Bluetooth Protocol – Type, Data Exchange and Security

The first Bluetooth was developed in the year 1994 by Sven Mattison and Jaap Haartsen. They were working in a mobile phone company named Ericsson which is in Sweden. Then five companies came forward and joined to form the Bluetooth special interest group. Then they developed the Bluetooth protocol specification version 1.0 in the year 1999. It allowed developing applications and interactive services over the interoperable radio modules and data communication protocols. It was meant to provide the information on the specifications, capabilities, and architectures. A number of usage modules were identified by the Bluetooth SIG.

What is Bluetooth?

Bluetooth is short-range communication technology. The Bluetooth name is taken from the 10th-century Danish king Herald Blatant. Who combined Denmark and Norway.

The Bluetooth Technologies

Bluetooth technology is a wireless system that uses radio waves for communication purposes. It has the capability to communicate with many different devices at once without interface. It is an open standard for short-range transmission of digital voice and the data support from point to point and multiplier to point applications. It has a short-range radio link and the price is also low. When two Bluetooth devices are in a 50 meters range, then they have the connection probability. When the Bluetooth is cut, the cord is used in digital devices. It operates with the speed of 2.45 GHz, which is available in all cases and it has some variations in location and bandwidth. For mobile phones and business users, the range is set at 10 to 100 meters. It is possible to increase the range.

The speed of the gross data rate is 1bit/s, and the speed of the second generation is increased up to 2bit/s. One-to-one Bluetooth connections are allowed for a maximum speed of data transfer, which is 723 kbit/s. The standby mode is only 0.3 ma and it has low power consumption.

Bluetooth supports wireless point-to-point and point-to-multiple devices in Piconet.

A point-to-point link has a master and slave relation and the Bluetooth function is also the same as a master and slave; the figure below shows the master and slave relation.

Point-to-multiple links is a network function; it functions like a master-to-one or more slaves, but the maximum number of slaves should be 7; the below diagram shows a clear picture of point to multiple links.

There are different versions of Bluetooth as given below:

Bluetooth Protocol Types

The main function of the Bluetooth is a Bluetooth protocol stack. It defines and provides different types of layers and functionalities. Bluetooth can run the different applications over different protocol stacks, but, each one of these protocol stacks uses the same Bluetooth link and physical layers. The below diagram shows a complete Bluetooth protocol stack. It shows the relationship between the protocols that use the services of other protocols when there is a payload to be transferred in the air. Anyhow, the protocols have many other relationships between the other protocols – for example, some protocols (L2CAP, TCS Binary) use the LMP to control the link manager.

The complete protocol stack is made up of both Bluetooth specific protocols like object exchange protocols (OBEX) and user datagram protocol (UDP). The main principle is to minimize the reuse of current protocols for different purposes at higher layers as if re-inventing circle once again. The protocol re-use is helpful for the legacy applications to work with the Bluetooth technology to measure the smooth operations and interoperability of applications. Hence, many applications are being developed to take immediate advantage of the software and hardware.

The Bluetooth protocols are divided into four layers according to their purpose and aspects of Bluetooth. The layers are given below:

Advantages of Bluetooth Protocols

The advantages of Bluetooth protocol are given below:

• Bluetooth offers economic wireless solutions (both data & voice) for short distances.
• It is used in the mobile and stationary environment.
• There is no setup file to install the Bluetooth; it is an inbuilt device.
• Global technology specifications are used.

Characteristics of Bluetooth Protocols

Some of the characteristics of Bluetooth protocols are given below:

• Up to eight devices can be networked in the Piconet by using Bluetooth.
• Devices need not to be pointed at each other, as signals are Omnidirectional.
• Governments regulated worldwide because it is possible to utilize the same standard.
• Signals can be transmitted even through walls and briefcases.

Applications of Bluetooth Protocols

The applications of Bluetooth protocols are mentioned below:

• Wireless communication with PC’s input and output devices; the most common devices include a mouse, keyboard, and printer.
• Transfer of files, contact details, calendar appointments, and reminders between devices with obex.
• It is possible to send a small advertisement from a Bluetooth enabled advertising notice to other discoverable, Bluetooth devices.
• In cars introduced in 2004, like the Toyota Prius and Lexus, they have 430 band free call systems.

This article gives information about Bluetooth protocols, types of Bluetooth protocols, Bluetooth’s advantages, applications and characteristics of the Bluetooth protocol. We hope that the information given in this article is helpful in providing some good insights and understanding of the project. Furthermore, if you have any queries regarding this article or any other electrical and electronic projects, you can comment in the below section. Here is a question for you – why Bluetooth is called as a cable replacement technology?

Photo Credits:

• Bluetooth Protocol Stack rfwireless-world
• Categories of Bluetooth Protoco lengineersgarage
• Bluetooth gcflearnfree