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Bluetooth is a standard communications protocol for wireless personal area networks (PANs). It acts as a media between electronic devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital cameras, and video game consoles to connect and exchange information.
It allows these devices to communicate with each other on a secure connection through an unlicensed short-range radio frequency, when they are in range. It simplifies the process of communication by easy discovery and setup of services between devices. It automatically advertises all of its services so that it is easy for the device to select the required service.
The name Bluetooth was coined after Harald Bluetooth, the king of Denmark and Norway in 10th century. He was responsible for the unification of warring tribes and today's Bluetooth is responsible for the unification of different technologies.
Ericsson developed the Bluetooth technology that was later formalized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The SIG was formed by a group of electronics manufacturers like Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia, and Toshiba in 1998 and today it has more than 7000 companies worldwide. It is responsible for the research and development in the field of Bluetooth technology. The Bluetooth specifications are defined and licensed by the SIG.
The operating range of Bluetooth depends on the device class.
A piconet is an ad-hoc network that uses a single master Bluetooth device to communicate with up to seven active devices. It can further connect up to 255 inactive devices that can be made as active whenever required. In this setup, the devices will switch roles and the slave device can become the master device at any time. The switching from one device to another occurs in round-robin fashion.
Bluetooth 1.0 and 1.0B
Mandatory Bluetooth device address (BD_ADDR) for transmission
Products interoperable problems
Anonymity rendering was not possible at protocol level
Defined as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2002
Fixed 1.0B specification errors
Used Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)
Supported non-encrypted channels
Defined as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2005
Included backward-compatible feature
Provided better Connection and Discovery
Offered higher transmission speeds
Extended Synchronous Connections (eSCO) to improve voice quality
Supported Host Controller Interface (HCI) for three-wire UART
Implemented adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (AFH) to improve resistance to radio frequency interference
Included backward-compatible feature
Introduced an EDR of 3.0 Mbits
Provided 3-10 times faster transmission speed
Reduced duty cycle ensured low power consumption
Simplified multi-link scenarios
Included fully backward-compatible feature
Extended inquiry response
Implemented Sniff sub-rating to reduce the power consumption for devices in sniff low-power mode
Increased battery life of mouse and keyboards by a factor of 3 to 10
Stronger encryption through Encryption Pause Resume feature
Better secured Simple Pairing
Enabled automatic secure Bluetooth connections for NFC radio interfaces
Code-named as Seattle with version number as TBD
Best suitable to adopt ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology
Offered high-speed/high-data-rate options
Enabled high-quality video and audio applications for portable devices
Wireless Bluetooth Technology
Ideal for wireless short-range communication between devices
No need for installation driver
Ease of use
Consumes low power
Built in security features
Applicable to wide range of devices
As Bluetooth provides the basic need of connectivity within a close proximity, its growth is evident. With Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) adoption of smart phones, the support for Bluetooth applications has far reaching impacts on many industries.
Over 4 million new car head units have been embedded with Bluetooth technology in 2006. There are more than 1800 manufacturers worldwide and the Bluetooth is built into over 500 millions of devices in 2007. IMS research predicts the market growth of Bluetooth to increase by 300% in the next 5 years.
The Bluetooth technology audio streaming profiles have created another new market and the growth in this segment is expected to increase rapidly in the coming years. The Bluetooth enabled equipment shipments have grown to 800 million in 2007 and its predicted growth is over 1.8 billion by 2012.
In 2007, the second highest volume application that uses Bluetooth technology was the gaming equipment. VoIP and audio/video entertainment drive the implementation of Bluetooth technology in notebooks. Well designed stereo headsets have also created opportunity for Bluetooth technology.
Today, Bluetooth has become a promising mainstream technology despite the growth of many other technologies. Its market has rapidly expanded and implementation in new devices is still in the forefront