The literal translation of the word Bluetooth (which means “Blue Tooth”) can be misleading. The origin of the name of this new technology is instead found among Nordic myths and legends: Harald Bluetooth, or “BlĂĄtand” in Scandinavian, is the name of a Viking king who lived in Denmark from 910 to 940 AD.
Not very Nordic in appearance – black hair and dark complexion – he had the merit of bringing Christianity to Scandinavia and unifying the Norwegian regions with the Danish ones. Thus, to honor him, the Swedish mobile phone company Ericsson decided to name this new wireless technology (without wires or cables) after him, which was created with the aim of simplifying interconnection and data exchange between mobile devices (laptops, PDAs, cell phones, electronic organizers but also portable MP3 players, and even Bluetooth-compatible household appliances…), and therefore encouraging its use.
2. The birth of Bluetooth and the S.I.G. In 1994 Ericsson Mobile Communications launched a research campaign to study low-cost, low-power radio interfaces intended to connect mobile phones with the rest of the digital world. Then, at the beginning of 1998, that feasibility study expanded to involve a consortium of companies that now includes, alongside Ericsson, allies such as Nokia, IBM, Toshiba, and Intel, all united by the goal of developing a standard for radio wave interconnection. To ensure the development and free circulation of this technology across a wide range of devices, these giants formed a special interest group, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. The SIG consortium also created several working groups tasked with developing the technology in key areas such as home automation (domotics in the domestic robotics field, interconnection among household appliances).
The group soon gained new renowned corporate partners like Motorola, 3COM/Palm, Compaq, Axis Communication, Dell, Lucent Technologies, and Qualcomm, and today it gathers over 2000 companies. The official website dedicated to the consortium and its technology is http://www.bluetooth.com, where you can find technical information, curiosities, and updates about Bluetooth and related topics. Initially developed as a radio solution to enable connection between laptops, cell phones, and other portable devices at home and in the office, its potential actually has much broader horizons: Bluetooth is finding applications in all fields where a low-cost (and short-range) alternative to wired connections is needed.
3. The latest frontier of Wireless The main purpose of Bluetooth technology’s birth lies in its ability to enable different devices (printers, notebooks, PDAs, hi-fi systems, TVs, PCs, cell phones, household appliances) to communicate and interact without the need for wired connections, what is called Wireless.
Wireless refers to a type of communication, monitoring, and set of control systems where signals travel through space rather than over transmission wires or cables. In a wireless system, transmission mainly occurs via radio frequency (RF) or infrared (IR). The most used standards for wireless technologies are: DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) – encrypted digital standard for cordless phones with the possibility of 120 channels over 12 frequencies, evolution of analog cordless phones, implementing the GAP interface (Generic Access Profile) and using GMSK modulation, max bit rate 348 Kbps. IrDA (Infrared Device Application) – bidirectional point-to-point infrared data interconnection technology between devices positioned in mutual visibility (LoS, line of sight), with a reduced range of 1–2 meters and bit rate of 4 Mbps. IEEE 802.11 – technology for wireless LANs, with a single interface at the Data Link level and two possible implementations at the Physical Layer (infrared, not applied, Dfir transmission), and radio waves with FHSS and DSSS technologies. This standard is divided into 802.11a operating at 5.8 GHz and 40 GHz, and 802.11b operating at 2.4 GHz and 11 Mbps, high rate.
Bluetooth – low-power (mWatt) wireless interconnection technology, capable of making electronic devices like phones, stereos, notebooks, computers, PDAs communicate with up to 8 devices, through low-range radio waves emitted by transmitters inside these devices, which we are discussing here. Bluetooth allows managing both data (TD data transmission) and voice (TV voice transmission), using packet transmission over radio network for data and a connection-oriented mode for voice. Wireless enables all electronic devices present in an office or home to communicate with each other. Information exchange between tools occurs through radio waves, eliminating any physical connection between devices. To do this, each device must have inside an integrated chip capable of transmitting and receiving information in the ether. Within the wireless landscape, Bluetooth is certainly a technology that will revolutionize the wireless network connection market, mainly due to its low transmission costs and especially because of the possibility of making any type of wireless device communicate through radio waves. Bluetooth technology is specifically designed to enable wireless communication for small devices.
The key inspiring concept of this technology is to completely eliminate the cables necessary for communication between devices, as we have seen.
4. Technically: what’s underneath? Bluetooth wireless technology is today a market standard, as well as a specification for short-range, low-cost radio connections, representing the evolution of the IrDA protocol for wireless data transmission. Bluetooth was designed to transmit data and voice data point-to-multipoint at speeds above 1 Mbps covering distances ranging from 10 meters (for almost all cell phones) to 25 meters (for PDAs) or 100 meters of range. Data travels within the ISM 2.4 GHz radio frequency band, reserved for industry, scientific applications, and the medical sector. Frequency Band Classification Usage 3-30 KHz VLF Very Low Frequency maritime communications 30 KHz – 300 KHz LF Low Frequency ” ” ” 300 KHz – 3 MHz MF Medium Frequency emergency communications 3 MHz – 30 MHz HF High Frequency amateur radio – military uses 30 MHz – 300 MHz VHF Very High Frequency TV – AM/FM Radio 0.3 – 3 GHz UHF Ultra High Frequency Bluetooth – ISM Industrial Scientific Medical frequencies 3 – 30 GHz SHF Super High Frequency Radar – Satellites 30 – 300 GHz EHF Extra High Frequency Radar – Satellites 1000 GHz – 10,000,000 GHz Infrared – Ultraviolet
This band is available worldwide: therefore, it is not necessary to adapt devices equipped with this technology according to national regulations and frequency allocation plans. This means, for example, that a Bluetooth cell phone bought in Italy can transmit and receive data on this protocol anywhere in the world. (to be continued)
Pubblicato in Digital Tools
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