Bluetooth Will Handle Video at Home

The industry has now begun to discuss a new Bluetooth standard, generation 2, enabling speeds up to 10 megabit per second: This capacity will open up the gates for real-time video transmission. This means that the Bluetooth technology can be used in local residential networks or in business networks for telephony, Internet and TV.

Örjan Johansson at Ericsson Mobile Communications confirms that the discussions have been initiated:

"The conventional telephone will manage with Bluetooth version 1 offering a speed at 720 kilobits per second for two-way communication. But now we're talking about a more advanced product," he says.

The question about the coverage of Bluetooth generation 2 is not yet settled. It is possible that it will exceed the 10 to 100 meter range of the first generation. At the very least it will replace all cables in a room. Philips and Sony are working on the video distribution in the local networks.

Two Competing Standards

As the American IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless LANs (Local Area Network) allows a capacity of up to 11 megabits per second, it is obvious that there is a situation of competition. Örjan Johansson expects the two alternatives to coexist.

"802.11 is intended for another market segment and another target group than Bluetooth. The driving factors behind the less expensive Bluetooth technology are the mobile telephony sector and the market for small, less expensive, battery supplied devices," he says.

Backing the Bluetooth standard are nearly 2000 companies. This means that the new Bluetooth version 2.0 may see a major breakthrough. Bluetooth 2.0 opens up the gates for real-time video transmission with the same resolution as a conventional television screen, at speeds comparable with digital television. According to Ericsson, the receivers will in this case be small laptops and TVs rather than mobile phones.

The specification is presumably released next year whereas the actual products will require some additional years to reach the market.

"Until then we will market some hundred million first generation Bluetooth products, which later on can be upgraded to Bluetooth 2.0," Örjan Johansson says.

Torbjörn Johansson, Technical Manager at IBM and a member of the Bluetooth committee, wants the technology to be developed in three areas; speed, coverage and power consumption. These three will then in one way or another determine the price. Speed conflicts with coverage and these two have to be adapted to each other.

New Applications for High Speed

"Increased speed makes new applications possible," he says.

The competition between Bluetooth and conventional radio based data networks (WLAN), such as 802.11 based networks, grows as Bluetooth is being developed and radio LAN becomes less expensive. The overlap between the two widens but in some aspects there is still a gap: High speed and large coverage require expensive components; Bluetooth is more cost efficient with lower speed and smaller coverage. In the end, the market will decide which technology will dominate a certain area.

"The fact that Bluetooth is developed is reasonable and sound. Technology that is not developed is overtaken," Torbjörn Johansson states.

The Swedish company, A Brand New World, develops Bluetooth based services and applications. According to Per Larsson, Bluetooth Product Manager at A Brand New World, the higher data speeds enabled in Bluetooth 2.0 correspond to the company's strategies in alternative infrastructures.

"This makes it possible to use Bluetooth as a wireless carrier for new types of services and applications. Together with additional intelligent antenna systems providing extended coverage, Bluetooth may become the dominating technology for the license free frequency bands, he predicts. If Bluetooth gets enough cost efficient, it can take over parts of the 802.11 market, but the two systems will also complement each other," Per Larsson concludes.

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