A three-year roadmap for Bluetooth short-range wireless
technology will triple bandwidth and allow users to simultaneously
multicast signals to seven others.
Michael Foley, technical director of the Bluetooth Special
Interest Group (SIG), which releases the roadmap next week, said it
would help show that Bluetooth has staying power.
At a time when pundits are extolling ultrawideband, an
emerging technology that is far faster than Bluetooth, Foley said
around three million Bluetooth-enabled products were currently
shipping every week and that 1,700 Bluetooth products were already
on the market, from keyboards and mice to earpieces for
mobiles.
Under the roadmap, the SIG plans to complete the Bluetooth
2.0+EDR specification by the end of this year, increasing the data
rate to 3mbps up from 1mbps in the current version 1.2. Compliant
products, which will be backward-compatible with older versions,
are expected to appear as early as June 2005.
A core software specification update will be completed in the
first quarter of 2005, with a prototype complete in the fourth
quarter of 2005. Foley said the update would focus on security,
quality of service and power optimisation to improve things such as
streaming applications and privacy enhancements.
Another core software specification update is expected by the
end of 2005, with prototypes built by the fourth quarter of 2006.
This update will allow the user of a Bluetooth device to multicast
to seven other devices simultaneously. Currently, Bluetooth devices
can communicate only one to one.
Multicasting will allow easier communications between groups
involved in tasks such as multiplayer gaming. Other features in the
2006 core update include greater range and privacy. The current
range for most implementations is up to 10 metres, with the
greatest bandwidth available only within the 1m radius of the
so-called personal area network.
While many Bluetooth applications focus on the consumer market,
Foley said the 2005 core update would help improve
Bluetooth-enabled sensor devices used in manufacturing
settings.
Some analysts have belittled Bluetooth when comparing it with
ultrawideband, but Foley believes the two can coexist. "I see a
collaborative relationship between the technologies and
organisations."
Foley said Bluetooth was the only proven wireless technology for
personal area networks and that the roadmap should ensure it
remained the leader in personal connectivity.
Farpoint Group analyst Craig Mathias said ultrawideband products
could appear next year, with more implementations by 2007.
Ultrawideband promises data rates of 1Gbps, about 100 times
Bluetooth's current bandwidth.
"Bluetooth is here now, while low-cost ultrawideband is five
years out," said Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney. He was,
however, critical of current Bluetooth capabilities. "They are
making improvements, but frankly it takes me far too long to use
Bluetooth technology."
Dulaney said he was also troubled that many SIG members were
competing firms that refused to perform independent
interoperability testing or even to discuss standard user
interfaces.
Matt Hamblen writes for Computerworld