A Comparison of Bluetooth

and competing technologies

Technologies
 Bluetooth
 IrDA
 HomeRF
What we’ll talk about
 Purpose and Specifications
 Communication Protocols and Network
Topology
 Disadvantages and Advantages in
certain scenarios
 Application comparison, consumer
criteras, business analysts
Purpose
 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.

 Why IrDA?
 IrDA is intended for point-to-point links between two devices
for simple data transfers and file synchronization.
Technical Specifications

 Transmission Technology
 Bluetooth & HomeRF: Radio Frequency

 IrDA: Infrared Light Beams

 Spectrum
 Bluetooth & HomeRF: 2.45 GHz
 IrDA: Optical
 Technical Specification (cont.)
 Connection Type

Bluetooth & HomeRF: spread spectrum
 IrDA: Infrared, narrow beam

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

 Maximum # of devices
Bluetooth: Up to 8 devices per piconet
HomeRF: Up to 127 devices per network
IrDA: 2 devices

 Optimal Use
Bluetooth:
HomeRF: Home Networking
IrDA: Short Range: one-to-one data exchange
 Communication Protocols
Provides what application are able to run.
Applications RFCOMM: Provides emulation of serial ports over the
L2CAP.

RFCOMM / SDP SDP: Provides a means for applications to discover

which services are available and to determine the
characteristics of those available services

L2CAP Provides connection-oriented and connectionless data

services to upper layer protocols with protocol
multiplexing capability, segmentation, and reassembly
Host Controller Interface (HCI) operation and group abstractions.

Provides a command interface to the baseband

controller and link manager, and access to hardware
Link Manager (LM) status and control registers.

Carries out link setup, authentication, link

Baseband configuration, etc.

Manages physical channels and links (asynchronous

and synchronous), handles packets, paging and
Radio inquiry to access Bluetooth devices in the area.

Bluetooth Defines the requirements for the Bluetooth transceiver

device.
 Communication Protocols (cont.)
HomeRF uses, references and maps existing network
layers.

• MAC layer is optimized for the home environment and is

Existing Upper Layers designed to carry both voice and data traffic.
•Good support for voice and data by using both TDMA and
CSMA/CA access mechanisms.

TCP UDP •Support for 4 high quality voice connections.

•High data throughput 1.6Mbps.
DECT •Data security.

IP •Power management for Isochronous and Asynchronous

nodes.
•24 bit Network ID.

HomeRF MAC Layer • 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
HomeRF PHY Layer • Receiver Sensitivity in 2FSK
• Optional low power transmit mode: 0 to 4 dBm for
portable devices.
HomeRF
 Communication Protocol (cont).
• Provides multiplexing of the IrLAP
layer.
Infrared Link • Multiple channels above an IrLAP

connection
Management •Provides protocol and service

Protocol (IrLMP) discovery by 121.

Infrared Link • Provides a device-to-device

connection
Access Protocol • Device discover procedures

(IrLAP) •Handles hidden nodes

• Provides continuous operation

Physical Signaling from contact.
• wireless point-to-point link
Layer between 2 independent nodes
•Data packets are protected using a

CRC.
• Data transmission from 9600 b/s
Network Topology
Bluetooth Piconet and Scatternet
 Piconet connects 7 devices with one
host talking to 7 clients.
 Clients have to talk to each other
through the host.
 Scatternet allows groups of piconets to
communicate with each other.
 Scatternet also has a host controlling
groups of piconets.
 Spectrum Collisions
 HomeRF, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11b use the same
ISM 2.45 GHz frequency band.
 If all 3 used in same vicinity, the technologies will
disrupt and/or cancel each other.
 With FHSS and different hop rates (Bluetooth-
1600 hops/sec, HomeRF?) it minimizes the
changes that they will interfere with each other.
HomeRF Interference Immunity
 Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum
 Corruption happen only in small packets
 High power transmission
 Able to avoid some of the interfering
frequency
 Hopset adaptation makes sure that
retry will be free of interference
 Less consecutive “bad hops”
HomeRF Security
 128-bit key encryption, 32-bit Initialization
Vector(repeats every half a year)
 Network ID needed to synchronize
frequency hopping
 Denial service attack unlikely
 Disruptor must determine the frequency of HomeRF access
point
 Access points hop on independent sequences and time
bases
 HomeRF MAC ignores commands from foreign network
IDs.
 Advantage and Disadvantage of the three
technologies: Bluetooth
Advantage of Bluetooth Disadvantage of Bluetooth

 Ad hoc connection  Low bandwidth

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

 Security  Collides with Bluetooth

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

 Cheap $2  Line of sight only

 Compact, lightweight,  Device cannot move
low-power
around while
 Intuitive and easy to use
transmitting
 Noninterfering
 Point to point
 Best ad hoc, point and
shoot connection only
 Inherently more secure  Short distance
than RF
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)
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 use in multiple devices
connection on low bandwidth
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
Application usage: IrDA
 IrDA perfect for use in close proximity simple
connection.
 Calender, Address Book, Messages
synchronizations
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
Application usage: HomeRF
 HomeRF perfect for use with
multimedia devices.
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