Hey, let me paint a picture for you: I was
16, just got my first car, and, man, was I
excited to see that it had a 5-disk CD player!
“Now I don’t have to listen to the radio
while I’m driving – I can choose what
songs to listen to!”
Fast-forward “a few” years later, and
I’m using Bluetooth to play music from my
phone through my car speakers.
My, how the times have changed.
So, how does it all work?
My wireless speakers, earphones, hands-free
calling – what’s the magic behind Bluetooth
tech?
Before I get into that, let’s take another
trip down memory lane, only, this time, we’re
going a little further back!
The idea of what we call “Bluetooth” today
was first introduced back in 1989.
Dr. Nils Rydbeck, who was the chief technology
officer at Ericsson Mobile, and inventor Dr.
Johan Ullman had this revolutionary idea to
develop a pair of wireless headsets.
Because, well, let’s be honest, cords and
wires are annoying!
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 with
the 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
Comdex computer exposition and trade show
in Las Vegas.
It even won the Best of Show Award!
And it was dubbed “Bluetooth,” which then
begs the question, “Where does the strange
name come from?”
Well, at the time, three companies were working
separately to create short-range radio technologies
that would connect computers and different
devices using short-wave frequencies.
But since the invention was in its early stages,
Intel, Ericsson, and Nokia decided that the
best way to proceed was to create a single
wireless standard.
Jim Kardach, who was working for Intel, happened
to be reading a historical book about how
the Viking King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson
united Denmark and Norway.
That story inspired Kardach to propose his
idea of calling this single short-link device
that would unite communications “Bluetooth.”
So, that was it!
(And in case you’re wondering how the king
got the nickname, legend has it that he had
a rotten tooth that looked kinda blueish.)
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), then
you’ll see that the logo is formed from
two different symbols.
They represent the initials of the king: H
and B for Harald Bluetooth.
Ok, sorry to geek out there on the history.
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-Fi
comes from) and your device, Bluetooth does
it between devices.
So, basically, if two things have a Bluetooth
option, then they can transmit data between
each 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 hoards
and 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 milliwatt
of power.
You know those little laser pointers your
cat loves so much?
They put out 5 milliwatts of power, so that
goes to show you how weak just 1 is.
Bluetooth doesn’t need as much power as
Wi-Fi does because it’s not really doing
as much work.
But the cool thing is that Bluetooth can connect
to 8 devices at the same time without any
interference 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 your
laptop using your wireless headphones and
you’re also typing on your computer with
your wireless keyboard.
The Bluetooth transmitters in both your computer
and your devices use 79 different frequencies
in that range.
To prevent your music from getting in the
way of your keyboard, it changes frequencies
1,600 times every second!
When you try to connect a Bluetooth device
with your phone, then a sort of conversation
takes place between the two of them.
They present their data and decide on whether
they need to exchange information or if one
of them needs to control the other.
After this short digital dialogue ends and
the two devices agree on their roles, they
connect 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 to
continually 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’re wondering what devices use
Bluetooth nowadays, the answer is almost all
of them.
Phones, headphones, earbuds, speakers, stereos,
TVs, cameras, cars, tablets, game consoles,
you name it!
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 these
Bluetooth devices in your home.
You’ve got your wireless mouse and computer
“chatting” with each other, your Bluetooth
speaker 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 ignore
it because they have different addresses.
But the way Bluetooth works raises a few security
questions as well.
Just like all wireless networking setups,
there’s always the legitimate concern of
sending 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 without
your 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 devices
more protected against security threats.
You see, in almost all of our personal gadgets,
there’s the “trusted devices” option
that enables you to share data without permission
while others need permission to access your
device.
But let’s not forget about spam.
There’s this trend called bluejacking where
a person or company can send you their electronic
business 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 their
phones.
You can prevent it from happening to you by
making your Bluetooth device non-discoverable
when 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 determine
if it’s harmful for people or not.
And it’s also quite tricky because Bluetooth
waves are just one part of the wireless smog
that surrounds us every single day.
But perhaps this will be comforting to know:
the amount of non-ionizing radiation present
in 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 your
phone 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 exposed
to too many radio frequencies from our devices.
For example, The Federal Communication Commission
checks that cellphone manufacturers don’t
sell devices that go over what scientists
say is the limit of how many radio frequencies
the human body can absorb from one gadget.
That number is called the Specific Absorption
Rate (SAR), and you can always check which
models 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 and
having to change CDs in your car!
So, do you use Bluetooth in your everyday
life and what for?
Let me know in the comments below!
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