David Clark Company
Aurora Class

What is Bluetooth?

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Bluetooth is a wireless communication system standard. It allows the headset to work with many types of devices from mobile phones to leak detector equipment. The following excerpts are taken from Bluetooth.com. Please visit Bluetooth.com if you'd like to learn more about Bluetooth.


Where does the name Bluetooth come from? The name "Bluetooth" comes from the 10th century Danish King Harald Blåtand or Harold Bluetooth in English. King Blåtand helped unite warring factions in parts of what are now Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Similarly, Bluetooth technology was created as an open standard to allow connectivity and collaboration between disparate products and industries.

How does Bluetooth technology differ from other radio technologies? Mobile phones, FM radio and television all use radio waves to send information wirelessly. And while Bluetooth technology also uses radio waves, it transmits them over a shorter distance. Radios and TV broadcasts over many miles or kilometers. Bluetooth technology sends information within your Personal Area Network or "PAN" (aka your own personal space) at distances up to 100 meters (328 feet)—depending upon device implementation. Bluetooth technology operates in the unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band at 2.4 to 2.485 GHz, using a spread spectrum, frequency hopping, full-duplex signal at a nominal rate of 1600 hops/sec.

Is Bluetooth technology hardware or software? It's a combination of both. When someone says a product contains Bluetooth that means it includes a small computer chip containing the Bluetooth radio. But it also needs software to connect, via Bluetooth wireless technology, to other products. http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/Fast-Facts.aspx Interference Bluetooth technology's adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) capability was designed to reduce interference between wireless technologies sharing the 2.4 GHz spectrum. AFH works within the spectrum to take advantage of the available frequency. This is done by the technology detecting other devices in the spectrum and avoiding the frequencies they are using. This adaptive hopping among 79 frequencies at 1 MHz intervals gives a high degree of interference immunity and also allows for more efficient transmission within the spectrum. For users of Bluetooth technology this hopping provides greater performance even when other technologies are being used along with Bluetooth technology.