 - Bluetooth is a telecommunications industry specification that describes how mobile phones, computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) can be easily interconnected using a short-range wireless connection. Using this technology, users of cellular phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants can buy a three-in-one phone that can double as a portable phone at home or in the office, get quickly synchronized with information in a desktop or notebook computer, initiate the sending or receiving of a fax, initiate a print-out, and, in general, have all mobile and fixed computer devices be totally coordinated.
Bluetooth requires that a low-cost transceiver chip be included in each device. The tranceiver 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.
The technology got its unusual name in honor of Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark in the mid-tenth century.
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Getting started with bluetooth |
| To explore how bluetooth is used in the enterprise, here is an additional resource: |
| Bluetooth overview: discover how it's used and where it fits into the world of wireless. |
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Learn more about Bluetooth |
| Bluetooth overview: Bluetooth overview -- discover how it's used and where it fits into the world of wireless. |
| A Bluetooth update: Discover the real beauty of Bluetooth -- the rich set of capabilities and applications defined at higher levels of the Bluetooth protocol stack. |
| Nokia's Wibree vs. Bluetooth as PAN of choice: John Shepler explains Wibree, Nokia's new Personal Area Network initiative. |
| "Mobile Computing," Chapter 4: Emerging technologies: This chapter covers Bluetooth, RFID, WiMax-802.16, Mobile IP, IPv6 and Java Card. |
| Wireless Hacks, 2nd Edition: Hack 2 -- Set up Bluetooth on Windows XP: The Bluetooth wireless standard gets computers and gadgets talking to each other. This chapter from "Wireless Hacks, 2nd Edition" shows how to set it up on Windows XP. |
| Wireless Hacks, 2nd Edition: Hack 1 -- Set up Bluetooth on Linux: Linux kernels from 2.6 onward have easy-to-use tools for Bluetooth. Hack 1 shows you how to set up BlueZ stack, the officially supported way to use Bluetooth in Linux. |
| Step-by-Step Guide: Five Bluetooth security basics: Learn how to protect your network from Bluetooth threats with these five steps for securing Bluetooth devices in the enterprise. |
| CONTRIBUTORS: |
Keith Flint, Kim Karvinen, Lawrence McKnight, and David Tee |
| LAST UPDATED: |
17 Oct 2008
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