A Comparison of Bluetooth and competing technologies

1. A Comparison of Bluetooth and competing technologies

2. What we’ll talk about • Purpose and Specifications • Communication Protocols • Disadvantages and Advantages in certain scenarios • Application comparison, consumer criteria, business analysts

3. Technologies • Bluetooth • IrDA • HomeRF

4. Why Bluetooth? The Bluetooth specification is a global technology that allows wireless communication and networking between PCs and other portable devices. Why HomeRF? HomeRF enables different consumer electronic devices to communicate with each other while providing users with a complete home network solution. Users will be able to dial in from a remote location and control any device. Purpose • Why IrDA? • IrDA is intended for point-to-point links between two devices for simple data transfers and file synchronization.

5. Technical Specifications • Transmission Technology • Bluetooth & HomeRF: Radio Frequency • IrDA: Infrared Light Beams • Spectrum • Bluetooth & HomeRF: 2.45 GHz • IrDA: Optical

6. Technical Specification (cont.) • Range • Bluetooth: 3 meters • HomeRF: 50 meters • IrDA: 1 meter • Data Rate • Bluetooth: 1 MB • HomeRF: 2 MB • IrDA: 4MB

7. Technical Specification (cont.) • Maximum # of devices Bluetooth: Up to 8 devices per piconet HomeRF: Up to 127 devices per network IrDA: 2 devices • Optimal Use Bluetooth: Connectivity of multiple devices HomeRF: Home Networking IrDA: Short Range, one-to-one data exchange

8. Communication Protocols Provides what application are able to run. RFCOMM: Provides emulation of serial ports over the L2CAP. SDP: Provides a means for applications to discover which services are available and to determine the characteristics of those available services Provides connection-oriented and connectionless data services to upper layer protocols with protocol multiplexing capability, segmentation, and reassembly operation and group abstractions. Provides a command interface to the baseband controller and link manager, and access to hardware status and control registers. Carries out link setup, authentication, link configuration, etc. Manages physical channels and links (asynchronous and synchronous), handles packets, paging and inquiry to access Bluetooth devices in the area. Bluetooth Defines the requirements for the Bluetooth transceiver device.

9. Communication Protocols (cont.) HomeRF uses, references and maps existing network layers. • MAC layer is optimized for the home environment and is designed to carry both voice and data traffic. • Good support for voice and data by using both TDMA and CSMA/CA access mechanisms. • Support for 4 high quality voice connections. • High data throughput 1.6Mbps. • Data security. • Power management for Isochronous and Asynchronous nodes. • 24 bit Network ID. • Physical layer has been modified significantly to reduce cost, while still maintaining more than adequate performance for home usage scenarios . • Transmit power up to +24dBm • Receiver Sensitivity in 2FSK • Optional low power transmit mode: 0 to 4 dBm for portable devices. HomeRF

10. Communication Protocol (cont).

11. Advantage of Bluetooth Ad hoc connection Better range than IR Low power consumption Connect through walls Omnidirectional Implemented by a large number of companies Voice and data transmission Disadvantage of Bluetooth Low bandwidth Interference Collides with HomeRF No Window XP support New technology, buggy, not much tools Current cost is high, $20 Radiation Advantage and Disadvantage of the three technologies: Bluetooth

12. Advantage of HomeRF Security Digital voice transmission Peer to peer and host/client connection simultaneously Interference immunity Dedicated Internet/multimedia support Disadvantage of HomeRF Collides with Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11b Competitor’s price coming down Multimedia and telephony application not on market Radiation Advantage and Disadvantage of the three technologies: HomeRF

13. Advantage of IrDA Cheap $2 Compact, lightweight, low-power Intuitive and easy to use Noninterfering Best ad hoc, point and shoot Inherently more secure than RF Disadvantage of IrDA Line of sight only Device cannot move around while transmitting Point to point connection only Short distance Advantage and Disadvantage of the three technologies: IrDA

14. Application usage: Bluetooth • Cell phone and PDA: Bluetooth • Needs filled by Bluetooth • Connect to multiple devices at the same time • Unconsciousness synchronization • Small, low energy consumption • Current implementation • Make Stylus into cell phone and keep PDA as base • Able to walk around the room while on the phone(stylus)

15. Application usage: Bluetooth • Cell phone and PDA: Bluetooth Cont. • Application can be platform and hardware independent • Bluetooth HCI (Host Control Interface) layer allows abstraction from hardware ie PCI card or USB adaptor • Java/JINI allows abstraction from OS • Bluetooth perfect for connecting multiple devices with low bandwidth

16. Application usage: IrDA • E-Business cards: IrDA • Needs filled by IrDA • More secure than RF • Cheap • Easy to use • Interference free • Current implementation • Pint point who you want to share the business card with • Able to exchange information fast and very ad hoc, point and click

17. Application usage: IrDA • IrDA perfect for use in close proximity simple connection. • Calender, Address Book, Messages synchronizations

18. Application usage: HomeRF • Video conference: HomeRF • Needs filled by HomeRF • Support multiple digital voice lines • Transport voice and data simultaneously • Secure, encrypted messages • Higher interference resistance than Bluetooth • Multimedia and Internet support • Current implementation • Perform video conference across the Internet with dedicated support for both voice and data • Encrypt meeting with HomeRF security

19. Application usage: HomeRF • HomeRF perfect for use in multimedia devices.

20. Summary • Bluetooth • RF • Portable one-to-many network • Cell phone and PDA • HomeRF • RF • Home and multimedia devices • Video conference • IrDA • Infrared • Portable one-to-one network • Calendar, address book, E business cards