Bluetooth

Loosely named after a 10th-century Danish king, Bluetooth is a wireless data communications and networking system designed for relatively short-range operation (generally within the same room, although it can be used over longer distances up to several hundred feet [tens of meters]). The radio transmission is in the 2.4-GHz band and is typically low power, making it suitable for battery-powered devices such as laptops.

Applications

Bluetooth was originally developed by Ericsson Corpora-tion to provide a wireless connection for mobile telephone headsets. Today it is often used to “sync” (update data) between a PDA such as a Blackberry or Palm (see PDA) with a Bluetooth-equipped laptop or desktop. Many cell phones are also equipped with Bluetooth, allowing them to be dialed from a PDA, although the growing use of phones that combine telephony and PDA functions is making this scenario less common (see smartphone). Bluetooth can also be used for wireless keyboards, mice, or printers.

It is possible to connect PDAs or PCs to the Internet and local area networks using a Bluetooth wireless access point (WAP) attached to a router, but faster and longer range Wifi (802.11) wireless connections are much more widely used for this application (see Wifi).

Bluetooth connections between devices are specified using profiles. Profiles have been developed for common kinds of devices, specifying how data is formatted and exchanged. For example, there are profiles for controlling telephones, printers and faxes, digital cameras, and audio devices. Most modern operating systems (including Win-dows Mobile, Linux, Palm OS, and Mac OS X) include sup-port for basic Bluetooth profiles. Functions fundamental to all Bluetooth operations are found in Bluetooth Core Speci-fications (version 2.1 as of August 2007). Planned future enhancements include accommodation for ultra-wide band (UWB) radio technology, allowing for data transfer up to 480 megabits per second. At the same time, Bluetooth is extending the ultra-low-power modes that are particularly important for wearable or implanted medical devices.