Interesting Points About Bluetooth Technology

In terms of popularity alone, Bluetooth is the best in wireless handheld technology. Because of its popularity, the likelihood of a computer or handheld device being Bluetooth enabled is higher than that of other forms of wireless technology.

Why Bluetooth is So Popular

When being developed, the creators of Bluetooth wanted it to become a standard protocol and technology. They took the steps to guarantee this by using standards in its development:

-Bluetooth technology ensures that at the protocol level, devices can communicate with each other, agreeing on such important matters as when data packets are sent, how many packets of data can be sent at once, and how each device can guarantee that the data sent from one piece of hardware is the same as that received by the other.

-At the physical level, Bluetooth is a radio-frequency standard. This standard was agreed internationally before Bluetooth's development as a frequency on which industrial and medical devices should broadcast. As such, Bluetooth can be used in many territories and countries.

Energy efficiency is important in Bluetooth technology. This is because many of the devices that use Bluetooth technology, such as laptops and cellular phones, are run on batteries. Therefore, Bluetooth uses very little energy when on standby.

Ease of operability is obviously an important factor in any new technology taking hold. Setting up a Bluetooth network therefore requires little by way of administrative overhead. An IT administrator isn't required to connect various pieces of technology to each other.

Bluetooth uses a radio signal that can allow its augmentation with some devices to a range of 100 meters. Unlike infrared, Bluetooth hardware doesn't have to be within site of other Bluetooth hardware in order to communicate, so it can communicate even between rooms and buildings once within the range.

A Foundation Profile Document and a Foundation Core Document comprise Bluetooth's specifications. Its protocol stack consists of core protocols, adapted protocols, and cable protocols. While transmissions operate around the 2.4 to 2.5 GHz frequency band, the data channel changes frequency employing a method known as frequency hops, between 79 allocated channels 1,600 times in a second.

This is to prevent non-Bluetooth technology that uses the same bandwidth from interfering with the signal. It is also a security measure, as it makes it difficult to hack into a Bluetooth network or link. Bluetooth also employs frequency hopping to ensure that independent networking functions efficiently when other devices are in range.

A piconet, comprising a master and as many as seven slaves, is formed when one or more devices form a communication channel. Each channel has a 1MB per second total capacity. The two types of channels used by Bluetooth are ACL (Asynchronous Connectionless) and SCO (Synchronous Connection Oriented). ACL channels are used to send data. SCO channels grounded in real time and are used to carry voice data. A single data packet can contain up to 2,745 bits.