Bluetooth Broadcasting

What is Bluetooth

Wireless technology for short-range voice and data communication
Low-cost and low-power
The Bluetooth specification was developed as a cable replacement in 1994 by Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson, who were working for Ericsson in Sweden. The specification is based on frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology
Bluetooth networking transmits data via low-power radio waves. It communicates on a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz (actually between 2.402 GHz and 2.480 GHz, to be exact).

Ad Hoc Networks

Up to 8 devices can be actively connected in master/slave configuration
Piconets can be combined to form scatter nets providing unlimited device connectivity
A master Bluetooth device can communicate with a maximum of seven devices in a piconet.

Bluetooth Protocol Stack

Paring and Bonding

Bluetooth uses a process called bonding, and a bond is generated through a process called pairing. The pairing process is triggered either by a specific request from a user to generate a bond (for example, the user explicitly requests to "Add a Bluetooth device"), or it is triggered automatically when connecting to a service where (for the first time) the identity of a device is required for security purposes. These two cases are referred to as dedicated bonding and general bonding respectively.

Why Bluetooth broadcasting?

Bluetooth broadcasting will most likely not be able to replace broadcasting systems like television and radio broadcasts, or even message transmission technologies like e-mail, SMS/MMS and instant messengers (one example on instant messengers is MSN Messenger).
Unlike other digital channels for sending information, Bluetooth broadcasting allows for directing broadcasted information towards all people that are in the area, rather than a group of known people.
While SMS and MMS messages could to some extent fill the same purpose as Bluetooth broadcasting, using Bluetooth has the additional advantage of being free to use.
It is not completely free of course, since it will still cost money for the hardware used for broadcasting, and for maintenance.

Bluetooth broadcasting could be used for

Concert halls, theatres and similar places could broadcast calendar events to inform about future events.
Museums could broadcast information about opening hours and special events. Inside the museum it could broadcast information about museum items or areas.
Trains and buses could broadcast information inside the vehicles, for example the list of bus/train stops, travel time, modified vacation schedules, and other information.

Broadcasting station

A broadcasting station may consist of a computer with one or more Bluetooth dongles, and running a broadcasting application.
However, it is not always practical to use a computer for broadcasting , depending on where one wants the broadcast to be.

Target devices

For a Bluetooth broadcasting system, the main targets for the broadcast will be devices that move within range of the broadcast
Mobile phones
PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants)
Laptops

File types