by Xavier Shaw
First, you may be wondering what Bluetooth technology is exactly. Bluetooth is a wireless technology that is short-range communications. Bluetooth technology is intended to replace any cables that are used in the portable and/or fixed electronic devices. Bluetooth also has a high standard of maintaining security in their products. The major benefits of Bluetooth wireless technology are the combination of their low power and low cost. Based on the Bluetooth wireless system it is possible for a wide variety of devices to connect and communicate with each other.
Bluetooth technology is accepted and enabled almost everywhere around the globe. Technology containing Bluetooth can connect and communicate through short-range wireless transmissions to any other Bluetooth enabled electronic nearby. The short-range networks are known as piconets. Bluetooth electronics can communicate with up to seven other Bluetooth devices simultaneously. There is no need to be fluent in technology connections since Bluetooth automatically connects with other Bluetooth devices when they enter and leave the proximity of the device.
Another added benefit of Bluetooth devices is the fact that they can handle both data and voice transmissions at the same time. This allows Bluetooth users to do a variety of tasks at the same time including a hands-free headset for your phone calls, print and fax capabilities. In addition, you can always synchronize almost all of your electronics using Bluetooth technology including your PDA, laptop and cell phone.
“Money talks” because money is a metaphor, a transfer, and a bridge. Like words and language, money is a storehouse of communally achieved work, skill, and experience. Money, however, is also a specialist technology like writing; and as writing intensifies the visual aspect of speech and order, and as the clock visually separates time from space, so money separates work from the other social functions. Even today money is a language for translating the work of the farmer into the work of the barber, doctor, engineer, or plumber. As a vast social metaphor, bridge, or translator, money—like writing—speeds up exchange and tightens the bonds of interdependence in any community. It gives great spatial expansion and control to political organizations, just as writing does, or the calendar.
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
Bluetooth technologies are able to operate using an unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical bandwidth so it will not interfere or be interrupted by other wireless technologies. In addition, this bandwidth is available in almost every country. This is a very important aspect to the Bluetooth technology. It allows those who use Bluetooth to be sure their service will not be interrupted. While this may seem trivial to normal consumers, hospitals and doctors might think otherwise.
As more Bluetooth devices become available there is the adaptive frequency hopping including in Bluetooth devices that helps reduce any interference between Bluetooth technologies sharing the same bandwidth. This technology finds other devices on the same bandwidth and determines the frequency they are using and then avoids using the same frequency so there is less interference. Through this adaptive hopping, you get more efficient transmissions and better performance from your wireless device. There are close to eighty different frequencies the device can switch between to offer the best transmission.
There are various operating ranges for Bluetooth technology devices based on the class of the electronics. Class Three radios have a typical operating range of one meter to three feet. Class Two radios are usually found in mobile devices and typically have an operating range of ten meters or thirty feet. Class One radios is typically found in industrial electronics only and has an operating range of one hundred meters or three hundred feet.
Bluetooth technology is also designed to have a very low power source and use. The technology enhances this possibility by enabling the electronics to automatically power down when not in use.
technology is not an image of the world but a way of operating on reality. The nihilism of technology lies not only in the fact that it is the most perfect expression of the will to power ... but also in the fact that it lacks meaning.
—Octavio Paz (b. 1914)
During a normal operation of a Bluetooth device, a radio channel is shared by a group of Bluetooth devices that share the same clock and frequency-hopping program. There is one device in the group that becomes the master and provides the synchronization for all the other devices. The other devices become known as the slaves and synchronize to the master device to form a small-range network known as a piconet. This is how a typical Bluetooth technology interface works.
To help data transmissions Bluetooth technology uses sub-divided time units called slots within the physical radio channel. Bluetooth devices transmit data in packets through these slots. If a data packet is large then several of these time slots can be used at once to assist in the transmission of the information.
In between the transmission of these data packets or the reception of these data packets, the Bluetooth device hops frequencies to prevent the electronic device from being interrupted by another Bluetooth device in short-range communication with your electronic device.
Despite this multi-layered transfer and reception communication of the Bluetooth device, it still maintains a high level of security. The Bluetooth electronics have built in systems to keep your device and personal information safe from other users when they are in short-range contact with your device. Therefore, you can use your Bluetooth device in confidence and know you are safe from anyone trying to steal your information.