Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Implementation of Bluetooth



Bluetooth uses a radio technology called frequency-hopping spread spectrum, which chops up the data being sent and transmits chunks of it on up to 79 bands (1 MHz each; centered from 2402 to 2480 MHz) in the range 2,400–2,483.5 MHz (allowing for guard bands). This range is in the globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz short-range radio frequency band. It usually performs 800 hops per second, with AFH enabled.

Originally Gaussian frequency-shift keying (GFSK) modulation was the only modulation scheme available; subsequently, since the introduction of Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, π/4-DQPSK and 8DPSK modulation may also be used between compatible devices. Devices functioning with GFSK are said to be operating in basic rate (BR) mode where an instantaneous data rate of 1 Mbit/s is possible. The term Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) is used to describe π/4-DPSK and 8DPSK schemes, each giving 2 and 3 Mbit/s respectively. The combination of these (BR and EDR) modes in Bluetooth radio technology is classified as a "BR/EDR radio".

Bluetooth is a packet-based protocol with a master-slave structure. One master may communicate with up to 7 slaves in a piconet; all devices share the master's clock. Packet exchange is based on the basic clock, defined by the master, which ticks at 312.5 µs intervals. Two clock ticks make up a slot of 625 µs; two slots make up a slot pair of 1250 µs. In the simple case of single-slot packets the master transmits in even slots and receives in odd slots; the slave, conversely, receives in even slots and transmits in odd slots. Packets may be 1, 3 or 5 slots long but in all cases the master transmit will begin in even slots and the slave transmit in odd slots.

Bluetooth provides a secure way to connect and exchange information between devices such as faxes, mobile phones, telephones, laptops, personal computers, printers, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, digital cameras, and video game consoles.

Communication and connection

A master Bluetooth device can communicate with a maximum of seven devices in a piconet (an ad-hoc computer network using Bluetooth technology), though not all devices reach this maximum. The devices can switch roles, by agreement, and the slave can become the master (for example, a headset initiating a connection to a phone will necessarily begin as master, as initiator of the connection; but may subsequently prefer to be slave).

The Bluetooth Core Specification provides for the connection of two or more piconets to form a scatternet, in which certain devices simultaneously play the master role in one piconet and the slave role in another.

At any given time, data can be transferred between the master and one other device (except for the little-used broadcast mode). The master chooses which slave device to address; typically, it switches rapidly from one device to another in a round-robin fashion. Since it is the master that chooses which slave to address, whereas a slave is (in theory) supposed to listen in each receive slot, being a master is a lighter burden than being a slave. Being a master of seven slaves is possible; being a slave of more than one master is difficult. The specification is vague as to required behaviour in scatternets.

Many USB Bluetooth adapters or "dongles" are available, some of which also include an IrDA adapter. Older (pre-2003) Bluetooth dongles, however, have limited capabilities, offering only the Bluetooth Enumerator and a less-powerful Bluetooth Radio incarnation. Such devices can link computers with Bluetooth with a distance of 100 meters, but they do not offer as many services as modern adapters do.

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