INTRODUCTION:

Bluetooth is a standard for a small, low-cost, power efficient radio chip that can be used by computers, printers, mobile phones, headsets, headphones, and numerous other consumer electronics. This technology allows multiple devices to communicate with each other, or one device can control and manage several other devices. How does it work? Bluetooth takes the information normally carried by a wire and transmits it at a special frequency to another Bluetooth device. Both the sending and receiving devices have what is called a Bluetooth receiver chip, which translates data into a wireless transmission and then back to normal again, depending on if it is sending or receiving data.

RF of Bluetooth
Frequency band and RF channels: Works in ISM band: 2.4~2.4835 GHz (US, Europe and most other countries) Carrier frequency: f=2402+k MHz k=0...78 Hopping rate: 1 hop/packet. 1600 hop/s for 1 slot packet Channel bandwidth: 1MHz (-20dB) 220 KHz (-3dB)
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Upper layers
The RF and baseband of Bluetooth corresponds to the physical layer of OSI 7 layers model. The LMP layer is responsible for link setup and detachment, authentication, encryption, power control and link configuration. The Logical Link Control And Adaptation Layer Protocol (L2CAP) provides connectionoriented and connectionless data services to upper layer. Its duties include protocol multiplexing, segmentation and reassembly of upper layer PDUs of length up to 64KB, QoS support and Groups abstraction. RFCOMM is a protocol used to emulate RS232 serial ports; this is useful since many existing applications are based on serial communications. Up to 60 simultaneous connections can exist between 2 Bluetooth devices. RFCOMM is based on a subset of TS07.10. It can transfer nondata circuit states and emulate a null modem. The Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) enables mobile devices to find what services are available in proximity and the characteristics of the services. The SDP allows the client to search services with specific attributes (represented by a number UUID), or browse the services the server provides. The SDP only provides means for discovering the services, not for accessing those services. Overview of Bluetooth Technology 30 Its possible to run TCP/IP over L2CAP directly, but currently, there are no profiles defined for them yet. So far, most vendors TCP/IP implementations are based on PPP running on RFCOMM. Due to the great popularity of TCP/IP, its performance over Bluetooth links is of much interest to many people. Traditional IP is designed for stationary computers, and cant deal with the mobility demands of Bluetooth units. Issues like address resolution, bridging, multicast/broadcast mapping have to be solved. Usually TCP interprets packets loss as the result of congestion of the network and cuts back its transmit window size. This is true for wired networks, where the major cause of packets loss is buffer overflow. But for wireless links, this algorithm is not as effective, since most packet loss are caused by interference.

Figure: Protocol Layers

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Bluetooth security basics

Bluetooth security is of paramount importance as devices are susceptible to a variety of wireless and networking attacking including denial of service attacks, eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle attacks, message modification, and resource misappropriation. Bluetooth security must also address more specific Bluetooth related attacks that target known vulnerabilities in Bluetooth implementations and specifications. These may include attacks against improperly secured Bluetooth implementations which can provide attackers with unauthorized access. Many users may not believe there is an issue with Bluetooth security, but hackers may be able to gain access to information from phone lists to more sensitive information that others may hold on Bluetooth enabled phones and other devices. There are three basic means of providing Bluetooth security:

Authentication: In this process the identity of the communicating devices are verified. User authentication is not part of the main Bluetooth security elements of the specification. Confidentiality: This process prevents information being eavesdropped by ensuring that only authorized devices can access and view the data. Authorization: This process prevents access by ensuring that a device is authorized to use a service before enabling it to do so.

BLUETOOTH Advantages and Disadvantages

Bluetooth is a global standard that ideally has the following advantages, which are: Eliminates wire and cables between both stationary and mobile devices Facilitates both data and voice communication. Offers the possibility of ad hoc networks and delivers the ultimate synchronicity between all your personal devices. Its inexpensive. The devices find one another and strikes up conversation without any user input at all. Potential and current problems with Bluetooth: Compatibility between Bluetooth products Security Relatively short range Interference with other devices that may use the same frequency such as baby monitors, garage door openers, microwave ovens and other wireless technologies which use the same frequency Mediocre data transfer rate.
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Applications:
Wireless control of and communication between a mobile phone and a handsfree headset. Wireless communication with PC input and output devices, the most common being the mouse, keyboard and printer. Wireless networking between PCs in a confined space and where little bandwidth is required. Replacement of previous wired RS-232 serial communications in test equipment, GPS receivers, medical equipment, bar code scanners, and traffic control devices. For low bandwidth applications where higher USB bandwidth is not required and cablefree connection desired. Wireless bridge between two Industrial Ethernet (e.g., PROFINET) networks. Three seventh-generation game consoles, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 and PSP Go, use Bluetooth for their respective wireless controllers. Dial-up internet access on personal computers or PDAs using a data-capable mobile phone as a wireless modem.

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