Bluetooth is a low bandwidth wireless networking
technology designed primarily to replace cables for
communication between personal computing/communication
devices. It is intended to be used for both voice and data
communications. As of 2005, Bluetooth is becoming a very
common standard for the wireless communication between
cellphones, headsets and PDAs.
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What is Bluetooth? |
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Bluetooth
is the name for a short-range radio
frequency (RF) technology that operates
at 2.4 GHz and is capable of
transmitting voice and data. The
effective range of Bluetooth devices is
32 feet (10 meters). Bluetooth transfers
data at the rate of 1 Mbps, which is
from three to eight times the average
speed of parallel and serial ports,
respectively. See also
"What is Bluetooth?"
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What is it - a technology, a
standard, an initiative, or a product? |
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Bluetooth wireless technology is a de
facto standard, as well as a
specification for small-form factor,
low-cost, short range radio links
between mobile PCs, mobile phones and
other portable devices. The Bluetooth
Special Interest Group is an industry
group consisting of leaders in the
telecommunications, computing, and
networking industries that are driving
development of the technology and
bringing it to market.
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Why is the technology
called "Bluetooth"? |
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Scandinavian countries have been leading
the world in wireless communications for
a long time now; and Bluetooth
technology was named after a
Scandinavian historical figure: King
Harald Bluetooth, a famous Danish king
of the 10th century; who united Denmark
and introduced Christianity to the
country.
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How is Bluetooth
used? |
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Bluetooth
can be used to wirelessly synchronize
and transfer data among devices.
Bluetooth can be thought of as a cable
replacement technology. Typical uses
include automatically synchronizing
contact and calendar information among
desktop, notebook and palmtop computers
without connecting cables. Bluetooth can
also be used to access a network or the
Internet with a notebook computer by
connecting wirelessly to a cellular
phone.
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Where can I find more
information on Bluetooth? |
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The
following web site is useful Bluetooth
resources:
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Will
Bluetooth networks be secure? |
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Bluetooth
employs frequency hopping (1600
hops/sec); which adds some protection
against eavesdropping, and there is also
built-in security at the physical layer.
The built-in security features allow
one-way, two-way, or no authentication.
The key management and security setup
will be done by the software layers;
which will allow the user set the
security requirements as needed. This
way, it will be possible to define
different trust relationships between
Bluetooth nodes and networks; i.e. you
will be able to allow a co-worker's PDA
access your business card scanner; but
prevent him from synchronizing with your
PC.
When Bluetooth is used for
networking, it is always possible to use
stronger forms of encryption like SSH
over the transport layer.
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Will
other Radio Frequency devices interfere
with Bluetooth Devices? |
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No.
Bluetooth radios operate on the
unlicensed 2.4 GHz (Industrial,
Scientific and Medical) frequency band
that is shared among other devices
(microwave ovens, cordless phones,
garage door openers, etc. ). Bluetooth
radios switch frequencies at such a
rapid pace (1,600 times per second) and
the data packets are so small that
interference from other RF sources is
highly unlikely. Bluetooth is a robust
communication system.
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Will
Bluetooth and Wireless LAN (WLAN)
interfere with each other? |
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No, both
Bluetooth and WLAN can co-exist. Since
Bluetooth devices use Frequency Hopping
and most WLANs use Direct Sequence
Spreading techniques they each appear as
background noise to the other and should
not cause any perceivable performance
issues.
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Is
Bluetooth practical for use with mobile
devices? |
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Yes. One
concern for mobile computing users is
power consumption. Bluetooth radios are
very low power, drawing as little as
0.3mA in standby mode and 30mA during
sustained data transmissions. Bluetooth
radios alternate among power-saving
modes in which device activity is
lowered to maximize the mobile power
supply.
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Are
different brands of Bluetooth products
compatible? |
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Yes. They
have to be. The Bluetooth Logo
Certification Program requires Bluetooth
products to interoperate with products
manufactured by other vendors; those
products that don't interoperate will
not be allowed to use the Bluetooth
logo.
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Is
Bluetooth an IEEE standard, like IEEE
802.11 and Ethernet? |
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Being an
IEEE standard will be a big plus to
widespread adoption of Bluetooth, and
IEEE 802.15 working group for personal
area networks (PAN) announced that they
will be adopting Bluetooth as the IEEE
802.15 standard.
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