Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless short-range communications technology which replaces coble connectivity between portable as well as fixed electronic devices with high range of security. The key features of Bluetooth technology are robustness, low power and low cost. Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, PDA, printers, digital cameras, video game consoles and many more.

The Bluetooth specification was developed in 1994 by Sven Mattisson and Jaap Haartsen, who were working for Ericsson Mobile Platforms in Lund, Sweden. The specifications were formalized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The SIG was formally announced on May 20, 1998. Today it has over 7000 companies worldwide. It was established by Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Toshiba, and Nokia, and later joined by many other companies. Bluetooth is also known as IEEE 802.15.1.

Bluetooth was named after a late 900s king, Harald Bluetooth King of Denmark and Norway. He is known for his unification of previously warring tribes from Denmark (including Scania, present-day Sweden, where the Bluetooth technology was invented), and Norway. Bluetooth likewise was intended to unify different technologies, such as computers and mobile phones.

The name may have been inspired less by the historical Harald than the loose interpretation of him in The Long Ships by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson, a Swedish Viking-inspired novel.

The Bluetooth logo merges the Nordic runes analogous to the modern Latin H and B: (haglaz) and (berkanan) forming a bind rune.

To understand working of Bluetooth let’s consider an example of mobile handset which have Bluetooth feature. The devices use a radio communications system, with a short range transmission (power-class-dependent: 1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters) based on low-cost transceiver microchips in each device. Bluetooth lets these devices communicate with each other when they are in range and take care of simultaneously data and voice transmission between them. In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with certain Bluetooth profiles.

A personal computer must have a Bluetooth dongle in order to be able to communicate with other Bluetooth devices such as mobile phones, mice and keyboard etc. While some portable computers and fewer desktop computers already contain an internal Bluetooth dongle. Those don’t have internal dongle require an external USB Bluetooth dongle. Multiple Bluetooth devices can communicate with a computer over a single dongle.

enables Bluetooth information points. This will drive the adoption of Bluetooth into cell phones, and enable advertising models based around users pulling information from the information points, and not based around the intrusive object push model that is used in a limited way today.

enables the automatic configuration of the piconet topologies especially in scatternet situations that are becoming more common today. This should all be invisible to the users of the technology, while also making the technology just work.

enables the use of alternative MAC and PHY's for transporting Bluetooth profile data. The Bluetooth Radio will still be used for device discovery, initial connection and profile configuration, however when lots of data needs to be sent, the high speed alternate MAC PHY's will be used to transport the data. This means that the proven low power connection models of Bluetooth are used when the system is idle, and the low power per bit radios are used when lots of data needs to be sent.

enable audio and video data to be transmitted at a higher quality, especially when best effort traffic is being transmitted in the same piconet.

Bluetooth technology already plays a part in the rising Voice over IP (VOIP) scene, with Bluetooth headsets being used as wireless extensions to the PC audio system. As VOIP becomes more popular, and more suitable for general home or office users than wired phone lines, Bluetooth may be used in cordless handsets, with a base station connected to the Internet link.

The next version of Bluetooth after v2.1 code-named Seattle, that will be called Bluetooth 3.0, has many of the same features, but is most notable for plans to adopt ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology. This will allow Bluetooth use over UWB radio, enabling very fast data transfers of up to 480 Mbit/sec, synchronizations, and file pushes, while building on the very low-power idle modes of Bluetooth. The combination of a radio using little power when no data is transmitted and a high data rate radio to transmit bulk data could be the start of software radios. Bluetooth, given its world-wide regulatory approval, low-power operation, and robust data transmission capabilities, provides an excellent signaling channel to enable the soft radio concept.

On 28 March 2006, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group announced its selection of the WiMedia Alliance Multi-Band Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) version of UWB for integration with current Bluetooth wireless technology.

UWB integration will create a version of Bluetooth wireless technology with a high-speed/high-data-rate option. This new version of Bluetooth technology will meet the high-speed demands of synchronizing and transferring large amounts of data, as well as enabling high-quality video and audio applications for portable devices, multi-media projectors and television sets, and wireless VOIP.

At the same time, Bluetooth technology will continue catering to the needs of very low power applications such as mice, keyboards, and mono headsets, enabling devices to select the most appropriate physical radio for the application requirements, thereby offering the best of both worlds.

The Bluetooth SIG has also announced that they are looking to include Ultra Low Power use cases into Bluetooth, enabling a whole new set of use cases. This includes watches displaying Caller ID information, sports sensors monitoring your heart rate during exercise, as well as medical devices. The Medical Devices Working Group is also creating a medical devices profile and associated protocols to enable this market.

The Draft High Speed Bluetooth Specification is available at the Bluetooth website.

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