MICSSA 2003

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MICSSA 2003

• Bluetooth in the defence industry
• The quest for single chip point to multipoint

Presented by David Johnson TFA leader Mobile
Platform Technologies Icomtek CSIR
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Contents of lecture

• Overview of Bluetooth
• Bluetooth Architecture and stack partitioning
• Microprocessor considerations
• Example defence projects
• The ultimate goal
• The future of Bluetooth

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Contents of lecture

• Overview of Bluetooth
• Bluetooth Architecture and stack partitioning
• Microprocessor considerations
• Example defence projects
• The ultimate goal
• The future of Bluetooth

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Overview of Bluetooth - history

• In 1994 Ericsson initiated a study to investigate
  the feasibility of a low-power low-cost radio
  interface between mobile phones and their
  accessories
• In Feb 1998, five companies Ericsson, Nokia, IBM,
  Toshiba and Intel formed a Special Interest Group
  (SIG)

• In July 1999 the first bluetooth specification
  1.0 was released
• The bluetooth consortium today is comprised of 9
  promoter companies who are leaders in telecomms,
  computing and networking and more than 2000
  adopter companies
• Bluetooth is the fastest growing technology since
  the internet or the cellular phone, incredible
  considering that its first public outing was in
  mid 1998.

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Overview of bluetooth - definition
Bluetooth is a low-power, low-cost short range
radio system intended to replace cables between
fixed and portable devices. It is intended to
replace many propriety cables with one universal
radio link.
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Overview of Bluetooth - domains
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Overview of Bluetooth technical level

• Data links Can establish up to 7 simultaneous
  data connections between a master and its slaves
  (piconet)
• Voice links Can establish up to 3 simultaneous
  voice connections between a master its slaves
  (piconet)
• Maximum asymmetrical data rate of 723 kbps (57.6
  kbps return channel)
• Maximum Symmetrical data rate of 432.6 kbps
• Can have up to ten multiple self contained
  networks (piconets) sharing spectrum in the same
  area (scatternet)
• Range can be up to 10m for 10mw bluetooth devices
  and up to 100m for 100mw bluetooth devices
• Very low power consumption
• Ability to discover available services on another
  device

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Contents of lecture

• Overview of Bluetooth
• Bluetooth Architecture and stack partitioning
• Microprocessor considerations
• Example defence projects
• The ultimate goal
• The future of Bluetooth

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Bluetooth Architecture and stack partitioning
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Contents of lecture

• Overview of Bluetooth
• Bluetooth Architecture and stack partitioning
• Microprocessor considerations
• Example defence projects
• The ultimate goal
• The future of Bluetooth

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Microprocessor considerations Speed requirements

• Bluetooth IC vendors embed small, low-power 20
  MIPS processors (ARM7, Hitachi H8, Motorolla
  Dragonball)
• MIPS requirements of Bluetooth stack
• Baseband Layer (LC, LM and HCI) 8-12MIPS
• Host Protocol Layer (HCI, L2CAP, RFCOMM, SDP)1-2
  MIPS
• Application layer and profiles 1-20MIPS
• High speed point to multipoint with 7 connections
  20MIPS

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Microprocessor considerations The challenge

• What drives Bluetooth development
• Drive towards lt5 per IC
• Low power ICs
• Majority applications in cell phone market
• Majority of uses are point to point voice or data
• Why single chip point to multipoint not available
• Multipoint needs more powerful embedded link
  control processor but this drives up the cost of
  the IC
• More powerful embedded processor normally
  requires more power
• Applications are not demanding it yet

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Contents of lecture

• Overview of Bluetooth
• Bluetooth Architecture and stack partitioning
• Microprocessor considerations
• Example defence projects
• The ultimate goal
• The future of Bluetooth

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Example projects grenade launcher
Point to point link
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Example project mortar sight
Point to multipoint link
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Contents of lecture

• Overview of Bluetooth
• Bluetooth Architecture and stack partitioning
• Microprocessor considerations
• Example defence projects
• The ultimate goal
• The future of Bluetooth

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The ultimate goal smart rocks

• Video surveillance
• Audio surveillance
• Motion sensing
• Neural networking
• Extremely low power
• Ad-hoc networking

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Contents of lecture

• Overview of Bluetooth
• Bluetooth Architecture and stack partitioning
• Microprocessor considerations
• Example defence projects
• The ultimate goal
• The future of Bluetooth

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The Future of Bluetooth

• Current version 2.0 working group
• High rate bluetooth 10 Mb/s
• HI_FI quality non-compressed audio
• Video suitable for video conferencing
• Local positioning for indoor and built-up areas
• More powerful embedded microprocessors which will
  make low power, single chip point to multipoint
  possible
• Possibility of creating ad-hoc data/voice
  networks using off the shelf PDAs or headsets
• UWB possibly a future threat to Bluetooth due to
  its high bandwidth, low power ad-hoc networking
  features