultaneously. In industries like retail, warehousing, and logistics, the combined use of PAwR and ESL is essential. Electronic shelf labels can be updated instantly across wide areas with pricing, inventory, and delivery information, offering far better synchronization than NFC while significantly reducing human errors. This enables the large-scale deployment of ESL systems. For AI, real-time updates on product movement and inventory provide vast, high-quality data for large models and supply chain prediction systems. This enhances applications like smart restocking, automated warehouses, and consumer behavior analysis. In ambient sensing, PAwR also enables the development of ultra-low-power IoT sensors through advanced sleep/wake modes.

Channel Sounding, with advancements in RTT (Round Trip Time) and PBR (Phase-Based Ranging), enables high-precision Bluetooth positioning and spatial data mapping. It improves accuracy from meter-level (based on RSSI) to centimeter-level and increases efficiency in multi-device tracking while reducing signal interference. In high-security scenarios such as smart locks and digital keys, Channel Sounding incorporates DRBG (Deterministic Random Bit Generator) and NADM (Normalized Attack Detector Metric) to strengthen security and prevent relay attacks and man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.

Chia Chun Hung explains that by integrating Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD) technologies, medical institutions can accurately track the real-time location of smart beds, wheelchairs, medical equipment, and patients. In factories and logistics, this enables asset tracking, worker safety, and autonomous forklift navigation. In retail environments, customer movement and dwell zones can be analyzed to enable targeted marketing campaigns. When this positioning data is fed into AI or big data systems, it enhances dynamic learning by providing real-world contextual information. This allows for accurate prediction of crowd surges, logistics bottlenecks, and asset loss, ultimately improving operational efficiency and equipment utilization.

Realtek Accelerates Bluetooth AIoT with Comprehensive Deployment

As AI and IoT become increasingly integrated and smart home technologies advance rapidly, there is rising demand for more efficient, low-power, and intelligent connectivity. Bluetooth technology, evolving from version 5.2 to 6.2, continues to expand the industry’s vision for AIoT through key innovations. Whether in smart devices, human-machine interaction, asset management, or smart city applications, the ongoing development and adoption of five core Bluetooth technologies is paving the way for a new generation of data-driven, ultra-low-power, spatially aware, and intelligent solutions. Upcoming standards under development by the Bluetooth SIG, such as HDT (High Data Throughput) and Higher Frequency Bands (5GHz or 6GHz), are also set to further accelerate this transformation.

Chia Chun Hung noted that Realtek leverages its strengths in RF, MCU, and Audio SoC design, along with ecosystem collaboration across various applications, to rapidly adopt next-generation standards — including Mesh, Bluetooth LE Audio, Auracast, PAwR, Channel Sounding, and HDT. Realtek has already introduced solutions across multiple domains, including remote controls, keyboards and mice, smart home products, Bluetooth audio, industrial IoT, hearing enhancement devices, and gaming peripherals. Through its active promotion and implementation of the latest Bluetooth standards, Realtek is helping industry partners accelerate product development and unlock new business opportunities in the AIoT era.

For example, PAwR enhanced with Mesh capabilities can be applied to ESL (Electronic Shelf Labels) and smart home devices with active data return functionality. Channel Sounding, beyond enabling precise positioning in in-vehicle asset management systems, can also be used in smart TV remote controls, offering users a more interactive and intuitive experience with instant point-and-access functionality. Meanwhile, HDT (High Data Throughput) increases bandwidth for data transmission, enabling lower latency and multi-stream high-quality audio, which supports the development of multi-channel Bluetooth soundbars. Bluetooth is no longer just a basic connectivity protocol. With these new specifications, it is reshaping the audio industry and becoming a key enabler for AIoT commercialization. For businesses and developers, Bluetooth’s new technologies are highly attractive and offer significant returns, driving breakthrough growth in the market. As Bluetooth continues to be widely adopted across diverse devices and application scenarios, it has the potential to fuel exponential market expansion.