Bluetooth

Introduction:

Bluetooth is a wireless protocol utilizing short-range communications technology

facilitating data transmission over short distances from fixed and/or mobile devices,
creating wireless personal area networks (PANs). The intent behind the development of
Bluetooth was the creation of a single digital wireless protocol, capable of connecting
multiple devices and overcoming issues arising from synchronization of these devices.
Bluetooth uses a very robust radio technology called frequency hopping spread spectrum.
It chops up the data being sent and transmits chunks of it on up to 75 different
frequencies. In its basic mode, the modulation is Gaussian frequency shift keying
(GFSK). It can achieve a gross data rate of 1 Mb/s. Bluetooth provides a way to connect
and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, telephones, laptops,
personal computers, printers, GPS receivers, digital cameras, and video game consoles
over a secure, globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz
short-range radio frequency bandwidth. The Bluetooth specifications are developed and
licensed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The Bluetooth SIG consists of
companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, and consumer
electronics.

Bluetooth is a standard and communications protocol primarily designed for low power
consumption, with a short range (power-class-dependent: 1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters)
based on low-cost transceiver microchips in each device. Bluetooth enables these devices
to communicate with each other when they are in range. The devices use a radio
communications system, so they do not have to be in line of sight of each other, and can
even be in other rooms, as long as the received transmission is powerful enough.
Bluetooth device class indicates the type of device and the supported services of which
the information is transmitted during the discovery process.
 Maximum Permitted Power Range
Class
mW(dBm) (approximate)

Class 1 100 mW (20 dBm) ~100 meters

Class 2 2.5 mW (4 dBm) ~10 meters

Class 3 1 mW (0 dBm) ~1 meter

In most cases the effective range of class 2 devices is extended if they connect to a class 1
transceiver, compared to pure class 2 network. This is accomplished by the higher
sensitivity and transmission power of Class 1 devices.

Version Data Rate

Version 1.2 1 Mbit/s

Version 2.0 + EDR 3 Mbit/s

WiMedia Alliance
53 - 480 Mbit/s
(proposed)

Bluetooth profiles:

In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with certain Bluetooth

profiles. These define the possible applications and uses of the technology.

Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi in networking:

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have different applications in today's offices, homes, and on the
move: setting up networks, printing, or transferring presentations and files from PDAs to
computers. Both are versions of unlicensed wireless technology. Wi-fi differs from
bluetooth in that it provides higher throughput and covers greater distances, but requires
more expensive hardware and may present higher power consumption. They use the same
frequency range, but employ different modulation techniques. While Bluetooth is a
replacement for cabling in a variety of small-scale applications, Wi-Fi is a replacement
for cabling for general local area network access. Bluetooth can be taken as replacement
for USB or any other serial cable link, whereas Wi-Fi is wireless Ethernet
communications according to the protocol architectures of IEEE 802.3 with TCP/IP. Both
standards are operating at a specified bandwidth not identical with that of other
networking standards; the mechanical plug compatibility problem known with cables is
replaced by the compatibility requirement for an air interface and a protocol stack.

Bluetooth devices:

Bluetooth exists in many products, such as telephones, printers, modems and headsets.
The technology is useful when transferring information between two or more devices that
are near each other in low-bandwidth situations. Bluetooth is commonly used to transfer
sound data with telephones (i.e. with a Bluetooth headset) or byte data with hand-held
computers (transferring files).

Bluetooth protocols simplify the discovery and setup of services between devices.
Bluetooth devices can advertise all of the services they provide. This makes using
services easier because more of the security, network address and permission
configuration can be automated than with many other network types.

Operating system support:

Apple has supported Bluetooth since Mac OS X v10.2 which was released in 2002. For
Microsoft platforms, Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later releases have native support
for Bluetooth. Linux has two popular Bluetooth stacks, BlueZ and Affix. The BlueZ stack
is included with most Linux kernels and it was originally developed by Qualcomm. The
Affix stack was developed by Nokia. FreeBSD features Bluetooth support since its 5.0
release. NetBSD features Bluetooth support since its 4.0 release. Its Bluetooth stack has
been ported to OpenBSD as well.

Mobile Phone requirements:

A mobile phone that is Bluetooth enabled is able to pair with many devices. To ensure
the broadest support of feature functionality together with legacy device support. The
OMTP forum has recently published a recommendations paper, entitled "Bluetooth Local
Connectivity", see external links below to download this paper.

This publication recommends two classes, Basic and Advanced, with requirements that
cover imaging, printing, stereo audio and in car useage.

Bluetooth 1.0 and 1.0B:

Versions 1.0 and 1.0B had many problems, and manufacturers had difficulty making their
products interoperable. Versions 1.0 and 1.0B also included mandatory Bluetooth
hardware device address (BD_ADDR) transmission in the Connecting process (rendering
anonymity impossible at the protocol level), which was a major setback for certain
services planned for use in Bluetooth environments.

Bluetooth 1.1:

 Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2002.

 Many errors found in the 1.0B specifications were fixed.
 Added support for non-encrypted channels.
 Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI).

Bluetooth 1.2:

This version is backward-compatible with 1.1 and the major enhancements include the
following:

 Faster Connection and Discovery

  Adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (AFH), which improves resistance
to radio frequency interference by avoiding the use of crowded frequencies in the
hopping sequence.
 Higher transmission speeds in practice, up to 721 kbit/s, as in 1.1.
 Extended Synchronous Connections (eSCO), which improve voice quality of
audio links by allowing retransmissions of corrupted packets, and may optionally
increase audio latency to provide better support for concurrent data transfer.
 Host Controller Interface (HCI) support for three-wire UART.
 Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2005.

Bluetooth 2.0:

This version of the Bluetooth specification was released on November 10, 2004. It is
backward-compatible with the previous version 1.1. The main difference is the
introduction of an Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) for faster data transfer. The nominal rate
of EDR is about 3 megabits per second, although the practical data transfer rate is 2.1
megabits per second. The additional throughput is obtained by using a different radio
technology for transmission of the data. Standard, or Basic Rate, transmission uses
Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK) modulation of the radio signal; EDR uses a
combination of GFSK and Phase Shift Keying (PSK) modulation.

According to the 2.0 specification, EDR provides the following benefits:

 Three times faster transmission speed — up to 10 times (2.1 Mbit/s) in some

cases.
 Reduced complexity of multiple simultaneous connections due to additional
bandwidth.
 Lower power consumption through a reduced duty cycle.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) published the specification as "Bluetooth 2.0
+ EDR" which implies that EDR is an optional feature. Aside from EDR, there are other
minor improvements to the 2.0 specification, and products may claim compliance to
"Bluetooth 2.0" without supporting the higher data rate. At least one commercial device,
the HTC TyTN pocket PC phone, states "Bluetooth 2.0 without EDR" on its data sheet.

Bluetooth 2.1:

Bluetooth Core Specification Version 2.1 is fully backward-compatible with 1.1, and was
adopted by the Bluetooth SIG on July 26, 2007. This specification includes the following
features:

 Extended inquiry response: provides more information during the inquiry

procedure to allow better filtering of devices before connection. This information
includes the name of the device, a list of services the device supports, as well as
other information like the time of day, and pairing information.

 Sniff subrating: reduces the power consumption when devices are in the sniff
low-power mode, especially on links with asymmetric data flows. Human
interface devices (HID) are expected to benefit the most, with mouse and
keyboard devices increasing the battery life by a factor of 3 to 10. It lets devices
decide how long they will wait before sending keep alive messages to one
another. Previous Bluetooth implementations featured keep alive message
frequencies of up to several times per second. In contrast, the 2.1 specification
allows pairs of devices to negotiate this value between them to as infrequently as
once every 5 or 10 seconds.

 Encryption Pause Resume: enables an encryption key to be refreshed, enabling

much stronger encryption for connections that stay up for longer than 23.3 hours
(one Bluetooth day).

 Secure Simple Pairing: radically improves the pairing experience for Bluetooth
devices, while increasing the use and strength of security. It is expected that this
feature will significantly increase the use of Bluetooth.
 Near Field Communication (NFC) cooperation: automatic creation of secure
Bluetooth connections when NFC radio interface is also available. This
 functionality is part of the Secure Simple Pairing where NFC is one way of
exchanging pairing information. For example, a headset should be paired with a
Bluetooth 2.1 phone including NFC just by bringing the two devices close to each
other (a few centimeters). Another example is automatic uploading of photos from
a mobile phone or camera to a digital picture frame just by bringing the phone or
camera close to the frame.

High-speed Bluetooth:

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 mouse, keyboards, and mono headsets, enabling devices to
select the most appropriate physical radio for the application requirements, thereby
offering the best of both worlds.

Bluetooth 3.0:

The next version of Bluetooth after v2.1, code-named Seattle (the version number of
which is TBD) 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/s, while building on the very low-
power idle modes of Bluetooth.
Core protocols:

“Bluetooth is defined as a layer protocol architecture consisting of core protocols, cable

replacement protocols, telephony control protocols, and adopted protocols”. Bluetooth’s
core protocols form a five-layer stack, consisting of the following:

Bluetooth Radio – specifics details of the air interface, including frequency, frequency
hopping, modulation scheme, and transmission power.

Baseband – concerned with connection establishment within a piconet, addressing,

packet format, timing, and power control.

Link Manager Protocol (LMP) – Establishes the link setup between Bluetooth devices
and manages ongoing links, including security aspects (e.g. authentication and
encryption), and control and negotiation of baseband packet size

Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol (L2CAP) – adapts the upper-layer
protocols to the baseband layer, providing both connectionless and connection-oriented
services.

Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) – handles device information, services, and queries
for service characteristics between two or more Bluetooth devices.

Cable replacement protocol

Radio frequency communications (RFCOMM) is the cable replacement protocol used to

create a virtual serial port used to make replacement of cable technologies transparent
through minimal modification of existing devices. RFCOMM provides for binary data
transport and emulates EIA-232 (formerly RS-232) control signals over the Bluetooth
baseband layer.

Telephony control protocol

Telephony control protocol-binary (TCS BIN) is the bit-oriented protocol that defines the
call control signaling for the establishment of voice and data calls between Bluetooth
devices. Additionally, “TCS BIN defines mobility management procedures for handling
groups of Bluetooth TCS devices”

Adapted protocols are defined by other standards-making organizations and

incorporated into Bluetooth’s protocol stack., allowing Bluetooth to create protocols only
when necessary. The adopted protocols include:

Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) – Internet standard protocol for transporting IP datagrams

over a point-to-point link

TCP/IP/UDP – Foundation Protocols for TCP/IP protocol suite

Object Exchange Protocol (OBEX) – Session-layer protocol for the exchange of

objects, providing a model for object and operation representation

Wireless Application Environment / Wireless Application Protocol (WAE/WAP) –

WAE specifies an application framework for wireless devices and WAP is an open
standard to provide mobile users access to telephony and information services.

Communication and connection:

A master Bluetooth device can communicate with up to seven devices. This network
group of up to eight devices is called a piconet.

A piconet is an ad-hoc computer network, using Bluetooth technology protocols to allow

one master device to interconnect with up to seven active devices. Up to 255 further
devices can be inactive, or parked, which the master device can bring into active status at
any time.

At any given time, data can be transferred between the master and one other device,
however, the devices can switch roles and the slave can become the master at any time.
The master switches rapidly from one device to another in a round-robin fashion.
(Simultaneous transmission from the master to multiple other devices is possible, but not
used much.)
Bluetooth specification allows connecting two or more piconets together to form a
scatternet, with some devices acting as a bridge by simultaneously playing the master role
and the slave role in one piconet.

Many USB Bluetooth adapters are available, some of which also include an IrDA
adapter. Older (pre-2003) Bluetooth adapters, however, have limited services, offering
only the Bluetooth Enumerator and a less-powerful Bluetooth Radio incarnation. Such
devices can link computers with Bluetooth, but they do not offer much in the way of
services that modern adapters do.

Setting up connections:

Any Bluetooth device will transmit the following information on demand:

 Device name.
 Device class.
 List of services.
 Technical information, for example, device features, manufacturer, Bluetooth
specification used, clock offset.

Any device may perform an inquiry to find other devices to connect to, and any device
can be configured to respond to such inquiries. However, if the device trying to connect
knows the address of the device, it always responds to direct connection requests and
transmits the information shown in the list above if requested. Use of device services may
require pairing or acceptance by its owner, but the connection itself can be initiated by
any device and held until it goes out of range. Some devices can be connected to only one
device at a time, and connecting to them prevents them from connecting to other devices
and appearing in inquiries until they disconnect from the other device.

Every device has a unique 48-bit address. However these addresses are generally not
shown in inquiries. Instead, friendly Bluetooth names are used, which can be set by the
user. This name appears when another user scans for devices and in lists of paired
devices.
Most phones have the Bluetooth name set to the manufacturer and model of the phone by
default. Most phones and laptops show only the Bluetooth names and special programs
that are required to get additional information about remote devices. This can be
confusing as, for example, there could be several phones in range named T610 (see
Bluejacking).

Pairing:

Pairs of devices may establish a trusted relationship by learning (by user input) a shared
secret known as a passkey. A device that wants to communicate only with a trusted
device can cryptographically authenticate the identity of the other device. Trusted devices
may also encrypt the data that they exchange over the airwaves so that no one can listen
in. The encryption can, however, be turned off, and passkeys are stored on the device file
system, not on the Bluetooth chip itself. Since the Bluetooth address is permanent, a
pairing is preserved, even if the Bluetooth name is changed. Pairs can be deleted at any
time by either device. Devices generally require pairing or prompt the owner before they
allow a remote device to use any or most of their services. Some devices, such as mobile
phones, usually accept OBEX business cards and notes without any pairing or prompts.

Certain printers and access points allow any device to use its services by default, much
like unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Pairing algorithms are sometimes manufacturer-specific
for transmitters and receivers used in applications such as music and entertainment.

Bluetooth 2.1 has an optional "touch-to-pair" feature based on NFC. By simply bringing
two devices into close range (around 10cm), pairing can securely take place without
entering a passkey or manual configuration.

Air interface:

The protocol operates in the license-free ISM band at 2.4-2.4835 GHz. To avoid

interfering with other protocols that use the 2.45 GHz band, the Bluetooth protocol
divides the band into 79 channels (each 1 MHz wide) and changes channels up to 1600
times per second. Implementations with versions 1.1 and 1.2 reach speeds of 723.1 kbit/s.
Version 2.0 implementations feature Bluetooth Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) and reach
2.1 Mbit/s. Technically, version 2.0 devices have a higher power consumption, but the
three times faster rate reduces the transmission times, effectively reducing power
consumption to half that of 1.x devices (assuming equal traffic load).

Blue Tooth We Use:

Parani-ESD100/110/200/210:

Features:

1) Output Interface UART, Compliant Bluetooth stack v1.2-improved AFH

(Adaptive Frequency Hoping), Fast connection

2) Transmit Power - ESD100/110: Max. +18dBm ESD200/210: Max. +4dBm

3) Receiving Sensitivity - ESD100/110: -88dBm (0.1%BER) ESD200/210: -80dBm

(0.1%BER)

4) Antenna gain - Chip: 0dBi, Stub: +2dBi, Dipole: +3dBi, Patch: +9dBi

5) Compact size - ESD100:27.5 x 30 x 14(mm)

ESD110: 27.5 x 27.7 x 14(mm)
ESD200/210:18 x 20 x 11.7 (mm)
6) Provides transparent RS232 serial cable replacement.

7) Supports Bluetooth Serial Port Profile.

8) Interoperability with PDA, laptops etc.
9) Built-in chip antenna included
10) Supports firmware upgrade via windows-based
Software (Parani Updater)
11) Working distance ( In an open field ):
Parani-ESD100: Class 1, Nom. 100 meters
Parani-ESD110: Class 1, Nom. 100 meters, up to 1000m using
patch antenna
Parani-ESD200: Class 2, Nom. 30meters
Parani-ESD210: Class 2, Nom. 30meters, up to 300m using patch
antenna

12) Easy to use Windows configuration tool available.

Parani-ESD Series is OEM Bluetooth-Serial Module type product line based on

Bluetooth technology. Parani-ESD Series is designed for integration into user devices by
on-board installation. They are connected to the device via built-in UART interface and
communicate with other Bluetooth device.

Parani-ESD Series enables RS232-based serial devices to communicate wirelessly

throughout the range of 30m ~300m (Parani- ESD210-Class 2) or 100m ~ 1000m
(Parani-ESD110-Class 1). Parani-ESD100/200 has a built-in on-board antenna and
Parani- ESD110/210 has an antenna connector for connecting external antenna. Users can
extend Bluetooth communication range by connecting the external antenna to antenna
connector.

Users may configure the Parani-ESD Series by using easy-to-use Windows-based utility
software or by using standard AT command set.

Typical application areas of the Parani-ESD Series include:

 RS232 cable replacement

 Wireless Factory monitoring
 Truck/Bus monitoring system
 PLC programming
 Car Diagnostics
 Wireless Printing
 Wireless POS system
 Wireless logistics
 Wireless machine (healthcare/industrial) monitoring
List of applications:

 Wireless control of and communication between a mobile phone and a hands-free

headset. This was one of the earliest applications to become popular.
 Wireless networking between PCs in a confined space and where little bandwidth is
required.
 Wireless communications with PC input and output devices, the most common being
the mouse, keyboard and printer.
 Transfer of files between devices with OBEX.
 Transfer of contact details, calendar appointments, and reminders between devices
with OBEX.
 Replacement of traditional wired serial communications in test equipment, GPS
receivers, medical equipment, bar code scanners, and traffic control devices.
 For controls where infrared was traditionally used.
 Sending small advertisements from Bluetooth enabled advertising hoardings to other,
discoverable, Bluetooth devices.
 Two seventh-generation game consoles, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 use
Bluetooth for their respective wireless controllers.
 Dial-up internet access on personal computer or PDA using a data-capable mobile
phone as a modem.

Specifications :

Future of Bluetooth:

 Broadcast Channel: enables Bluetooth information points. This will drive the
adoption of Bluetooth into mobile phones, and enable advertising models based
around users pulling information from the information points, and not based
around the object push model that is used in a limited way today.
 Topology Management: 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.

 Alternate MAC PHY: 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.

 QoS improvements: enable audio and video data to be transmitted at a higher

quality, especially when best effort traffic is being transmitted in the same
piconet.