Data Communication & Network Routing: Bluetooth Networking Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Bluetooth networking, a short-range, low-power wireless communication technology. It delves into the Bluetooth architecture, explaining Piconets and Scatternets, and elucidates the protocol stack, including the Radio Layer, Baseband Layer, and Logical Link Control Adaptation Protocol Layer (L2CAP). The report also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of Bluetooth technology, highlighting its strengths in IoT applications and weaknesses related to security and congestion. Furthermore, it references real-world applications and compares Bluetooth with other wireless technologies like Wi-Fi and ZigBee. The report concludes that Bluetooth remains a vital technology for short-range data transfer, especially in mesh networks and IoT devices, despite its limitations.

Running Head: BLUETOOTH NETWORKING
Bluetooth Networking
Individual Task
Student Name

Bluetooth Networking
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Bluetooth networking......................................................................................................................2
Bluetooth Architecture.................................................................................................................2
PicoNet:....................................................................................................................................2
Scatternet:.................................................................................................................................3
Protocol Stack of Bluetooth:........................................................................................................4
Radio Layer:.............................................................................................................................4
Baseband Layer:.......................................................................................................................4
Logical Link, Control Adaption Protocol Layer (L2CAP):.....................................................4
Bluetooth Frame format:..............................................................................................................5
Advantages of Bluetooth technology...............................................................................................6
Disadvantages of Bluetooth Technology.........................................................................................7
Strength of Bluetooth Technology...................................................................................................7
Weakness of Bluetooth technology.................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Bluetooth is a technology of radio communication, which is a use as a low power, and short
distance wireless networks. It is used for the connecting mobile phone, laptops, and personal
computers. In this report, Bluetooth networking mechanism will describe with their uses in the
report. This report is also explained about the architecture of the Bluetooth networking. It has
many advantages for low data transfer. It will also explain about the different devices and their
working for networking (Baker, 2005). In this report, Bluetooth architecture, protocol stack,
different layers will discuss in next parts of this report. It is also explaining about the uses of
Bluetooth technology in advanced technology, such as Internet of Things.
In this report, Bluetooth technology will discuss with few examples. Bluetooth uses in different
technologies for data transfer will also discuss in the later section of this report. Bluetooth is
having different strength for ad-hoc networking, and it is having few disadvantages, such as
security issues.
Bluetooth networking
Bluetooth is a basic technology for making a small network for connecting different devices. It is
a big technology for creating Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). It is a Local Area
Network (LAN). It is started by the Special Interest Group (SIG) in 1990’s. It is used for the
short-range network. The name ‘Bluetooth’ is coming from Viking King. h (Digi-Key's , 2018).
Bluetooth Architecture
Bluetooth is having two types of networks for connecting different devices, which are Piconet,
and Scatternet.
PicoNet:
It is a small network of the eight devices, one is master and seven other devices are slave. It is
working within the ten-meter range. Every piconet is having only one master station.
Communication between different nodes is one to one and one to many modes. There is only
master to slave communication is possible. There is no communication between the slaves.

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Source: ( Thakur , 2018)
Scatternet:
It is combination of the different piconets. In this architecture, a slave device is act as master
node in other piconet. It is just like bridge between different piconets. A device can be parts of
two piconets in this architecture.
Source: ( Thakur , 2018)

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Protocol Stack of Bluetooth:
Bluetooth is having different layers and protocols for handling different function of data transfer.
As shown in below figure.
Source: ( Thakur , 2018)
Radio Layer:
It is like physical layer of OSI model in which device are connected from computers. It is used
for radio transmission and modulation. Radio waves are used for the data transmission between
master and slave device in the network. It is using Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
technique for data transmission. FSK and GFSK key shift techniques are also used for this
network ( Dunne, et al., 2018).
Baseband Layer:
It is like Media access control sub layer of OSI model. It uses time division multiplexing for
data transmission. Master and slave stations are transfer data in a particular slots. Every slot is
having a period of 625 microseconds for data transfer. Baseband layer is making links of two
types, which are Asynchronous connection-less, and Synchronous Connection Oriented ( Gookin
, 2018).
Logical Link, Control Adaption Protocol Layer (L2CAP):
It is same as logical link control layer in the OSI model. It is used by the ACL links for data
transfer between the master and slave device. It has different functions. It is having a function of

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assembly and defragmentation of packet. This layer is accepting 64 KB packet and divide that
packet into the frames for transmission. Frame is having headers for different information about
the packet. This layer is also used for multiplexing and demultiplexing of the packet. This layer
is responsible for the quality of services (Ghosekar, et al., 2010).
Bluetooth Frame format:
It has various fields for data transfer, which are shown in the below figure.
Source: ( Thakur , 2018)
Access Code
It is having 72 bits for synchronization and it use for finding header or master device in the
network.
Header
It is dividing in the different parts; those are a combination of 54 bit.
Address:
Three bits are used for assigning address to slave devices
Type:
In this, four bits are used for data types.
F:
it is flow bit, which is used for the flow of data.

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A:
It is used for providing acknowledgement of data.
S:
It is a sequences number and it is used for retransmission of the data.
Checksum:
It is used for error handing in the data.
Data:
This part is carrying 0 to 2744 bits in packet form master to slave devices.
Advantages of Bluetooth technology
It is providing connectivity between different peripherals of personal computers, such as mouse
and keyboard. It is also used in the different devices for sending signals, such as healthcare
monitors. Bluetooth is also used in the dialup connections of the computer. It uses one Mbps data
speed and it works on the 2.4 GHz bandwidt
There are three power classes in Bluetooth:
Class Power Consumption Range
One 100mW 100m
Two 10mW 10m
Three 1mW ~10cm
These are the ranges for different applications. Bluetooth is used different class for different
ranges. It is also depend on the range of the network, such as short-range. Bluetooth mesh
technology is presently used in the Internet of Things (IoT) (Yapp, 2016a). It is launched in the
July 2017. It is a huge change in the field of information technology (Kolderup, 2017).
Disadvantages of Bluetooth Technology
There are few security issues in this technology. It is having a pass code concept for data
transfer, which is used for the authentication of the other device. There are so many things,
which make it better and beneficial for the short-range networks

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Strength of Bluetooth Technology
It is key technology for the IoT, as they required short-range data transfer for sensor to
computers. Wi-Fi and ZigBee are also supported technologies for the IoT, but Bluetooth is a best
technology for providing data transfer (Yapp, 2016b). It has unique features for data transfer. For
designing simple and efficient mesh networking, Bluetooth is having best performance in data
transfer. It is based on the flooding communication model ( Mitchell , 2017).
Bluetooth is dominant technology for the short-range data transfer in between different devices
of a network. Mesh networks are having low-power sensors, which are requires a short-range
technology for data transfer. Bluetooth is requiring technology for mesh networking (Murray &
Olcese, 2011).
Source: (Digi-Key's , 2018)
In the Mesh area network, Bluetooth devices are providing data from the sensors to the network
nodes as shown in above figure. There are so many devices for data transmission but they require
high power and long range for data transfer. There is wired and wireless connection for long-
range data transfer. Mesh area network is requires capillary gateways (Townsend, et al., 2014).

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There are so many requirements of the Bluetooth technology as it is the only best technology for
the data transfer in short range. Bluetooth architecture is also strong for communication (Rouse,
2018). There is few concepts are included form the OSI model and TCP/IP model for make it
better for data transfer. Piconet and Scatternet are making it more secure. It is a basic technology,
which remains in market (Poole, 2018). Bluetooth is having good qualities for making a small
wireless network. There are so many good things in the Bluetooth technology. It is a base of new
architectures of the latest technologies, such as IoT, and many more.
Weakness of Bluetooth technology
It has a drawback, which is high congestion rate. This is a reason of the packet losses. There are
security issues in this technology, as it is not having authentication for the users, who access the
device and data. It is easily hacked from the outside of network.
Conclusion
It is concluded form the last parts of this report that, Bluetooth is beneficial for short distance
networking in the mobile phone and computers. It is working in low power consumption
concept. This report concludes about the working phenomenon of the Bluetooth technology for
different purposes. This technology is also useful for the latest technologies, such as Internet of
Things.
It is also conclude that, Bluetooth is providing a better networking for small networks. There are
so many advantages of Bluetooth networking in the field of computer networking. There are few
things, which make Bluetooth complex for transfer lots of data with high speed.
Finally, it is concluded that Bluetooth is having so many advantages and it is beneficial for the
short distance networks. It has a big feature, which is low power consumption. It is a technology,
in which future devices are also uses it.
References
Dunne, K., Roche, . E., O’Loghlin, D. & Rhatigan, L., 2018. Bluetooth for Ad-Hoc Networking.
[Online]

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Available at: http://ntrg.cs.tcd.ie/undergrad/4ba2.05/group3/index.html
[Accessed 04 December 2018].
Gookin , D., 2018. How to Connect a Bluetooth Device to Your Windows Network. [Online]
Available at: https://www.dummies.com/computers/pcs/how-to-connect-a-bluetooth-device-to-
your-windows-network/
[Accessed 4 December 2018].
Mitchell , B., 2017. What Is Bluetooth Wireless Networking?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/definition-of-bluetooth-816260
[Accessed 4 December 2018].
Thakur , D., 2018. Bluetooth - What is Bluetooth?. [Online]
Available at: http://ecomputernotes.com/computernetworkingnotes/communication-networks/
bluetooth
[Accessed 4 December 2018].
Baker, N., 2005. ZigBee and Bluetooth strengths and weaknesses for industrial applications.
computing & control engineering journal, 16(2), pp. 20-25.
Digi-Key's , 2018. Take the Fast Track to Bluetooth 5 Mesh Networking. [Online]
Available at: https://www.digikey.in/en/articles/techzone/2018/apr/take-the-fast-track-to-
bluetooth-5-mesh-networking
[Accessed 4 December 2018].
Ghosekar, P., Katkar, G. & Ghorpade, P., 2010. Mobile ad hoc networking: imperatives and
challenges. IJCA Special issue on MANETs, Volume 3, pp. 153-158.
Kolderup, K., 2017. Introducing Bluetooth Mesh Networking. [Online]
Available at: https://blog.bluetooth.com/introducing-bluetooth-mesh-networking
[Accessed 4 December 2018].
Murray, O. T. & Olcese, N. R., 2011. Teaching and learning with iPads, ready or not?.
TechTrends, 55(6), pp. 42-48.
Poole, I., 2018. Bluetooth network connection & pairing. [Online]
Available at: https://www.radio-electronics.com/info/wireless/bluetooth/networks-networking-
connections-pairing.php
[Accessed 4 December 2018].
Rouse, M., 2018. Bluetooth. [Online]
Available at: https://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/Bluetooth
[Accessed 4 December 2018].

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Townsend, K., Cufí, C. & Davidson, R., 2014. Getting started with Bluetooth low energy: tools
and techniques for low-power networking. 2nd ed. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Yapp, C., 2016. Future Perspectives. 1 ed. London: BCS Learning & Development Limited.
Yapp, C., 2016. The Internet of Things. 1 ed. London: BCS Learning & Development Limited.