An introduction to the Bluetooth technology and its applications

Bluetooth technology is embedded in various wearables and a variety of consumer electronics. It is used in a range of applications, for instance within health applications, business and even security applications. The devices can often connect to smart phones that employees bring to their offices and on travel. The trend of bringing your own device combined with the big evolution of connecting devices and wearables, also called the Internet of Things, makes it useful also for the defence sector to understand how all these connections and disconnections work. Bluetooth enables such connections. The scope of our study has so far been Bluetooth Classic, which is also known as BR/EDR (Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate). Bluetooth Classic refers to versions prior to Bluetooth 4.0. We have chosen this scope because this version seems to be widely disseminated worldwide. The research question we ask is: What is Bluetooth technology, how does it work and which are the user applications? Naturally, it follows that the objective of this study is to introduce Bluetooth technology and its applications in general. Bluetooth is a technology that enables wireless communication. The Bluetooth standard is managed by Bluetooth SIG Inc., which has 24000 member companies worldwide that jointly drive the Bluetooth developments. Among these you find huge international hardware and software producers. The Bluetooth technology allows two Bluetooth enabled devices to wirelessly communicate with each other. Bluetooth uses RF technology, and the radio range can reach up to 100 meters depending on the power. It also enables up to seven devices to connect to a master device and builds a so-called Piconet of the connected devices. In newer versions, several Piconets can merge into Scatternets. Thus, the technology enables personal devices such as laptops, smartphones, various wearables etc. to wirelessly connect together, forming a small wireless network providing a number of applications ranging from file transfers, music listening, printing of documents etc. Its applications are wide and continuously growing, and that is why we can expect to see even more applications in consumer electronics, transportation and more in the future. One of the characteristics of the Bluetooth technology is its use of frequency hopping, which reduces the risk for interference. However, in a Scatternet there may be interference from other Bluetooth devices that are not aware of other Piconets in the area. The result may be frequent packet loss and reduced packet throughput. The problem can escalate as the density of Piconets and Bluetooth devices in a given area increase, and consequently increased traffic, resulting in increased interference and further decrease in throughput. If voice traffic experiences frequent packet loss, the result may be poorer voice quality on the communication channel. The Bluetooth evolution shows, however, that over time, both functionally and security has improved. Security has not been a major topic in this first introductory report, but it is our intention to study the security aspects in a follow-up study.