Introduction To The Bluetooth Technology

Bluetooth is a short range, wire free, secure and international standardized wireless technology that provides wireless communication system between the Bluetooth enabled devices in a short ranged network. Bluetooth technology is a short range wireless technology that was developed by the collaboration of mobile phones and IT companies such as Nokia, Intel, Toshiba, Erickson and IBM. Bluetooth develops short range wireless connections between the laptops, handheld pcs, wireless communication devices and mobile phones. Bluetooth is only available to the personal area networks in an office or a home network.

It reduces the usage of power as compared to the Wi-Fi. Bluetooth is an international standardized technology that is used for the wireless communication between the Bluetooth held devices such as mobile phones, digital camera, laptops, desktop computers, keyboard, mouse, mp3 players, video cameras and other devices.

Bluetooth is free technology and it is provided by the mobile phone operators who are having the capability of GSM and CDMA technology. Bluetooth uses radio waves frequency as a medium and is suitable for the 1, 10 and 100 meters distance. Every Bluetooth enabled devices such as mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, video games consoles have built-in microchip. There are about more than 1800 members of the Bluetooth consortium from all over the world. Every GSM and CDMA mobile operates must provide the features of the Bluetooth technology to its users. Like the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi uses the same frequency but the power consumption of the wi-fi is high so it produces more powerful signals.

Bluetooth uses radio waves that operate at 2.4 GHz bands. The personal computers must have built-in dongle in them to use the Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth is also used to transfer the files from the mobile phones or PDA devices to the computers. Also, in a meeting if you want to share the digital business cards among the participants of the meeting you use Bluetooth to transfer the files. Microsoft Windows XP with the service pack 2 has the built-in support for the Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth defines the wireless standards to maintain the secure data communication.

The master Bluetooth device can communication with the seven other Bluetooth enabled devices. Different devices support different standards of the Bluetooth technology. The research on the advanced Bluetooth is in progress for the Bluetooth version 3.0 to provide the high speed connections.

Bluetooth technology also provides support for the VOIP technology. The Bluetooth headset provides the wireless extension to the Bluetooth devise. A typical Bluetooth device consist of RS transceiver, protocol stacks and base bands and It does not require to install the additional drivers to use the Bluetooth technology and it can connect all the office peripheral such as computer with printer, computer with scanner and computer with laptop. Among the other advantages of the Bluetooth technology is the automatic synchronization of the desktops, mobile phones and other Bluetooth held devices. Another popular use of the Bluetooth is in the cars and automotives. The most commonly Bluetooth held devices are mobile phones, personal computers, laptops, headsets, access points, car kits, speaker phone, streaming video, MP3 players, SIM cards, Push-2-talk, PDA and digital camera.

By this technology, mobile data can be used in the different applications. It provides the speed of 1-2 Mbps. Bluetooth’s small microchip can be built in the devices and it can also be used as the external adapters and used for the different network communication devices. Bluetooth enabled devices can change their frequency very rapidly so they can be saved from the external interference. Bluetooth enabled devices have built in security features and they use pin code and 128 encryption. If the two wireless devices follow the Bluetooth standards they can communicate with each other without any external devices or wires. The more enhancements are in progress in this technology to provide most robust, state-of-the-art, high speed and secure connections to the mobile users.

An Overview of the Wireless Networking

Here you will find wireless networking tutorials, what is wifi, general security overview, wlans, wpans, wmans, wep and wireless access control overview. Whether you want to make a phone call from your mobile, received a message on your pager, checked your email from a PDA we have come across a wireless data or voice network.

If a user or a company wants to make a data portable then Wireless networking is the answer. A wireless networking system can avoid the downtime, which may be caused in the wired network. A wireless network is also save your time and efforts in installing the lot of cables.
Also, if you need to relocate a client machine in your office, you only need to move the computer with wireless network card.


Wireless networking is very useful in the public places, libraries, hotels, schools, airports, railway stations where one might find wireless access to the internet. A drawback in the wireless internet is that quality of service (QOS) is not guaranteed if there is any interference then the connection may be dropped.


Wireless Network Types

Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANS)

WLANS allow users in local area, such as in a university or a library to form a network and gain wireless access to the internet. A temporary network can be formed by a small number of users without the need of access point; given that they do not need to access the resources.


Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANS)

There are two current technologies for wireless personal network Bluetooth and Infra Red. These technologies will allow the connectivity of personal devices within an area of 30 feet. Infra Red requires a direct line and the range is less as compared to Bluetooth technology.

Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANS)

WMANS allow the connectivity of multiple networks in a metropolitan area such as building in a city. The network connectivity is the alternative of copper or fiber cabling.

Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWANS)

WWANS or Wireless Area Networks can be maintained over large areas such as in different cities or between different countries, via multiple satellite systems or antenna sites. The types of system are called 2G systems.

The following table shows the range those different types of wireless network covers.
Network Meter
Personal Area Network 0-10
Local Area Network 0-100
Wide Are Network 0-10000
Security in Wireless Networking
The following different types of security methods are available in the wireless networking.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

Wired Equivalent Privacy is intended to stop the interference of radio frequency that is signaled by unauthorized users and this security measure is most suitable for the small networks. There is not key management protocol and each key is entered manually into the clients that’s why this is very time consuming administrative task. The WEP security method is based on the RC4 encryption algorithm. In the WEP all the client computers and Access points are configured with the same encryption and decryption keys.


Service Set Identifier (SSID)

Service Set Identifier (SSID) acts a simple password by allowing WLAN network to be split up into different networks and each having a unique identifier. These identifiers are configured in the multiple access points. To access any of any networks, a computer is configured in such a way that each is having a corresponding SSID identifier for that network. If the SSID match between the two computers or networks then access is granted to each other.


Media Access Control filtering (MAC Access Control)

A list of the MAC addresses of the client computers can be inputted into an Access point and only those computers are granted to give the access to the network. When a computer makes a request, its MAC address is compared to the list of the MAC addresses to the Access point and based on this access permission granted to deny.
This is a good security method but it is mainly involved in the small wireless networks because there is more manual work is involved of entering the MAC address into the Access point.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a simple type of the wireless networking that operates in the digital devices, like mobiles phones, personal computers, PDA, Laptops, digital camera, MP3 players and other Bluetooth enabled devices to form a small network. In the Bluetooth technology eight devices can be connected to each other at the same time. Bluetooth can also be found in the headsets, hands-free kits, wireless keyboards and mouse. Bluetooth technology was invented by Ericsson in 1994 and after four years in 1998 some major mobile phone companies such as Nokia, Ericsson, Intel and Toshiba formed a group to promote this technology.

Bluetooth technology falls in the category of personal area networking because it operates in the range of 30 to 300 feet. Bluetooth uses the radio waves technology, which is not very expensive and has low power consumption. Many different companies are intended to add the Bluetooth chip in their digital devices. Bluetooth technology is getting very popularity because of its low cost and portability.


The Future of Wireless Networking

WLANS wireless networking type is very popular in home networking and more than 20 percent homes with broadband internet are using WLANS and this number is increasing. In a general estimate worldwide hotspots have now reached more than 30,000 and will grow about 210,000 in the next few years. Most large hotels already offer Wi-Fi and the business travelers are willing to pay wireless access. 802.11 is the next Wi-Fi speed standard is set to offer bandwidth around 108Mbps and is still under development. With the speed of 70 Mbps and a range up to 30 miles, the 80216 standard, known as WiMAX is sure to get boost.

Some Tips & Tricks

• When purchasing a wireless NIC card try to get one that is having external antenna. When you are out and using Wi-Fi enabled laptop, disable Microsoft file and sharing, which enables other computers in a network to access data and resources on your computer. In this way, your computer or laptop will be saved from hackers.
• If you are concerned about the interference from the other wireless access point set the AP and wireless computers to use a non-overlapping channel.
• Change the configuration interface password of the access point before you enable it.
• Only buy an access point that is having upgradeable capabilities. By this way you can take the advantage of security enhancements.
• Keep the access point up to date.

Introduction to Home Computer Networking-Basic Setup

Here you will get the basic Introduction Home Computer Networking-Basic Setup, wireless access point, lan troubleshooting, lan connectivity, dsl modem, gateway device, vpn and wi-fi. Computer Networks exists for more than 30 years and only recently they have become more popular at home both in forms of wired and wireless networking. Now many computer literate people from all over the world wish to have a computer network at home. There are many advantages and usage of a network, which we have described in the other sections of this website. 

Millions of people have adopted the home network and now they are looking for the more advanced technology in the home networking and that is “wireless home networking”.

We will discuss the various basic and advance aspects of the home networking considering that no prior knowledge of the network technology. We will briefly explain the setup, troubleshooting, installation, network devices used and other aspects of the home networking. 

Today in the age of Information technology, it’s not difficult for someone to have more than one PCat home.

If I apply this situation to you (that you have more than one computer at your home) then most probably you would wish to have access on the data and resources like, hard disk, printer, modem of the other PC and you can even access the broadband Internet like DSL or cable modem and you can also play a multi-player network game. All this is possible by just connecting and configuring the two computers at your home. There are several ways to do the home networking but all it depends on budget, security needs and nature of your work.

Your cable/DSL modem plugs straight into the computer. The computer is exposed to the public Internet (indicated by the color red). There is no connection for more than one computer. You only have one IP address from your ISP. 

If you have a broadband Internet connection at your home like DSL or cable net then you can share your internet connection with more than one PC at your home by installing the network card in each PC and configuring the hub/switch or a router.

If you have two PCs at your home and you want to share your internet connection with the other computer then you can simply share the internet connection by following these steps.

1. Connect two PCs with CAT5 cable and make it a cross over cable.
2. After connecting both the PCs, assign a different IP addresses by going in the properties of the LAN card like 100.100.100.1 and 100.100.100.2 or you can assign any other IP address. (Please note that these IP addresses that you use for your home networking are the private IP addresses and they have nothing to do with the IP address that are used on the internet (public IP addresses).
3. After assigning the IP addresses install software on the computer one, which will be used for sharing the Internet connection and this will be called proxy software (and your computer one will act as a Proxy Server). The more common proxy software is Wingate, Win Proxy and Internet connection sharing (ICS). ICS is by default installed in Windows operating systems and can be configured separately.

Internet access by using a hardware router/gateway/firewall device

In this situation, you have to install a hardware router, which will be act as a gateway. Your router will be connected with the public IP address, which will be assigned to your by your ISP and hub/switch will be attached to the router. All the other PCs in your home or small network will be directly attached to that hub or switch.

How to setup the Gateway Device

Gateway device – There are different gateway devices available from different companies like

dlink.com, linksys.com, netgear.com and Cisco systems. Each device has difference setup configurations but the basic purpose of all these devices is the same. 

The Gateways have a number of common features and functions such as NAT (Network Address Translation) that translate your public IP address into the private IP address on your network, DHCP server, PPP. Before buying any gateway device, make sure gateway device must have all these features.

Some advance gateways have the following features.

• wireless access point
• VPN
• print server
• DMZ (make one PC available to the Internet but still protect it through the firewall
• multi-port
• Content filtering

Most advance gateways comes with integrated hubs or switches and if your gateway don’t have the functionality of a hub/switch then you will have to buy a hub/switch for your home network. Before buying a hub/switch you should consider the two main things 1. it should support dual peed i.e 10mbps and 100mbps and 2. it should have maximum available ports. 

Cat5 cable – For setting up a home network, you will need a several pieces of the CAT5 Ethernet cables. These cables can be used in the different scenarios like for connecting the two PCs (if you have a two computer network) and if you have more than two computers then each computer will be directly connected with the hub/switch or gateway device. The most commonly used cable for computer networking is Cat5 cable. 

Once you have all the required things like cables, hub/switch, LAN cards etc. then install a network card in each PC. You must make sure that each card is properly installed and is not showing any signs of conflict with the other network devices.

How to connect two computers wirelessly

In some recent years, wireless networking solutions have became very popular. There are several wireless technologies exists to support the wireless networking. 

These technologies include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and infrared. Wi-Fi connections can reach at a greater distance than the other wireless solutions that are mentioned above. Many new PCs and Laptops now have the built-in capability of the Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi can be used with or without network fixture. In the two computers Wi-Fi networking minus a fixture also called ad-hoc Wi-Fi.

Bluetooth technology supports high speed wireless connectivity and communication between the two computers without the need of a network fixture. Bluetooth is commonly used when networking a computer with the consumer’s cell phone or handheld device. Bluetooth works well if both the devices are in the same room or location. While networking among the handheld devices consider the Bluetooth technology solution. 

Infrared networking exists before the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technologies on the Laptops. Infrared wireless connections only work between two computers and do not require a fixture. Infrared networking is relatively fast so consider using it if your computer supports it and you don’t have the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth features in your computer.