Bluetooth's Compatibility for Large Scale Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

Future ubiquitous computing devices will need to communicate with other devices in an ad-hoc fashion, using minimum power and without the help of a central infrastructure. However, so far no single communication technology has established itself in the field of ubiquitous computing: many current wireless communication technologies seem to lack robustness, consume too much energy, or require an infrastructure to be viable candidates. 'Large scale sensor network' - networks of small devices equipped with sensors, microprocessor and wireless communication interfaces in a large area - are a technology that has gained a great reliability. This may improve with the help of Bluetooth. In order to evaluate the suitability of the new and promising Bluetooth standard for such communication requirements, we have integrated a Bluetooth module into a sensor network node. It is expected to make a huge impact in wireless sensor networking domain. But still a number of questions remain unanswered regarding the practical utility of Bluetooth in large-scale sensor networks. In this paper, we discuss some of the issues involved in using the Bluetooth technology in large-scale wireless sensor networks.