The analysis of coexistence mechanisms of Bluetooth

Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11b WLAN and microwave ovens are likely to be the dominant interferers to Bluetooth in the coming year. There is both frequency dynamic and frequency static interference. This paper provides a theoretical analysis on the Bluetooth noncollaborative coexistence mechanisms. The analysis results show that a hybrid method of power control, listen-before-talk (LBT) and adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) can give the best packet collision and system aggregate throughput. LBT is the carry sense in Bluetooth. Before any Bluetooth packet transmission, in the turnaround time of the current slot, the packet sender senses the channel, whether there is any transmission going on or not. If the channel is busy, packet transmission is withdrawn until another time. In the hybrid method, power control mitigates the number of potential interferers, LBT combats transient interference, and AFH combats static interference.