Simplifications of the Bluetooth radio devices

Abstract

Bluetooth is a radio technology that enables short-range wireless voice and data communication. While Bluetooth is first and foremost a replacement for local communication wiring, it also enables many new applications. The Bluetooth technology is quite complex because it is mainly based on the IEEE 802.11 standard and uses the ad-hoc mode. We propose a general simplification to the Bluetooth Protocol and Bluetooth radio devices with a tradeoff between complexity and functionality. First, a separation between master and slave device is proposed. In the standard Bluetooth specification, there is no difference between Bluetooth radio units; that is, all units are identical and any unit can become a master of a piconet. But, it is not necessary for many devices such as headsets to be masters, which can only increase the cost and complexity. Second, the number of packet types can be reduced. The Bluetooth system uses packet-based transmission and defines sixteen different payload types and three types of packet lengths. These can be reduced. Third, the security elements can be eliminated in some Bluetooth devices. There are many services such as advertisement release, which do not need security. Fourth, an active mode and one sleep mode are enough for power management. In the standard there are active mode, idle mode, PARK mode and SNIFF mode, which increase the complexity of the design. Fifth, the capability of communications in the scatternet is not necessary in many Bluetooth devices and can be eliminated. Lastly, many sophisticated options can be replaced by simple mechanisms. For instance, intelligent scheduling algorithms in the master can be approximated by first-come-first-serve (FIFO) queues; link-adaptive packet length can be replaced by constant packet length, etc.