Whats Is Bluetooth And How To Work ?

Bluetooth is used to connect hands-free devices. It’s used to transfer files to and from devices. It’s used to connect peripherals, such as keyboard and mice, to your PC or mobile device. And that’s now touching the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Bluetooth. The big draw for using Bluetooth as the connection of choice for many people is the fact that it’s wireless, inexpensive, and once configured, will automatically connect.

History of Bluetooth

This was probably the most interesting feature I found when looking up information about Bluetooth. Supposedly, the namesake of this form of connection stems from Harald Bluetooth, a king of Denmark in the late 900s AD. He united Denmark and a part of Norway into a single kingdom and improving the communication line in the area during his reign. As such, the Bluetooth technology that was introduced in the mid-1990s by Ericsson was named after him and the Bluetooth logo combine the runic symbols of Harald’s initials.

How it works

Bluetooth transmits data via low-powered radio waves and communicate on a frequency between 2.402 GHz and 2.485 GHz.  When Bluetooth compatible devices come within range of each other, an electronic conversation happen between the device in an attempt to determine whether they have data to share with each other, or whether one can be controlled by the other (for example, a Bluetooth mouse). Once a connection is made, the devices create a personal-area network (PAN) with every other, which can be as large as 50 meters.

Security

One of the key features of Bluetooth, is the fact that it provides some security modes in order to control or limit who has access to its PAN. In most cases, Bluetooth users can establish “trusted devices” that can exchange data without having to ask for permission each and every time. When another device try to access the same PAN, the user has to decide to allow or deny it.

As well, a user can also set their device to a “non-discoverable” mode and avoid connecting with other Bluetooth devices.

As with everything though, there are both exploits that can be used to access and send files via Bluetooth without authorization and most of these can be combated by being aware of what you’re accepting and doing with your Bluetooth device.  Always be aware of what you’re connecting to when you’re using Bluetooth and avoid accepting connections/files from unknown devices.

Bluetooth Evolution

Bluetooth was invented by Ericsson in 1994 as means of transferring information wirelessly over small distances. A few years later, Ericsson joined with Intel, Nokia, and Toshiba to form the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) to oversee the development of this new technology.

After the creation of the SIG, Bluetooth became commercially available in mobile phones around 2000 and was quickly rolled out to a multitude of devices, including laptops, mice, printers, cameras and more.  While the first few iterations of Bluetooth were useful in “pairing” devices jointly, it was still relatively slow compared to traditional means of transferring files.

With the launch of Bluetooth 2.1 in 2007 (one of the first big change to the Bluetooth protocol), we saw an improvement of almost five fold in terms of authority consumption and a vast improvement over pairing devices.  This is around the similar time that Bluetooth started to become standard in most mobile devices, as the changes provided some much needed benefits for the mobile computing field.

The progression continued in 2009 with the release of Bluetooth 3.0 which bumped up the data transfer speed to 24Mbps. It also introduced peer-to-peer message between mobile devices, allowing users to play games together over Bluetooth as well.The final update to Bluetooth was the release of Bluetooth 4.0 in 2010. even as it hasn’t seen as big of a boost to its popularity that came with the release of Bluetooth 3.0, it has a huge potential in the coming years. one more reduction in power consumption came with version 4.0 and also introduces the possibility of replacing many sensor style applications, such as heart rate monitors and pedometers.

As you can see, Bluetooth is a little more intricate then what you might have first thought. Whether you use it everyday or are completely opposed to it, it’s easy to see that it’s absolutely not going anywhere anytime soon.