What is Bluetooth and how does it work?

What is Bluetooth

Bluetooth is such a wireless technology that is used to transfer data between electronic devices. If we talk about other wireless communication modes, then the distance of data transmission here is very less compared to them.

This means that data transfer can be done within a very short distance in Bluetooth. Using this technology, users do not need any cords, cables, or adapters and it allows them to communicate wirelessly.

This Bluetooth is a type of wireless technology, which is used to transfer any file or data. This Bluetooth technology was developed by the Bluetooth special interest group and its physical range is from 10m to 50m only.

This Bluetooth device can connect to up to seven devices and is mainly used in industries like smartphones, personal computers, and gaming consoles. The IEEE has standardized Bluetooth as IEEE 802.15.1, but these standards are maintained only for certain periods.

What are the key features of Bluetooth Technology?

• Let us know what are the key features of this Bluetooth technology about which all of you must know.
• Less complication: There is not much complication in this, it is a very simple technology.
• Less power consumption: There is no more power consumption in this. Which makes it more popular.
• Cheaper Rates: They are cheaper than other similar technologies.
• Robustness:- They are very robust. They can be used anywhere and anytime.
• Distance: They can be used between 10 to 50 meters.
• Data rate: Their data rate is up to 1 Mbps. Which is very fast.
• Spreading: FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) technology is used in this.

Advantages of Bluetooth

Here I am going to tell you about the advantages of Bluetooth.

• By using it, you can connect immediately without any wires through an ad-hoc connection. It is very easy and quick to have a connection established here. The user only has to pair the devices.
• It has low power consumption.
• Data transfer can also happen between the walls.
• Its range is better than Infrared communication.
• Since it is managed by Bluetooth SIG and it covers the products of many big companies, the problem of interoperability is negligible here between the products of different Bluetooth vendors.
• It is used for voice and data transfer.
• Since FHSS is used in this technology, the data communication here is very secure.
• This technology is used in many products such as headsets, car systems, printers, webcam, GPS systems, keyboards, and mouse.
• Since Bluetooth headphones are present in the market nowadays, so if a driver wants, he can receive the phones comfortably while driving. With this, he will not have any problem in driving.
• These Bluetooth devices are available at very low prices, which everyone can buy.
• There is very little interference in this if we talk about other wireless technologies then because FHSS technology is used in it.

Disadvantages of Bluetooth

Just like a coin has two sides, everything also has advantages and disadvantages. So let's try to know about the disadvantages of Bluetooth.

• The biggest disadvantage of this is that its security. Yes because as we know that it operates on the radio frequency and hence it can easily penetrate the walls. Therefore you are advised not to use it for critical business or personal data transfer.
• Since HomeRF technology also operates on this frequency, there is sometimes interference with each other.
• Its bandwidth is much lower than WiFi.
• Battery usage is high in this when Bluetooth is in the ON state. Therefore it is recommended to turn off Bluetooth when not in use, which also increases the battery life of the mobile.

What is Bluetooth Network and its Types

A Bluetooth network is called a network where many Bluetooth users are connected and communicating with each other. There are mainly two main elements in these networks, the first Master and the second Slave.

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Mainly only two types of network topologies have been given more importance in Bluetooth.

• Piconet
• Scatternet

Piconet

Piconet is formed when one master and one slave are present or if one master and multiple slaves are present. At the most maximum of 7 active slaves can remain in the piconet. Therefore a maximum of 8 maximum devices can communicate together in a small network and which is called a piconet. Slaves transmit only when the master Bluetooth device requests them. About 255 slaves are always present in the parking state.

Active slaves are polled for transmission by the master. Each station gets only 8 bit parked address. Therefore only a total of 255 parked slaves are possible in a piconet. These parked stations can join only within 2 ms. It may take time for all the other stations to join. Only 10 such piconets are found in a specified Bluetooth radio coverage area.

Scatternet

Combinations of Multiple Piconets are called Scatternet. A device can participate in multiple piconets. It has to be timeshare and synchronized with the master of the current piconet.

It supports data rates that are based on different versions, which are something like 720 kbps to 24 Mbps.
They have the ability to cover distances from 1 to 100 meters, depending on which power class of Bluetooth device it supports.

Technical Specifications of Bluetooth

Specification - Feature Supported
RF Frequency - 2.4GHz
Transmit power - 100 mW(Max.) 1mW(Min.)
Data rate - About 1Mbps
Distance - 100 meter(max.) 1 meter(min.)
RF Bandwidth - 220 kHz to about 1MHz
Modulation type - Gaussian FSK (GFSK)
The number of RF carriers - 79(max.) and 23(min.)
Topology - up to 7 links one-star configuration
Hopping rate - 1600 hops per second
Access type - FH-TDD-TDMA

Different Versions of Bluetooth Technology

Here we will learn about the different versions of Bluetooth Technology, also know about the difference between them, etc. By the way, if I talk about Bluetooth versions then v1.2, v2.0, v2.1, v3.0, v4.0, v4.1, and v5.0 are the main ones.

Bluetooth technology mainly provides short-range wireless capabilities to transfer data between any two devices. In the last few years, many versions of Bluetooth have come in the market and Bluetooth has evolved to a great extent in which many versions such as v1.2, v2.0, v2.1, v3.0, v4.0, v4. 1 and v5.0 are included.

Bluetooth operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band. These technologies are based on IEEE 802.15.1 standard. Both the PHY and MAC layers of Bluetooth are defined in the Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) standard.

All Bluetooth versions have different speed and data rate requirements. They are compatible with their previous versions so that the version of Bluetooth in the device can be easily operated with other versions.

The Bluetooth network is mainly a combination of many piconets. Each piconet has a master and seven slaves who are communicating with each other.

Bluetooth RF and baseband specifications

• The modulation type is GFSK
• The Peak data rate is around 1Mbps
• RF Bandwidth is 220KHz and 1MHz
• RF frequency band is 2.4 GHz
• No. of RF carriers is 23/79
• RF carrier spacing is 1 MHz
• 1600 hops/sec frequency hopping
• Time Division Duplex mode
• Transmit power is about 0.1-watt
• Distance coverage is also between 10m to 100m
• 7 simultaneous links are possible in a star configuration

Different versions of Bluetooth and the difference between

Bluetooth v1.2
Speed ​​or data rate: 720 kbps
Backward compatibility: v1.1

Bluetooth v2.0
Speed: 2.1 Mbps
Backward compatibility: Bluetooth v1.2

Bluetooth v2.1
Speed: 2 Mbit/s
Backward compatibility: Bluetooth v1.2

Bluetooth version v3.0
Speed: 24 Mbps
Backward compatibility: Bluetooth v2.1

Bluetooth v4.0
Speed:24 Mbps
Backward compatibility: Bluetooth v3.0

Bluetooth v4.1
It has been specially designed to work in LTE cellular technology.
It is backward compatible with all previous versions.

Bluetooth v5.0 It has been made much better than the previous version. It is mainly designed for Bluetooth Headphones, Mouse, and other Music accessories only. The special feature of this is that you can listen to the song in two headphones at the same time when it is connected to the same smartphone. In this, much better speed, distance, and throughput have been provided. Apart from this, not much battery is used in it. It is backward compatible with all previous versions.

Applications of Bluetooth Technology

We have already learned very well about Bluetooth technology, let us now know how we use this Bluetooth technology in our daily life.

• We use it to transfer files such as images, mp3 audio, video, GIFs, etc. from one mobile to another.
• A small amount of bandwidth is required for wireless networking to make connections between laptops and desktop computers.
• We can easily connect all the peripheral devices like mouse, keyboard, printers, speakers, etc. with the PC cordlessly.
• You can print it out from your computer without any wires.
• Can automate the whole house.
• You can lock your cars more securely with the help of Bluetooth.

Where do we use Bluetooth technology?

• Bluetooth headsets
• stereo headset
• In-car Bluetooth headset
• Bluetooth-equipped printer
• Bluetooth enables webcam
• Bluetooth keyboard
• Bluetooth GPS device