EOTO: Bluetooth

What is Bluetooth?

According to Intel, Bluetooth allows two devices to directly connect without the use of a supporting network infrastructure (wireless). There are 2 types of Bluetooth. First is Bluetooth Classic. Bluetooth Classic is mainly used to connected wireless headphones, speakers, in-car entertainment systems, etc. The second type of Bluetooth is Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE). This is designed for very low powered operations and is often used for high accuracy location services. Recently, Bluetooth LE has been developed so one device can determine where another device is.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) is a standards development organization. It is who is responsible for Bluetooth Technology. Their mission is to advance, promote, and protect Bluetooth Technologies. 

Who created Bluetooth?

In 1993, Jaap Haartsen was assigned to find an alternative to short range radio calls. In 1994, he began creating what we now call Bluetooth.

Haartsen was born in the Netherlands in 1963 and studied engineering at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

History

Bluetooth is a huge part of our daily lives. We use it in our cars, during phone calls, to use a computer, and much more. But Bluetooth hasn't always been around. 

According to Auris, Bluetooth uses radio waves to work. In the early 1800s, physicists knew about electromagnetic waves, but it wasn't until 1864 that James Clerk Maxwell came up with the idea that they could be transmitted through the air. Not long after, Heinrich Hertz discovered the unit of frequency. Around 1910, radio waves were used for music stations.

According to National Inventors Hall of Fame, Bluetooth was initially created to find an alternative to wired phone calls. According to Auris, the use of mobile phones grew drastically in the 90s, so scientists wanted to figure out a way to make their use easier. Finally, in 1994, Jaap Haartsen was credited with the invention of Bluetooth Technologies.

How did Bluetooth get its name?

In the year 958, a man named King Harald Gormsson, also known as "Bluetooth," united Denmark and

Norway. Gormsson got his nickname because of a dead tooth he had that was a dark blue color.

Originally, Bluetooth was meant to be a placeholder because the creators didn't have a name for the real thing. Jim Kardach, who helped engineer Bluetooth Technology, suggested the name because they were going to unite the PC and cellular industries.

The Bluetooth team came up with two options for a real name: 1) PAN (Personal Area Networking) or 2) RadioWire. There wasn't enough time to run a full search of the name RadioWire, and when they searched PAN, they realized it had many other meanings. The only option was to use the name Bluetooth. 

Impact of Bluetooth

Whether you're conscious of it or not, Bluetooth is used in your everyday life. We use it to connect to our phones, connect our phones to other devices, monitors, laptops, wireless mice, keyboards, speakers, and headphones. Bluetooth is used in most parts of our everyday lives.

According to Auris, Bluetooth launched its latest update (Bluetooth 5.0) in 2017. This update has allowed Bluetooth to be used at 240 meters, improved compression speeds, allowed for streaming of audio to two different devices at once, and multiplied the broadcasting messaging capacity.

Now, people can use Bluetooth to control certain smart devices, send files, and stream high fidelity audio, whereas before Bluetooth, people used CDs or vinyl records. 

There is still much more that can be done with Bluetooth. We are simply waiting to see what the future has in store.