Bluetooth gets speed boost via Wi-Fi

Bluetooth SIG working in the Bluetooth specification allows to piggyback onto Wi-Fi

Mobile phones, as Apple iPhone, and several BlackBerry models typically feature both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection. These two protocols work independently of each other while the handset is in operation.

The Bluetooth SIG today announced a new method for speeding up the Bluetooth connection by I to the Wi-Fi are already available in many phones and devices. The Bluetooth SIG is very specific that this new announcement does not affect in any way the development of the next Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology that has been developing in recent years.

The Bluetooth SIG said that the new architecture, called in another MAC / PHY by members working on the specification, is a way to grab the low until fruit hanging UWB reaches the market.

Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG said in a statement: “This is the equivalent of wireless technology low-hanging fruit.” What we are doing is taking classic Bluetooth connections using Bluetooth protocols, profiles, security and other architectural elements and allowing you to jump over and above those already present 802.11 radio, when necessary, sending data bulky entertainment faster. When speed is excessive 802.11, the connection returns to normal functioning of a Bluetooth radio for optimal energy management and performance. “

At the core of the technology, called low speed, are all that is needed, the traditional Bluetooth radio would be used. When a user needs to send a large file of a Bluetooth device to a printer to the Wi-Fi radio is used to send large files much faster in speed. This new technology will be seen in devices using a single radio for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The final specification of alternate MAC / PHY is expected to be published in mid-2009.

DailyTech reported in 2006 that the UWB Forum is having trouble with one of the key members arguing that the objectives of the UWB Forum were too large.