BLUETOOTH COMMUNICATIONS AND
NETWORKING
Bilal Ahmed, Safwan Hamza
ABSTRACT
The Bluetooth wireless technology was
created to solve the problems created
by the cables that were used to connect
the mobiles and similar devices. It
replaces the cables with the high
frequency waves. This technology
allows the simple, low power radio
system to be integrated into the mobile
devices. Bluetooth creates an ad-hoc
network that can communicate
between the devices very quickly and
securely.
Bluetooth is a low cost, low power, radio
frequency technology for short-range
communications. It can be used to replace the
cables connecting portable/fixed electronic
devices, build ad-hoc networks or provide
data/voice access points.
The Bluetooth technology was
developed to be used within a unique
global environment that would not only
enable integration into the host devices
but would also allow the mobile device
to travel easily from one country to
another. In addition, due to the
personal/confidential data contained on
the different types of client devices
(e.g., the mobile computer), the link
formed between these devices needed
to be as secure as the cable it was
replacing.[1]
There are at least three varieties of
IEEE 802.11 standards. Today the
Bluetooth technology is the only
specification for cable replacement.
IEEE organization has recognized the
need for wireless cable replacement
technology and started the
development of the 802.15 working
group. There is much regulatory and
standards work in the area of security,
especially in wireless. The wireless LAN
standard IEEE 802.11b provides a
mechanism for Authentication and
encryption.
In this review paper we will try to
elaborate the Bluetooth architecture, its
network topology, frame format and
finally its security concerns.
INTRODUCTION
Bluetooth is a wireless LAN technology that is
designed to connect devices with different
functionalities such as telephones, cameras,
printers, notebooks e.t.c.a Bluetooth LAN can
even be connected to internet [2].
Wireless world information about new generation
has been enhanced daily in radio frequencies
technologies. This new generation of technologies
covers all aspects of wireless communication i.e.
3G technology is developed to provide high speed
connectivity to WANs. WAN and LAN
technologies enable device connectivity to
infrastructure-based services, but short range
personal wireless connecting technologies also
used through which personal devices can
communicate with each other without establishing
any infrastructure. Bluetooth is also that type of
wireless connecting technology.
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The Bluetooth wireless technology serve as the
low cost, user friendly, air interface that will
replace the cables that people need to carry and
use to connect their personal devices. The primary
focus of the Bluetooth wireless technology is to
provide a flexible cable connector with
reconfigurable pin arrangements permitting
several personal devices to interconnect with each
other. another focus is to use this technology to
provide ad hoc network between several devices
so that they can communicate with each other and
can share data.[3]
The Standard originated with the formation of a
Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) by IBM,
Intel, Nokia and Toshiba developed in 1998. By
2006,560 million Bluetooth devices has been
Predicted by industry-analyst Ovum. ICD predicts
435 million Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones by
2005. [4]
BLUETOOTH LAYERS
ARCHITECTURE
Bluetooth technology architecture has
two basic specifications, core
specifications and profile specifications.
Core specifications describe how
Bluetooth technology works, while the
later discusses how the devices that are
interoperating can use the core
specifications.[5]
As core specifications are directly
related with our topic, and it discusses
that how Bluetooth network is possible.
So we discuss here core specifications.
For networking, we have to consider the
RF layer and the Baseband layer.
The Radio Frequency Layer
The physical layer of Bluetooth that is
also called RF layer is composed of an
antenna with 0db power but this can be
extended to 20db for operational
requirements. The RF layer works
within the limits of ISM band. The radio
uses Frequency Hopping to spread the
energy across the ISM spectrum in 79
hops displaced by 1 MHz, starting at
2.402 GHz and stopping at 2.480 GHz.
This link can communicate within the
range of 10cm to 10m.
Bluetooth hops 1600 times per second, which
means that each device changes its modulation
frequency 1600 times per second. A device uses a
frequency for only 625 Ils (1/1600 s) before it
hops to another frequency; the dwell time is 625
Ils. Bluetooth uses 2.4GHz ISM band because it is
an unlicensed band, and available in most
countries. At this frequency (=12.3cm), a very
small antenna is possible. And higher frequency
band may cause high cost on RF.
FHSS vs. DSSS
In the 2.4GHz ISM band, the use of spread
spectrum is mandatory. Although DSSS can
achieve higher data rate (11Mbps for 802.11b
standard), FHSS has its advantage of low cost,
low power, better security. FHSS also handles
near-far problem better, since it will effectively
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block out-of-band signals. Considering the
possible
an application of Bluetooth, FHSS is a better
solution. The hopping sequence is calculated
using the master’s Bluetooth Device Address. It
hops to every 1MHz channel with equal
probability. Its 1600hops/sec fast hopping rate
is enough to overcome slow fading in most indoor
environment, which has Doppler spread of
0.1~6Hz. The RMS delay spread usually ranges
from 100ns to 10s [30]. A typical 0.25 s RMS
delay spread corresponds to 640KHz coherent
bandwidth. So different 1MHz channels will have
different radio characteristics, and the FHSS will
Effectively solve the multipath and fading
problem. For 1MHz channel, the 1Msps symbol
rate is already fully exploiting the bandwidth. The
1MHz channel bandwidth was the requirement of
FCC, but recent decision from FCC changed that
to 5MHz. This will probably enable the future
version protocol to get higher data rate. HomeRF
is already taking advantage of this 5MHz channel
to get 10Mbps throughput.[6]
The Bluetooth Baseband
The baseband layer of Bluetooth is the
2nd layer from the and sometimes refers
to be the equivalent layer of MAC sub
layer in LANs. The master and slave
communicate with each other using time slots.
Each time slot is same as dwell time, i.e. 625us.
During the time that one frequency is used, a
sender sends a frame to a secondary, or a
secondary sends a frame to the primary. the
communication is only between the primary and a
secondary; secondaries cannot communicate
directly with one another.
This layer uses a special form of TDMA,
called TDD-TDMA. It is a half-duplex
communication in which the secondary and
receiver send and receive data, but not at the same
time (half duplex); however, the communication
for each direction uses different hops. [6]
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE /
TOPOLOGIES
The Bluetooth technology provides both
a point-to-point connection and a point-
to-multipoint connection. In point-to-
multipoint connections, the channel is
shared among several Bluetooth units.
In point-to-point connections, only two
units share the connection. Bluetooth
protocols assume that a small number
of units will participate in
communications at any given time.[7]
Piconet
A Bluetooth network is called a Piconet, or a
small net. A Piconet can have up to eight stations,
one of which is called the primary the rest are
called secondaries. All the secondary stations
synchronize their clocks and hopping sequence
with the primary. Note that a Piconet can have
only one primary station. The communication
between the primary and the secondary can be
one-to-one or one-to-many. The primary is
the unit that initiates transmissions,
and the secondaries are the responding
units. This type of Bluetooth network
can have only one primary unit. Although
a Piconet can have a maximum of seven
secondaries, an additional eight secondaries can
be in the
Parked state. A secondary in a parked state is
synchronized with the primary, but cannot take
part in communication until it is moved from the
parked state. Because only eight stations can be
active in a Piconet, activating a station from the
parked state means that an active station must go
to the parked state.
Bluetooth radios are Symmetric in that
any Bluetooth radio can become a
primary or secondary radio, and the
Piconet configuration is determined at
the time of formation. Typically, the
connecting radio will become the
primary; however, a “master/slave
swap” function allows the roles to be
reversed. (A device can only be a
master in one Piconet. [5]
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Scatternet
Piconets can be combined to form what is called a
Scatternet. A secondary station in one Piconet can
be the primary in another Piconet. This station can
receive messages from the primary in the first
Piconet (as a secondary) and, acting as a primary,
deliver them to secondaries in the second Piconet.
A station can be a member of two Piconets. If
several Piconets overlap a physical
area, and members of the various
Piconets communicate with each other,
any unit in one Piconet can
communicate in a second Piconet as
long as it serves as master for only one
Piconet at a time.
Up to 10 piconets can work together With
minimal impact on each other. The throughput
degradation in the presence of multiple piconets is
given by
TH=(1-1/79)N-1
So the overall throughput of the scatternet could
reach well above 10Mbps. The topology of
scatternet will also effectively extend the
operation range when some units act as bridge.
Secondary in the same piconet cannot
communicate with each other directly. If one
Secondary wants to talk to another, it can page
that Secondary and set up a new piconet, or
request to change its role from slave to master.
Each Bluetooth unit has a unique 48-bit Bluetooth
Device Address; this address is derived from
IEEE802 standard.
A single Bluetooth channel has about 1Mbps data
rate. It’s believed the future version will have a
10Mbps data rate to accommodate applications
like real time video. [8]
BLUETOOTH NETWORK
CONNECTIONS
Bluetooth is a wireless technology that
provides connectivity to the mobile
devices. Bluetooth connects devices in
three ways. We discuss each way as a
category. These categories are
voice/data access points,
peripheral interconnects, and
Personal Area Networking (PAN).
Ad hoc networking is the major
difference between Bluetooth wireless
connectivity and the cellular radio
architecture. As Bluetooth network is an
ad hoc network, it establishes the
connection on run time, and is always
available for use. It’s an example of
ALWAYS ON ALWAYS CONNECTED
network. Its connections are made on
per requirement bases, i.e. when
someone need connectivity Bluetooth
networks are available to serve. [1]
The Bluetooth network depends upon
the radio connectivity between the peer
devices; in this regard it does not
depend upon the Base stations and any
terminals.
Voice/Data Access Points
Voice /data access points connect a
computing device with mobile device
through a wireless but secure
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connection. It allows the connectivity
between mobiles phones that don’t
have internet connections with the
personnel computers that have internet
connection. The mobile phone here is
acting as an access point.
Developments are being made to
create a public data access point. The
main purpose will be to provide internet
connection to public, especially
passengers at airports, stations that
carry their equipment in briefcases. The
main idea behind this development is of
access points provided by the Bluetooth
technology. These points will support
higher data rates. These data points will
be connected to each other via faster
internet connection e.g. DSL.
Peripheral Interconnects
This category of Bluetooth network
provides inter-connectivity between
different devices with different
functions.
For example, keyboard, mouse,
headsets can be connected to their
parent devices such as computers
without any cable connections. These
wireless peripheral devices are of low
cost because of less cable connections.
Moreover all peripheral devices of any
office can be connected to a common
point that connects the computing
devices of all office.[1]
An other aspect of this type of
connection is used in the field of
security; it can connect the sensors
with the computing device and provide
time to time update to central
computer.
Personal Area Networking/ Ad
hoc networking
This type of networking creates
immediate networks on run time. These
networks have capability to be formed
quickly and become able to
communicate and share information
within the range of 10cm to 10m. This
type of networking is refers to ad hoc
networking. This is again an AOAC
network which is also an on-demand
network, which is available to serve any
time when any client wants to send or
receive data. Another feature is the
security that this connection provides
to the data that is being transferred,
which has been discussed in detail. This
network also vanishes quickly save time
and space.
SECURITY IMPLEMENTATION FOR
BLUETOOTH
Bluetooth technology provides three modes of
security.
1. Security mode 1 (non-secure). A
device does not initiate any
security procedure such as
encryption or authentication
2. Security mode 2 (service-level
enforcement security). This mode
allows different and flexible
access policies for applications,
and is used especially for running
applications with different
security
3. Security mode 3 (link-level
enforced security).a device allows
only authenticated connections.in
other words it initiate security
procedures.
There are three security attributes of Bluetooth
technology.
• Authorization
• Authentication
• Encryption
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We can achieve Authentication using a
challenge response scheme using
symmetric link keys. If the devices do
not share a link key, it is created
through a process called “pairing” and
it is based on a shared secret
association, such as a PIN code. If a
device does not have a mechanism to
enter a PIN, a restricted form link key,
called a unit key, is generated based on
the device’s address and random
number. Encryption can only be
activated after authentication.[9]
SPREAD SPECTRUM
Bluetooth use spread spectrum and
operates at 2.4GHz spectrum. Spread
spectrum was initially developed by
the US military to send unbreakable
codes that were either hard to detect or
hard to jam. there systems were
assumes to be very secure because
they used spread spectrum
technology but when the spreading
sequence is known to everyone, there
is very little security gained from
spread spectrum.[9]
Impact on ease of use
Encryption is optional for security. it is
because we also take into account the
issue of ease in using such security
applications. sometimes we don’t
require encryption, so we don’t use it
but it can be used where required. [9]
Complexity increases with
increasing level of security. if user
want to get security , he should
have some knowledge about
security mechanism, otherwise it is
not possible for him to access this
application.
CONCLUSION
Bluetooth technology is a wireless communication
technology whose network range is from 10cm to
10m.
Bluetooth network contains 8 devices among
which one is primary while others are
secondary.bluetooth network ensures a high
secure communication between its peer devices,
because it use FHSS that hopes at 79 channel and
also provide near and far effects.
Bluetooth networks could be used in any of three
categories depending upon requirements, access
points, peripheral connections,PAN,among them
PAN or adhoc network is widely used
this paper covered many aspects of Bluetooth
technology i.e. Bluetooth network architecture,
bluetooth layer architecture, bluetooth connection
types and security implementations.
REFERNCES
[1] James Kardach, Bluetooth Architecture
Overview, Mobile Computing Group, Intel
Corporation. Intel Technology Journal Q2, 2000
[2] Chatschik Bisdikian, an Overview of the
Bluetooth Wireless Technology, IBM Corporation,
IEEE Communications Magazine December 2001
[3] Behrouz A. Forouzan, Data Communications
and Networking, the McGraw-Hill Companies,
Inc
pp. 434-435.
[4] Anthony C Davies, An overview of Bluetooth
Wireless Technology and some competing LAN
Standards,
School of Computing and Information Systems,
Kingston University Kingston-upon-Thames,
Surrey, England, KTl 2EE.
[5] Hongfeng Wang, Overview of Bluetooth
Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering State
College, PA16802, July 3, 2001
[6] Behrouz A. Forouzan, Data Communications
and Networking, the McGraw-Hill Companies,
Inc
pp. 435-437
[7] Diane McMichael Gilster, Bluetooth End to
End, Published by: Wiley Date Published: March
2002
ISBN: 0764548875, pp 9-11.
[8] Kristoffer Fleming, Robert J. Hunter,
Jon Inouye, Jeffrey Schiffer, Enabling
Always On, Always Connected (AOAC)
Computing with Bluetooth Technology.
Intel Technology Journal Q2, 2000
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[9] Sultan Weatherspoon,Overview of
IEEE 802.11b Security, Network
Communications Group, Intel
Corporation.