Program Overview

Bluetooth qualification is the certification process required for any product using Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth wireless technology, defined in the Bluetooth System Specifications, enables short-range wireless data connections between devices.

Bluetooth qualification requires certain testing standards for all products that use the Bluetooth wireless technology. Qualification is a necessary pre-condition of the intellectual property license for the Bluetooth technology. Qualification is also necessary in order to apply the Bluetooth trademark to a product.

However, neither the Bluetooth trademark nor the Bluetooth qualification guarantees that a product fully complies with the Bluetooth specification or is interoperable with other manufacturers Bluetooth enabled designs and products. That remains the responsibility of the product manufacturer.

Bluetooth SIG Approves New Qualification Program: Enhancements Streamline Qualification Program for Members

The program requirements, defined in the Bluetooth Program Reference Document PRD 2.0, provide members with the ability to qualify and list their products on their own via the member website. The purpose of the new Qualification Program is to better assure interoperability, verify conformance to the Bluetooth Specifications, strengthen the Bluetooth SIG's ability to enforce compliance, correct the potential misuse of the Bluetooth trademarks and provide members who meet a higher standard of testing with the recognition that their product represents that of reliability and quality toward interoperating with other Bluetooth products. The new program will facilitate more efficient development of Bluetooth devices by automating many of the processes, increasing consistency in how the process is applied, both while reducing time and cost of getting through the qualification process.

“We took a hard look at the Bluetooth qualification process and came up with ways to streamline the program,” said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “This new program will help us meet the goals of simplification, improved interoperability and reduced costs while emphasizing stronger testing and the usability demands of consumers.”

The Changes to the New Qualification Program

The Qualification Program has changed to be more in line with the expectations of our members and to better align the scope of listed Bluetooth products with the scope of the Bluetooth license granted to the member when he/she qualified a product. Based on inputs received from our members regarding the requirements of the existing Qualification Program, the Bluetooth SIG focused the development of the program on four main cornerstone principles:

1. Lower the cost of qualification
2. Reduce the complexity of the program
3. Increase consistency in how the program is applied
4. Improve interoperability of Bluetooth enabled products

In accordance with these principles the following new elements and tools have been developed to serve the members in their efforts to qualify Bluetooth enabled products:

The approved PRD 2.0 will provide members the ability to declare their product is qualified on their own while asserting that the Requirements of the Specifications and Qualification are met.

• The Profile Tuning Suite (PTS) will serve as a reference test system for Bluetooth profiles and protocols, and has the goal of improving Bluetooth interoperability in the marketplace. This new tool will make the qualification process easier and more precise as well as assist member companies in debugging, testing, and certifying Bluetooth devices.
  
• The Test Plan Generator (TPG) will provide companies with a test plan directly accessible from the web. The TPG will allow members to complete this process online and automatically generate the testing requirements based on their expected qualification date. Formerly this was a complex process requiring that members manually derive their own testing requirements from a multitude of documents.
  
• The Qualification Listing Interface (QLI) will be the new web interface where members will list their products after completing the Bluetooth qualification process in accordance with the newly approved PRD 2.0. For the first time a complete list of all qualified Bluetooth products, both components and consumer products within the Bluetooth SIG databases will be accessible through various interfaces online to provide customized information and search functions for different audiences.
  
• The enhanced UnPlugFests (UPF) will, in addition to providing a forum for members to physically test prototype devices for interoperability and ease-of-use, now focuses on more of the testing needs of members by offering the opportunity for testing against the PTS, the new Device Library where members have access to hundreds of newer qualified products on the market and security testing against known threats and vulnerabilities.
  
• Experience Icons will make it more visible to consumers what specific capabilities a Bluetooth wireless enabled product encompasses while presenting each profile's unique and strong market position to a wider audience, educating consumers of the importance of the products capability toward interoperating with a given device as well as assist the consumer in understanding the functionality within devices.

How will the Changes Affect Members?

First, the changes will enable members to perform most or all of the testing, assessment and listing on their own in lieu of using a Bluetooth Qualification Expert (BQE) or a Bluetooth Qualification Test Facility (BQTF). The BQE and BQTF still exist in the new Qualification Program; however, now as optional service providers available to members. The Bluetooth SIG highly recommends that they are used when the process is not clear to members.

Secondly, members now have access to several key tools, such as the TPG, PTS, and QLI, for which they can now produce a test plan, perform much of the required testing on their product and list their product on the Bluetooth SIG QLI web site, reducing their cost and time in qualifying a Bluetooth product.