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Bluetooth Wireless Technology: An Introduction

July 19, 2000 Datapro Summary Tired of dealing with all those tangled wires that connect peripherals to PCs? Longing to use wireless gizmos for laptops and cell phones? Yearning to roam the office without disconnecting and reconnecting a laptop? Need to wirelessly exchange files with mobile coworkers? If so, help may finally be at hand--in the guise of an emerging technology called "Bluetooth." Named after the 10th century Danish King Harald, Bluetooth is the English translation of his last name "Blatand." King Harald was famous for uniting the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway and for his extensive travels; like King Harald, Bluetooth unites separate entities (peripherals, laptops, PDAs, cell phones) and simplifies life for people on the move. By Serena Ann Lambiase

Technology Basics

Introduction Bluetooth is a wireless, low-cost radio solution that enables small devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, and palmtops to communicate between each other and to the Internet. The technology will also be extended to the desktop so that printers or scanners can communicate with desktop computers at short range without wires, thereby enhancing ease of use and reducing wiring problems. The concept has been termed Personal Area Network or PAN. Bluetooth operates in the 2.4GHz radio frequency band, offers 712Kb data rates, and has a range of 10 meters (33 feet). Ericsson, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and Toshiba were the original developers of the Bluetooth technology and Bluetooth special interest group (SIG); currently, there are nine promoter companies of the SIG--3Com, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, and Toshiba. There are also currently 1,882 member companies that are developing Bluetooth products. The initial members of the SIG announced Bluetooth in May 1998; the original Bluetooth 1.0 spec was announced July 1999. The final

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test specification will not be completed until the end of this year; however, the Bluetooth SIG offers a transitional qualification process under which interoperability testing is done. The use of mobile computing gadgets is growing exponentially--according to Gartner's Dataquest, there will be 900 million mobile phones and handheld computers within five years. However, most users are aggravated by the difficulties they endure when attempting to have their mobile equipment exchange information: schedules, phone numbers, files, and exchanging information with other people's equipment. Besides resolving these issues, Bluetooth-enabled PCs and laptops will be capable of cable-free connectivity to peripherals; another use will be wireless headsets for cell phones. Since its announcement in 1998, Bluetooth has been the subject of marketing histrionics and hype: wireless headsets, "Smart Cars," wireless Web surfing with a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone and Bluetooth-enabled laptops or handhelds, and inexpensive wireless computer networking are just a few of the uses Bluetooth vendors claim will be available through this still emerging technology. However, the products have yet to be delivered to market, and this would not be the first time vendors have promoted a technology or product that never came to fruition. Nevertheless, several products have recently been demonstrated: Bluetooth-enabled products for mobile phones, mobile PCs, handheld PCs, and desktop computing (including peripherals) have recently been announced. Several companies have also announced the future deployment of Bluetooth-enabled products for the automotive and consumer electronics industries, with actual deployment dates scheduled for the second half of 2000.

Bluetooth: How It Works

Bluetooth wireless technology is a specification designed to enable wireless communication between small, mobile devices. The original idea behind the technology was the concept to eliminate the need for proprietary cables, which are currently required to enable device connectivity. A typical example would be connecting a digital camera to a PC without cables. Expanding that idea to include all handheld mobile electronic devices is what Bluetooth is all about.

Bluetooth Lineage

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Although the Bluetooth specification contains many unique features, it has borrowed heavily from several existing wireless standards. These include Motorola's Piano, IrDA, IEEE 802.11, and Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT). Motorola's Piano was developed with the concept of forming ad hoc "Personal Area Networks," which was adopted by the Bluetooth SIG to expand the capabilities of the original Bluetooth concept beyond simple cable replacement. Bluetooth voice data transmission capabilities are derived from the DECT specification. Object exchange capabilities are derived from the IrDA specifications. Bluetooth inherits the 2.4GHz ISM band, frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), authentication, privacy, power management, and LAN capabilities from the IEEE 802.11 specification.

Bluetooth Wireless Components There are four major components in any Bluetooth wireless technology system: a radio unit, a baseband unit, a software stack, and application software. The radio unit is the actual radio transceiver, which enables the wireless link between Bluetooth devices. Bluetooth currently can have a maximum of 1 milliwatt (mw) of transmitter power, which allows operation over distances of up to 10 meters; however, the Bluetooth specification permits increasing transmitter power up to 10 mw in the future. The baseband unit is hardware, consisting of flash memory and a CPU, which interfaces with the radio unit and the host device electronics at the hardware level. The baseband hardware provides all required functionality to establish and maintain a Bluetooth wireless connection between devices. Another name for the Bluetooth baseband is "Link Control Unit." The baseband protocol supports both circuit-switched and packet-switched communications using frequency-hopping spread-spectrum (FHSS) technology. Bluetooth FHSS operates from 2.402GHz to 2.480GHz, dividing this frequency range into 79 1MHz subchannels and hopping from channel to channel at a rate of 1,600 hops per second. Transmitting and receiving devices must synchronize on the same hop sequence to communicate.

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Compared with other wireless technologies that operate in the ISM frequency band, Bluetooth uses shorter data packets and a higher hop rate. This makes Bluetooth devices more immune to interference from microwave ovens and other sources of radio frequency (FR) energy, and limits interference between users. Another advantage of FHSS is that it gives users the flexibility of roaming between access devices in different physical areas. Bluetooth wireless devices can link to a wired network, such as a corporate Ethernet LAN, through an "access point," which includes a Bluetooth transceiver and baseband controller, the circuitry to convert information from the Blue Bluetooth format to Ethernet format, and interface circuitry to connect the access point to the wired network through a cable. As long as users remain in range of an access device, they can roam about and still use the wired network resources. Communications between Bluetooth devices are normally peer-to-peer, with each device being equal. However, when two or more devices link into a small ad hoc network called a piconet, one device acts as the master, and the others are slaves for the duration of the piconet connection. All devices in the piconet are synchronized to the master's clock and hopping sequence. The Bluetooth specification supports up to 10 piconets in a coverage area, with up to eight devices per piconet. Initially, Bluetooth networks are likely to be limited to two piconets because of software restrictions. Each piconet is identified by a different frequency-hopping scheme. Bluetooth Piconet example: several individuals with Bluetoothenabled portable computers share a database in a meeting. With automatic synchronization enabled, everyone in the meeting can see any changes made in the shared database on his or her own computer. Bluetooth Scatternet: Bluetooth supports point-to-point and point-tomultipoint connections; piconets can be linked together into scatternets. A scatternet consists of two or more piconets linked together by one device in each piconet acting as a bridge between the piconets.

Security The Bluetooth specification defines three security modes: nonsecure, service-level security, and link-level security. The device does not initiate any kind of security procedure in the nonsecure mode. Service-level security offers more flexibility in application access. In the link-level security mode, the device sets up security procedures before the link setup

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is completed; this allows knowledge of "who" is at the other end of the link and provides authentication, authorization, and encryption services.

Technology Analysis

Business Use
Wireless headsets Mobile phones Mobile PCs Plug-in cards Wireless PANs and peer-to-peer networking Handheld PCs Wireless printing Automotive (including wireless headsets and door lock/unlock features) Consumer electronics (cameras, VCRs, Walkmen) Access points Electronics pens Mobile music players Entertainment robots

Benefits and Risks

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Benefits Users do not want to employ a single, not-so-great product that purports to do everything; using different best-of-class products geared to the individual situations and needs, and having those best of class products work seamlessly, is preferable. Bluetooth offers this possibility. Point-to-multipoint capability will allow users to "roam" while performing various applications without worrying about line of sight or distance.

Risks Information could by intercepted by other devices. There is the possibility of interference in highly congested areas. The current cost of implementation is higher than originally projected; costs will need to come down in order to spur wider acceptance. Interoperability issues will have to be resolved before wide acceptance.

Standards

Official Web Site for Bluetooth SIG www.bluetooth.com

Bluetooth Spec The original Bluetooth 1.0 spec was announced July 1999. The spec consists of a common set of specifications for wireless voice and data transmission, and the hardware and software for connecting

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computers, peripherals, cellular phones, and PDAs at short range (10 meters or 33 feet). The focus of the new spec SIG Spec 2.0 will be Radio2, which will include modifications and additions to the 1.0 specification. Other areas to be expanded are the Bluetooth Profiles, which are being finalized by the Working Groups. According to a spokesman for Ericsson, the Bluetooth 2.0 spec should be released by the end of this year, but its rate is still under intense debate.

Bluetooth SI Promoter companies include 3Com, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, and Toshiba. There are currently 1,882 member companies of the Bluetooth SIG.

Technology Leaders

3Com 5400 Bayfront Plaza Santa Clara, CA 95052, U.S.A. Tel: +1 408 326 5000 Fax: +1 408 326 5001 Internet: www.3com.com

Ericsson Microelectronics Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson Telefonplan S-126 25 Stockholm, Sweden

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Tel: +46 8 719 00 00 Internet: www.ericsson.com

IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) New Orchard Road Armonk, NY 10504, U.S.A. Tel: +1 914 499 1900 Fax: +1 914 765 7382 Internet: www.ibm.com

Lucent Technologies, Inc. 600 Mountain Avenue Murray Hill, NJ 07974, U.S.A. Tel: +1 908 582 8500 Internet: www.lucent.com

Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052, U.S.A. Tel: +1 425 882 8080 Fax: +1 425 936 7329 Internet: www.microsoft.com

Motorola, Inc. 1303 East Algonquin Road Schaumburg, IL 60196, U.S.A.

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Tel: +1 847 576 5000 Internet: www.motorola.com

Nokia Corporation Keilalahdentie 4 PO Box 226 FIN-00045 Espoo, Finland Tel: +358 9 180 71 Fax: +358 9 652 409 Internet: www.nokia.com Toshiba America, Inc. (TAI) 1251 6th Avenue, 41st Floor New York, NY 10020, U.S.A. Tel: +212 596 0600 Fax: +212 593 3875 Internet: www.toshiba.com

Technology Leaders Products and Agreements

3Com

New facility: 3Com has recently begun construction of a new mobile facility near Salt Lake City, Utah. The new site will house 300 employees dedicated to the development, manufacturing, and marketing of cuttingedge mobile LAN, modem, Bluetooth, and 802.11b wireless solutions. Completion of the 78,000 square-foot facility is expected in December 2000.

Ericsson

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Bluetooth radio modules: Ericsson has incorporated Bluetooth radio modules in digital demonstration handsets demonstrated by Qualcomm at the Bluetooth Congress 2000. Ericsson announced an agreement with Qualcomm during February 2000 for the joint development and marketing of wireless technology solutions supporting both the Bluetooth wireless and CDMA standards. PC Card: On 5 June 2000 Ericsson unveiled a Bluetooth PC Card; availability is expected to be late 2000. Mobile Phones: On 5 June 2000 Ericsson unveiled the T36 and the R520 mobile phones, which Ericsson claims to be the first phones to feature built-in Bluetooth communication. The R520 will provide more advanced mobile Internet applications featuring GPRS, high-speed data, and WAP. Ericsson and Lucent agreement: Ericsson and Lucent have agreed to collaborate on developing and licensing solutions for the Bluetooth wireless technology market.

Microsoft and Intel

Partnership: Intel announced during June 2000 that it plans to work with Microsoft to integrate its Bluetooth software with Windows. Intel claims that Bluetooth will be native to the Windows operating environment by the first half of 2001. In the interim, Intel will license its current Bluetooth software stack to other vendors. The stack is already compatible with Windows 98 and 2000 and offers rudimentary Bluetooth features: file synchronization, data transfer, dial-up and networking, and the capability of identifying other Bluetooth-enabled devices. Future wireless features from the Intel-Microsoft union will include highdefinition audio, video streaming, and sending print commands.

Motorola

Bluetooth-enabled car kit: Initially, the car kit will consist of an integrated module, which offers cordless handset operation. In addition, Motorola claims its Bluetooth wireless technology is expected to deliver the capability to interact with vehicle functions such as door unlocking and on-board vehicle diagnostics systems. Future capability will

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incorporate synchronization with handheld devices, vehicle navigation, and multimedia systems. PCMCIA Card and USB accessory: The first Bluetooth products Motorola will make available will be a PCMCIA Card and a USB accessory, both add-ons designed to provide a link for exchanging information, including data, voice, audio, and video. Uses will include a PC and a Bluetooth-enabled handheld computer wirelessly exchanging files and synchronizing data. Agreements (IBM, Toshiba, Logitech) - Both IBM and Toshiba intend to work with Motorola to offer Bluetooth functionality as a customer option across portions of their PC lines. Also, Motorola will work with its Digianswer subsidiary to supply a firstgeneration embedded solution for use inside PCs and peripheral devices such as printers and data access point. Smaller, lower-power modules are expected to be available late this year and in early 2001. - On 26 June 2000, Logitech and Motorola announced a joint development effort aimed at introducing a new generation of cordless peripherals based on Bluetooth technology.

Others

Wireless Printing: Epson America announced on 26 June 2000 that they were the first printer vendor to demonstrate printing capabilities using Bluetooth wireless communication technology. The product is an Epson color printer in conjunction with an IBM ThinkPad T20 notebook. Epson claims Bluetooth printing promises to be a business application that will enhance convenience in both the office and the home, with advantages over infrared connectivity. No clear line of sight to communicate is required, but the equipment must remain within the designated range (10 meters/33 feet). Wireless PAN: Hewlett-Packard is working to provide a reliable PAN solution, incorporating Bluetooth technology, to give users the ability to eliminate connecting cables and wirelessly synchronize data among notebook PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, and other peripherals. HP is a member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and is leading the development to help establish the Bluetooth 2.0 wireless standard.

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Plug-in Card: Socket Communications Inc. announced on 27 June 2000 that the company will work with leaders in the mobile computing industry to define and implement the Secure Digital input/output Card (SD I/O), a new standard for plug-in connectivity cards based on an extension of the Secure Digital (SD) Memory Card specification. SD I/O Cards are designed to aid input/output capability, such as Bluetooth wireless networking and Ethernet connectivity to future handheld computers, Internet appliances, and other portable electronic devices. Socket expects the SD I/O specification to be approved this year and plans to offer compatible plug-in cards in 2001.

Technology Alternatives

802.11b 802.11 connections can range in transmission rates from 2 Mbps to 11 Mbps and at distances from 50 to several hundred feet; Bluetooth requires less power and is meant for transmitting small amounts of data at 1 Mbps over short distances (up to 10 meters). Bluetooth provides persistent, wireless connections between different kinds of devices, but it uses the 2.4GHz radio frequency, the same used by wireless LANs based on the 802.11 standard. When a Bluetooth connection collides with a wireless LAN connection, either or both connections can jam, resulting in a transmission error. - Colliding connections is more of a problem for 802.11 than for Bluetooth devices; Bluetooth can hop frequencies faster than 802.11, so it is more likely to move first. The number of simultaneous users is higher for 802.11b than for Bluetooth. The Bluetooth hardware size is considerably smaller than 802.11b.

Bluetooth IrDA

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IrDA offers line of sight and point-to-point communication and has a higher data rate. Bluetooth is point to multipoint, and line of sight is not necessary. IrDA is already built into many notebook PCs, printers, and some cell phones, but has a poor user interface and is unable to penetrate walls; Bluetooth can penetrate walls. IrDA is inexpensive and reliable. Bluetooth will initially be more expensive and is still an emerging technology. The Infrared Data Association trade group has 160 members, versus 1,882 Bluetooth SIG members.

HomeRF HomeRF is intended for longer-range links to 2 Mbps and is geared towards a home-LAN approach, linking PCs; DSL routers; or printers, refrigerators, TVs, and other "smart" appliances to PCs. HomeRF is specifically geared towards the SOHO market. Bluetooth is geared more towards a business environment, such as a personal-area network, and shorter ranges; however, its makers claim that Bluetooth could also be extended for use within the SOHO market.

Jini Jini offers spontaneous networking. Bluetooth offers device-to-device communications. Sun MicroSystems's Jini squeezes pieces of its operating system into a smart device so that any network immediately recognizes when a gadget has been connected; no device drivers are needed. However, high costs have slowed down the process of getting products to the market.

Universal Plug and Play Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is designed to be embedded in microwave ovens, telephones, and other appliances, running

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independent of Windows, but Microsoft is substantially behind its competitors. Unlike UPnP products, the initial rollout of Bluetooth products is about to hit the market (third quarter of 2001).

Datapro Insight
Bluetooth has the powerful backing of Ericsson, Nokia, and Motorola, all of which plan to embed the Bluetooth technology in their cell phones. If Ericsson, Nokia, and Motorola succeed in getting these new products to the market in a timely matter, the end result could be a very sizeable amount of headsets and cell phones with the Bluetooth standard. If this happens, PC and consumer application vendors will also start to implement the Bluetooth technology. There are security and interoperability issues and possible interference problems; however, this is still an emerging technology, and these issues can be resolved. The strong backing by the likes of Ericsson, Nokia, and Motorola, and the clout of the Bluetooth SIG, provides an opportunity for Bluetooth technology to become a contender in the wireless networking market.

Unique Application of Bluetooth Technology: Medical Use

One of the more interesting ways that Bluetooth could be implemented is for medical uses. A group of students from the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden has developed a prototype mobile pulse and blood pressure sensor using Bluetooth technology. The device could be worn on the arm of a patient and establishes an Internet link so that doctors may monitor the patient while en route to the hospital. The device could also be used to monitor patients currently under a doctor's care from a remote location. The initial target of the project is to help elderly patients; however, this could eventually lead to an extensive array of medical applications.

Bluetooth Glossary
Authentication--A process which verifies the identity of the user at the other end of a link.

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Authorization--A process which decides if a requesting device is allowed to have access to a service on another device. Baseband--Describes the specifications of the digital signal processing part of the hardware that carries out the baseband protocols and other lowlevel link routines. LC (Link Controller)--manages the link to the other Bluetooth devices and is the low-level baseband protocol handler. LM (Link Manager)--The software entity carries out link setup, link authentication, link configuration, and setup of other protocols. LMP (Link Manager Protocol)--Responsible for link setup between Bluetooth devices, which includes security issues and controlling power modes of the Bluetooth Radio device. L2CAP (Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol)--Adapts upper layer protocols over the baseband. L2CAP is only defined for ACL links, even though the Baseband Protocol is defined for ACL and SCO links. Master Unit--This is the device within a piconet whose clock and frequency-hopping sequence is used to synchronize all slave units within the piconet. OBE--Object Exchange Protocol. Parked units--Those devices within a piconet that are synchronized but do not have a MAC address. Piconet--A network of devices connected using Bluetooth wireless technology. A piconet may consist of two to eight devices. In a piconet, there will always be one master while the others are slaves. SCO (Synchronous Connection-Oriented)--Used for audio only or a combination of audio and data transmission. Scatternet--Two or more independent, nonsynchronized piconets. SDP (Service Discovery Protocol)--Used to query a device for its service information, which is then used to determine if a connection will be made. Slave units--Any unit within a piconet that is not the master unit. Trusted device--A device that has been authenticated.

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