Bluetooth Technology and Its Operation
Bluetooth technology is a wireless protocol employing short-range communications technology to enable the transmission of data over distances no greater than 100 meters between both fixed and portable devices on a wireless network. With little administrative overhead required, the personal area network (PAN) that Bluetooth technology creates can mimic the communications on a local area network (LAN) without the need for wires and physical connectivity. In this sense, it is similar to infrared. However, it lacks infrared's requirement for line of sight positioning among the devices on a network.
The prototype circuitry of Bluetooth is housed on a square of nine millimeters. Smaller circuit boards are being developed.
Bluetooth technology enabled devices automatically exchange addresses with each other once they come into range of each other. They will also specify their capabilities. Whatever purposes and functionality they share can then be exploited through a 1 MB secure link. Bluetooth has a flexible topography. The protocols of Bluetooth technology can control both voice and data.
Data transfer and communication between devices is achieved through short range transceivers, tiny in size and low in cost. They are inserted into Bluetooth compatible devices. A radio frequency of 2.45 GHz, set aside by international agreement for devices of an medical, scientific, and industrial nature, is used by Bluetooth technology. With up to 721 KBps and three voice channels (each supporting 64 KB), Bluetooth technology allows for many applications in its use.
Each Bluetooth device has its own unique 48 bit address from the IEEE 802 standard, with its connections being either multipoint or point to point. A maximum range of 10 meters can be increased to 100 meters by a simple increase in power. The devices provide protection from radio interference by a process known as frequency hopping, whereby their frequencies are changed.
Bluetooth specifications target low power consumption as a key condition, and its devices are therefore not drained in terms of battery when using Bluetooth technology. The radio chip consumes just 0.3mA in standby mode. To put that in perspective, a standard cellular phone uses twenty times more power.
The baseband protocol of Bluetooth technology has a number of features:
-It is a combination of circuit and packet switches
-Synchronous packets can be used too, with slots reserved for them if required
-Transmission of each packet takes place in a different hop frequency
-A single slot is normally covered by a packet, although each packet can be extended to cover a maximum of five slots.
With its frequency hopping, hackers will find it difficult to break into and remain on a Bluetooth technology network. Moreover, security is further enhanced with 128 bit key user authentication. Radio signals have the capacity to be encoded with a maximum of 128 bits.
