Sunday, December 28, 2014

Article on Bluetooth

Bluretooth
Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile, phones, Laptops, PCs, digital cameras, and video game consoles over a secure, globally unlicensed short-range radio frequency. The Bluetooth specifications are developed and licensed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

        Well it ins't some strange form of tooth decay as you might initially imagine. Bluetooth is the name of a new technology that is now becoming commercially available. It promises to change significantly the way w use machines.

         Bluetooth wireless technology is a short-range communications technology intended to replace the cables connecting portable and /or fixed devices while maintaining high levels of security. The key features of Bluetooth technology are robustness., low power, and low cost. The Bluetooth specification defines a uniform structure for a wide range of devices to connect and communicate with each other.

        Bluetooth technology has achieved global acceptance such that any Bluetooth enabled device, almost everywhere in the world can connect to other Bluetooth enabled devices in proximity. Bluetooth enabled electronic devices connect and communicate wirelessly through short-range, ad hoc networks known s piconets. Each device can simultaneously communicate with up to seven other devices withing a single piconet. Each device can also belong to several piconets simultaneously. Piconets are established dynamically and automatically as Bluetooth enabled devices enter and leave radio proximity.
  • A fundamental Bluetooth wireless technology strength is the ability to simultaneously handle both data and voice transmissions. This enables user to enjoy variety of innovative solutions such as a hands-free headset fr voice calls, printing and fax capabilities, and synchronizing PDA, laptop, and mobile phone applications to name a few.
          Specification Make-Up
          Unlike many other wireless standards, the Bluetooth wireless specification gives product developers both link layer and application layer definitions, which supports data and voice application.

           Spectrum
           Buletooth technology operates in the unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band at 2.4 to 2.48 GHz, using a spread spectrum, frequency hopping, full-duplex signal at a nominal rate of 1600 hops/sec. The 2.4 GHz ISM band is available and unlicensed in most countries.
    
           Interference
           Bluetooth technology's adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) capability was designed to reduce interference between wireless technologies sharing the 2.4 GHz spectrum. AFH works withing the spectrum to take advantage of the available frequency. This is done by detecting other devices in the spectrum and avoiding the frequencies they are using. This adaptive hopping allows for more efficient transmission withing the spectrum, providing users with greater performance even if using other technologies along with Bluetooth technology. The signal hops among 79 frequencies at 1 MHz to give a high degree of interference immunity.
          
            Range
The operating range depends on the device class:
  •   Class 3 radios-have a range of up to 1 meter or 3 feet
  •   Class 2 radios-most commonly found in mobile device-have a range of 10 meters or 30 feet
  •   Class 1 radios - used primarily in industrial use cases - have a range of 100 meters or 300 feet
            Power
            The most commonly used radio is class 2 and uses 2.5 mW of power. Bluetooth technology is designed ot have very low power consumption. This is reinforced in the specification by allowing radios to be powered down when inactive.
       
           Date Rate
           1 Mbps for Version 1.2; Up to 3 Mbps supported for version 2.0 + EDR

World of Bluetooth
1.     Take a look around
           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 etc. Most of us have experienced the 'joys' of trying to figure out what cable goes where, and getting tangled up in the details. Bluetooth essentially aims to fix this, It is a cable replacement technology

2.     How?
          Conceived initially by Ericsson, before being adopted by a myriad of other companies, Bluetooth is a standard for a small, cheap radio chip to be plugged into computers, printers, mobile phones, etc. A Bluetooth chip is designed to replace cables by taking to a receiver Bluetooth chip, which will then give the information received to the computer, phone whatever.

3.     How about?
         That was the original idea, but the originators of the original idea soon released that a lot more was possible. If you can transmit information between a computer and a printer, why not transmit data from a mobile phone to a printer, or even a printer to a printer?. The projected low cost of a Bluetooth chi (~$5). and its low power consumption, means you could literally place one anywhere.

4.     Ideas, ideas...
         
With this viewpoint interest in Bluetooth is soaring, lots of ideas are constantly emerging, some practical and feasible e.g: Bluetooth chips in freight containers to identify cargo when a lorry driver into a storage depot, or a headsets that communicates with a Mobile phone in your pocket, or even in the other room, other ideas not so feasible: Refrigerator communicating with your Bluetooth-enabled computer, informing it that food supply is low, and to inform the retailer over the internet.

5.     The future, this website
          Whatever the ideas, Bluetooth is set to take off. To be honest its' going to be forced down the consumers necks, whether thy want it or not, as too many companies have invested in it. This website is generally geared towards the technical issues surrounding Bluetooth, and its implementation in real life. But free feel to have a look around anyway, and see why this technology will have such a big impact on our lives. If you're a complete beginner and you want to know more go to the other pages on the website: the Tutorial has a reasonable in-depth guide to Bluetooth (can be quite technical in parts though), our members-only download** page has some more general introductions to Bluetooth to download. Also check out the Resources Center, Articles, Glossary & Knowledge Base to further enhance your Bluetooth education. There are also related Resource Centers on IEEE 802.11 WiFi Wireless LANs, HomeRF, GPS, SyncML, ZigBee and other mobile and wireless technologies. Enjoy!
        **Note that although many sections of this web site are freely available, some require a free membership and others are available only to paid members.

6.     Looking after your teeth
          By the way if, you're wondering where the Bluetooth name originally came from, it named after a Danish Viking and King, Harald Blatand (translated as Bluetooth in English), who lived in the latter part of the 10th century. Haral Blatand united and controlled Denmark and Norway (hence the inspiration on the name: uniting devices through Bluetooth). He got his name from his very dark hair which was unusual for Viking, Blatand means dark complexion. However a more popular, (but less likely reason), was that Old Harald had a inclination towards eating Blueberries, so much so his teeth became stained with the colour, leaving Harald with a rather unique set of molars. An you though your teeth were bad....