WLAN

WLAN (also commonly referred to as WiFi) is the most widely used wireless standard. It is often used for production planning and data acquisition as well as applications where rapid roaming is required. It provides very high data throughput but it is more vulnerable to interference than Bluetooth.

 

Bluetooth®

Bluetooth is often used for Human Machine Interfaces (HMI), programming, service/maintenance and real-time control tasks. It has a narrow band frequency spectrum which, together with functionality such as: Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH), makes it less sensitive to disturbances.

 

During the last few years, other technologies like Bluetooth Low Energy technology have become increasingly used for sensors, actuators and other small, often battery-driven, devices that need to be interconnected.

Compare the technologies

	Bluetooth technology	WLAN (WiFi) technology	Bluetooth Low Energy
Data throughput	+/-	++	-
Robustness	++	+/-	++
Range	10 - 300 m	50 - 300 m	10 - 250 m
Local system density	++	-	++
Roaming	+	++	N/A
Large scale network	-	+/-	+
Low latency	+++	+/-	++
Connection set-up speed	-	+/-	++
Power consumption	+	-	+++
Cost	+	-	++
Caption: The table offers a quick overview of the differences between the wireless technologies. + = Good ++ = Strong +++ = Very strong +/- = Average - = Weak