Custom essays on BLUETOOTH

Wireless technologies, their types and applications were described, and comparison table was developed. Bluetooth wireless technology was discussed in detail, including its specification, unique features and spheres of application. Future development of wireless technologies and the future of Bluetooth in particular was considered.
Contents
Introduction 3
1. Description of wireless technologies 3
2. Bluetooth technology 4
3. Applications 5
4. Future development 6
Conclusion 7
References 7

Introduction
It is possible to distinguish between several kinds of wireless technologies, depending on their range. There are technologies which offer connectivity for desktops and other end-user devices; other technologies are applicable for office use and can connect and medium-size or even large office in one network. Wireless technologies are superior in flexibility and offer more inexpensive methods of data transmission compared to wired cables. Wireless technologies offer the following benefits: better efficiency due to absence of wires and easier method of connection, better possibilities for integrating and merging networks, excellent flexibility and naturally, cost efficiency. Wireless solutions can be divided into three types: local wireless solutions, or PAN (also called Personal Area Networks), wireless networks (referred to as WLAN) and mobile phone networks, or WAN (Gallo & Hancock, 2002). The aim of this essay is to explore the possibilities of PAN and WLAN, and describe such wireless technology as Bluetooth, its limitations, advantages and applications.
1. Description of wireless technologies
Generally, the term “wireless” refers to technologies that use point-to-point or point-to-multipoint microwave in various frequencies between 2.5 and 43GHz to transmit signals between hub sites and end-user receiver (Dubensdorf, 2003). A local area networks basing on wireless technologies uses a cellular architecture where the system is subdivided into cells (Golsmith, 2005), where each cell is controlled by a base station (called access point). Standards of wireless LAN that are currently being explored in the field of communications technology are IEEE 802.11 (WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMax), propriety radio connectivity, Bluetooth and HomeRF (Dubensdorf, 2003). Comparison of major wireless technologies is presented in Table 1.

Bluetooth HomeRF 802.11a/b/g 802.11n Proprietary 802.16a 2G/2.5G/3G
Typical range <10m (<100m) 100m 100m 100m 10 km 50 km Cellular network
Modulation Adaptive FHSS FHSS DSSS DSSS FHSS QAM CDMA/GSM/AMPS
Frequency range 2.4 GHz 2.4 GHz 2.4 GHz – b/g; 5.8 GHz – a 2.4 GHz 915 MHz, 2.4 GHz 2-11 GHz 869-894 MHz
Network P2P P2P IP / P2P IP / P2P P2P IP IP
Cost of data Free Free Free Free Free Free Monthly charge
Application Cable replacement, network integration Cable replacement, network integration LAN, Internet LAN, Internet Point to point connectivity Metro area broadband connectivity Cellular telephones and telemetry
Table 1. Comparison of existing wireless technologies
Since each of these technologies presents a separate branch of industry, the aim of this paper is to discuss and analyze one technology – Bluetooth.
2. Bluetooth technology
Bluetooth technology is a radio link for mobile devices and for access points (both WAN and LAN) which has such advantages as low power and low cost. Strictly speaking, Bluetooth is “an open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances, operating in the ISM band” (Ganguli, 2002). The main purpose of creating this technology was to replace wired connection between computers, printers and other networking devices, and in order to enable mobile devices easily connect to existing networks. Key priorities for this standard were speed and reliability; also, Bluetooth connection may provide voice and data communications. Bluetooth started as an idea in 1994 at Ericsson (Gallo & Hancock, 2002).
Specification of Bluetooth protocol indicates that it may operate in two ranges: short and medium (approximately 10 m and 100 m correspondingly) and allow the speeds up to 24 Mbit per sec at specification 3.0 (Bray & Sturman, 2001). The radio band which is used by Bluetooth protocol is 2.4 GHz, and modulation is frequency hopping spread spectrum (Morrow, 2002). This creates potential problems for the interaction of WiFi and Bluetooth devices.
One of the greatest advantages of Bluetooth is that it enables to provide wireless internet for mobile users, and uses less power than WiFi. Bluetooth enables a device to become an Internet bridge between portable devices and wireless access points, similarly to other wireless technologies, such as 802.11, HomeRf etc. However, there are several features of Bluetooth that distinguish it from competing technologies. First of all, Bluetooth can be integrated into small portable devices (e.g. headsets and microphones), and Bluetooth allows to create a Personal Area Network (Rao & Parikh, 2003).
3. Applications
Applications of Bluetooth technology are numerous, and they are not limited to the field of computers and telecommunications; Bluetooth can be successfully implemented in such areas as home entertainment, automotive industry, health care, toys productions etc. Since this technology uses a low-cost and low-power radio link, it is currently integrated into various devices: wireless headsets, microphones, netbooks, phones and other small portable devices, enabling them to communicate without wires.
One of the most popular applications for Bluetooth is cell phone: if the phone supports Internet protocols, it is possible to create a Bluetooth piconet in order to share Internet access between desktop computer and mobile device. It is also possible to enable remote administration of a PC using a Bluetooth-enable phone. Bluetooth printers can be easily integrated into networks since they do not require wires. Similarly to phones, PDA or netbook with Bluetooth may be synchronized with other devices. As devices that meet the next standard become more commonly available, the higher throughput will be used for wireless audio components and appliances as well (Schwarz, 2005).
In fact, Bluetooth is one of the technologies that enable the mobile multitude happen and create possibilities for synchronizing and creating a global network between home, office and the outer world. The overall acceptance of the technology is also important: currently, this technology is administered by a Special Interest Group, which includes such powerful members as Ericsson, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia and Toshiba. Many Bluetooth commander products have already been rolled in to the marketplace as good as corroborated by large vendors (Bray & Sturman, 2001).
Applications and implementation of Bluetooth may have an important effect for other industries, such as automotive and health care, and inspire development in these areas.
4. Future development
Currently, Bluetooth has partially given way to more speedy competitors such as WiFi and WiMax. However, the unique features of this technology are and will be used in internet connection for tine devices, communication to external networks, creating PAN; in addition, Bluetooth devices may be used for voice recognition, vehicle diagnosis, healthcare metrology etc. It is also stated (Gregori, 2002) that Bluetooth can be used for portable power transferring; for the majority of portable devices (phones, players, laptops etc.), this can be a very successful solution. Among other applications of Bluetooth technology is using it for communication and social networking; in Singapore, this technology was used for dating, and for raising low birth rate (Schwarz, 2005). Potentially, Bluetooth may be used in service sphere (for payment purposes), e.g. at car parks, food outlets, service stations and vending machines.
In 2009, Wicentric, Inc., a leading provider of Bluetooth software solutions, announced exactLE, a protocol stack for Bluetooth low energy devices (Palanivelu & Nakeeran, 2009). This stack uses the 4.0 version of Bluetooth protocol. ExactLE protocol stack was intended for low energy devices working mostly in single mode; possibilities of this new protocol allow Bluetooth to be integrated into sport sensors, healthcare devices, mobile phone accessories etc. This protocol also offers easy API, portable architecture and small sized software (Palanivelu & Nakeeran, 2009); due to this, exactLE may be extensively used by companies producing low-energy devices, and allows reducing time to market as well.
Conclusion
Generally, advances in wireless technologies concentrate on increasing data transmission speeds, greater reliability and better use of wireless frequencies. While each of the technologies described in the first section of the essay has its advantages in performance and unique features, there are also limitations for each of them, that have to be overcome. However, the major trend is to raise the data rate links, presumable up to several Gigabits per second, and most of the described technologies will be modified in order to reach this goal.
Bluetooth technology, the value of which has been reduced due to new competitors such as WiFi and WiMax, is currently gaining more popularity due to the introduction of the protocol v.4.0. New products are constantly being released while the features of Bluetooth technology on others are being refined; methods of operation and data transmission at home and in business environment are changing, and a strong trend towards integrating virtually every device into global network can be witnessed.

References
Bray, Jennifer & Sturman, Charles. (2001). Bluetooth: connect without cables. Prentice Hall PTR.
Dubensdorf, Vern A. (2003). Wireless data technologies. John Wiley and Sons.
Ganguli, Madhustree. (2002). Getting started with Bluetooth. Premier Press.
Gallo, Michael & Hancock, Bill. (2002). Networking explained. Digital Press.
Golsmith, Andrea. (2005). Wireless communications. Cambridge University Press.
Gregori, Enrico. (May 2002).Networking 2002: networking technologies, services, and protocols. Second International IFIP-TC6 Networking Conference, Pisa, Italy. Springer.
Morrow, Robert. (2002). Bluetooth operation and use. McGraw-Hill.
Palanivelu, T. & Nakeeran, R. (2009). Wireless and Mobile Communication. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Rao, Bharat & Parikh, Mihir A. (2003). Wireless Broadband Networks. International Journal of Electronic Commerce. 8 (1), 37-53.
Schwarz, Mischa. (2005). Mobile wireless communications. Cambridge University Press.