Bluetooth technology has been revealed in a number of guises at the
Bluetooth Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Although many applications exhibited were still at the research
stage, they hinted at everything from instant messaging between
personal digital assistants (PDAs) in an ad-hoc network to simple
hands-free phones in a car.
Bluetooth is designed to offer low-speed, short-distance wireless
communications with low-cost and low-power requirements.
Researchers from Philips showed a Bluetooth-equipped PDA roaming
from one Bluetooth access point to another. This application could
allow visitors to a public space to maintain Internet or local area
network access throughout the building without wires.
The researchers also demonstrated Context-Aware Messaging Platform
(CAMP), which could be used in airports or shopping centres to send
information to users based on their identity, location or
activities. For example, travellers could arrive at an airport, log
in to the Bluetooth network and immediately receive their personal
flight information.
CAMP could even be used today, with the information being sent to a
Bluetooth phone in the form of SMS messages.
Visteon demonstrated a Bluetooth network linked to a car's audio
system, which would allow drivers to use a mobile phone hands-free
without a phone cradle. Phone cradles are inconvenient because
phone models change during the typical lifetime of a car, and
different drivers of the same car may have phones that require
different cradles, a Visteon engineer said.
Car makers want to offer the technology next year, and the system
will undergo interoperability testing at a Bluetooth event in
January, with phones from vendors such as Nokia.
Toshiba demonstrated instant messaging between two Toshiba PDAs in
an ad-hoc Bluetooth network. Each PDA was equipped with a Bluetooth
network access module on a secure digital (SD) card, which is much
smaller than a Compact Flash card.
Toshiba will introduce the SD Bluetooth module in the first quarter
of next year to go into PDAs. The devices will also have a Compact
Flash slot, and Toshiba already makes a Compact Flash Bluetooth
module.
Roving Networks demonstrated a home Bluetooth network with a simple
application that turns a PDA into a universal remote control.
However, the company's main aim is to equip its access points, the
central communication hubs for Bluetooth networks, for custom
applications in vertical industries. Roving Networks is working
with one customer on a network of Bluetooth-equipped sensors that
can monitor conditions such as heat and vibration in a
manufacturing facility.