BLUETOOTH TECHNOLOGIES

By

BLUETOOTH

ABSTRACT:

Bluetooth wireless technology is the most widely supported, versatile wireless standard on the market today. Bluetooth provides a short range wireless communication between devices making it convenient for users and thus eliminating the need for messy cables. Our paper is an attempt to explain what actually Bluetooth means and how it works, what are its frequency ranges? We have given a number of real time applications in the present day world and also its advantages and disadvantages. We have also expressed our views on the Future revolutions of Bluetooth in the daily life of man. In order to have a clear understanding we have provided clear pictures where ever necessary.

INTRODUCTION:

Look around you at the moment, you have your keyboard connected to the computer, as well as a printer, mouse, monitor and so on. What (literally) joins all of these together? They are connected by cables. Cables have become the bane of many offices, homes, work places etc. Most of us have experienced the 'joys' of trying to figure out what cable goes where, and getting tangled up in the details. The art of connecting things is becoming more and more complex every day.

One way to overcome the usage of cables and wires is Infra Red Communication .Infrared (IR) communication refers to light waves of a lower frequency than human eyes can receive and interpret. Infrared is used in most television remote control systems. Infrared communications are fairly reliable and don't cost very much to build into a device, but there are a couple of drawbacks. First, infrared is a "line of sight" technology. For example, you have to point the remote control at the television or DVD player to make things happen. The second drawback is that infrared is almost always a "one to one" technology i.e., you can send data between your desktop computer and your laptop computer, but not your laptop computer and your PDA at the same time.

Here, we will look at a method of connecting devices, called Bluetooth, a cable-replacement technology that can streamline the process and essentially aims to fix these problems of Infra Red radiations. The technology got its unusual name in honor of Herald Bluetooth, king of Denmark in the mid-tenth century. Bluetooth technology was first developed by Ericsson. A Bluetooth connection is wireless and automatic, and it has a number of interesting features that can simplify our daily lives. Lets have a over view of Blue tooth technology.

DEFINITION:

Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PAN), through a short range radio technology. Bluetooth wireless technology makes it possible to transmit signals over short ranges and exchange information and thereby simplify communication and synchronization between devices between devices like mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital cameras, and video game consoles over a secure, globally unlicensed short-range radio frequency.

It is a global standard that:

1. Facilitates both data and voice communication.2. Offers the possibility of ad hoc networks and delivers the ultimate synchronicity between all

your personal devices.

Fig: Symbol of Bluetooth

Bluetooth radio uses a fast acknowledgement and frequency-hopping scheme to make the link robust, even in noisy radio environments.

Fig: Bluetooth chip

Fig: Bluetooth headset Fig: Bluetooth USB cable

On a technical level, Bluetooth is an open specification for a cutting-edge technology that enables short-range wireless connections between desktop and laptop computers and a host of other peripheral devices - on a globally available frequency band (2.4 GHz) for worldwide compatibility. The current version of Bluetooth is 2.0+EDR.

How it works?

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology used to create PANs (Personal Area Networks) among your devices and with other nearby devices. Bluetooth requires that a low-cost transceiver chip be included in each device. The transceiver transmits and receives in a previously unused frequency band of 2.45 GHz that is available globally (with some variation of bandwidth in different countries). In addition to data, up to three voice channels are available. Each device has a unique 48-bit address from the IEEE 802 standard. Connections can be point-to-point or multipoint. The maximum range is 10 meters. Data can be exchanged at a rate of 1 megabit per second (up to 2 Mbps in the second generation of the technology). A frequency hop scheme allows devices to communicate even in areas with a great deal of electromagnetic interference. Built-in encryption and verification is provided.

Bluetooth is essentially a networking standard that works at two levels:

It provides agreement at the physical level -- Bluetooth is a radio-frequency standard. It provides agreement at the protocol level, where products have to agree on when bits are

sent, how many will be sent at a time, and how the parties in a conversation can be sure that the message received is the same as the message sent

A number of devices may already take advantage of this same radio-frequency band. Baby monitors, garage-door openers and the newest generation of cordless phones all make use of frequencies in the ISM band. Making sure that Bluetooth and these other devices don't interfere with one another has been a crucial part of the design process.

One of the ways Bluetooth devices avoid interfering with other systems is by sending out very weak signals of about 1 milliwatt. By comparison, the most powerful cell phones can transmit a signal of 3

watts. The low power limits the range of a Bluetooth device to about 10 meters (32 feet), cutting the chances of interference between your computer system and your portable telephone or television or any other device. Even with the low power, Bluetooth doesn't require line of sight between communicating devices. The walls in your house won't stop a Bluetooth signal, making the standard useful for controlling several devices in different rooms.

Bluetooth can connect up to eight devices simultaneously. With all of those devices in the same 10-meter (32-feet) radius, you might think they'd interfere with one another, but it's unlikely. Bluetooth uses a technique called spread-spectrum frequency hopping that makes it rare for more than one device to be transmitting on the same frequency at the same time. In this technique, a device will use 79 individual, randomly chosen frequencies within a designated range, changing from one to another on a regular basis.

Fig: Explains the Master-Slave coordination

In the case of Bluetooth, the transmitters change frequencies 1,600 times every second, meaning that more devices can make full use of a limited slice of the radio spectrum. Since every Bluetooth transmitter uses spread-spectrum transmitting automatically, it’s unlikely that two transmitters will be on the same frequency at the same time. This same technique minimizes the risk that portable phones or baby monitors will disrupt Bluetooth devices, since any interference on a particular frequency will last only a tiny fraction of a second.

When Bluetooth-capable devices come within range of one another, an electronic conversation takes place to determine whether they have data to share or whether one needs to control the other. The user doesn't have to press a button or give a command -- the electronic conversation happens automatically. Once the conversation has occurred, the devices -- whether they're part of a computer system or a stereo -- form a network. Bluetooth systems create a personal-area network (PAN), or piconet, that may fill a room or may encompass no more distance than that between the cell phone on a belt-clip and the headset on your head. Once a piconet is established, the members randomly hop frequencies in unison so they stay in touch with one another and avoid other piconets that may be operating in the same room.

BLUETOOTH APPLICATIONS:

Bluetooth provides support for three general application areas using short-range wireless connectivity:

Data and voice access points:

Bluetooth facilitates real-time voice and data transmissions by providing effortless wireless connection of portable and stationary communications devices.

Cable replacement:

Bluetooth eliminates the need for numerous, often proprietary cable attachments for connection of practically any kind of communications device. Connections are instant and are maintained even when devices are not within line of sight. The range of each radio is approximately 10 m, but can be extended to 100 m with an optional amplifier.

Ad hoc networking:

A device equipped with a Bluetooth radio can establish instant connection to another Bluetooth radio as soon as it comes into range.Ad hoc networking means the network that forms immediately based on the instruction or the information . When you get a signal from one Bluetooth device to be connected to another then instantly a tiny network forms between them. This is known as Ad hoc Networking.

Fig: Configuraing different devices without cables.

The following list represents only a small set of potential applications - in future many more imaginative applications will come along: 

By installing a Bluetooth network in your office you can do away with the complex and tedious task of networking between the computing devices, yet have the power of connected devices. No longer would you be bound to fixed locations where you can connect to the network. Each Bluetooth device could be connected to 200 other devices making the connection of every device with every other possible. Since it supports both point to point

and point to multipoint it will virtually make the maximum number of simultaneously linked devices unlimited.

Use a Bluetooth GPS device for satellite navigation on your PDA, laptop or mobile. If your digital cameras in Bluetooth enabled, you can send still or video images from any

location to any location without the hassle of connecting your camera to the mobile phone on the wire line phone.

Fig: A Bluetooth enabled watch

IBM researchers are working on a number of personal devices like a Watch Pad that could be connected with other devices through Bluetooth.  The Watch Pad is very thin and contains 8MB of RAM. They are also working on a version of Cyber Phone called Cyber Phone - that can project data onto a small mirror. The Cyber Phone can show as much information as a small PDA because of high resolution VGA screen.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF BLUETOOTH:

The amazing technology of Bluetooth presents a great way of exchanging data between two wirelesses devices because it has many advantages when compared to a few disadvantages.

Here are a few of them.

ADVANTAGES:

Bluetooth is low power consuming and low processing with an overhead protocol. It means that it is the best for integration with small battery powered devices. This means Bluetooth wireless technology could take place in every device, machinery, robot etc.

Inbuilt Software:

If you have Bluetooth hardware in your mobile phone, PDA, GPS or headset, you probably won't need to worry about installing special Bluetooth drivers - the software is built-in and ready for use. If connecting to a PC, you'll need to install Bluetooth drivers.

Feature Simplicity:

You do not need to know much about technology in order to run Bluetooth. Anyone that doesn’t have no knowledge about the new technology can still be able to use the Bluetooth feature due to its simplicity and the ease of use. I think that the simplicity of it and the fact that it's wire free makes it very widely used and utmost popular.

Free of Charge:

Best of all, you do not have to pay a penny for the service! It's not an extra cell phone or cable bill that you have to add to your budget. Simply by the technology and you're done! All you need to do is connect it with what you are using. There hasn't been any reporting lately on companies charging a monthly fee or any fee for people to use the Bluetooth feature and I don't expectit.

Wireless:

It allows you to stay cord free and do not have to worry about finding the correct place to connect that extra long cord. Avoid having to have a ton of cords wherever you go. You may still need a few cords but not as much as you would without Bluetooth. You can also go to the internet wirelessly with this feature when you're out somewhere outside of your home.

Rejecting the request through your phone:

Even though you are able to exchange data across your cell phones, you still have the ability to keep your information private. In order to make a transfer or allow someone to access the files on your phone, you will have to give them access by accepting or If you have the Bluetooth feature enabled on your phone and not disabled while using it, others that you may not even know request to send you a file.

FUTURE PROSPECTS:

Here we examine just a few new Bluetooth application domains, in addition to those already being developed as new profiles within the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). This section deals with possibilities; solutions like those described here may or may not be deployed. This discussion is not exhaustive; new applications will almost certainly continue to appear over time.

Retail and Mobile e-Commerce:

As Bluetooth wireless technology is incorporated in more personal mobile devices, it enables new uses for those devices. One such use is that of a mobile device as a method of payment for goods and services.

Any terminal that is used for retail transactions could incorporate Bluetooth wireless technology and thus connect to other Bluetooth devices to complete retail transactions. For example, a mobile phone could connect to a soda machine over a Bluetooth link to pay for a soda, or link to a kiosk at which you could buy a theater ticket. Similarly, a mobile phone, PDA, or other device could be used to pay for goods and services using Bluetooth communication links with a cash register. Indeed, through the use of Bluetooth access points, entire shopping malls, arenas, grocery stores, restaurants, and other retail areas could allow customers to perform financial transactions throughout the building.

Medical:

As the practice of medicine becomes more sophisticated and complex, new technology is increasingly used in this area. Here we suggest three possible applications of Bluetooth wireless technology in the medical domain (remote patient monitoring, wireless biometric data, and medicine dispensers); certainly others are conceivable.

Patient monitoring of things like vital signs outside of typical medical environments (such as hospitals) is becoming increasingly common. Patients may measure certain body functions and periodically report these to a medical care provider. This can be done electronically, and if so, might involve manual data entry or cables from the measuring equipment; the data might then be transmitted over a dial-up network connection. Bluetooth wireless technology can improve this process by automating the data transfer from one device to another and making the transmission of the data more convenient, using wireless dial-up networking. The biometric data collection could even use Bluetooth links as described next.

Travel:

The travel industry is always seeking new ways to save time and enhance convenience for travelers. Here we present a few ways in which Bluetooth wireless technology could enhance travel scenarios.

Home Networking:

In-home networks are becoming more common as people want to enhance their convenience, security and safety at home and use their personal devices in home environments (as well as elsewhere). Bluetooth technology can be especially useful in home networks because it does not require any wires to be installed in the home to allow devices to communicate. For instance, a mobile phone could be used as a cordless phone via a Bluetooth voice access point (base station), as described in the three-in-one phone usage model in our book, Bluetooth Revealed. Portable computers could be used at home through wireless dial-up networking or a data access point (similar to the LAN access profile), also described in our book.

CONCLUSION :

The amazing technology of Bluetooth presents a great way of exchanging data between two wireless devices. Unlike telephones, there are no wires or messy leads to worry about. One can enjoy wireless communications with short distances of up to thirty feet. Bluetooth also offers interoperability, meaning that one can use the portable Bluetooth device to connect with existing Bluetooth points.

Bluetooth, a wireless solution for reducing the cable clutter of peripherals, is constantly growing in popularity because of the convenience of exchanging information between mobile devices. As Bluetooth usage rises, so do the security risks associated with the technology but we are not up to the point regarding the Bluetooth security.

REFERENCES:

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth 2) http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth.htm 3) http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth2.htm

4) http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci211680,00.html

5) http://www.mobileinfo.com/Bluetooth/FAQ.htm#g4