Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), also known as Bluetooth Smart, is a wireless personal area network technology introduced in the Bluetooth 4.0 specification (2010) and designed for applications requiring low power consumption and intermittent data transmission. Unlike classic Bluetooth (used for continuous audio streaming or high-throughput data transfer), BLE is optimized to run for months or years on a small coin cell battery by transmitting short data bursts infrequently. BLE operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band with a typical range of 10–100 meters, using a simplified protocol stack that reduces latency and power overhead versus classic Bluetooth.

In AIDC deployments, BLE is used in three primary roles. First, BLE barcode scanners—such as the Honeywell DS3678 Bluetooth scanner—connect wirelessly to tablets, mobile computers, and point-of-sale terminals with minimal power draw, ideal for mobile workers who need untethered scanning without draining their device battery. Second, BLE beacons (small, fixed transmitters) broadcast a unique identifier at regular intervals, enabling indoor positioning systems (IPS) to locate BLE-tagged assets, carts, or workers to within 1–3 meters in warehouses and hospitals. Third, BLE is used in IoT sensors for real-time cold chain monitoring—temperature, humidity, and shock sensors in pharmaceutical shipping containers transmit readings via BLE to a gateway device that relays data to the cloud.

The Zebra TC72 and MC9300 mobile computers include Bluetooth 5.0 radios that are backward-compatible with BLE 4.x devices, supporting both BLE scanning (for beacons and IoT sensors) and BLE peripheral mode (allowing the device itself to act as a beacon or data broadcaster). When evaluating wireless scanner connectivity, BLE offers a pragmatic middle ground between Wi-Fi (high throughput, high power) and NFC (zero power, centimeter range): BLE provides room-scale connectivity with multi-month battery life in peripheral devices, making it the preferred wireless standard for enterprise scanners, wearables, and IoT edge sensors.