Bluetooth technology history

Bluetooth history

Bluetooth takes its name from a character in history called Harald Bluetooth. He was born in 910AD and the Bluetooth concept takes his name because in 940AD he had the ability to Unite two warring countries, Denmark and Norway. It was because of the uniting of two countries by Harald Bluetooth that the founders of Bluetooth technology took his name for the principle of uniting two components to work together remotely. The use of Bluetooth technology has the ability of linking the different technologies like , computers, mobile phones, printers, headsets etc.

The brainchild of providing a low power, low cost wireless interface was first inspired by Ericsson Mobile Communications. Starting in 1994 the probed ways of linking computers and mobile phones wirelessly. A group of like minded companies joined forces in 1998 to form and association called the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) in Lund Switzerland. Coming from different backgrounds the group included market leaders in laptop manufacturing, the cell phone industry and digital signal processing. These companies where Ericsson, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Intel, Toshiba, and Agere. Today research and development into the Bluetooth technology is led by these companies.

Bluetooth specifications where developed by Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson two employees of Ericsson Mobile Platforms. Enabling various components from different industries to Connect Bluetooth technology was developed in Scandanavia. Based on a frequency hopping spread spectrum it is a wireless technology that combines and simplifies multiple forms of communication into a common secure available radio signal.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group made a firm commitment to have Bluetooth technology installed in various devices and by 2002 Bluetooth technology was installed in PC’s, notebooks, desktop computers and over 100 million mobile phones had the technology as well as millions of other communications devices.

What exactly is Bluetooth?

Operating on a short-range radio frequency it is a wireless communications network. When connected to various devices such as mobile phones and computers it provides a way of exchanging information as well and the Bluetooth technology can be used on any other apparatus that is provided with it’s built in features. Due to its very low power it is medically safe to use, the information it carries using short wave radio and narrow bandwidth know as ISM is scientifically sound and very secure.

To be able to connect to one another devices need to have Bluetooth profiles and need to be compatible with each other. Once the profiles are enabled you should be able to use such things as hands free headsets with mobile phones, and wireless networking and communications which use printers, keyboards and a mouse.

Versions of Bluetooth

Bluetooth has seen many improved qualities with many changes since version 1.Introduced in 1998 and like most other new technologies had many teething problems. The main problem being a lack of devices being able to communicate.

Version 1.1 was able to communicate properly and the great improvements made it truly operable.

Version 1.2 was in general a better all round product, with vast voice quality improvement, backward compatibility and overall had better all round benefits.

Version2.0 improved even more with features and quality and now version 3.0 has a Bluetooth master able to communicate with several devices, and at any given time, the slave can become the master. The master has the ability to switch between devices very fast.

Wi-Fi is another wireless operating system and although it has a superior operating range it uses a different technology. The Bluetooth advantage is in its costs, much cheaper than the more expensive hardware used by Wi-Fi. One big advantage Bluetooth has is its ease of setting it up between many devices, its better security and its automated system. Wi-Fi is more complicated to set up and needs to have devices configured to set up shared resources which are more for Ethernet networking. Wi-Fi is better suited for operating larger networks while Bluetooth has more power and better connections. 

Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or higher is required to operate Bluetooth on a computer. If you run an Apple computer it has been supported by Bluetooth technology since 2002. Bluetooth instillation has been carried out on most computers but if not a device called a dongle can be used provided you have windows XP and service pack 2. The dongle device allows various devices to communicate with your computer.

Bluetooth is now the world wide wireless standard and has a bright future. In the future High quality audio and video data will have a much higher quality as Bluetooth improves and the alternative for transporting Bluetooth profile data is MAC PHY. Automatic configuration will be carried out by using Topology Management, and broadcast channelling, which will enable Bluetooth in other devises. The chain reaction is already in progress and as more components use Bluetooth technology, manufacturers of electronics will jump on the band wagon and become increasingly eager to make their products compatible. Bluetooth technology is here to stay.