The Rise of BLE: What It Means for the Future of Supply Chain Visibility

September 3, 2025

We are syndicating this article from RFID Journal.

By Michael Zehnpfennig, VP Engineering at Identiv, and Alon Yehezkely, CTO at Wiliot

Supply chain visibility has traditionally focused on a narrow objective: confirming whether an asset made it from Point A to Point B.

But in today’s dynamic, distributed logistics environment, knowing an asset’s location at a checkpoint oftentimes isn’t enough. Companies need real-time intelligence about what happens in between – how goods are stored, transported, and handled throughout their journey.

This growing demand for continuous, context-rich insight is accelerating the adoption of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a technology that’s quickly moving beyond its consumer origins to meet the complex challenges of today’s supply chains.

Why BLE Is Changing the Game

BLE has long been embedded in consumer devices – smartphones, earbuds, laptops, and more – but it is now reshaping enterprise and industrial operations. Unlike RFID systems that rely on costly portals and dedicated readers, BLE can leverage existing infrastructure – including smartphones, tablets, and IoT gateways – making it a more cost-effective option for many deployments.

BLE also offers significant advantages in range and performance. Its signals can travel tens or even hundreds of meters – far beyond the capabilities of NFC or HF RFID. Just as critically, BLE tags provide more than just checkpoint data. They can continuously stream real-time information on location, temperature, motion, light, and other environmental conditions – enabling visibility not only into where an asset is, but how it’s being handled throughout its journey.

For regulated or condition-sensitive goods like pharmaceuticals, blood plasma, or fresh foods, that level of assurance can be the difference between maintaining safety and quality standards – or facing costly losses from spoilage or non-compliance.

Real-World Deployments

Consider logistics. Royal Mail, for example, uses Wiliot’s energy-harvesting BLE sensors to track nearly a million rolling cages across its logistics operations. In this case, RFID wasn’t economically feasible given the infrastructure required. BLE provided a way to enable continuous tracking at the asset level without a massive overhaul of the existing physical footprint.

Tag design plays a key role in making these sorts of deployments work. Wiliot’s BLE sensors operate without batteries by harvesting RF energy and transmitting in efficient bursts. Identiv, a leader in specialized IoT, works to ensure that BLE tags, which encase and protect the sensors, can be engineered into designs that meet the demands of real-world environments. With momentum building, ABI Research projects that shipments of Ambient IoT devices, harvesting energy from their surrounding environments, will reach 1.1 billion units in 2030.

Where BLE Fits in the IoT Stack

It’s important to note that BLE isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. In use cases where simple checkpoint reads are sufficient, the low cost of RFID tags can be attractive – though the need for specialized readers can increase overall deployment costs.

For ultra-long-range rural deployments, LoRa is a better fit. NFC, meanwhile, continues to play a role in consumer-facing applications due to its ease of use, short-range security, and compatibility with smartphones and other personal devices.

What BLE does is fill the critical gap between those technologies. It brings continuous, real-time visibility to hybrid environments, where assets need both checkpoint validation and ongoing monitoring. As the technology evolves – with Bluetooth 6.0 promising sub-three-foot location accuracy and standards bodies working to expand interoperability – BLE’s role within the broader IoT stack will only grow.

The Bottom Line

For industries under pressure to cut costs, improve traceability, and meet regulatory demands, BLE offers a compelling foundation. It enables continuous visibility into both the location and condition of assets, reduces infrastructure overhead, supports compliance, and advances sustainability by eliminating the need for batteries.

BLE is moving far beyond its consumer roots to become a cornerstone of modern supply chain intelligence – and a building block for the ambient IoT era.

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Identiv is helping organizations across logistics, healthcare, retail, and beyond bring real-time, scan-free intelligence to their most critical assets. If you're exploring how BLE and ambient IoT can improve traceability, reduce infrastructure costs, or support compliance in your operations, we'd welcome a conversation.

Reach out to discuss how we can support your next phase of supply chain innovation.

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