Design and analysis of Bluetooth scatternet for mobile multimedia applications
| Published date | 01 October 2005 |
| Date | 01 October 2005 |
| Pages | 547-552 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470510631263 |
| Author | T.M. Kwan |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Design and analysis of Bluetooth
scatternet for mobile multimedia
applications
T.M. Kwan
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, PR China
Abstract
Purpose – To present a combination of Bluetooth handoff techniques and scatternet formation to
adapt to varying topologies and traffic changes.
Design/methodology/approach – Through ad hoc networking with Bluetooth, devices could
participate in multiple piconets, which form the scatternet. Although the details of scatternet
implementation are not specified in the Bluetooth specification, much research has been carried out to
propose different models of implementation. This paper presents a combination of the techniques of
handoff and scatternet formation to adapt to varying topologies and traffic changes. Analysis of
network performance is presented to confirm the feasibility of real implementation.
Findings – Provides a novel and practical design, compatible with Bluetooth specification, which is
shown by experimental results to be an efficient design in providing a scatternet formation approach,
while at the same time maintaining a low data error rate to support data and voice.
Originality/value – This paper presents Bluetooth handoff and scatternet formation techniques to
extend geographical coverage and increase system capacity with adaptation to varying topologies and
traffic changes. The techniques presented are compatible with Bluetooth specifications 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2.
Keywords Mobilecommunication systems,Telecommunication networks,Radio networks, Multimedia
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
A scatternet is a group of independent and non-synchronized piconets that share at
least one common Bluetooth device. Bluetooth devices must have point-to-multipoint
capability to engage in scatternet communication. There may be a maximum of then
fully loaded piconets in a scatternet. Currently, much research focuses on scatternet
formation, topology optimization and maintenance without the consideration of
applications running on top. To optimize the Bluetooth scatternet for mobile
multimedia applications, the Bluetooth scatternet formed has to be optimized in terms
of data rate, packet arrival delay and error protection.
In this paper, we first design and then analyze how the above three procedures can
be optimized for mobile multimedia applications. Moreover, with the integration of
handoff procedures, we propose more promising and efficient heuristics for network
maintenance with link quality considerations.
Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a Bluetooth scatternet.
2. Overview of Bluetooth technology
Bluetooth is a short-range radio link capable of transmitting data as well as voice,
intended to connect personal electronic devices, such as PDAs, notebooks, headsets
and printers. Bluetooth operates at the 2.4GHz unlicensed ISM (industrial, scientific,
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
Design of
Bluetooth
scatternet
547
The Electronic Library
Vol. 23 No. 5, 2005
pp. 547-552
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640470510631263
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