Bluetooth wireless technology represents short-range radio frequency (RF) technology that replaces cable connections. Bluetooth allows mobile phones, notebooks, hand-held devices, peripherals, and many others to communicate with each other without cables. Bluetooth wireless technology operates at 2.4 GHz ISM band and is capable of transmitting voice and data. Since the ISM band is unlicensed and accessible virtually across all countries, deploying and utilizing Bluetooth is very simple and unrestricted. Typically, the effective range of Bluetooth devices is 10 meters with a data transfer rate up to 721 Kbps.

Bluetooth is the name of ancient Danish king Harald Bluetooth Blatand who unified Denmark and Norway in the 10th century. By given this name to the emerging wireless technology, it is shown that the goal of the new technology is to unify the telecom and computing industries.

Bluetooth will significantly simplify communication process cross devices by cutting the need for cables and less proliferation of incompatible physical interfaces. In addition, Bluetooth is designed with the idea of low cost, low power consumption and easy of use. The targeted cost of a Bluetooth unit is about five US dollars. Low power consumption and simple configuration make it possible for deploying Bluetooth units in a great number of applications. In a word, Bluetooth will make wireless communication easier, faster, at anytime and at any place. This booming technology will well change the ways of our life, work and play.

Bluetooth will be widely used in the wireless communication applications cross devices. Some targeted devices include mobile phone, notebook, Handheld PC, deskstop computer and peripherals. Typical scenarios include conference meeting, seminar, exhibition where group of people can access, exchange information or share resources with ease by using Bluetooth enabled devices. It can be anywhere, either at the public place of hotel, airport, railway station , bank, library, mail, internet caf¨¦, tourist center, government information service desk, or at the private place like home or office. There is virtually no limitation of the applications.

The Bluetooth SIG( Special Interest Group) is a group of telecommunications and computing industry titans, who define and promote an open, royalty-free specification for wireless connectivity and cable replacement for a wide variety of applications. SIG also defined a Qualification program to ensure interoperability of Bluetooth products across manufacturers. IVT is a SIG associate member. For more information visit their web site at http://www.Bluetooth.com/.
IVT is an associate member of SIG.

A Personal Area Network (PAN) is a network of Bluetooth devices that share the same master unit and frequency-hopping sequence. A PAN starts with two Bluetooth connected devices and may grow up to eight connected devices. When establishing a PAN, one unit will act as a master and the others as slaves. To insure security, authorization is needed when joining the PAN.
IVT has released Windows based PAN profile software suite.

Bluetooth devices are made by many different HW and SW vendors. Although they are standards based ( Bluetooth version 1.1), there may exist bugs and defects when implementing SW( protocal stack, profiles) and HW(BB, RF). Thus causes inter-communication problems. To solve these compatibility problems, interoperability test is a must-do.
IVT has the world first Bluetooth conformance and interoperability testers.

Systems on chips (SOC) is the solution for the integration of Bluetooth software into the CPU chips. Until today, Bluetooth applications need two or three processors ( one for RF and BB, or one for BB separately, one for stack and application programs), It consumes more power, and requires larger size. It is SOC vendors' goal to integrate software and hardware into a single compact chip. Many believed SOC will greatly accelerate the coming of Bluetooth mass production. There is no exaggeration for the role of SOC will play in the exciting evolvement of Bluetooth wireless world.

The Bluetooth qualification is to ensure product complies with the Bluetooth specification. This process includes manufacturer declarations, product testing by the manufacturer and (in certain cases) testing by a Bluetooth Qualification Test Facility (BQTF). A Bluetooth Qualification Body (BQB) reviews test reports, product documents, and manufacturer declarations, and is authorized to list the product which meets current requirements. All products need qualification before officially licensed. For different products, qualification requirements are not the same.