Bluetooth Software and Hardware Development

Bluetooth is a new wireless data communications technology due to reach consumer markets later this year. This thesis presents the work done in using open-source protocol stacks to write Bluetooth-enabled applications. The development of a client-server software program used to study the effect of interference from a wireless local area network is described. The results found are significantly inferior to those predicted by published theoretical work. A single wireless local area network client can reduce the data rate of a Bluetooth connection by up to 44% from a distance of 12 metres. In addition to software applications, the thesis also examines the possibilities offered in this field by reconfigurable computing. Parts of the Bluetooth protocol stack are found to be particularly suitable for implementation in field programmable gate arrays. Applications such as real-time analysis of interference data and multimedia decoding are examined.