March 2011
Intermediate to advanced
450 pages
18h 25m
English
Chapter 7
Bluetooth
To connect devices such as computers, printers, smartphones and headsets with each other, a number of cable and infrared technologies have been developed over the years. Wired connections are mostly used for big or stationary devices, while infrared connections have advantages for small or mobile devices. In practice, however, the use of wired or infrared connections was, and often still is, complicated and also not very practical in many situations. The Bluetooth technology offers an ideal solution to this problem. To show the possibilities of Bluetooth, this chapter provides an overview of the physical characteristics and the general functionality of the system, as well as the organization and functionality of the protocol stack. We then discuss the concept of Bluetooth profiles and demonstrate how they can be used in practice. While Bluetooth and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) are two very different systems, they also have a number of functionalities that are common to both. Thus, a comparison is made between the two technologies at the end of the chapter to show which technology is the best choice for a particular application.
