Bluetooth connections : Bluetooth is a high-speed, low-power microwave wireless link technology, designe d to connect phones, laptops, PDAs and

other portable equipment together with li ttle or no work by the user. Unlike infra-red, Bluetooth does not require line-o f-sight positioning of connected units. The technology uses modifications of exi sting wireless LAN techniques but is most notable for its small size and low cos t. The current prototype circuits are contained on a circuit board 0.9cm square, with a much smaller single chip version in development. The cost of the device is expected to fall very fast, from $20 initially to $5 in a year or two. It is envisioned that Bluetooth will be included within equipment rather than being an optional extra. When one Bluetooth product comes within range of another, (this can be set to between 10cm and 100m) they automatically exchange address and ca pability details. They can then establish a 1 megabit/s link (up to 2 Mbps in th e second generation of the technology) with security and error correction, to us e as required. The protocols will handle both voice and data, with a very flexib le network topography. This technology achieves its goal by embedding tiny, inexpensive, short-range tr ansceivers into the electronic devices that are available today. The radio opera tes on the globally-available unlicensed radio band, 2.45 GHz (meaning there wil l be no hindrance for international travelers using Bluetooth-enabled equipment. ), and supports data speeds of up to 721 Kbps, as well as three voice channels. The bluetooth modules can be either built into electronic devices or used as an adaptor. For instance in a PC they can be built in as a PC card or externally at tached via the USB port. Each device has a unique 48-bit address from the IEEE 802 standard. Connections can be point-to-point or multipoint. The maximum range is 10 meters but can be e xtended to 100 meters by increasing the power. Bluetooth devices are protected f rom radio interference by changing their frequencies arbitrarily upto a maximum of 1600 times a second, a technique known as frequency hopping. They also use th ree different but complimentary error correction schemes. Built-in encryption an d verification is provided. Moreover, Bluetooth devices won't drain precious battery life. The Bluetooth spe cification targets power consumption of the device from a "hold" mode consuming 30 micro amps to the active transmitting range of 8-30 milliamps (or less than 1 /10th of a watt). The radio chip consumers only 0.3mA in standby mode, which is less than 3 % of the power used by a standard mobile phone. The chips also have excellent power-saving features, as they will automatically shift to a low-power mode as soon as traffic volume lessens or stops. But beyond untethering devices by replacing the cables, Bluetooth radio technolo gy provides a universal bridge to existing data networks, a peripheral interface , and a mechanism to form small private ad hoc groupings of connected devices aw ay from fixed network infrastructures. Designed to operate in a noisy radio freq uency environment, the Bluetooth radio uses a fast acknowledgment and frequency hopping scheme to make the link robust. Bluetooth radio modules avoid interferen ce from other signals by hopping to a new frequency after transmitting or receiv ing a packet. Compared with other systems operating in the same frequency band, the Bluetooth radio typically hops faster and uses shorter packets. This makes t he Bluetooth radio more robust than other systems. Short packages and fast hoppi ng also limit the impact of domestic and professional microwave ovens. Use of Fo rward Error Correction (FEC) limits the impact of random noise on long-distance links. The encoding is optimized for an uncoordinated environment. Bluetooth guarantees security at the bit level. Authentication is controlled by the user by using a 128 bit key. Radio signals can be coded with 8 bits or anyth ing upto 128 bits. The Bluetooth radio transmissions will conform to the safety standards required by the countries where the technology will be used with respe ct to the affects of radio transmissions on the human body. Emissions from Bluet ooth enabled devices will be no greater than emissions from industry-standard co rdless phones. The Bluetooth module will not interfere or cause harm to public o r private telecommunications network.

The Bluetooth baseband protocol is a combination of circuit and packet switching . Slots can be reserved for synchronous packets. Each packet is transmitted in a different hop frequency. A packet nominally covers a single slot, but can be ex tended to cover up to five slots. Bluetooth can support an asynchronous data cha nnel, up to three simultaneous synchronous voice channels, or a channel, which s imultaneously supports asynchronous data and synchronous voice. It is thus possi ble to transfer the date asynchronously whilst at the same time talking synchron ously at the same time. Each voice channel supports 64 kb/s synchronous (voice) link. The asynchronous channel can support an asymmetric link of maximally 721 k b/s in either direction while permitting 57.6 kb/s in the return direction, or a 432.6 kb/s symmetric link.

Bluetooth and the Internet : Bluetooth can be used to connect between a device that has internet connectivity and another device that does not, for example, you might use Bluetooth to conne ct from your PDA to your laptop, and then your laptop might use Wi-Fi to connect to a Wi-Fi router and from there you would be connected to the internet. Sometimes when buying a PDA you may find yourself with an apparent 'either//or' choice - either buy a device with Bluetooth; or a device with Wi-Fi capability. In such a case, it would seem at first glance that if you want to connect to the internet - especially while traveling out of your office, Wi-Fi would be a bett er choice. However, this is not quite such a clear choice. Wi-Fi 'hotspots' are few and far between. A much better approach might be to get Bluetooth on your PDA and also on your cellphone and use Bluetooth to connect to your cellphone and then connec t through your cellphone and out to the internet from there. I use T-Mobile's GP RS service - they offer unlimited connect time and unlimited bandwidth usage for only $20/month extra on top of my regular cellphone service (and GPRS connectio n time does not count against my monthly minutes - it truly is unlimited for onl y $20/month). In my opinion, this is the perfect solution. GPRS coverage is much more widespre ad than Wi-Fi coverage, and while it is not fast, it is adequate for simple mail sending/receiving, instant messaging, and occasional web browsing such as you'r e likely to do on a PDA. Although I also have Wi-Fi in my laptop, these days I n ever use it, and indeed if I'm sitting in a Starbucks with my laptop, I'll be co nnecting to the internet not through the Wi-Fi in Starbucks, but via Bluetooth a nd my cellphone's GPRS! Which is better - Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Wi-Fi is primarily used as an alternate to traditional cable based networks. It has a longer range than Bluetooth, and supports faster data transfer speeds, and so it might seem better than Bluetooth. But, in reality, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have different purposes. Bluetooth is inten ded for limited data transfer between many different types of devices, Wi-Fi is more focussed on faster data transfer between computers on a network. One of the distinctive elements of Bluetooth is that is uses very much less powe r than Wi-Fi. Class 2 devices (such as are in PDAs, phones, headsets, etc) trans mit a very low power signal (1 mW) and only transmit intermittently when in stan dby mode, saving even more power. Wi-Fi, on the other hand, consumes a great dea l of power, and so for any type of portable battery operated device, Bluetooth w ill allow for substantially more battery life than would Wi-Fi. If you're simply wanting to swap data between different devices in your office a nd elsewhere on a casual and occasional basis, then - assuming that the software and Bluetooth hardware is available - Bluetooth is probably a better choice for you. If you need more range, and higher bandwidth; perhaps if you want to conne ct computers into your office LAN, then Wi-Fi is a better choice for you.

How Bluetooth Creates a Connection: Bluetooth takes small-area networking to the next level by removing the need for user intervention and keeping transmission power extremely low to save battery power. Picture this: You're on your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, standing outsi de the door to your house. You tell the person on the other end of the line to c all you back in five minutes so you can get in the house and put your stuff away . As soon as you walk in the house, the map you received on your cell phone from your car's Bluetooth-enabled GPS system is automatically sent to your Bluetooth -enabled computer, because your cell phone picked up a Bluetooth signal from you r PC and automatically sent the data you designated for transfer. Five minutes l ater, when your friend calls you back, your Bluetooth-enabled home phone rings i nstead of your cell phone. The person called the same number, but your home phon e picked up the Bluetooth signal from your cell phone and automatically re-route d the call because it realized you were home. And each transmission signal to an d from your cell phone consumes just 1 milliwatt of power, so your cell phone ch arge is virtually unaffected by all of this activity.Bluetooth is essentially a networking standard that works at two levels: It provides agreement at the physical level -- Bluetooth is a radio-frequency st andard. It provides agreement at the protocol level, where products have to agree on whe n bits are sent, how many will be sent at a time, and how the parties in a conve rsation can be sure that the message received is the same as the message sent. The big draws of Bluetooth are that it is wireless, inexpensive and automatic. T here are other ways to get around using wires, including infrared communication. Infrared (IR) refers to light waves of a lower frequency than human eyes can re ceive and interpret. Infrared is used in most television remote control systems. Infrared communications are fairly reliable and don't cost very much to build i nto a device, but there are a couple of drawbacks. First, infrared is a "line of sight" technology. For example, you have to point the remote control at the tel evision or DVD player to make things happen. The second drawback is that infrare d is almost always a "one to one" technology. You can send data between your des ktop computer and your laptop computer, but not your laptop computer and your PD A at the same time. (See How Remote Controls Work to learn more about infrared c ommunication.) These two qualities of infrared are actually advantageous in some regards. Becau se infrared transmitters and receivers have to be lined up with each other, inte rference between devices is uncommon. The one-to-one nature of infrared communic ations is useful in that you can make sure a message goes only to the intended r ecipient, even in a room full of infrared receivers. Bluetooth is intended to get around the problems that come with infrared systems . The older Bluetooth 1.0 standard has a maximum transfer speed of 1 megabit per second (Mbps), while Bluetooth 2.0 can manage up to 3 Mbps. Bluetooth 2.0 is ba ckward-compatible with 1.0 devices.