Bluetooth

Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal

area networks (PANs). Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange

information between devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers,

digital cameras, and video game consoles over a secure, globally unlicensed

short-range radio frequency. Bluetooth is the name given to a new technol-

ogy standard using short-range radio links, intended to replace the cable(s)

connecting portable and/or fixed electronic devices. The standard defines a

uniform structure for a wide range of devices to communicate with each

other, with minimal user effort.

Its key features are robustness, low complexity, low power and

low cost. The technology also offers wireless access to LANs, PSTN, the

mobile phone network and the Internet for a host of home appliances and

portable handheld interfaces.

The immediate need for Bluetooth came from the desire to con-

nect peripherals and devices without cables. The available technology-IrDA

OBEX (IR Data Association Object Exchange Protocol) is based in IR links

that is limited to line of sight connections. Bluetooth integration is further

fueled by the demand for mobile and wireless access to LANs, Internet over

1

mobile and other existing networks, where the backbone is wired but the in-

terface is free to move. This not only makes the network easier to use but

also extends its reach. The advantages and rapid proliferation of LANs sug-

gest that setting up personal area networks, that is, connections among de-

vices in the proximity of the user, will have many beneficial uses.

Bluetooth could also be used in home networking applications.

With increasing numbers of homes having multiple PCs, the need for net-

works that are simple to install and maintain, is growing. There is also the

commercial need to provide "information push" capabilities, which is impor-

tant for handheld and other such mobile devices and this has been partially

incorporated in Bluetooth. Bluetooth's main strength is its ability to simulta-

neously handle both data and voice transmissions, allowing such innovative

solutions as a mobile hands-free headset for voice calls, print to fax capabil-

ity, and automatically synchronizing PDA, laptop, and cell phone address

book applications.

These uses suggest that a technology like Bluetooth is ex-

tremely useful and will have a significant effect on the way information is

accessed and used. The Bluetooth specifications are developed and licensed

by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

2

1) Uses

A typical Bluetooth mobile phone headset

A typical Bluetooth USB Adapter

A notebook Bluetooth Card

3

Bluetooth is a radio standard and communications protocol pri-

marily designed for low power consumption, with a short range (power-

class-dependent: 1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters) based on low-cost trans-

ceiver microchips in each device.

Bluetooth lets these devices communicate with each other when

they are in range. The devices use a radio communications system, so they

do not have to be in line of sight of each other, and can even be in other

rooms, as long as the received transmission is powerful enough.

ClassMaximum Permitted

Power(mW)

Maximum Permitted Power(dBm)

Range(approximate)

Class 1

100 mW 20 dBm ~100 meters

Class 2

2.5 mW 4 dBm ~10 meters

Class 3

1 mW 0 dBm ~1 meter

4

(1.1) Bluetooth profiles

A Bluetooth profile is a standardized interface between Bluetooth

devices. In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with certain

Bluetooth profiles. These define the possible applications.

In order to use Bluetooth wireless technology, a device must be

able to interpret certain Bluetooth profiles. The profiles define the possible

applications. Bluetooth profiles are general behaviors through which Blue-

tooth enabled devices communicate with other devices. Bluetooth technol-

ogy defines a wide range of profiles that describe many different types of

use cases. By following a guidance provided in Bluetooth specifications, de-

velopers can create applications to work with other devices also conforming

to the Bluetooth specification.

At a minimum, each profile specification contains information on the fol-

lowing topics:

Dependencies on other profiles

Suggested user interface formats

Specific parts of the Bluetooth protocol stack used by the profile. To

perform its task, each profile uses particular options and parameters at

each layer of the stack. This may include an outline of the required

service record, if appropriate.

5

(1.2) List of applications

More prevalent applications of Bluetooth include:

1. Wireless control of and communication between a cell phone and a

hands-free headset or car kit. This was one of the earliest applications

to become popular.

2. Wireless networking between PCs in a confined space and where little

bandwidth is required.

3. Wireless communications with PC input and output devices, the most

common being the mouse, keyboard and printer.

4. Transfer of files between devices with OBEX.

5. Transfer of contact details, calendar appointments, and reminders be-

tween devices with OBEX.

6. Replacement of traditional wired serial communications in test equip-

ment, GPS receivers, and medical equipment and traffic control de-

vices.

7. For controls where infrared was traditionally used.

6

8. Sending small advertisements from Bluetooth enabled advertising

hoardings to other, discoverable, Bluetooth devices.

9. Wireless controllers of game consoles—Nintendo Wii [1] and Sony

PlayStation 3 use Bluetooth for their wireless controllers.

7

(1.3) Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi in networking

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi both have their places in today's offices,

homes, and on the move: setting up networks, printing, or transferring pre-

sentations and files from PDAs to computers.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is in a variety of new products such as phones, print-

ers, modems, and headsets. Bluetooth is acceptable for situations when two

or more devices are in proximity to each other and don't require high band-

width. Bluetooth is most commonly used with phones and hand-held com-

puting devices, either using a Bluetooth headset or transferring files from

phones/PDAs to computers.

Bluetooth also simplified the discovery and setup of services.

Wi-Fi is more analogous to the traditional Ethernet network and requires

configuration to set up shared resources, transmit files, set up audio links

(for example, headsets and hands-free devices), whereas Bluetooth devices

advertise all services they actually provide; this makes the utility of the ser-

vice that much more accessible, without the need to worry about network ad-

dresses, permissions and all the other considerations that go with typical net-

works.

8

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi uses the same radio frequencies as Bluetooth, but with

higher power consumption resulting in a stronger connection. As mentioned

earlier, Wi-Fi is sometimes, but rarely, called "wireless Ethernet." Although

this description is inaccurate, it provides an indication of Wi-Fi's relative

strengths and weaknesses. Wi-Fi requires more setup, but is better suited for

operating full-scale networks because it enables a faster connection, better

range from the base station, and better security than Bluetooth.

One method for comparing the efficiency of wireless transmis-

sion protocols such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is spatial capacity, or bits per

second per square meter.

9

2) Specifications and Features

The Bluetooth specification was developed in 1994 by Sven

Mattisson and Jaap Haartsen, who were working for Ericsson Mobile Plat-

forms in Lund, Sweden. The specifications were formalized by the Blue-

tooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The SIG was formally announced on

May 20, 1998. Today it has over 6000 companies worldwide. It was estab-

lished by Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Toshiba, and Nokia, and later

joined by many other companies. Bluetooth is also known as IEEE 802.15.1.

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(2.1) Bluetooth 1.0 and 1.0B

Versions 1.0 and 1.0B had many problems, and manufacturers

had difficulty making their products interoperable. Versions 1.0 and 1.0B

also had mandatory Bluetooth hardware device address (BD_ADDR) trans-

mission in the handshaking process, rendering anonymity impossible at a

protocol level, which was a major setback for services planned to be used in

Bluetooth environments, such as Consumerisms.

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(2.2) Bluetooth 1.1

Many errors found in the 1.0B specifications were fixed.

Added support for non-encrypted channels.

Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI).

12

(2.3) Bluetooth 1.2

This version is backward-compatible with 1.1 and the major en-

hancements include the following:

Faster Connection and Discovery

Adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (AFH), which im-

proves resistance to radio frequency interference by avoiding the

use of crowded frequencies in the hopping sequence.

Higher transmission speeds in practice, up to 721 kbps, as in 1.1.

Extended Synchronous Connections (eSCO), which improve voice

quality of audio links by allowing retransmissions of corrupted

packets.

Host Controller Interface (HCI) support for three-wire UART.

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(2.4) Bluetooth 2.0

This version, specified November 2004, is backward-compati-

ble with 1.x. The main enhancement is the introduction of an enhanced data

rate (EDR) of 3.0 Mbps. This has the following effects:

Three times faster transmission speed up to 10 times in certain cases

(up to 2.1 Mbit/s).

Lower power consumption through a reduced duty cycle.

Simplification of multi-link scenarios due to more available band-

width.

Further improved (bit error rate) performance.

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(2.5) Future of Bluetooth

15

The next version of Bluetooth technology, currently code-named

Lisbon, includes a number of features to increase security, usability, and

value of Bluetooth.

The following features are defined:

Automatic encryption change: - allows encrypted links to change their

encryption keys periodically, increasing security, and also allowing

role switches on an encrypted link

Extended inquiry response: - provides more information during the in-

quiry procedure to allow better filtering of devices before connection.

This information includes the name of the device, and a list of ser-

vices, with other information.

Sniff subrating: - reduces the power consumption when devices are in

the sniff low-power mode, especially on links with asymmetric data

flows. Human interface devices (HID) are expected to benefit the

most, with mouse and keyboard devices increasing the battery life

from 3 to 10 times those currently used.

QoS improvements: - enable audio and video data to be transmitted at

a higher quality, especially when best effort traffic is being transmit-

ted in the same Pico net.

Simple pairing: - radically improves the pairing experience for Blue-

tooth devices, while increasing the use and strength of security. It is

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expected that this feature will significantly increase the use of Blue-

tooth.

Bluetooth technology already plays a part in the rising Voice

over IP (VOIP) scene, with Bluetooth headsets being used as wireless exten-

sions to the PC audio system. As VOIP becomes more popular, and more

suitable for general home or office users than wired phone lines, Bluetooth

may be used in cordless handsets, with a base station connected to the Inter-

net link.

The next version of Bluetooth after Lisbon code-named Seattle,

that will be called Bluetooth 3.0, has many of the same features, but is most

notable for plans to adopt ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology. This will

allow Bluetooth use over UWB radio, enabling very fast data transfers of up

to 480 Mbit/s, synchronizations, and file pushes, while building on the very

low-power idle modes of Bluetooth. The combination of a radio using little

power when no data is transmitted and a high data rate radio to transmit bulk

data could be the start of software radios. Bluetooth, given its world-wide

regulatory approval, low-power operation, and robust data transmission ca-

pabilities, provides an excellent signaling channel to enable the soft radio

concept.

On 28 March 2006, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group an-

nounced its selection of the WiMedia Alliance Multi-Band Orthogonal Fre-

quency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) version of UWB for integration

with current Bluetooth wireless technology.

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UWB integration will create a version of Bluetooth wireless

technology with a high-speed/high-data-rate option. This new version of

Bluetooth technology will meet the high-speed demands of synchronizing

and transferring large amounts of data, as well as enabling high-quality

video and audio applications for portable devices, multi-media projectors

and television sets, and wireless VOIP.

At the same time, Bluetooth technology will continue catering

to the needs of very low power applications such as mice, keyboards, and

mono headsets, enabling devices to select the most appropriate physical ra-

dio for the application requirements, thereby offering the best of both

worlds.

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3) Technical information

(3.1)Communication and connection

A master Bluetooth device can communicate with up to seven

devices. This network group of up to eight devices is called a piconet.

A piconet is an ad-hoc computer network, using Bluetooth tech -

nology protocols to allow one master device to interconnect with up to seven

active devices. Up to 255 further devices can be inactive, or parked, which

the master device can bring into active status at any time.

At any given time, data can be transferred between the master

and one other device. However, the master switches rapidly from device to

another in a round-robin fashion. (Simultaneous transmission from the mas-

ter to multiple other devices is possible, but not used much.) Either device

can switch roles and become the master at any time. Bluetooth specification

allows connecting two or more piconets together to form a scatternet, with

some devices acting as a bridge by simultaneously playing the master role

and the slave role in one piconet. These devices are planned for 2007.

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(3.2) Setting up connections

Any Bluetooth device will transmit the following sets of information on de-

mand:

Device name.

Device class.

List of services.

Technical information, for example, device features, manufacturer,

Bluetooth specification and clock offset.

Any device may perform an inquiry to find other devices to

which to connect, and any device can be configured to respond to such in-

quiries. However, if the device trying to connect knows the address of the

device, it always responds to direct connection requests and transmits the in-

formation shown in the list above if requested. Use of device services may

require pairing or acceptance by its owner, but the connection itself can be

started by any device and held until it goes out of range. Some devices can

be connected to only one device at a time, and connecting to them prevents

them from connecting to other devices and appearing in inquiries until they

disconnect from the other device.

Every device has a unique 48-bit address. However, these ad -

dresses are generally not shown in inquiries. Instead, friendly Bluetooth

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names are used, which can be set by the user. This name appears when an-

other user scans for devices and in lists of paired devices.

Most phones have the Bluetooth name set to the manufacturer

and model of the phone by default. Most phones and laptops show only the

Bluetooth names and special programs that are required to get additional in-

formation about remote devices. This can be confusing as, for example,

there could be several phones in range named T610.

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(3.3) Pairing

Pairs of devices may establish a trusted relationship by learning

(by user input) a shared secret known as a passkey. A device that wants to

communicate only with a trusted device can cryptographically authenticate

the identity of the other device. Trusted devices may also encrypt the data

that they exchange over the air so that no one can listen in. The encryption

can, however, be turned off, and passkeys are stored on the device file sys-

tem, not on the Bluetooth chip itself. Since the Bluetooth address is perma-

nent, a pairing is preserved, even if the Bluetooth name is changed. Pairs can

be deleted at any time by either device. Devices generally require pairing or

prompt the owner before they allow a remote device to use any or most of

their services. Some devices, such as Sony Ericsson phones, usually accept

OBEX business cards and notes without any pairing or prompts.

Certain printers and access points allow any device to use its

services by default, much like unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Pairing algorithms

are sometimes manufacturer-specific for transmitters and receivers used in

applications such as music and entertainment.

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(3.4) Air interface

The protocol operates in the license-free ISM band at 2.45 GHz.

To avoid interfering with other protocols that use the 2.45 GHz band, the

Bluetooth protocol divides the band into 79 channels (each 1 MHz wide) and

changes channels up to 1600 times per second. Implementations with ver-

sions 1.1 and 1.2 reach speeds of 723.1 kbit/s. Version 2.0 implementations

feature Bluetooth Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) and reach 2.1 Mbit/s. Techni-

cally, version 2.0 devices have a higher power consumption, but the three

times faster rate reduces the transmission times, effectively reducing power

consumption to half that of 1.x devices (assuming equal traffic load).

Bluetooth differs from Wi-Fi in that the latter provides higher

throughput and covers greater distances, but requires more expensive hard-

ware and higher power consumption. They use the same frequency range,

but employ different multiplexing schemes. While Bluetooth is a cable re-

placement for a variety of applications, Wi-Fi is a cable replacement only for

local area network access. Bluetooth is often thought of as wireless USB,

whereas Wi-Fi is wireless Ethernet, both operating at much lower bandwidth

than the cable systems they are trying to replace. However, this analogy is

not entirely accurate since any Bluetooth device can, in theory, host any

other Bluetooth device—something that is not universal to USB devices.

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Many USB Bluetooth adapters are available, some of which

also include an IrDA adapter. Older (pre-2003) Bluetooth adapters, however,

have limited services, offering only the Bluetooth Enumerator and a less-

powerful Bluetooth Radio incarnation. Such devices can link computers with

Bluetooth, but they do not offer much in the way of services that modern

adapters do.

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(3.5) Security

Bluetooth implements authentication and key derivation with

custom algorithms based on the SAFER+ block cipher. The initialization

key and master key are generated with the E22 algorithm.[5] The E0 stream

cipher is used for encrypting packets. This makes eavesdropping on Blue-

tooth-enabled devices more difficult.

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4) Social concerns

(4.1) Security concerns

2003:

In November 2003, Ben and Adam Laurie from A.L. Digital

Ltd. discovered that serious flaws in Bluetooth security may lead to disclo-

sure of personal data. It should be noted, however, that the reported security

problems concerned some poor implementations of Bluetooth, rather than

the protocol itself.

In a subsequent experiment, Martin Herfurt from the trifinite. -

group was able to do a field-trial at the CeBIT fairgrounds, showing the im-

portance of the problem to the world. A new attack called BlueBug was used

for this experiment.

2004:

In April 2004, security consultant firm @stake (now Symantec)

revealed a security flaw that makes it possible to crack conversations on

Bluetooth based wireless headsets by reverse engineering the PIN.

26

This is one of a number of concerns that have been raised over

the security of Bluetooth communications. In 2004 the first purported virus

using Bluetooth to spread itself among mobile phones appeared on the Sym-

bian OS. The virus was first described by Kaspersky Lab and requires users

to confirm the installation of unknown software before it can propagate.

The virus was written as a proof-of-concept by a group of virus

writers known as 29A and sent to anti-virus groups. Thus, it should be re-

garded as a potential (but not real) security threat to Bluetooth or Symbian

OS since the virus has never spread in the wild.

In August 2004, a world-record-setting experiment showed that

the range of Class 2 Bluetooth radios could be extended to 1.78 km (1.08

mile) with directional antennas. This poses a potential security threat be-

cause it enables attackers to access vulnerable Bluetooth-devices from a dis-

tance beyond expectation. However, such experiments do not work with sig-

nal amplifiers. The attacker must also be able to receive information from

the victim to set up a connection. No attack can be made against a Bluetooth

device unless the attacker knows its Bluetooth address and which channels

to transmit on.

2005:

In April 2005, Cambridge University security researchers pub-

lished results of their actual implementation of passive attacks against the

PIN-based pairing between commercial Bluetooth devices, confirming the

attacks to be practicably fast and the Bluetooth symmetric key establishment

method to be vulnerable. To rectify this vulnerability, they carried out an im-

27

plementation which showed that stronger, asymmetric key establishment is

feasible for certain classes of devices, such as hand phones.

In June 2005, Yaniv Shaked and Avishai Wool published the pa-

per "Cracking the Bluetooth PIN1," which shows both passive and active

methods for obtaining the PIN for a Bluetooth link. The passive attack al-

lows a suitably equipped attacker to eavesdrop on communications and

spoof if they were present at the time of initial pairing. The active method

makes use of a specially constructed message that must be inserted at a spe-

cific point in the protocol, to make the master and slave repeat the pairing

process. After that, the first method can be used to crack the PIN. This at-

tack's major weakness is that it requires the user of the devices under attack

to re-enter the PIN during the attack when the device prompts them to. Also,

this active attack probably requires custom hardware, since most commer-

cially available Bluetooth devices are not capable of the timing necessary.

In August 2005, police in Cambridge shire, England, issued

warnings about thieves using Bluetooth-enabled phones to track other de-

vices left in cars. Police are advising users to ensure that any mobile net-

working connections are de-activated if laptops and other devices are left in

this way

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2006:

In April 2006, researchers from Secure Network and F-Secure

published a report that warns of the large number of devices left in a visible

state, and issued statistics on the spread of various Bluetooth services and

the ease of spread of an eventual Bluetooth worm.

In October 2006, at the Luxemburgish Hack.lu Security Con-

ference, Kevin Finistere and Thierry Zoller demonstrated and released a re-

mote root shell over Bluetooth on Mac OSX 10.3.9 and 10.4. They also

demonstrated the first Bluetooth PIN and Linkkeys cracker, which are based

on the research of Wool and Shaked.

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(4.2) Health concerns

Bluetooth uses the microwave radio frequency spectrum in the

2.4 GHz to 2.4835 GHz range. Previous electromagnetic hazard studies dat-

ing from the 1950s to the 1980s, including more recent studies, concluded

that low power signals with frequencies as high as 1.5 GHz to 2 GHz do

cause irreversible damage to human tissue.

The radiated output power of Bluetooth devices is high when

compared to other widely used mobile devices, so it is assumed that the po-

tential for health risks are also correspondingly higher.

Bluetooth devices can operate continuously or sporadically (on

demand), so total exposure to EMF radiation is variable.

30

5) Origin of the name and the logo

Bluetooth was named after a late 900s king, Harald Bluetooth

King of Denmark and Norway. He is known for his unification of previously

warring tribes from Denmark (including Scania, present-day Sweden, where

the Bluetooth technology was invented), and Norway. Bluetooth likewise

was intended to unify different technologies, such as computers and mobile

phones.

The name may have been inspired less by the historical Harald

than the loose interpretation of him in The Long Ships by Frans Gunnar

Bengtsson, a Swedish best-selling Viking-inspired novel.

The Bluetooth logo merges the Nordic runes analogous to the

modern Latin H and B: (Haglaz) and (Berkanan) forming a bind rune. The

logo is similar to an older logo for Beauknit Textiles, a division of Beauknit

Corporation. That logo, using the connection of a reversed K and B for

Beauknit, is wider and has rounded corners, but is otherwise the same.

31

6) Bluetooth Consortium

In 1998, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, and Nokia, formed a consortium

and adopted the code name Bluetooth for their proposed open specification.

In December 1999, 3Com, Lucent Technologies, Microsoft, and Motorola

joined the initial founders as the promoter group. Since that time, Lucent

Technologies transferred their membership to their spin-off Agere Systems,

and 3Com has left the promoter group. Most recently, Nintendo has installed

Bluetooth on its new video game controller, the Wii Remote, to communi-

cate with the Wii console. The new Sony PlayStation 3 uses Bluetooth 2.0

technology for its Wireless Controller (SIXAXIS).

32

7) Bluetooth Technology Benefits

Why Choose Bluetooth wireless technology?

Bluetooth wireless technology is the simple choice for conve-

nient, wire-free, short-range communication between devices. It is a globally

available standard that wirelessly connects mobile phones, portable comput-

ers, cars, stereo headsets, MP3 players, and more. Thanks to the unique con-

cept of “profiles,” Bluetooth enabled products do not need to install driver

software. The technology is now available in its fourth version of the specifi-

cation and continues to develop, building on its inherent strengths — small-

form factor radio, low power, low cost, built-in security, robustness, ease-of-

use, and ad hoc networking abilities. Bluetooth wireless technology is the

leading and only proven short-range wireless technology on the market to-

day shipping over five million units every week with an installed base of

over 500 million units at the end of 2005.

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What are Bluetooth Profiles For?

If Bluetooth is to achieve its potential as a useful consumer tech-

nology, then it is crucial that different devices must interoperate: They must

smoothly and easily work together. The Bluetooth profiles are all about in-

teroperability.

A profile is just a description of how to use a specification to im-

plement a given end-user function. The International Standards Organization

(ISO) first came up with the idea of profiles. Profiles help interoperability in

four key ways:

Implementation options are reduced, so applications share the same

features.

Parameters are defined, so applications operate in similar ways.

Standard mechanisms for combining different standards are defined.

User interface guidelines are defined, giving uniformity across de-

vices.

34

The profiles describe minimum implementations of the Blue-

tooth protocol stack for typical applications. Manufacturers can add to these,

but each profile describes a minimum recipe for building a particular type of

device. If a device implements an end-user function covered by a profile,

then it must implement that profile (for interoperability). It may also imple-

ment a proprietary method (for flexibility).

Globally Available

The Bluetooth wireless technology specification is available free-

of-charge to our member companies around the globe. Manufacturers from

many industries are busy implementing the technology in their products to

reduce the clutter of wires, make seamless connections, stream stereo audio,

transfer data or carry voice communications. Bluetooth technology operates

in the 2.4 GHz, one of the unlicensed industrial, scientific, medical (ISM) ra-

dio bands. As such, there is no cost for the use of Bluetooth technology.

While you must subscribe to a cellular provider to use GSM or CDMA, with

Bluetooth technology there is no cost associated with the use beyond the

cost of your device.

Bluetooth wireless technology is the most widely supported, ver-

satile, and secure wireless standard on the market today. The globally avail-

able qualification program tests member products as to their accordance with

the standard. Since the first release of the Bluetooth specification in 1999,

over 4000 companies have become members in the Bluetooth Special Inter-

est Group (SIG). Meanwhile, the number of Bluetooth products on the mar-

ket is multiplying rapidly. Volumes have doubled for the fourth consecutive

35

year and are likely to reach an installed base of 500 million units by the

close of 2005.

Range of Devices

Bluetooth technology is available in an unprecedented range of

applications from mobile phones to automobiles to medical devices for use

by consumers, industrial markets, enterprises, and more. The low power

consumption, small size and low cost of the chipset solution enables Blue-

tooth technology to be used in the tiniest of devices. Have a look at the wide

range products made available by our members in the Bluetooth product di-

rectory and the component product listing.

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Ease of Use

Bluetooth technology is an ad hoc technology that requires no

fixed infrastructure and is simple to install and set up. You don’t need wires

to get connected. The process for a new user is easy – you get a Bluetooth

branded product, check the profiles available and connect it to another Blue-

tooth device with the same profiles. The subsequent PIN code process is as

easy as when you identify yourself at the ATM machine. When out-and-

about, you carry your personal area network (PAN) with you and can even

connect to others.

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Secure Connections

From the start, Bluetooth technology was designed with security

needs in mind. Since it is globally available in the open 2.4 GHz ISM band,

robustness was built in from the beginning. With adaptive frequency hop-

ping (AFH), the signal “hops” and thus limits interference from other sig-

nals. Further, Bluetooth technology has built-in security such as 128bit en-

cryption and PIN code authentication. When Bluetooth products identify

themselves, they use the PIN code the first time they connect. Once con-

nected, always securely connected.

38

8) Practical Uses of Bluetooth

(8.1) Bluetooth used by Emergency Services

Designers of mo-

bile medical systems chose

Brainboxes Bluetooth Com-

pactFlash cards for their in-

novative emergency patient

monitoring unit. The system

consists of three parts, the

mobile patient unit, the hos-

pital work station and the information system. Together, they form

a complete tool for pre-hospital diagnosis support, decision sup-

port, documentation and follow-up. Brainboxes Bluetooth Com-

pactFlash cards wirelessly connect lightweight computers with

39

specialist software to a small measuring unit that records patient

data.

Data stored on the patient unit can be immediately syn-

chronised via Bluetooth and sent from the ambulance directly to

the hospital work station or control centre PC system for immedi-

ate specialist consultation.

(8.2) Bluetooth in Education and in Bank

A leading designer and manufacturer of educational robots use

Brainboxes BL-819 Bluetooth adaptor to wirelessly connect a classroom ro-

bot to a control device.

The BL-819 is Bluetooth class 2

enabled and can transmit a signal up to 30

metres or 100 feet. In classrooms with

younger children and limited space, the ca-

ble replacement system brings the added

safety of eliminating potential trip hazards.

Banking

Brainboxes Bluetooth BL-819 cable replacement adaptors are

used by leading banks to wirelessly connect cheque validators to a central

40

control unit. A BL-819 is used to transfer transaction data to back office

monitoring equipment.

(8.3) Bluetooth used in the Food Industry

Brainboxes BL-521

Leading manufactur-

ers of scientific instru-

ments and testing appara-

tus used in food diagnos-

tics specify Bluetooth

BL-521 to test for safe

levels of compounds in

the food industry.

Brainboxes BL-521 can take a reading from a level measurement

machine to test levels of salt, sodium and minerals in foods. Readings will

then be taken by a handheld PDA and the information fed into a laptop or

PC.

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(8.4) Bluetooth in Medical

Originally de-

signed to offer a cable-free

connection between PC’s,

printers and other peripherals,

Bluetooth is an open specifi-

cation for seamless, wireless,

short-range data and voice

communications.

Applications for Bluetooth spread far beyond the IT industry and

the medical field is just one of many suitable markets where Brainboxes

Bluetooth technology is used effectively.

Traditionally patient monitoring has been largely dependent on

cable connection and a diversity of interface standards. However, designers

42

and suppliers to the medical sector are now opting for Bluetooth for conve-

nient cable replacement.

Brainboxes Bluetooth products are currently being used by sev-

eral University Hospitals because of their ability to provide wireless data

transfer from patient to portable medical monitoring equipment.

43