Bluetooth Case Study

A CASE STUDY
On Bluetooth Protocols and applications
Prepared by:
Rohan A. Chavan
(Roll-No 10, T.E-COMP)
Department of Computer Engineering, Shri. L.R. Tiwari College of Engineering,
Mira Road, Maharashtra.

Presented to:
Prof: Garima Mishra
(Lecturer, department of computer engineering)

Date of Submission
March 24, 2015
Abstract: Simply stated, Bluetooth is a wireless communication protocol. Since it's a communication
protocol, you can use Bluetooth to communicate to other Bluetooth-enabled devices. In this sense,
Bluetooth is like any other communication protocol that you use every day, such as HTTP, FTP,
SMTP, or IMAP. Bluetooth has a client-server architecture; the one that initiates the connection is the
client, and the one who receives the connection is the server. Bluetooth is a great protocol for wireless
communication because it's capable of transmitting data at nearly 1MB/s, while consuming 1/100th of
the power of Wi-Fi. In this paper we discuss about various components of the Bluetooth protocol stack
and various application of Bluetooth technology.

Keywords: Bluetooth, Protocol Stack, piconet, scatternet Ad hoc network.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this report is to provide an

informative overview about Bluetooth technology
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Bluetooth Case Study

which has in fact already become a global de facto
standard for wireless connectivity. In this report I am
including the fundamentals of Bluetooth, how it
evolved, the working, and the technical
specifications. Moreover, I am penning down a few of
its advantages and disadvantages from a consumer
and provider point of view which further leads on to
describing a few of its vast and varied applications. I
am concluding on the note of what Bluetooth
technology presently is and what potential it has in
our world and life.

WHY IT IS CALLED BLUETOOTH?

The word "Bluetooth" is an anglicized version of the
Scandinavian Bltand/Bltann, (Old Norse bltnn)
the epithet of
the
tenth-century
king Harald
Bluetooth who united dissonant Danish tribes into a
single kingdom and, according to legend, introduced
Christianity as well. The idea of this name was
proposed in 1997 by Jim Kardach who developed a
system that would allow mobile phones to
communicate with computers. At the time of this
proposal he was reading Frans G. Bengtsson's
historical novel The Long Ships about Vikings and
King Harald Bluetooth. The implication is that
Bluetooth does the same with communications
protocols, uniting them into one universal standard.
The Bluetooth logo is a bind rune merging
the Younger Futhark runes (Hagall)
(Bjarkan) (), Harald's initials.

()

and

In the beginning of the Bluetooth wireless technology

era, Bluetooth was aimed at unifying the telecom and
computing industries. Bluetooth can be used to
wirelessly synchronize and transfer data among
devices. Bluetooth can be thought of as a cable
replacement technology. Typical uses include
automatically synchronizing contact and calendar
information among desktop, notebook and palmtop
computers without connecting cables. Bluetooth can
also be used to access a network or the

INTRODUCTION
Bluetooth is a networking technology aimed at lowpowered, short range applications. It was initially
developed by Ericsson, but is governed as an open
specification by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.
Bluetooth is a recently proposed standard for short
range, low power wireless communication. Initially, it

is being envisioned simply as a wire replacement

technology. Its most commonly described application
is that of a cordless computer consisting of several
devices including a personal computer, possibly a
laptop, keyboard, mouse, joystick, printer, scanner,
etc. each equipped with a Bluetooth card. There are
no cable connections between these devices, and
Bluetooth is to enable seamless communication
between all them, essentially replacing what is today
achieved through a combination of serial and parallel
cables, and infrared links. However, Bluetooth has the
potential for being much more than a wire
replacement technology, and the Bluetooth standard
was indeed drafted with such a more ambitious goal
in mind. Bluetooth holds the promise of becoming the
technology of choice for adhoc networks of the
future. This is in part because its low power
consumption and potential low cost make it an
attractive solution for the typical mobile devices used
in adhoc networks. Bluetooth is a specification for
Wireless Personal Area. It is a way to connect and
exchange information and data between mobile
phones, laptops, digital cameras and video games.
The communication is wireless and has the range of
up to 10 meters. Imagine the situation. You go to your
office. You connect your notebook to the LAN port.
You switch it on. It goes through the entire process of
booting up and then you transfer the data to your
desktop computer this around process takes around
10-15 minutes, depending upon speed of your
notebook. Bluetooth will also enables to transfer files,
photos, and songs from the mobile to other device.
The Bluetooth comes in with a wireless headsets and
it comes in free with the mobile phone or computer,
the wireless headset also useful for people who like to
be on the go or while driving the car, as they are
hands free.

Present Scenario
During the past two decades, the advancement in
microelectronics and VLSI technology dipped down
the cost of many consumer electronic products to a
level which was affordable for the common man. The
first quarter of 2001, saw the vending of about 32.5
million PCs. The sale of cellular phones is predicted
to reach 1 billion in 2005. With increase in the
number of electronic devices, comes in the need of
connecting
them
together
for
maximum
interoperability and utilization. These devices connect
with each other using a variety of wires, cables, radio
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Bluetooth Case Study

signals and infrared light beams, and an even greater
variety of connectors, plugs and protocols. Bluetooth
is devised to replace these cables.
Bluetooth is a global standard for wireless
connectivity. Bluetooth technology facilitates the
replacement of the cables used to connect one device
to another, with one universal short-range radio link
operating in the unlicensed 2.45 GHz ISM band. The
main objectives of Bluetooth technology can be
described as follows,
Cable replacement: Getting rid of the various types
of cables and wires required for interconnectivity
between various devices would enable the lay man to
use all electronic devices without wasting time and
money.
Small size: the Bluetooth device is very small so that
it can be attached to any device required like the cell
phones without adding much to the weight of the
system.
Low cost: Bluetooth is aimed to be a low cost device
approximately $5 in the near future.
Low power: The utilization of power is very less
(within 100 mW) as it is short range equipment and
so it facilitates the use of small batteries for its usage.

Communication and Connection

WORKING OF BLUETOOTH:
Basically, Bluetooth is the term used
to describe the protocol of a short range (10 meter)
frequency-hopping radio link between devices. These
devices implementing the Bluetooth technology are
termed Bluetooth - enabled. Documentation on
Bluetooth is divided into two sections, the Bluetooth
Specification and Bluetooth Profiles.
Bluetooth is defined as a layer protocol architecture
consisting of core protocols, cable replacement
protocols, telephony control protocols, and adopted
protocols. Mandatory protocols for all Bluetooth
stacks are: LMP, L2CAP and SDP. In addition,
devices that communicate with Bluetooth almost
universally can use these protocols: HCI and
RFCOMM.

The Specification describes how the

technology works (i.e. the Bluetooth
protocol architecture),
The Profiles describe how the technology is
used (i.e. how different parts of the
specification can be used to fulfill a desired
function for a Bluetooth device).

Bluetooth Protocol Architecture:

1).inquiry: This process consists of a sender

broadcasting inquiry packets, which do not
contain the identity of the Inquiry sender or any
other information.
_ Inquiry Scan: In this state, receiver devices listen
for inquiry packets, and upon detection of any such
packet, the device broadcasts an inquiry response
packet. This contains the identity of the device and its
native clock.
2) Page: When paging, a sender device tries to form a
connection with a device whose identity and clock are
known. Page packets are sent, which contain the
senders
device
address
and
clock,
for
synchronization.
_ Page Scan: In this state a receiver device listens for
page packets. Receipt is acknowledged and
synchronization between the devices is established

As the report is designed mainly for the

spread spectrum techniques course, the protocols in
the lower level are described more extensively and
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Bluetooth Case Study

the upper layer protocols are just mentioned with a
very brief description.
Moreover, one should note that the upper
layer protocols are totally dependent on the lower
level protocols whereas the lower level protocols can
function independently even with a totally different
set of upper protocols.

Typically, the radio operates in a frequencyhopping manner in which the 2.4GHz ISM band
is broken into 79 1MHz channels that the radio
randomly hops through while transmitting and
receiving data. A piconet is formed when one
Bluetooth radio connects to another Bluetooth
radio.

Bluetooth Radio: The Bluetooth Radio (layer) is the

lowest defined layer of the Bluetooth specification. It
defines the requirements of the Bluetooth transceiver
device operating in the 2.4GHz ISM band. The
Bluetooth air interface is based on three power
classes,

Power Class 1: designed for long range

(~100m), max output power of 20 dBm,

Power Class 2: ordinary range devices

(~10m), max output power of 4 dBm,

Power Class 3 short range devices (~10cm),

with a max output power of 0 dBm.

The radio uses Frequency Hopping to spread the

energy across the ISM spectrum in 79 hops displaced
by 1MHz, starting at 2.402GHz and stopping at
2.480GHz.Some countries use the 79 RF channels
whereas countries like Japan use 23 channels.
Currently, the SIG is working to harmonize this 79channel radio to work globally and has instigated
changes within Japan, Spain, and other countries.
Also, the Bluetooth radio module uses GFSK
(Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying) where a binary
one is represented by a positive frequency deviation
and a binary zero by a negative frequency deviation.
BT is set to 0.5 and the modulation index must be
between 0.28 and 0.35. The receiver must have a
sensitivity level for which the bit error rate (BER)
0.1% is met. For Bluetooth this means an actual
sensitivity level of -70dBm or better.

Baseband: The Baseband is the physical layer of

the Bluetooth. It manages physical channels and
links apart from other services like error
correction, data whitening, hop selection and
Bluetooth security. As mentioned previously, the
basic radio is a hybrid spread spectrum radio.

Both radios then hop together through the 79

channels. The Bluetooth radio system supports a large
number of piconets by providing each piconet with its
own set of random hopping patterns. Occasionally,
piconets will end up on the same channel. When this
occurs, the radios will hop to a free channel and the
data are retransmitted (if lost). The Bluetooth frame
consists of a transmit packet followed by a receive
packet. Each packet can be composed of multiple
slots (1, 3, or 5) of 625us. A typical single slot frame
typically hops at 1,600 hops/second. Multi-slot
frames allow higher data rates because of the
elimination of the turn-around time between packets
and the reduction in header overhead.
LMP: The Link Manager Protocol is used by the Link
Managers (on either side) for link set-up and control.

Bluetooth Case Study

HCI: The Host Controller Interface provides a
command interface to the Baseband Link Controller
and Link Manager, and access to hardware status and
control registers.
L2CAP: The Logical Link Control and Adaptation
Protocol (L2CAP) Used to multiplex multiple logical
connections between two devices using different higher
level protocols. Provides segmentation and reassembly
of on-air packets.
In Basic mode, L2CAP provides packets with a payload
configurable up to 64 kB, with 672 bytes as the
default MTU, and 48 bytes as the minimum mandatory
supported MTU.
In Retransmission and Flow Control modes, L2CAP can
be configured either for isochronous data or reliable data
per channel by performing retransmissions and CRC
checks.
Bluetooth Core Specification Addendum 1 adds two
additional L2CAP modes to the core specification.
These
modes
effectively
deprecate
original
Retransmission and Flow Control modes:

Enhanced Retransmission Mode (ERTM):

This mode is an improved version of the original
retransmission mode. This mode provides a reliable
L2CAP channel.

Streaming Mode (SM): This is a very simple

mode, with no retransmission or flow control. This
mode provides an unreliable L2CAP channel.

Reliability in any of these modes is optionally and/or

additionally guaranteed by the lower layer Bluetooth
BDR/EDR air interface by configuring the number of
retransmissions and flush timeout (time after which the
radio flushes packets). In-order sequencing is
guaranteed by the lower layer. Only L2CAP channels
configured in ERTM or SM may be operated over AMP
logical links

RFCOMM:
Radio
Frequency
Communications (RFCOMM) is a cable
replacement protocol used to generate a
virtual serial data stream. RFCOMM
provides for binary data transport and
emulates EIA-232 (formerly
RS-232)
control
signals
over the
Bluetooth
baseband layer, i.e. it is a serial port
emulation.

RFCOMM: provides a simple reliable data stream to the

user, similar to TCP. It is used directly by many
telephony related profiles as a carrier for AT commands,
as well as being a transport layer for OBEX over
Bluetooth.
Many Bluetooth applications use RFCOMM because of
its widespread support and publicly available API on
most operating systems. Additionally, applications that
used a serial port to communicate can be quickly ported
to use RFCOMM.

SDP:
The Bluetooth
Network
Encapsulation
Protocol (BNEP) is used for transferring another
protocol stack's data via an L2CAP channel. Its main
purpose is the transmission of IP packets in the Personal
Area Networking Profile. BNEP performs a similar
function to SNAP in Wireless LAN.
The Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) allows a device
to discover services offered by other devices, and their
associated parameters. For example, when you use a
mobile phone with a Bluetooth headset, the phone uses
SDP to determine which Bluetooth profiles the headset
can use (Headset Profile, Hands Free Profile, Advanced
Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) etc.) and the
protocol multiplexer settings needed for the phone to
connect to the headset using each of them. Each service
is identified by a Universally (UUID), with official
services (Bluetooth profiles) assigned a short form
UUID (16 bits rather than the full 128).
AVCTP
the Audio/Video
Control
Transport
Protocol (AVCTP) is used by the remote control profile
to transfer AV/C commands over an L2CAP channel.
The music control buttons on a stereo headset use this
protocol to control the music player.
AVDTP: The Audio/Video Distribution Transport
Protocol (AVDTP) is used by the advanced audio
distribution profile to stream music to stereo headsets
over an L2CAP channel. Intended for video distribution
profile in the bluetooth transmission.
TCS: The Telephony Control Protocol Binary (TCS
BIN) is the bit-oriented protocol that defines the call
control signaling for the establishment of voice and data
calls between Bluetooth devices. Additionally, "TCS
BIN defines mobility management procedures for
handling groups of Bluetooth TCS devices."

Bluetooth Case Study

PROFILES:

as masteras initiator of the connectionbut may

subsequently operate as slave).

The profiles have been developed in order to portray

how implementations of user models are to be
accomplished. The user models describe a number of
user scenarios where Bluetooth performs the radio
transmission. A profile can be described as a vertical
slice through the protocol stack. It defines options in
each protocol that are compulsory for the profile. It
also defines parameter ranges for each protocol. The
profile concept is used to decrease the risk of
interoperability
problems
between
different
manufacturers' products. For example: The Headset
profile defines the requirements for Bluetooth devices
necessary to support the Headset use case. The Fax
profile defines to support the Fax use case. There are
as many profiles as applications which are growing
every day.

The Bluetooth Core Specification provides for the

connection of two or more piconets to form
a scatternet, in which certain devices simultaneously
play the master role in one piconet and the slave role
in another.

NETWORK TOPOLOGY
In this section, we briefly describe the basic features
of a Bluetooth network. Nodes are organized in small
groups called piconets. Every piconet has a leading
node called master, and other nodes in a piconet are
referred to as slaves. A node may belong to
multiple piconets, and werefer to such a node as a
bridge. A piconet can have at most 7 members.
Every communication in a piconet involves the
master, so that slaves do not directly communicate
with each other but instead rely on the master as a
transit node. In other words, Bluetooth provides a
half-duplex communication channel. Communication
between nodes in different piconets must involve the
bridge nodes. A bridge node cannot be simultaneously
active in multiple piconets. It is active in one piconet
and parked in others. Bluetooth allows different
activity states for the nodes: active, idle, parked,
sniffing. Data exchange takes place between two
nodes only when both are active. Activity states of
nodes change periodically.

At any given time, data can be transferred between

the master and one other device (except for the littleused broadcast mode. The master chooses which
slave device to address; typically, it switches rapidly
from one device to another in a round-robin fashion.
Since it is the master that chooses which slave to
address, whereas a slave is (in theory) supposed to
listen in each receive slot, being a master is a lighter
burden than being a slave. Being a master of seven
slaves is possible; being a slave of more than one
master is difficult.. The specification is vague as to
required behavior in scatternets.
The Bluetooth system supports both point to point
and point to multipoint connections.
PICONETS: Bluetooth radios connect to each other
in piconets, which are formed by a master radio
simultaneously connecting up to seven active slave
radios [3 bit address] in an Ad-hoc manner. There can
be up to 256 parked slaves [8 bit address] which like
the active members are synchronized to the master
clock. Each piconet has a unique hopping sequence.
To form a piconet, the Bluetooth radio needs to
understand two parameters: the hopping pattern of the
radio it wishes to connect to and the phase within that
pattern. In forming a piconet, the master radio shares
its Global ID with the other radios, which then
become slaves and provide all the radios with the
correct hopping pattern. The master also shares its
clock offset (represented by the clock dial) with the
slaves in the piconet, providing the offset into the
hopping pattern. This information can easily be
exchanged via the FHS packet.

A master Bluetooth device can communicate with a

maximum of seven devices in a piconet (an ad-hoc
computer network using Bluetooth technology),
though not all devices reach this maximum. The
devices can switch roles, by agreement, and the slave
can become the master (for example, a headset
initiating a connection to a phone necessarily begins

Bluetooth Case Study

SCATTERNETS: Two or more piconets with
overlapping coverage areas form the scatternet.
Slaves in one piconet can be master or slave in the
other piconet [Achieved by TDM].Up to 10 fully
loaded piconets can coexist in a scatternet. Any
devices in multiple piconets employ TDM. The two
types of links that can be establishes between the
master and slaves are named

1600 hops/sec at 1 hop/packet

79/23 channels
625 microseconds long
Up to 2,745 bits in length

SCO: Synchronous Connection Oriented and

Reliable and secure

Good. Link layer authentication and encryption

ACL: Asynchronous Connection Less link

$ 20 aims at $5 endpoint
0.1 W (Active)
SIG have about 2500 member companies

Data / Voice support

One asynchronous data channel (732.2 kbps and

57.6 kbps) OR Three simultaneous synchronou
channels (64 kbps) OR Simultaneous asynch
and synchronous channels.
1 master and 7 slaves
Up to 10 piconets in a scatternet
SCO and ACL links

Th
e communication protocol is described by the
following state diagram. Standby is the default state.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

CIFICATIONS

ADVANTAGES

Low Power Consumption

Works in noisy environments
No line of sight restriction
Reliable and secure
The
2.45
GHz
ensures
universal
compatibility. Also complies with airline
regulations
The qualification and logo program ensure
higher quality
Very Robust as the radio hops faster and uses
shorter packets

uency band

2.4 GHz ISM band

ulation

Gaussian shaped BFSK

10 -100 m

cal layer

FHSS

rage

Too many unfeasible applications so do we

Omni-directional. Non line of sight transmissionreally need it?

rate

1 Mbps/723 Kbps

DISADVANTAGES

No handoff / handover capability

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Bluetooth Case Study

For low bandwidth applications where

higher USB bandwidth is not required and cablefree connection desired.

Sending small advertisements from Bluetoothenabled

advertising
hoardings
to
other,
discoverable, Bluetooth devices.[23]

Wireless bridge between two

Ethernet (e.g., PROFINET) networks.

Wireless control of and communication

between a mobile phone and a hands free headset.
This was one of the earliest applications to become
popular.

Three seventh and eighth

generation game
consoles, Nintendo's Wii.[24] and Sony's PlayStation
3, use Bluetooth for their respective wireless
controllers.

Wireless control of and communication

between a mobile phone and a Bluetooth
compatible car stereo system.

Dial-up internet access on personal computers

or PDAs using a data-capable mobile phone as a
wireless modem.

Wireless control of and communication with

tablets and speakers such as iOS and Android
devices.

Short range transmission of health sensor data

from medical devices to mobile phone, set-top
box or dedicated telehealth devices.[25]

Wireless Bluetooth
headset and Intercom.
Idiomatically, a headset is sometimes called "a
Bluetooth".

Allowing a DECT phone to ring and answer

calls on behalf of a nearby mobile phone.

Wireless
streaming
of
audio
to headphones without communication capabilities.

Real-time location systems (RTLS), are used to

track and identify the location of objects in realtime using Nodes or tags attached to, or
embedded in the objects tracked, and Readers
that receive and process the wireless signals from
these tags to determine their locations.[26]

Personal security application on mobile phones

for prevention of theft or loss of items. The
protected item has a Bluetooth marker (e.g., a tag)
that is in constant communication with the phone. If
the connection is broken (the marker is out of range
of the phone) then an alarm is raised. This can also
be used as a man overboardalarm. A product using
this technology has been available since 2009.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada's Roads Traffic

division uses data collected from travelers'
Bluetooth devices to predict travel times and road
congestion for motorists.

Wireless transmission of audio, (a more reliable

alternative to FM transmitters)

Initial stages so it needs to prove its worth

Few analog or FH cordless phones have
designed to operate at the 2.4GHz band.
Certainly interference exists in between, but
more serious effects would be exerted on
analog 2.4GHz cordless phone

List of applications

[22]

Wireless networking between PCs in a confined

space and where little bandwidth is required.

Wireless communication with PC input and

output devices, the most common being
the mouse, keyboard and printer.

Transfer of files, contact details, calendar

appointments, and reminders between devices
with OBEX.

Replacement of previous wired RS-232 serial

communications in test equipment, GPS receivers,
medical equipment, bar code scanners, and traffic
control devices.

For controls where infrared was often used.

Industrial

Bluetooth Case Study

Bluetooth Protocol Stack Summary:

Flow control on the link.

Link Manager

Managing the connection states.

Enforcing Fairness among slaves.
Power Management

Logical Link Control & Adaptation Protocol

Handles multiplexing of higher level protocols

Segmentation & reassembly of large packets
Device discovery & QoS

Middleware Protocol Group

Service Discovery Protocol (SDP)

Means for applications to discover device

info, services and its characteristics.

TCP/IP

Network Protocols for packet data

communication, routing.

RFCOMM

Cable replacement protocol, emulation of

serial Ports over wireless network

Transport Protocol Group

Radio Frequency (RF)

Sending and receiving modulated bit streams

Baseband

Defines the timing, framing

CONCLUSION
Bluetooth technology is a short-range wireless
specification aimed at simplifying communications
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Bluetooth Case Study

among Internet devices and between devices and the
Internet. In conclusion it can be said that Bluetooth
refers not only to a technology but also to a standard
and a specification. The takeoff that Bluetooth has
taken is remarkable, capturing the attention and
money of major corporations throughout the world. If
it can live up to its expectations and satiate the needs
of a global market in an easy and inexpensive way , it
promises to become a uniting force in the wireless
world and endow us with the freedom of mobility like
never before.

SUGGESTIONS
STUDY:

FOR

FURTHER

If I had more time to work on this research

topic, I would have liked to explain the coexistence
mechanisms for interference mitigation in the 2.4GHz
band. This can be studied from the IEEE paper on the
same, published in September 2003, Volume: 2,
Issue: 5, By Chiasserini, C.F. & Rao, R.R. Also, I
would like to have provided a detailed comparison
between Bluetooth and 802.11 LAN. Another
interesting addition could have been a detailed

explanation of the Bluetooth profiles explaining the

protocols for various applications. Comparing this
close proximity communication device with Infra-red
and Home RF can also add more value to the study of
Bluetooth.

REFERENCES
www.palowireless.com
www.nokia.com
www.bluetooth.com
www.erricson.com
www.howstuffworks.com
www.intel.com
White papers - TCS

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