Concluded WG IP over Bluetooth (ipobt)

Note: The data for concluded WGs is occasionally incorrect.

WG Name IP over Bluetooth
Acronym ipobt
Area Internet Area (int)
State Concluded
Charter charter-ietf-ipobt-01 Approved
Document dependencies
Personnel Chairs Kristoffer D. Fleming, Pravin Bhagwat

Final Charter for Working Group

Bluetooth is an emerging technology for short range wireless
communication which enables devices in proximity (< 10 meters) to
communicate with each other. Bluetooth SIG, a consortium of nine
promoter companies and over 1800 adopter companies, is defining radio,
baseband, and protocol specifications to facilitate interoperability
among multi-vendor Bluetooth solutions. Bluetooth version 1.0
specifications were released in Dec 1999 and the first generation of
products (cellular phones, headsets, palmtops, and laptop computers)
are
expected to be launched before the end of this year.

Bluetooth can support point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, and
multi-hop
communication over wireless medium, but only point-to-point feature of
Bluetooth is enabled in version 1.0 release. The next release is aimed
at supporting any-to-any communication among devices forming a piconet.
Bluetooth piconets can exist as disconnected networks or be connected
to
the Internet via cell phones or LAN access points. In both
configurations (connected or disconnected), it is desirable to make
Bluetooth devices IP addressable and use IP based protocols for address
assignment, name resolution, and packet forwarding.

A Bluetooth piconet can be viewed as an instance of a zero-conf
network.
Similarly, a collection of connected piconets can be modeled as an
instance of a MANET (multi-hop ad hoc) network. Personal Area
Networking (PAN) working group of Bluetooth SIG has already started the
process of developing a specification for IP over Bluetooth. This BOF
will provide an open forum for the members of the Bluetooth SIG and the
IETF to exchange information, debate design issues, and learn from each
other's work. The aim of the BOF is to ensure that the IP over
Bluetooth
specifications are compatible with the protocols being developed by the
zero-conf and manet working groups of the IETF.

Specifically, the aim is to discuss the following topics:

  1. Present an overview of Bluetooth technology to the IETF community
  2. Explain the constraints of Bluetooth PHY layer (why some things can
    or cannot be done)
  3. IPv{4,6} encapsulation, MTU, multicast for a single piconet.
    • discussion of synergy with zero-conf working group
  4. Evolution of issue #3 for multiple connected piconets.
  5. Applying MANET protocols to Bluetooth multihop networks.