A survey on Bluetooth multi-hop networks

Bluetooth was firstly announced in 1998. Originally designed as cable replacement connecting devices in a point-to-point fashion its high penetration arouses interest in its ad-hoc networking potential. This ad-hoc networking potential of Bluetooth is advertised for years - but until recently no actual products were available and less than a handful of real Bluetooth multi-hop network deployments were reported. The turnaround was triggered by the release of the Bluetooth Low Energy Mesh Profile which is unquestionable a great achievement but not well suited for all use cases of multi-hop networks. This paper surveys the tremendous work done on Bluetooth multi-hop networks during the last 20 years. All aspects are discussed with demands for a real world Bluetooth multi-hop operation in mind. Relationships and side effects of different topics for a real world implementation are explained. This unique focus distinguishes this survey from existing ones. Furthermore, to the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first survey consolidating the work on Bluetooth multi-hop networks for classic Bluetooth technology as well as for Bluetooth Low Energy. Another individual characteristic of this survey is a synopsis of real world Bluetooth multi-hop network deployment efforts. In fact, there are only four reports of a successful establishment of a Bluetooth multi-hop network with more than 30 nodes and only one of them was integrated in a real world application - namely a photovoltaic power plant. © 2019 The Author

Ad hoc and Opportunistic Routing in Static Scatternet Environment

Abstract Peer-to-peer connectivity between mobile phones using technologies such as Bluetooth has given a new dimension to the mobile communication. Peers through the help of various underlying protocols can form piconets and scatternets to transparently communicate the content across the network. There however are issues like reliability in communication, delay and the cost of communication that need to be considered before resorting to this form of communication. This paper presents a study where opportunistic concept such as Bubble Rap is tested in Bluetooth ad hoc networking environment. The notion behind this research is to study the properties of these two networking environments, since opportunistic networks are derived from ad hoc networks. Thus, study of these two different environments yet related to each other may help us find new ways of message forwarding in Bluetooth communication environment. This paper is aimed at investigating the behaviour of nodes present in Bluetooth static scatternet environment by 1) studying message transfer from a source to destination using traditional ad hoc communication protocols such as AODV and 2) message transfer using opportunistic algorithms such as Bubble Rap on top of traditional ad hoc communication. This paper also proposes a concept of ranking to transfer messages to the node that has higher social centrality ranking compared to the current node. Nodes with varying social ranking are allowed to join piconets and forward messages based on Bubble Rap concept in scatternet environment. In BR algorithm, nodes forward messages to only those encountering nodes which are more popular than the current node

Energy-efficient bluetooth scatternet formation based on device and link characteristics

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Bluetooth is a promising ad hoc networking technology. Although construction and operation of piconets are well defined in Bluetooth specifications, there is no unique standard for scatternet formation and operation. In this thesis, we propose a distributed and energy-efficient Bluetooth Scatternet Formation algorithm based on Device and Link characteristics (SF-DeviL) that is compatible with Bluetooth specifications. SF-DeviL handles energy efficiency using classes of devices, battery levels and the received signal strengths. SF-DeviL forms scatternets with tree topologies that are robust to battery depletions, where devices are arranged in an hierarchical order in terms of battery power and traffic generation rate. SF-DeviL is dynamic in the sense that the topology is reconfigured when battery levels are depleted, thereby increasing the lifetime of the scatternet. Unlike many of the algorithms in the literature SF-DeviL is also multihop, i.e., there is no requirement for each node to be in the transmission range of all other nodes.Pamuk, CananM.S

Mobile Ad hoc Networking: Imperatives and Challenges

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) represent complex distributed systems that comprise wireless mobile nodes that can freely and dynamically self-organize into arbitrary and temporary, "ad-hoc" network topologies, allowing people and devices to seamlessly internetwork in areas with no pre-existing communication infrastructure, e.g., disaster recovery environments. Ad hoc networking concept is not a new one, having been around in various forms for over 20 years. Traditionally, tactical networks have been the only communication networking application that followed the ad hoc paradigm. Recently, the introduction of new technologies such as the Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11 and Hyperlan are helping enable eventual commercial MANET deployments outside the military domain. These recent evolutions have been generating a renewed and growing interest in the research and development of MANET. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of this dynamic field. It first explains the important role that mobile ad hoc networks play in the evolution of future wireless technologies. Then, it reviews the latest research activities in these areas, including a summary of MANET\u27s characteristics, capabilities, applications, and design constraints. The paper concludes by presenting a set of challenges and problems requiring further research in the future

Constructing energy efficient bluetooth scatternets for wireless sensor networks

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The improvements in the area of wireless communication and micro-sensor technology have made the deployment of thousands, even millions, of low cost and low power sensor nodes in a region of interest a reality. After deploying sensor nodes in a target region of interest, which can be inaccessible by people, people can collect useful data from the region remotely. The sensor nodes use wireless communication and can collaborate with each other. However, sensor nodes are battery powered and therefore they have limited energy and lifetime. This makes energy as the main resource problem in sensor networks. The design process for sensor networks has to consider energy constraints as the main factor to extend the lifetime of the network. The wireless technology used for communication among sensor nodes can affect the lifetime of the network, since different technologies have different energy consumption parameters. Bluetooth, being low power and low cost, is a good candidate for being the underlying wireless connectivity technology for sensor networks tailored for various applications. But in order to build a large network of Bluetooth-enabled sensor nodes, we have to first form a Bluetooth scatternet. The topology of the Bluetooth scatternet affects the routing scheme to be used over that topology to collect and route informaton from sensor nodes to a base station. And routing scheme, in turn, affects how much energy is consumed during transport of information. Therefore, it is important to build a Bluetooth scatternet wisely to reduce and balance the energy consumption, hence extend the lifetime of a sensor network. In this thesis work, we propose a new Bluetooth scatternet formation algorithm to be used in Bluetooth-based sensor networks. Our algorithm is based on first computing a shortest path tree from the base station to all sensor nodes and then solving the degree constraint problem so that the degree of each node in the network is not greater than seven (a Bluetooth constraint). We also propose a balancing algorithm over the degree constrained tree to balance the energy consumption of the nodes that are closer to the base station. The closer nodes are the nodes that will consume more energy in the network since all traffic has to be forwarded over these nodes. Our simulation results show that our proposed algorithm improves the lifetime of the network by trying to reduce the energy consumed during data transfer and also by balancing the load among the nodes.Saginbekov, SainM.S

A PROTOCOL SUITE FOR WIRELESS PERSONAL AREA NETWORKS

A Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) is an ad hoc network that consists of devices that surround an individual or an object. Bluetooth® technology is especially suitable for formation of WPANs due to the pervasiveness of devices with Bluetooth® chipsets, its operation in the unlicensed Industrial, Scientific, Medical (ISM) frequency band, and its interference resilience. Bluetooth® technology has great potential to become the de facto standard for communication between heterogeneous devices in WPANs. The piconet, which is the basic Bluetooth® networking unit, utilizes a Master/Slave (MS) configuration that permits only a single master and up to seven active slave devices. This structure limitation prevents Bluetooth® devices from directly participating in larger Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) and Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). In order to build larger Bluetooth® topologies, called scatternets, individual piconets must be interconnected. Since each piconet has a unique frequency hopping sequence, piconet interconnections are done by allowing some nodes, called bridges, to participate in more than one piconet. These bridge nodes divide their time between piconets by switching between Frequency Hopping (FH) channels and synchronizing to the piconet\u27s master. In this dissertation we address scatternet formation, routing, and security to make Bluetooth® scatternet communication feasible. We define criteria for efficient scatternet topologies, describe characteristics of different scatternet topology models as well as compare and contrast their properties, classify existing scatternet formation approaches based on the aforementioned models, and propose a distributed scatternet formation algorithm that efficiently forms a scatternet topology and is resilient to node failures. We propose a hybrid routing algorithm, using a bridge link agnostic approach, that provides on-demand discovery of destination devices by their address or by the services that devices provide to their peers, by extending the Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) to scatternets. We also propose a link level security scheme that provides secure communication between adjacent piconet masters, within what we call an Extended Scatternet Neighborhood (ESN)

Asynchronous Local Construction of Bounded-Degree Network Topologies Using Only Neighborhood Information

We consider ad-hoc networks consisting of $n$ wireless nodes that are located on the plane. Any two given nodes are called neighbors if they are located within a certain distance (communication range) from one another. A given node can be directly connected to any one of its neighbors and picks its connections according to a unique topology control algorithm that is available at every node. Given that each node knows only the indices (unique identification numbers) of its one- and two-hop neighbors, we identify an algorithm that preserves connectivity and can operate without the need of any synchronization among nodes. Moreover, the algorithm results in a sparse graph with at most $5n$ edges and a maximum node degree of $10$. Existing algorithms with the same promises further require neighbor distance and/or direction information at each node. We also evaluate the performance of our algorithm for random networks. In this case, our algorithm provides an asymptotically connected network with $n(1+o(1))$ edges with a degree less than or equal to $6$ for $1-o(1)$ fraction of the nodes. We also introduce another asynchronous connectivity-preserving algorithm that can provide an upper bound as well as a lower bound on node degrees.Comment: To appear in IEEE Transactions on Communication

Message forwarding techniques in Bluetooth enabled opportunistic communication environment

These days, most of the mobile phones are smart enough with computer like intelligence and equipped with multiple communication technologies such as Bluetooth, wireless LAN, GPRS and GSM. Different communication medium on single device have unlocked the new horizon of communication means. Modern mobile phones are not only capable of using traditional way of communication via GSM or GPRS; but, also use wireless LANs using access points where available. Among these communication means, Bluetooth technology is very intriguing and unique in nature. Any two devices equipped with Bluetooth technology can communicate directly due to their unique IDs in the world. This is opposite to GSM or Wireless LAN technology; where devices are dependent on infrastructure of service providers and have to pay for their services. Due to continual advancement in the field of mobile technology, mobile ad-hoc network seems to be more realised than ever using Bluetooth. In traditional mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs), before information sharing, devices have partial or full knowledge of routes to the destinations using ad-hoc routing protocols. This kind of communication can only be realised if nodes follow the certain pattern. However, in reality mobile ad-hoc networks are highly unpredictable, any node can join or leave network at any time, thus making them risky for effective communication. This issue is addressed by introducing new breed of ad-hoc networking, known as opportunistic networks. Opportunistic networking is a concept that is evolved from mobile ad-hoc networking. In opportunistic networks nodes have no prior knowledge of routes to intended destinations. Any node in the network can be used as potential forwarder with the exception of taking information one step closer to intended destination. The forwarding decision is based on the information gathered from the source node or encountering node. The opportunistic forwarding can only be achieved if message forwarding is carried out in store and forward fashion. Although, opportunistic networks are more flexible than traditional MANETs, however, due to little insight of network, it poses distinct challenges such as intermittent connectivity, variable delays, short connection duration and dynamic topology. Addressing these challenges in opportunistic network is the basis for developing new and efficient protocols for information sharing. The aim of this research is to design different routing/forwarding techniques for opportunistic networks to improve the overall message delivery at destinations while keeping the communication cost very low. Some assumptions are considered to improved directivity of message flow towards intended destinations. These assumptions exploit human social relationships analogies, approximate awareness of the location of nodes in the network and use of hybrid communication by combining several routing concept to gain maximum message directivity. Enhancement in message forwarding in opportunistic networks can be achieved by targeting key nodes that show high degree of influence, popularity or knowledge inside the network. Based on this observation, this thesis presents an improved version of Lobby Influence (LI) algorithm called as Enhanced Lobby Influence (ELI). In LI, the forwarding decision is based on two important factors, popularity of node and popularity of node’s neighbour. The forwarding decision of Enhanced Lobby Influence not only depends on the intermediate node selection criteria as defined in Lobby Influence but also based on the knowledge of previously direct message delivery of intended destination. An improvement can be observed if nodes are aware of approximate position of intended destinations by some communication means such as GPS, GSM or WLAN access points. With the knowledge of nodes position in the network, high message directivity can be achieved by using simple concepts of direction vectors. Based on this observation, this research presents another new algorithm named as Location-aware opportunistic content forwarding (LOC). Last but not least, this research presents an orthodox yet unexplored approach for efficient message forwarding in Bluetooth communication environment, named as Hybrid Content Forwarding (HCF). The new approach combines the characteristics of social centrality based forwarding techniques used in opportunistic networks with traditional MANETs protocols used in Bluetooth scatternets. Simulation results show that a significant increase in delivery radio and cost reduction during content forwarding is observed by deploying these proposed algorithms. Also, comparison with existing technique shows the efficiency of using the new schemes

Distributed Topology Organization and Transmission Scheduling in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

An ad hoc network is a set of nodes that spontaneously form a multi-hop all-wireless infrastructure without centralized administration. We study two fundamental issues arising in this setting: topology organization and transmission scheduling. In topology organization we consider a system where nodes need to coordinate their transmissions on a non-broadcast frequency hopping channel to discover each other. We devise a symmetric technique where two nodes use a randomized schedule to synchronize and connect in minimum time. This forms the basis for a topology construction protocol where a set of initially unsynchronized nodes are quickly grouped in multiple interconnected communication channels such that the resulting topology is connected subject to channel membership constraints imposed by the physical layer. In the transmission scheduling problem we consider Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)the network operates with a schedule where at each slot transmissions can be scheduled without conflicts at the intended receivers. TDMA can provide deterministic allocations but typically relies on two restrictive assumptions: network-wide slot synchronization and global knowledge of network topology and traffic requirements. We first introduce an asynchronous TDMA communication model where slot reference for each link is provided locally by the clock of one of the node endpoints. We study the overhead introduced when nodes switch among multiple time references and propose algorithms for its minimization. We then introduce a distributed asynchronous TDMA protocol where nodes dynamically adjust the rates their adjacent links via local slot reassignments to reach a schedule that realizes a set of optimal link rates. We introduce fairness models for both links and multi-hop sessions sharing the network and devise convergent distributed algorithms for computing the optimal rates for each model. These rates are enforced by a distributed algorithm that decides the slots reassigned during each link rate adjustment. For tree topologies we introduce an algorithm that incrementally converges to the optimal schedule in finite time; for arbitrary topologies an efficient heuristic is proposed. Both topology organization and transmission scheduling protocols are implemented over Bluetooth, a technology enabling ad hoc networking applications. Through extensive simulations they demonstrate excellent performance in both static and dynamic scenarios