Bluetooth Technology

What is Bluetooth?

Bluetooth technology is a type of the wireless technology that eliminates the need for the number of inconvenient cables and devices that are used to connect the computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, handheld devices and new digital appliances. Bluetooth enables the users to connect to a wide variety of telecommunication and computing devices easily, without cables.

It makes rapid ad hoc connections, automatic unconscious connections between two or more digital devices. Bluetooth provides the opportunity of using the mobile data in different applications. Bluetooth makes wireless communication between the two devices in a localized area of a room of office or home very easily. Bluetooth technology uses radio-based links and all the connections between the devices and invisible and instantaneous.

By Bluetooth technology your laptop can send print request to a printer in your next room. Bluetooth is actually a standard for wireless communication between the devices in a relatively small area and it is therefore works fine in the personal area network (PAN) using radio frequency.

Any two devices that follow the Bluetooth standard can communicate with each other. A number of the Bluetooth devices like digital camera, mobile phone and handheld pc can form a network. You can send emails to your mobile phones from your laptop without any physical connect between your laptop and your mobile phones.

Features of Bluetooth technology

• Bluetooth technology uses radio waves for communication in 2.4 GHz

• It supports multipoint communication not just point to point.

• Bluetooth works in a small area of 10-15 meters.

• Bluetooth offers speed of 1-2 Mbps.

• Bluetooth chipsets are less expensive though more expensive than IrDA.

How Bluetooth Technology Works

Bluetooth is a high speed wireless link technology that uses the radio waves. It is designed to connect the mobile phones, laptops, hand held devices and portable equipments with almost no work by the end users. Unlike infrared Bluetooth does not require line of sight between the connecting units. Bluetooth technology is a modified form of the current Wireless LAN technology and it’s more acceptable for its relative small size and low cost.

The current circuits are contained on a circuit board of 0.9 cm square and a much smaller single chip version is in development and soon it will be in use. The cost of the Bluetooth device is expected to fall rapidly. Bluetooth chip has to be equipped in many devices. In Bluetooth technology, small and inexpensive transceivers have been placed in the digital devices. The radio waves operate at 2.45 Ghz band on the Bluetooth devices. Bluetooth supports the data speed up to 721 Kbps and 3 voice channels. The Bluetooth chip can either be built into the devices or it can be uses as an adapter. In computer it can be used with the USB port. Each Bluetooth device has a 48 bit address from the IEEE 802 standards and the Bluetooth connections can be either point to point or multipoint. Bluetooth range is 10 meter but it can be extended up to 100 meters by increasing the power.

Bluetooth devices are protected from the external interference because they change their frequency up to 1600 times in a second. Bluetooth radio technology provides the bridge between the existing data network. Bluetooth guarantees security at the bit level and the authentication is controlled by the end user by using 128 bit key. An important face of the Bluetooth technology is that it instantly forms a network when two or more devices come closer in the range of each other.

Bluetooth Technology Benefits

Bluetooth technology is a convenient choice of communication in a wire free, short range environment. Bluetooth is a globally available standard for connecting the devices like mobile phones, digital cameras, laptops, MP3 Players, cars, stereo headsets etc. Bluetooth enable devices do not need to install any drivers. The key benefits of the Bluetooth wireless technology are its built-in-security, low cost, easy of use, robustness, and ad hoc networking capabilities.

The Bluetooth wireless technology is available globally. Many manufactures from the different companies are busy to implement the technology in their products. Bluetooth technology operates in the 2.4 Ghz, one of the unlicensed, industrial and scientific radio band. Bluetooth technology is a free of charge service but your mobile phones set should support the GSM and CDMA technology.

Today mobile phones have built in capabilities and Bluetooth functionalities in them. Bluetooth technology is available in the different range of the devices like mobile phones, automobiles, medical devices, industries and enterprises etc.

Due to the key features of the Bluetooth technology like low power consumption, low cost and wireless features make it more popular. Bluetooth technology does not require any fixed infrastructure and it is very simple to install and setup.

No wires are required to connect the Bluetooth devices. You can connect to other Bluetooth enabled devices anytime if they come in your range. Bluetooth wireless technology is widely supported and is secure wireless standard today. Bluetooth devices has built-in security features such as 128 bit encryption and pin code authentication when Bluetooth devices identify themselves they use the pin code when they first time connect.

Bushra Bashir

http://www.networktutorials.info

Bluetooth can be defined as a wireless form of communication that enables devices to send and receive communication. It is a global initiative set up by manufacturers such as IBM, Intel, Ericsson, Toshiba and Nokia to create a standard for linking up devices such as mobile phones, mobile PCs, handheld computers and other peripherals. Bluetooth relies on short-range radio technology to allow the wireless connectivity. The key features of Bluetooth are robustness, low power and low cost. Both data and voice transmissions can be handled simultaneously. Examples of innovative solutions which users can perform include printing or faxing capabilities, synchronising PDA, laptop or computer and making or receiving calls from a mobile phone, with many more applications available.

Wifi is short for ‘wireless fidelity’ and is a limited-range wireless networking code which is used in many airports, hotels or other services, who offer public access to Wifi networks, to allow people to log on to the Internet and receive emails whilst on the move. As Wifi is a reasonably fast method of transmitting information in wave form, it is often used in computers and also notebooks. In future, it will become possible to access the Internet from just about anywhere, without the use of any wires. The advantages of using Wifi are that the networks are fairly cheap and straight-forward to set up. Wifi is also quite inconspicuous and can hardly be noticed unless it is being looked for specifically, whilst in a Wifi ‘hotspot.’ For a wireless network to be created, communication is transferred like a two way radio, using radio waves.

Both Bluetooth and Wifi have both been in the news more especially in recent years. Both technologies are relatively new on the market and, with time, a trend may be seen favouring one or the other. As more and more Bluetooth devices become available, most people will own devices for Bluetooth and Wifi. There are several advantages for opting for Bluetooth networking over Wifi and vice-versa. WiFi and Bluetooth are actually very different technologies with very different reasons to exist. The question should not be Bluetooth versus Wifi but more how Bluetooth can work with Wifi.

Advantages of Bluetooth

Bluetooth can connect devices from point-to-point and probably better on security than Wifi, as it can cover shorter distances. In addition, Bluetooth offers an optional two levels of password protection. Up to seven devices can be connected at any one time which makes it easier to find and connect the device being searched for, as Bluetooth highlights itself to the other devices. Bluetooth technology is also more ideal for consumer electronics devices as it has a smaller power requirement. Microsoft have also recently announced that Bluetooth support will be built into a future version of windows XP. Another advantage is concerning voice communication. For an office or home environment, Bluetooth can be used in a cordless phone within a 10m range, without the need to be passed around. It is not likely that Wifi technologies will have a required voice-over-IP to support voice communication, within the near future. Bluetooth was also introduced much earlier in the market and is installed in much more user devices and products, in comparison to Wifi products.

Advantages of Wifi

The most prominent advantage which Wifi has over Bluetooth is that Wifi operates at a much faster rate – of about 11mbps, whereas Bluetooth only operates at a much slower rate of around 720kbps. This makes Bluetooth too slow for video transfers or for moving large amounts of large photo images from a digital camera. Wifi is also designed to link up entire networks, rather than computer to computer. Wifi can achieve this too but it is not its real purpose. Originally intended to be used for mobile computing devices, such as laptops, it is now often being used for increasingly more applications, such as Internet access, gaming and basic connectivity for home electronic appliances such as televisions or DVD players. Wi-Fi may be used by cars in highways, as standards rise in development, in support of an Intelligent Transportation System to increase safety, gather statistics, and enable mobile commerce.

Having taking in the advantages of both forms of communication, it can not be said that one is better than the other. The two wireless protocols can be used to perform separate things and it is not essential to opt for one, rather than the other. Bluetooth should be the first choice for when connecting single devices, only when speed is not an issue. It has a short range of approximately 30 to 60 feet and common applications can include sharing printers, syncing PDAs or using a mobile phone as a modem. As time goes by it will be very interesting to see how both Bluetooth and Wifi develop and what new uses they will have and for what devices.