Bluetooth wireless technology for everyday use
Bluetooth technology is an essential, everyday tool found in various types of electronic equipment. This technology makes it easy to transfer speech between a mobile phone and a headset, a mobile phone and a pocket computer, or images from a digital video camera to a PC. And even though two Bluetooth units comply with the standard and should be connected, it may not necessarily make sense for them to speak to each other. For instance, a Bluetooth mouse would not profit much from a connection with a digital camera, or a headset with a keyboard.
The basic requirement for Bluetooth units to be able to communicate is that they are located within 10 meters of each other. This is the range of the Bluetooth radio waves under the current standard.
The highest security
In order for Bluetooth units to communicate without others listening in, Bluetooth electronic equipment must be paired. To accomplish this, the equipment must recognize each other and be accessed with the same number/pin code. This is a simple, onetime process that safeguards against others with Bluetooth headsets being able to hear your phone conversations or receive your data on another pocket PC.
For extra security, Bluetooth electronic equipment can hop randomly between 79 frequencies 1,600 times per second, which makes it virtually impossible for anyone to listen in. Additionally, it is possible to encrypt the information sent between equipment units with a code that only those two units recognize.
The technology behind Bluetooth enabled products
Bluetooth wireless technology works in an open frequency spectrum at 2.4 gigahertz, the same as wireless networks, telephones and other electronic equipment. It is possible for all types of equipment to operate within the same spectrum without disrupting each other because a frequency consists of several channels that the equipment can hop between to find quiet channels.
With the Bluetooth 1.2 standard, electronic equipment can find quiet channels beforehand, communicate between them and resend data if anything is lost due to noise.
Today's Bluetooth signals have a maximum strength of 2.5 milliwatts and a range of about 10 meters, (Class 2 equipment). Because of this weak signal, there cannot be either numerous or large physical obstacles between two communicating Bluetooth devices. An important advantage of the weak signal used by Bluetooth is that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by all electronic equipment is also very weak. In fact, the strength is about 1/800 of that emitted by a mobile phone.
Have the radiation levels of the Bluetooth headsets been examined? Is it dangerous to keep the device on my ear?
According to the latest research it is safer to talk on Bluetooth devices rather than holding your mobile phone to your ear. This is due to the fact that, as the range of the Bluetooth devices is only about 10 metres, the Bluetooth radio wave frequencies are much lower than the current standards.
Bluetooth-view: how to use in the future – are there competitive technologies?
Wireless technologies are developing and diversifying rapidly. For example, WLAN, UWB, ZigBee and Wibree, are now entering several different market-areas, however, it is important to keep in mind that it usually takes time for new technologies to become an industry standard in their respective markets. For instance, WLAN (a service that is already becoming more and more common in the mobile phone industry) is still not going to replace Bluetooth technology for quite a long time. As a result, though, new technology-based products are quickly being developed and will be offered to customers as soon as possible.
Does Bluetooth have data security risk?
It is highly unlikely that somebody could break into a given mobile phone by using a Bluetooth accessory. The transferring of “mischief programs” from one mobile phone to another, have recently awaken some discussion regarding general security. According to the mobile phone manufacturers, these programs are very rare and are not commonly used. Some people also feel that there is the chance that a “mischief program” could forward itself to another mobile phone by using multimedia or Bluetooth messages. However, these attaches are easy to avoid by using simple common sense as this form of program-transferring usually requires the recipient to first “accept” the contact request from the “infected” Bluetooth device, open the received message and install the program that is in the message—despite the mobile phone’s numerous security warnings. Mobile phone development is heading towards the direction where phones will soon be better prepared for these types of threats.
More about Bluetooth
|
Bluetooth® wireless technology is an open, accepted standard for wireless communication. As long as Bluetooth electronic equipment is within approximately 10 meters of each other, they can communicate and transfer data, speech, music, or images without a physical connection.