Throughput Performance Evaluation and Analysis of Unmodified Bluetooth Devices

The Air Force relies on the application of new technologies to support and execute its mission. As new technologies develop, the integration of that technology is studied to determine the costs and benefits it may provide to the war fighter. One such emergent technology is the Bluetooth wireless protocol, used to connect a small number of devices over a short distance. The short distance is a feature that makes using the protocol desirable. However short, there is still a vulnerability to interception. This research identifies ranges at which several commercially available Bluetooth devices are usable. Various combinations of both distance and orientation are varied to determine a 360 degree map of the Bluetooth antenna. The map identifies distances at which certain throughput thresholds are available. This research shows that baseline 1 mW Bluetooth antennas are capable of throughput levels of 100 kbps at over 40 meters, which is four times the minimum distance specified in the protocol standard. The 3Com PC card was the best performing PC card, capable of throughputs at or near 100 kbps out to 40 meters. The other PC Cards tested had similar performance. The Hawking USB dongle was the best USB antenna tested, achieving throughputs of over 200 kbps in three of the four orientation, and over 150 kbps at the fourth. The 3Com dongle was a close second, the Belkin dongle a distant third, while the DLink antenna was not able to achieve 100 kbps at any distance tested.

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