The next version of the Bluetooth short-range wireless protocol officially launched this week, promising an eightfold speed increase to boost the low power protocol into the same performance range as WiFi wireless networking, while allowing Bluetooth 3.0 devices to fall back to lower power mode when not actively transferring data.
Presenting at its annual All Hands Meeting in Tokyo this week, the Bluetooth SIG -- the special interest group that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and licensing -- formally adopted Bluetooth Core Specification Version 3.0 High Speed (HS), or Bluetooth 3.0.
In addition to better power savings and unicast connectionless data, the new specification features the ability to use alternative radio antennas, including an 802.11 Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) that will increase throughput of Bluetooth data transfers to approximately 24 Mbps, up from 3Mbps in the current 2.1 EDR version. The extra speed comes from using the much faster but less power efficient 802.11 radio available in devices that support both Bluetooth and WiFi wireless networking.
Put more simply, any two devices that feature both Bluetooth 3.0 and an 802.11 wireless chip will pair with each other over Bluetooth but then perform the bulk of their data transfers over the faster WiFi protocol using a specialized 802.11 connection. When the speed of a transfer becomes overkill, the connection will drop down to normal operation on a Bluetooth radio for optimal power management and performance.
"This is the wireless technology equivalent of low hanging fruit,'" said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director, the Bluetooth SIG. "What we’re doing is taking classic Bluetooth connections -- using Bluetooth protocols, profiles, security and other architectural elements -- and allowing it to jump on top of the already present 802.11 radio, when necessary, to send bulky entertainment data, faster."
This move will be a boon to traditional phone makers who have built their devices around the low power, limited range Bluetooth, with the protocol's support for device profiles for sync and peripheral connections. Using Bluetooth 3.0, those makers will be able to take advantage of 802.11 radios to expand their data throughput without having to implement support for WiFi networking, something even many popular or prominent phones continue to lack.
source: www.appleinsider.com
No comments:
Post a Comment