What is Bluetooth? || History of Bluetooth || How Bluetooth Works?

What is Bluetooth? || History of Bluetooth : 

The idea of what we call "Bluetooth" today came from Dr. Nils came to Rydbeck, who was the chief technical officer at Ericsson Mobile, and was accompanied by inventor Dr. Johann Ulmann had this revolutionary idea to develop a pair of wireless headsets.

We got Bluetooth today because of the invention of these two.

It was a major undertaking, so they brought Dr. Jaap Haartsen on to the project.A mere 5 years later, he’d be the engineer who made the breakthrough and came out withthe first protocol.It took a few more years to perfect the technology.

But finally in 1999, they presented their first hands-free headset to the world at the Comic de Dex Computer Show and Trade Show in Las Vegas, USA.

He also won the Best Show award! And it was called "Bluetooth".

But since their discovery was at an early stage, Intel, Ericsson and Nokia decided that the best way forward was to create a wireless standard.

That story inspired Kardach to propose his idea of calling this single short-link devicethat would unite communications “Bluetooth.”

They also paid tribute to the great Viking king when they came up with the logo.Hmm, just looks like a B to me.But if you examine it a little closer (and you happen to know the Nordic alphabet), thenyou’ll see that the logo is formed from two different symbols.

How Bluetooth Works? : 

Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this mysterious Bluetooth technology.Bluetooth works a lot like Wi-Fi.It uses radio waves to send data between devices at short distances.

Now, whereas Wi-Fi uses radio waves to transmit data between your router (where your Wi-Ficomes from) and your device, Bluetooth does it between devices.

So, basically, if two things have a Bluetooth option, then they can transmit data betweeneach other.This “communication” of sorts is measured in Gigahertz.For both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, it’s usually at the 2.4 Gigahertz frequency.

That means those radio waves (imagine them just as they are, waves!) are moving in hoardsand really fast.

That is, 2.4 billion waves per second!That’s why when you, say, turn your Bluetooth mouse on, the cursor starts whipping around your computer screen in an instant!

Now, even though Bluetooth still works at the 2.4 Gigahertz frequency just like Wi-Fi,it mostly works at shorter distances and uses muuuch weaker signals – just 1 milliwattof power.You know those little laser pointers your cat loves so much?

Bluetooth does not require as much power as Wi-Fi because Bluetooth cannot work as well as WiFi can.

But the cool thing is that Bluetooth can connect to 8 devices at the same time without anyinterference from other wireless items like garage doors or baby monitors.(Wi-Fi can have issues with that.)

So, here’s a real-life example: let’s say you’re listening to music from yourlaptop using your wireless headphones and you’re also typing on your computer withyour wireless keyboard.

The Bluetooth transmitters in both your computer and your devices use 79 different frequenciesin that range.To prevent your music from getting in the way of your keyboard, it changes frequencies1,600 times every second!When you try to connect a Bluetooth device with your phone, then a sort of conversationtakes place between the two of them.

They present their data and decide on whether they need to exchange information or if oneof them needs to control the other.After this short digital dialogue ends and the two devices agree on their roles, theyconnect together to form a network.

That Bluetooth network of connected devices is called a “piconet”.Once their connection is established, they begin their frequency hopping in order tocontinually stay connected and avoid interference.

You can even take a device with you to another room, and it’ll keep working.As long as you don’t go too far, that is!Bluetooth is such a huge part of our everyday lives, yet most of the time it goes unnoticed.

So if you are wondering if devices nowadays use Bluetooth, the answer is almost all devices. Such as phones, headphones, earbuds, speakers, stereo, TV, cameras, cars, tablets, game consoles etc..And if you were to watch them all at work, it’d be quite the spectacle.

Imagine if you could see that “piconet” of radio frequencies swirling from all theseBluetooth devices in your home.You’ve got your wireless mouse and computer “chatting” with each other, your Bluetoothspeaker has its own conversation going on with your phone.And the best part is that none of them so rudely intervene in the others’ conversations!That’s not only thanks to frequency-hopping.

It’s also because each device has its own “address” programmed by the manufacturer.So even if your wireless mouse gets a message from your TV, it’ll just automatically ignoreit because Their addresses are different. But the way Bluetooth works also raises a few security questions.

Just like all wireless networking setups, there’s always the legitimate concern ofsending personal data using radio waves and that data falling into the wrong hands.

When Bluetooth first came out, it was really easy for someone to access your data withoutyour permission.But over time this technology has become more secure.

Bluetooth manufacturers are aware of the risks, so they’ve already done a lot to make devicesmore protected against security threats.

You see, in almost all of our personal gadgets, there’s the “trusted devices” optionthat enables you to share data without permission while others need permission to access yourdevice.But let’s not forget about spam.There’s this trend called bluejacking where a person or company can send you their electronicbusiness card or an ad as a text message using Bluetooth.

Of course, when you see that, you either ignore it or panic!But this is something that mostly happens in public places where everyone is using theirphones.You can prevent it from happening to you by making your Bluetooth device non-discoverablewhen you’re out and about.

And if it does happen to you, don’t worry.Just turn your Bluetooth off and remove the attacker’s device from your trusted ones.Now with those bluejackers busted, let’s talk about the health concerns.

Unfortunately, there’s not enough evidence and research done on Bluetooth to determineif it’s harmful for people or not.And it’s also quite tricky because Bluetooth waves are just one part of the wireless smogthat surrounds us every single day.

But perhaps this will be comforting to know: the amount of non-ionizing radiation presentin Bluetooth headphones is a lot less than what’s in a typical cellphone.

So if you’re worried about Bluetooth affecting your health, you should probably give up yourphone first.And, still, your phone isn’t a cause for alarm either.

There are regulatory organizations put in place to keep the public safe from being exposedto too many radio frequencies from our devices.

For example, The Federal Communication Commission checks that cellphone manufacturers don’tsell devices that go over what scientists say is the limit of how many radio frequenciesthe human body can absorb from one gadget.

That number is called the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), and you can always check whichmodels have the lowest if you’re in the market for a phone.

So don’t worry too much about it.The health aspect is always under check and is constantly being studied.All in all, I still say Bluetooth is a lot better than getting tangled up in cords andhaving to change CDs in your car!