Channel Sounding in Bluetooth 6.0: Unlocking New Opportunities for IoT

When Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) first appeared, it transformed how devices could connect while consuming very little power. Now, with Bluetooth 6.0, a new feature called Channel Sounding is emerging, and it has the potential to redefine how connected products understand and interact with their environment.

What is Channel Sounding?

Traditional Bluetooth connections simply transmit and receive data. Channel Sounding goes further, allowing devices to measure the wireless channel itself, analysing signal strength, timing, and direction. This means they can determine how far apart they are, where the signal is coming from, and adjust communication for greater reliability.

In other words, Bluetooth devices gain a sense of location and context, enabling more accurate positioning, smarter interactions, and enhanced security.

Why It Matters

In the IoT world, context often matters as much as the data itself. Being able to locate and authenticate devices creates new opportunities across industries. Some of the most promising applications include:

• Asset & inventory tracking – from hospital equipment to factory tools and even luggage in airports

• Indoor navigation – guiding fans to their seats in a stadium or travellers through a busy airport

• Smart access control – ensuring that only the right person, in the right place, can unlock doors or start vehicles

• Sports & health – powering advanced wearables that track movement with greater precision

• Security – using the unique fingerprint of a wireless channel to prevent spoofing and man-in-the-middle attacks

  
  

Beyond these, the future points to autonomous robots and drone swarms, where Channel Sounding could allow precise 3D localisation in complex environments.

Challenges and Outlook

Like any emerging technology, there are hurdles to overcome before Channel Sounding becomes mainstream. Adoption depends on the rollout of new Bluetooth 6.0 hardware, while multipath interference and signal reflections remain technical challenges. Another factor is competition — Ultra-Wideband (UWB) already delivers high-accuracy positioning and will be a benchmark for comparison.

However, Channel Sounding has some unique advantages. In certain applications, particularly asset tracking, it could replace UWB altogether, delivering similar benefits at a fraction of the cost. It also does not necessarily require multiple antennas, which simplifies hardware design and lowers barriers for deployment at scale.

As Matthew Sheedy, Biomedical Engineer at Genesys, explains, what makes Bluetooth’s Channel Sounding especially exciting is that it is an interoperable Bluetooth standard with the ability to accurately measure the distance between two devices, even in dense or noisy environments with heavy signal reflections. He also notes its potential in security and proximity applications, where it can be used to combat man-in-the-middle attacks and strengthen device authentication.

This interoperability means once the ecosystem matures, adoption could be rapid and seamless, potentially rivalling UWB within the next 3–5 years.

What Genesys Offers

At Genesys, we help clients turn breakthrough technologies into real-world products. With BLE Channel Sounding, this includes:

• Electronics & Antenna Design for Direction Finding features

• Firmware & Mobile Applications to interpret Channel Sounding data in real time

• Compliance with global standards, such as ISO 13485 for medical devices

• Cloud Connectivity & Integration so location data can be visualised and tied into wider IoT systems

  
  

From healthcare to smart warehouses, airports, industrial automation, and consumer devices, our role is to help clients transform opportunities into competitive advantage with solutions that are accurate, secure, and market ready.

Looking Ahead

Bluetooth Channel Sounding is more than an incremental update: it’s a game-changer for IoT. By enabling devices not only to communicate but also to understand where they are, it unlocks new value in everything from asset tracking and smart warehouses to next-generation robotics and immersive AR/VR experiences.

As adoption grows, companies that move early will be best positioned to capture the benefits from more accurate data and safer systems to entirely new user experiences.

At Genesys, we’re excited to help shape this future, partnering with clients to turn possibilities into products, and innovation into measurable impact. Let’s explore how Channel Sounding could empower your next breakthrough

Want to explore how Channel Sounding could power your next product?

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