Bluetooth Technology - What Is Bluetooth

Bluetooth mobile wireless technology has become one of the leading technologies for wireless communication world wide. The reason it has become so popular around the globe, in just a few short years since its introduction, is because Bluetooth technology allows phones, computers, PDAs and other electronic devices to easily communicate with the other Bluetooth enabled devices nearby. The range of Bluetooth wireless technology networking is limited to a short range of about 30 feet.

Bluetooth utilizes radio waves, in the non-licensed range of 2.4 Gigahertz. The Bluetooth wireless system has been designed with the intention of providing a secure and an inexpensive way to connect with and exchange information between other Bluetooth devices, all without the need of wires.

In addition to the Bluetooth wireless phone models, which are probably the most prevalent type of Bluetooth devices on the market, you can now also find Bluetooth wireless headphones and Bluetooth wireless speakers. It is expected that other Bluetooth wireless audio and video products will continue to be brought to the marketplace. With this type of advancement, it is conceivable that some day the only wires you will need to tame, will be the power cords that some of these devices will need for their power supply. That would be a welcomed change from the tangles of cords and wires that are common in home offices and entertainment areas.

One of the best features, is that all Bluetooth enabled devices function on a standard protocol. This means that all transmission of data and voice signals between two Bluetooth devices, even if they are produced by different manufacturers, is straightforward and simple to implement.

It was the need for a standardized communication convention that prompted the development of Bluetooth technology. Rather than the need for each manufacturer to establish their own standards, and thereby limit the connectivity to other devices made by the same company, they can simply implement the Bluetooth wireless technology networking standard. This simple approach has made Bluetooth a global solution used by all manufacturers and benefiting the end-user significantly.

Some of the other advantages of Bluetooth are -

• Data transfers that are fast
• Communication with other Bluetooth devices that are not in a direct line of sight (as required by the infra-red protocol)
• Inexpensive circuitry and components
• The ability to transmit both data and voice concurrently

This technology has been on the market for almost a decade. One of the reasons it is relatively inexpensive and widely used is because the original developer, Ericsson, has made the specifications royalty-free so manufacturers do not have to pay to implement the technology in their devices. Because of this, the use of Bluetooth technology is expected to expand and soon no one will be left asking the question, "What is Bluetooth?"