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3.

Protocol stack
The complete Bluetooth protocol stack is show in the figure below. The radio
frequency of Bluetooth
operates at 2.4 GHz, in an unlicensed ISM band.
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3.1 Base-band Layer
The Base-band and Link Control Layer enables the physical link between other units
of Bluetooth by
forming a piconet. The Base-band layer do the synchronization and issue related to
frequency hopping
sequence [6]. This layer also has two link types� names Synchronous Connection
Oriented (SCO) and
Asynchronous Connectionless (ACL). The SCO link used for audio and ACL links are
used for data only.
3.2 Link Manager Protocol
The link manager protocol is responsible for link establishment between Bluetooth
units. This protocol is
used to control and negotiation of data packet sizes during data transmission [6].
This protocol also deals
with the power related issues regarding power consumption. It also deals with
controlling of links and
issues regarding security i.e. encryption keys for authentication and encryption
and decryption.
3.3 HCI (Host Controller Interface)
It is an interface method used to access the Bluetooth hardware as shown in the
figure. It has a command
interface to the Base-band controller and link manager and method used to access
hardware status.
3.4 L2CAP (Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol)
It provides some connection oriented and connectionless services to upper layers of
the protocol stack.
Issues regarding multiplexing, segmentation and reassembly and QoS etc.
3.5 RFCOMM
This is a serial port emulation protocol which uses the serial port only for
application. This protocol
emulates RS-232 control and data signals over the Base-band layer. Transporting
services to upper layer is
also done by this layer [6].
3.6 SDP (Service Discovery Protocol)
This protocol defines how a client can search for any application or service
without any knowledge about
that particular service or application. This protocol provides a mechanism to
discover new service
becoming available when client finding a Bluetooth server. This protocol is also
used for detecting a
service which is no longer available [9].
3.7 TCS Binary (Telephony Control-Binary)
It is bit oriented protocol. It handles the issues regarding the speech and data
calls between Bluetooth units.
It also handles the signaling information not relevant to ongoing calls.
3.8 PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol)
It is packet oriented protocol used for packet data stream. PPP runs over the
RFCOMM to establish point to
point connections.
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3.9 UDP/TCP/IP
These standard protocols allow the Bluetooth units to communicate with rest of the
units of Bluetooth
connected to it. �Bluetooth unit can act as a bridge in internet scenario. The
TCP/IP/PPP protocol
configuration is used for internet bridge usage scenarios in Bluetooth 1.0 and OBEX
in future versions�.
Bluetooth supports many AT commands for transmitting control signals for telephony
control through the
serial ports based on RFCOMM [6].
Base-band
Link Manager
Audio L2CAP
TCS RFCOMM SDP
ATCom OBEX
UDP/TCP/IP
PPP
Application
Radio Layer
Transport
protocol
Group
Host Controller
Interface
Transport
protocol
Group
Application Group
Figure. 6: Bluetooth protocol Stack
4. Frame Format
The Bluetooth packet contains the following format [1]. Basically it has 3 parts
including access code,
header and payload. The frame format shown in the figure 5.
4.1 Access Code
It contains 72 bits. It normally contains synchronous bits and an identifier to
separate the frames of one
piconet to another.
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Figure. 6: Packet header format
4.2 Header
Header is actually 18 bits but it repeats three times. Header contains the
following set of fields, address,
type, F, A, S and HEC (Header error correction).
Address (ADD): It can define up to 7 slaves. If the address is 0, then it is
broadcast from primary to all
slaves in a piconet.
Type: It defines the type of data coming from upper layers.
F: A one bit field is used for flow control.
A: Also one bit field used for Acknowledgment.
S: It is also one bit field used for sequence number.
HEC: header error correction is an eight bit field used for checksum to detect
errors in each 18 bit header
section.
4.3 Payload:
This area of the frame contains the data/control information coming from upper
layer of protocol stacks.
5. Bluetooth Profiles
Basically profiles are behaviors through which Bluetooth devices communicate to
each other. Connecting
one or more devices to each other, Bluetooth must support some Bluetooth profiles.
Profiles define the
possible application and shows how this technology is to be used for each specific
device. For example,
the file transfer profile is used to define the file transfer between a Bluetooth
enabled PDA device to
another devices like cell phone, laptops etc. at the development stage the
manufacturer assigns some
specific Bluetooth profiles for that particular device [11]. When a Bluetooth
device communicate with
other device, then it is necessary for both the devices to use and share at least
one of the same Bluetooth
profiles.
For example if one can use the Bluetooth enabled headset with Bluetooth enabled
cell phone, then both the
devices must use the headset profile. The HS (head set) profile shows how headsets
and cell phones use
Bluetooth technology to connect to one another. Every Bluetooth profile contains
information on the
following issues,
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? Dependencies on other profiles.
? Recommended user interface formats.
? Particular part of the protocol stack used by the profile.
Many Bluetooth devices have few profiles i.e. a Bluetooth headset will only use the
headset profile (HS)
but not using any other like LAN access profile [11].
Currently there are 25 Bluetooth profiles are available and they all are in use.
The SIG continue working on
the development of new Bluetooth profiles. If we have a Bluetooth enabled printer
for basic printing and
has printing profile. But if we have a PDA with this technology, things may be more
complicated. A
Bluetooth enabled PDA has many profiles such as Synchronization Profile, LAN Access
Profile, File
Transfer Profile and many others.
5.1 Some available Bluetooth profile
All Bluetooth devices have a common profile named �foundation Profile� upon which
all other profiles are
dependent. It is also called Generic Access Profile (GAP). It is used for detecting
other Bluetooth devices,
and link management issues. It also addresses the security aspects [11].
Some commonly used Bluetooth profiles are listed below,
Generic Access Profile (GAP)
Service Discovery Application Profile (SDAP)
Cordless Telephony Profile (CTP)
Intercom Profile (ICP)
Serial Port profile (SPP)
Headset Profile (HSP)
Dialup Networking Profile (DUN)
Fax Profile (FAX)
Generic Object Exchange Profile (GOEP)
Object Push Profile (OPP)
File Transfer Profile (FTP)
Synchronization Profile (SP)
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References
[1] McDermott-Wells, P, �What is Bluetooth?� Potentials, IEEE Volume 23, Issue 5,
Dec 2004-Jan 2005
Page(s):33 � 35, Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MP.2005.1368913
[2] Rashid, R.A.; Yusoff, R, �Bluetooth Performance Analysis in Personal Area
Network (PAN)� RF and
Microwave Conference, 2006. RFM 2006. International
12-14 Sept. 2006 Page(s):393 - 397 Digital Object Identifier
10.1109/RFM.2006.331112
[3] OConnor, Terrence; Reeves, Douglas, �Bluetooth Network-Based Misuse Detection�,
Computer Security Applications Conference, 2008. ACSAC 2008. Annual 8-12 Dec. 2008
Page(s):377 �
391. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACSAC.2008.39
[4] Bayaki, E.; Lampe, L.; Schober, R, �Performance Evaluation of Bluetooth Systems
With LDI, Modified
LDI, and NSD Receivers� Vehicular Technology, IEEE transactions on Volume 57, Issue
1, Jan. 2008
Page(s):157 - 168 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TVT.2007.905613
[5] Chakrabarti, S.; Liyun Wu; Son Vuong; Leung, V.C.M, �A remotely controlled
Bluetooth enabled
environment� Consumer Communications and Networking Conference, 2004. CCNC 2004.
First IEEE 5-8
Jan. 2004 Page(s):77 - 81 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/CCNC.2004.1286836
[6] Yabin Liu; Shouqian Yu; Weihai Chen; Wei Li, �Wireless Communication Technology
Based on
Bluetooth and Its Application to a Manipulator� Industrial Informatics, 2006 IEEE
International
Conference on 16-18 Aug. 2006 Page(s):1251 - 1256 Digital Object Identifier
10.1109/INDIN.2006.275819
[7] McDermott-Wells, P, �Bluetooth Scatternet models� Potentials, IEEE Volume 23,
Issue 5, Dec 2004-
Jan 2005 Page(s):36 - 39 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MP.2005.1368914
[8] Chorng-Horng Yang; Yen-Chun Chin, �An Efficient Reformation Approach for
Survivable Bluetooth
Piconets with Master Mobility�, TENCON 2006. 2006 IEEE Region 10 Conference 14-17
Nov. 2006
Page(s):1 - 4 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TENCON.2006.344009
[9] F. Zhu, M. Mutka, and L. Ni, "Splendor: A Secure, Private, and Location-aware
Service Discovery
Protocol Supporting Mobile Services", Presented at 1st IEEE Annual Conference on
Pervasive Computing
and Communications, Fort Worth, Texas, 2003.
[10] Colleen Rhodes, �Bluetooth Security�, East Carolina University.
[11] www.bluetomorrow.com
[12] Behrouz A Frouzan, �Data communication and Networking� from Book

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