The world today is advancing at a very high rate, and within this change is the world of wireless technology. Wireless and radio technologies have been at the heart of many disruptive businesses and activities. The people of today want hassle free and compact products, which can be used at any time or at any place. Wireless is the possible solution to meeting the needs or wants of the society. This paper will discuss the emerging wireless technology such as Bluetooth. This paper gives an in depth look on how the different technologies are being used today. By doing this, we will discuss how Bluetooth technology works, its origin, context, and implementation.

What is Bluetooth?

If you look around at the moment, you can find that your keyboard is connected to the computer, as well as a printer, mouse; monitors and so on are connected by cables. Cables have become a problem at many offices, homes and other establishments. Most of us have experienced trying to figure out what cable goes where, and ended up tangled in the details. Bluetooth essentially aims to fix this problem. This is considered a cable-replacement technology.

Bluetooth is an open standard specification for a radio frequency (RF)-based, short-range connectivity technology that promises to change the face of computing and wireless communication. It is designed to be an inexpensive, wireless networking system for all classes of portable devices, such as laptops, PDAs (personal digital assistants), and mobile phones. It also will enable wireless connections for desktop computers, making connections between monitors, printers, keyboards, and the CPU cable-free. The idea of a cable-free, or wireless, technology was initially conceived by Ericsson in 1994, when the company began a study to investigate the feasibility of a low-power, low-cost radio interface between mobile phones and their accessories. The company’s goal was to eliminate the need for cables. The original idea was to create a small, inexpensive radio chip that could be used in mobile computers, printers, mobile phones, and so on, to transmit data between these devices. The radio chip, of course, would replace cables. The projected cost of the chip was around $5, and it was to require low power so that it could be used in devices that rely on battery life.

Open specification:

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has produced a specification for Bluetooth wireless communication that is publicly available and royalty free.

Short-range wireless:

There are many short-range digital communications among computing and communications devices; today much of that communication takes place over cables. These cables connect to multitude of devices using a wide variety of connectors with many combinations of shapes, sizes and number of pins; this plethora of cables can become quite burdensome to user. With Bluetooth technology, this technology can communicate without wires over a single air interface, using radio waves to transmit and receive data. Bluetooth wireless technology is specifically designed for short-range communications; one result of this very low power consumption, making the technology well suited for use with small, portable personal devices that typically are powered by batteries.

Voice and Data:

Voice appliances such as mobile telephones are also used for data applications such as information access or browsing. Trough voice recognition, computers can be controlled by voice, and through voice synthesis, computers can produce audio output in addition to visual output. Some wireless communication technologies are designed to carry only voice while others handle only data traffic. Bluetooth wireless communication makes provisions for both voice and data, and thus it is an ideal technology for unifying these worlds by enabling all sorts of devices to communicate using either or both of these content types.

Name and History :

The name of Bluetooth came from Danish Viking King, Harald Blatand (Blatand in Danish means Bluetooth). He was a king of Denmark around the turn of the last millennium. He managed to unite Denmark and part of Norway into a single kingdom, and then introduced Christianity in to Denmark. He left a large monument, the Jelling rune stone, in memory of his parents. He was killed in 986 during a battle with his son, Svend Forkbeard. The name was adopted because Bluetooth wireless technology is expected to unify the telecommunication and computing industries.

Bluetooth is a standard developed by a group of electronics manufactures that allow any sort of electronic equipment such as computers, cell phones, keyboards, and headphones to make their own connections without wires. It is getting popular because it can connect any Bluetooth device to another. Imagine any type of device that handles information or data (phones, PDAs, cameras, music players, etc.). If each device is enabled with Bluetooth, the information can be shared among the devices

Bluetooth is split into two sections: Bluetooth Specification and Bluetooth Profile.

• 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)