Bluetooth???

QNX Newsgroups (Archives) qdn.public.qnxrtp.os
1

We’re developing an industrial control product that will be deployed in
quanitity (up to about 100) spread around a warehouse. We need limited
access to each device by a maintenance person using a notebook or a PDA.
We’re considering several ways to do this, including Bluetooth wireless
devices. I’m awfully ignorant about Bluetooth, so…

Is there any kind of Bluetooth support by anyone for QNX 6?
What kind of interface device could be used (USB, serial, Ethernet,
something else?)
Would a Bluetooth connection support the transport of standard TCP/IP
applications (http, ftp, telnet, custom socket application)?

Any wisdom here would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Marty Doane

2

Bluetooth is really best suited for WPAN - Wireless Personal Area Networks.
This means it is great for replacing wires in a personal space. If you look
at the original useage models they included such things as cellphone headsets,
laptop to cellphone connections, and other ad-hoc and simple network topologies.
This is really what Bluetooth is good at doing.

You sound like you are doing a large area network and I would recommend using
802.11. It works just like Ethernet, it is cheaper and easier to setup,
it provides 7-10x the effective bandwidth of bluetooth (802.11b), and it is
supported under QNX today (devn-orinoco in 6.1.0 and devn-prism in an upcoming
release and probably on developers.qnx.com).

chris


Marty Doane <marty.doane@rapistan.com> wrote:

We’re developing an industrial control product that will be deployed in
quanitity (up to about 100) spread around a warehouse. We need limited
access to each device by a maintenance person using a notebook or a PDA.
We’re considering several ways to do this, including Bluetooth wireless
devices. I’m awfully ignorant about Bluetooth, so…

Is there any kind of Bluetooth support by anyone for QNX 6?
What kind of interface device could be used (USB, serial, Ethernet,
something else?)
Would a Bluetooth connection support the transport of standard TCP/IP
applications (http, ftp, telnet, custom socket application)?

Any wisdom here would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Marty Doane
\

–

cdm@qnx.com > “The faster I go, the behinder I get.”

Chris McKillop – Lewis Carroll –
Software Engineer, QSSL
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

3

“Chris McKillop” <cdm@qnx.com> wrote in message
news:9vrr9e$ihv$1@nntp.qnx.com…

Bluetooth is really best suited for WPAN - Wireless Personal Area
Networks.
This means it is great for replacing wires in a personal space. If you
look
at the original useage models they included such things as cellphone
headsets,
laptop to cellphone connections, and other ad-hoc and simple network
topologies.
This is really what Bluetooth is good at doing.

Yes, I understand. Our use of Bluetooth would be for a maintenance person in
the immediate area that wants to access one of the devices within range. Our
device is Ethernet based, and we do intend to support a wireless access to
the LAN, but some of our customers aren’t comfortable doing that (security
issues, I guess). In that case, the use of Bluetooth would be instead of a
cabled connection (RS-232?) to the device. I’m not yet sure that it makes
sense, but we’re trying to explore all our options.

Anyone know the answers to the questions?

BTW, the control device is probably PC/104 based, if that makes any
difference, and cost is a significant consideration.

You sound like you are doing a large area network and I would recommend
using
802.11. It works just like Ethernet, it is cheaper and easier to setup,
it provides 7-10x the effective bandwidth of bluetooth (802.11b), and it
is
supported under QNX today (devn-orinoco in 6.1.0 and devn-prism in an
upcoming
release and probably on developers.qnx.com).

chris


Marty Doane <> marty.doane@rapistan.com> > wrote:

We’re developing an industrial control product that will be deployed in
quanitity (up to about 100) spread around a warehouse. We need limited
access to each device by a maintenance person using a notebook or a PDA.
We’re considering several ways to do this, including Bluetooth wireless
devices. I’m awfully ignorant about Bluetooth, so…

Is there any kind of Bluetooth support by anyone for QNX 6?
What kind of interface device could be used (USB, serial, Ethernet,
something else?)
Would a Bluetooth connection support the transport of standard TCP/IP
applications (http, ftp, telnet, custom socket application)?

Any wisdom here would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Marty Doane



\

cdm@qnx.com > “The faster I go, the behinder I get.”
Chris McKillop – Lewis Carroll –
Software Engineer, QSSL

4

"> issues, I guess). In that case, the use of Bluetooth would be instead of
a

cabled connection (RS-232?) to the device. I’m not yet sure that it makes
sense, but we’re trying to explore all our options.

From memory bluetooth range is a few meter <10m.

5

Mario Charest <mcharest@clipzinformatic.com> wrote:

"> issues, I guess). In that case, the use of Bluetooth would be instead of
a
cabled connection (RS-232?) to the device. I’m not yet sure that it makes
sense, but we’re trying to explore all our options.


From memory bluetooth range is a few meter <10m.

It depends on the power of the radio. There are two power level, 10m and
100m. And as an RS232 replacement it is very good. However, there are
simular security issues with bluetooth as with 802.11. And currently the
cost of using Bluetooth is much more then 802.11 (if you are buying off
the shelf pcmica/pc104 devices). The key to using 802.11 securly is to not
rely on the 802.11 layer to provide the security - use ssl if you are doing
a web based interface to the devices or IPsec if you are using straight IP.
That way you are performing secure connections over an insecure network and
you have no worries.

chris

\

cdm@qnx.com > “The faster I go, the behinder I get.”

Chris McKillop – Lewis Carroll –
Software Engineer, QSSL
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

6

I have seen COTS RS232<->Bluetooth converters which you could
perhaps use. Small (matchbox-sized) boards with a perpendicular
20-30mm rubber antenna. But then I guess there are other equal
alternative RS232 bridges, e.g. using IR or radio transmitters.

Tom

Marty Doane wrote:

“Chris McKillop” <> cdm@qnx.com> > wrote in message
news:9vrr9e$ihv$> 1@nntp.qnx.com> …
Bluetooth is really best suited for WPAN - Wireless Personal Area
Networks.
This means it is great for replacing wires in a personal space. If you
look
at the original useage models they included such things as cellphone
headsets,
laptop to cellphone connections, and other ad-hoc and simple network
topologies.
This is really what Bluetooth is good at doing.

Yes, I understand. Our use of Bluetooth would be for a maintenance person in
the immediate area that wants to access one of the devices within range. Our
device is Ethernet based, and we do intend to support a wireless access to
the LAN, but some of our customers aren’t comfortable doing that (security
issues, I guess). In that case, the use of Bluetooth would be instead of a
cabled connection (RS-232?) to the device. I’m not yet sure that it makes
sense, but we’re trying to explore all our options.

Anyone know the answers to the questions?

BTW, the control device is probably PC/104 based, if that makes any
difference, and cost is a significant consideration.


You sound like you are doing a large area network and I would recommend
using
802.11. It works just like Ethernet, it is cheaper and easier to setup,
it provides 7-10x the effective bandwidth of bluetooth (802.11b), and it
is
supported under QNX today (devn-orinoco in 6.1.0 and devn-prism in an
upcoming
release and probably on developers.qnx.com).

chris


Marty Doane <> marty.doane@rapistan.com> > wrote:

We’re developing an industrial control product that will be deployed in
quanitity (up to about 100) spread around a warehouse. We need limited
access to each device by a maintenance person using a notebook or a PDA.
We’re considering several ways to do this, including Bluetooth wireless
devices. I’m awfully ignorant about Bluetooth, so…

Is there any kind of Bluetooth support by anyone for QNX 6?
What kind of interface device could be used (USB, serial, Ethernet,
something else?)
Would a Bluetooth connection support the transport of standard TCP/IP
applications (http, ftp, telnet, custom socket application)?

Any wisdom here would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Marty Doane



\

cdm@qnx.com > “The faster I go, the behinder I get.”
Chris McKillop – Lewis Carroll –
Software Engineer, QSSL

7

Hi Marty,

There are a few third party solutions for BlueTooth. I posted them up
on the news groups a while ago. However I cannot recall which news
group it was that I posted it to.

Take a look through the newsgroups for the list that I posted.

Take care.

Erick.


Marty Doane <marty.doane@rapistan.com> wrote:

We’re developing an industrial control product that will be deployed in
quanitity (up to about 100) spread around a warehouse. We need limited
access to each device by a maintenance person using a notebook or a PDA.
We’re considering several ways to do this, including Bluetooth wireless
devices. I’m awfully ignorant about Bluetooth, so…

Is there any kind of Bluetooth support by anyone for QNX 6?
What kind of interface device could be used (USB, serial, Ethernet,
something else?)
Would a Bluetooth connection support the transport of standard TCP/IP
applications (http, ftp, telnet, custom socket application)?

Any wisdom here would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Marty Doane