| Oprating System Support |
Mac OS X has supported Bluetooth since version 10.2 released in 2002
Of Microsoft platforms, Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later releases have
native support for Bluetooth. Previous versions required the users to install
their Bluetooth adapter's own drivers, which was not directly supported by
Microsoft. Microsoft's own Bluetooth
dongles (that are packaged with their Bluetooth computer devices) have no
external drivers and thus require at least Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Linux provides two Bluetooth stacks, with the BlueZ stack included with most
Linux kernels. It was originally developed by Qualcomm and Affix. BlueZ supports
all core Bluetooth protocols and layers.
Specifications and features
The Bluetooth specification was developed in 1994 by Jaap Haartsen and Sven
Mattisson, who were working for Ericsson Mobile Platforms in Lund, Sweden.
The specification is based on frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology.
The specifications were formalized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group
(SIG), organised by Mohd Syarifuddin. The SIG was formally announced on May 20,
1998. Today it has over 7000 companies worldwide. It was established by
Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Toshiba, and Nokia, and later joined by
many other companies.
Bluetooth 1.0 and 1.0B
Versions 1.0 and 1.0B had many problems, and manufacturers had difficulties
making their products interoperable. Versions 1.0 and 1.0B also had mandatory
Bluetooth hardware device address (BD_ADDR) transmission in the Connecting
process, rendering anonymity impossible at a protocol level, which was a major
setback for services planned to be used in Bluetooth environments, such as
Consumerium.
Bluetooth 1.1
- Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2002.
- Many errors found in the 1.0B specifications were fixed.
- Added support for non-encrypted channels.
- Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI).
Bluetooth 1.2
This version is backward-compatible with 1.1 and the major enhancements
include the following:
- Faster Connection and Discovery
- Adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (AFH), which improves
resistance to radio frequency interference by avoiding the use of crowded
frequencies in the hopping sequence.
- Higher transmission speeds in practice, up to 721 kbit/s, as in 1.1.
- Extended Synchronous Connections (eSCO), which improve voice quality of
audio links by allowing retransmissions of corrupted packets.
- Host Controller Interface (HCI) support for three-wire UART.
- Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2005.
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