specifications
Groups and committees
Groups and committees are
the backbone of the Bluetooth SIG
Bluetooth® technology has become the most widely used wireless standard in the world. How did that happen? It happened thanks to the vision, expertise, and unwavering commitment of Bluetooth SIG Working Group and Committee members. This global community of innovators, our architects of connection, shapes the future of connectivity by creating new Bluetooth specifications and refining existing ones, ensuring Bluetooth remains the global standard for connection.
Working Groups
Working Groups are responsible for developing new Bluetooth® specifications and enhancing adopted specifications. Working Groups are open to Associate and Contributing Adopter member companies. To get started, reference the information here.
The mission of the Audio, Telephony, and Automotive (ATA) Working Group is
- to enhance and support audio, telephony, and automotive use cases of Bluetooth technology, in particular related to audio and personal information management,
- to enable non-telephony applications of Bluetooth technology specific to the automotive industry such as support of vehicle systems operation or interactions with a driver, and
- to manage multi-profile aspects pertaining to user experience use cases.
Group Home Page
Group Charter Home
Requirements Groups:
ATA WG Requirements Group: An all-member accessible group for developing New Work Proposals (NWP) and Feature Requirements Documents (FRD) in support of the main Working Group.
The mission of the Automotive WG is to perform the following:
- Enhance and support automotive use cases of Bluetooth technology related to vehicle diagnostics, smart vehicle access, car sharing, and in-vehicle controls
- Develop New Work Proposals and Functional Requirement Documents to support the future generation of automotive audio systems and personalized infotainment
The Core Specification (CORE) Working Group is responsible for improving the Bluetooth Core Specification and its corresponding test specification. The scope of the working group includes enhancements of existing features as well as extensions with new features.
Group Home Page
Group Charter Home
Requirements Groups:
CSWG Requirements Group: An all-member accessible group for developing New Work Proposals (NWP) and Feature Requirements Documents (FRD) in support of the main Working Group.
The mission of the Discovery of Things (DOT) Working Group is to produce services and profiles that enable the discovery of alternate transports and their services, including the use of Bluetooth Low Energy to facilitate a connection handover to Bluetooth BR/EDR. This also includes the development and maintenance of a general framework that can be used by the Bluetooth SIG and a variety of external organizations to fulfill a variety of service discovery use cases.
The mission of the Generic Audio (GA) Working Group is to enable future audio profiles to be developed using the latest Bluetooth technologies in a way that maximizes interoperability. The GA Working Group defines the protocols and procedures needed to enable the generic configuration and distribution of audio content between two or more devices over connection oriented or connectionless multicast and broadcast topologies.
The Human Interface Device (HID) Working Group ensures that Bluetooth enabled HID devices such as keyboards, pointing devices, remote controls and gaming devices are easy to use and affordable. The HID Working Group accomplishes this through the Bluetooth HID Profile that gives manufacturers a set of rules for including Bluetooth connectivity into their HID devices.
The mission of the Medical Devices (MED) Working Group is to produce specifications to enable a variety of compelling use cases and improve the user experience when using Bluetooth-enabled medical and healthcare devices, including the way they connect, interoperate, and exchange data.
Group Home Page
Group Charter Home
Requirements Groups:
MED WG Requirements Group: An all-member accessible group for developing New Work Proposals (NWP) and Feature Requirements Documents (FRD) in support of the main Working Group.
The overall mission of the Sports and Fitness (SF) Working Group is to enable interoperability between Bluetooth wireless technology-enabled sports and fitness devices and systems that can aggregate and perform operations on device data, such as cellular phones, sports watches, training computers, training equipment, game consoles, TVs, and mobile devices, such as PCs, laptops and tablet computers. The goal is to connect devices between multiple points, gather data near body or on-body, display, analyze, and improve physical fitness of our users. The effort includes the development/maintenance of profiles, protocols, services, and other relevant specifications as needed. The goal is to enable consumers to easily connect devices that support compatible profiles and services to enable a variety of compelling use cases.
The mission of this working group is to address use case needs through focused representation of the sports and fitness device industry.
The mission of the Automation (AUTOMATION) Working Group is to produce Bluetooth profiles or mesh models for home automation use cases.
Group Home Page
Group Charter Home
Requirements Groups:
AWG Smart Home Requirements Group: An all-member accessible group for creating New Work Proposals (NWP) and Feature Requirements Documents (FRD) leading to new mesh models that address smart home use cases.
The mission of the Direction Finding (DF) Working Group is to produce profiles, services, and mesh models to support indoor positioning, asset tracking, and high-accuracy distance measurement usage models.
The Electronic Shelf Label will create a Functional Requirements Document for Electronic Shelf Labels.
The activities in scope include:
- Creating a Functional Requirements Document (FRD) for future profile and service specifications
- Investigating the need for a Core Functional Requirements Document for enhancements to the Bluetooth Core Specification needed to meet the defined requirements in the FRD for Electronic Shelf Labels. Any Core FRD would be created in partnership with the Core Specification Working Group.
The mission of the Hearing Aid (HA) Working Group is to produce a Bluetooth profile specification to enable hearing aids to work with mobile phones and other multi-media devices (e.g. TVs). The specification will also enable the reception of broadcast messages in public places as well as support users who use a single hearing aid, or two separate hearing aids. The HA Working Group is also responsible for the development of a new codec which will be usable by hearing aids as well as high quality audio devices
The mission of the Internet (INT) Working Group is to produce specifications that enable Internet Protocol (IP) data over Bluetooth wireless technology.
The mission of the Mesh (MESH) Working Group is to create an interoperable mesh networking solution for Bluetooth Low Energy technology. Maintenance of the Mesh Profile, Mesh Model, and Mesh Device Properties Specifications is in the scope of the Mesh Working Group.
Group Home Page
Group Charter Home
Requirements Groups:
Mesh WG Requirements Group: An all-member accessible group for developing New Work Proposals (NWP) and Feature Requirements Documents (FRD) in support of the main Working Group.
The Telemetry Working Group will produce one or more specifications that enable telemetry data to be sent from accessories such as HID and audio to devices such as PCs, tablets and mobile phones, in a way that is interoperable with accessories, controllers, and OSs over Bluetooth wireless technology.
Expert Groups
Expert Groups act as advisors to working groups, providing expertise and guidance. Expert Groups are open to all member companies, unless stated otherwise in their group charter.
The Security Expert Group (SEG) serves as an advisory group to Working Groups, the BARB, and the Board on security-related issues. The SEG is open to all members, including Adopters, with the goal of making it open to security experts in universities and government agencies who might not be able to otherwise participate in the development of specifications.
The SEG does not develop specifications, but rather reviews specifications and white papers upon request from WGs. Since the SEG may contain adopter members, the SEG’s ability to review certain specification maturity levels may be restricted per the rules defined in the WGPD. The SEG may develop white papers, FAQs, or other guidelines for use by SIG members and SIG staff in marketing and evangelizing Bluetooth wireless technology and by SIG members to apply Bluetooth technology to security sensitive applications.
The Security and Privacy Response Expert Group (SPREG) is a set of technical experts to advise Bluetooth SIG in addition to any advice provided to Working Groups (WGs) or other Bluetooth SIG committees.
The mission of the SPREG is to develop, administer, and maintain a security program for rapid processing of Bluetooth security and privacy vulnerabilities and exposures (referred to collectively as “vulnerabilities”) identified to Bluetooth SIG without exposing those details to larger membership groups prior to the preparation of the initial vulnerability response.
Membership is only open to Associate and Promoter members.
The mission of the Regulatory Expert Group (REG) is to coordinate and centralize regulatory discussions within the Bluetooth SIG. References to regulatory bodies includes legislative and standards development organizations that impact Bluetooth technology.
Group Home Page
Group Charter Home
Subgroups:
REG Bluetooth Regulatory Action Subgroup (BRAG): The BRAG’s mission is to drive regulatory changes to support the in-development Core Specification feature Higher Bands for LE. The BRAG is open to all members.
Study Groups
Study Groups develop guidance documentation to enable new usage models which may lead to the development of new specifications. Study Groups are open to all member companies, unless stated otherwise in their group charter.
The study group is established to explore the proposal to evolve the upper layers of the Bluetooth technology stack to support both native Bluetooth radios (e.g. LE) and externally defined radios (e.g. IEEE radio standards). This study group is open to Associate and Promoter member companies.
Interest Groups
Interest Groups serve as a platform for member collaboration to advance the adoption of Bluetooth technology within a specific region, market, or industry. Interest Groups are open to all member companies, unless stated otherwise in their group charter.
The mission of the China Interest Group is to accelerate the adoption and innovation of Bluetooth technology within the People’s Republic of China. The group serves as a platform for member collaboration, education, and market development, ensuring that the unique needs and opportunities of the Chinese market are effectively represented and addressed within the global Bluetooth SIG ecosystem. The China Interest Group is open to Associate and Promoter member companies.
Committees
The mission of the Alignment and Process Improvement (API) Committee is to work across the Bluetooth SIG, involving the Board of Directors (BoD), members, relevant groups, relevant committees, and staff including SIG Legal, to propose process improvements and fixes to misalignments between the SIG’s governing and operational documents that can be adopted/approved by the Board in a focused forum.
The Bluetooth Qualification Review Board (BQRB) develops and maintains the Qualification Program for implementations of Bluetooth wireless technology. The main responsibilities of BQRB pertain to the Bluetooth Qualification Program Reference Document (PRD), the Bluetooth Qualification Process, and the Bluetooth Qualification Enforcement Process (QEP).
The Bluetooth Architectural Review Board (BARB) membership is composed of Promoter and Associate Councilors and Working Group Chairs and Vice-Chairs. The BARB is responsible for process ownership, architectural oversight, new study and expert group formation, and the review and approval of all Bluetooth specifications.
The mission of the Bluetooth Test and Interoperability (BTI) committee is to ensure that devices that meet the qualification requirements interoperate and that through continuous improvements, the test case coverage of Bluetooth test specifications will be sufficient to ensure interoperability among qualified devices with complementary capabilities.
Task Forces
Bluetooth member Qualification testing requires minimal functional testing passes to verify the device under test conforms to the specification requirements. However, to prove maximum device-to-device interoperability, security, performance and robustness, more in-depth testing is required. The Ecosystem Quality Task Force (EQTF) will focus on testing needs outside of qualification testing. The EQTF will work closely and coordinate with Working Groups (WGs), the Bluetooth Architectural Review Board (BARB), Bluetooth Test and Interoperability (BTI), and SIG Staff and intends to focus on all layers of the Bluetooth stack above RF/PHY.
Board Committees
The Strategic Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) is a Board-appointed Committee of the Board of Directors responsible for making recommendations to the Board regarding the development and maintenance of the technology strategy and the related board-approved roadmap for the Bluetooth SIG.
For more comprehensive information on group and committee operation, visit the Documents and resources page.
We can help coordinate
The Bluetooth SIG is happy to assist groups book and coordinate their face to face meetings so you can continue to move the specification forward. To take advantage of this service and to secure your meeting space, contact events@bluetooth.com with your group name, location, dates and number of estimated attendees.
In addition, the SIG hosts a number of Working Groups Summits and Member Events throughout the year, including the following:
