New Method for Fast Bluetooth Data Sharing

Spanish researchers have devised a new method that ensures that information is shared quickly and effectively using Bluetooth technology.

Bluetooth technology is the most widespread standard wireless communication. One of its applications is the creation of electronic sensor networks.

Researchers from the University of the Basque Country in northern Spain studied the performance of Bluetooth networks and measured the delays taking place in information transmission time.

For example, "The elderly in the home are fitted with electronic sensors which are used to measure their body temperature, heart rate, etc and to forward the data to the nursing department," said lead researcher Josu Etxaniz-Maranon from the university's Electronic Design Research Group.

Time is a critical factor and the interval that elapses between measuring a person's heart rate and receiving the data should be as short as possible, he added.

The research team designed a hardware platform with specific cards that communicate via Bluetooth and form networks.

"In this multi-hop system, we have transferred the data from one end of the network to the other and then brought them back efficiently," Etxaniz-Maranon added.

The scientific literature has devoted many pages to Bluetooth technology, but the time performance of the support nodes on the hardware platforms has received very little attention, the authors noted.

Our model puts forward the key equations to predict the time lags and can be applied to any Bluetooth network, they said.