What is Bluetooth technology?

Bluetooth technology is a short-range communications technology that is simple, and everywhere. The key features of Bluetooth technology are robustness, low power, and low cost.

Bluetooth is a short-distance wireless technology with the following technical characteristics:

• license-free 2.4 GHz frequency band
• 400 kbps of data symmetrically or 700 to 150 kbps of data asymmetrically
• Range approximately 10 m at 1 mW transmitting power, approximately 100 m (in the open) at 100 mW 

Connections between Bluetooth enabled electronic devices allow these devices to communicate wirelessly through short-range, adhoc networks known as piconets. Piconets are established dynamically and automatically as Bluetooth enabled devices enter and leave radio proximity meaning that you can easily connect whenever and wherever it's convenient for you.  

Each device in a piconet can also simultaneously communicate with up to seven other devices within that single piconet and each device can also belong to several piconets simultaneously. This means the ways in which you can connect your Bluetooth devices is almost limitless. 

The Bluetooth core system consists of an RF transceiver, baseband, and protocol stack. The system offers services that enable the connection of devices and the exchange of a variety of data classes between these devices. During typical Bluetooth operation, a physical radio channel is shared by a group of devices that are synchronized to a common clock and frequency hopping pattern. One device provides the synchronization reference and is known as the master. All other devices are known as slaves. A group of devices synchronized in this fashion form a piconet. This is the fundamental form of communication for Bluetooth wireless technology. 

Bluetooth Range may vary depending on class of radio used in an implementation:  

• Class 3 radios – have a range of up to 1 meter or 3 feet
• Class 2 radios – most commonly found in mobile devices – have a range of 10 meters or 33 feet
• Class 1 radios – used primarily in industrial use cases – have a range of 100 meters or 300 feet