Technical Brief

1 TECHNICAL BRIEF: Rugged Bluetooth Scanners

Bluetooth Radio Performance
- Class 1 vs. Class 2 Bluetooth
- Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH)

Background

Motorolas lineup of rugged cordless scanners employs the Bluetooth standard for transmitting
information wirelessly. When a scanner is paired with a cradle or other device, the data is
exchanged over a radio frequency link using the 2.4 2.5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. Of great
importance in nearly any cordless scanner application is the radio range, which is defined as
how far apart scanner and cradle/BT device can operate without a loss of the radio connection.
This brief discusses the technical details behind radio range and presents data on the radio
range of Motorolas Class 1 and Class 2 Bluetooth architectures used in rugged scanners.

Bluetooth Radio Range Theory

Fundamentally, radio range is dependent upon the Bluetooth radios transmitted radio
frequency (RF) power and receiver sensitivity, and the absorption rate of the medium the RF
waves travel through. When the medium absorbs enough of the transmitted energy to make
the signal at the receiver lower than the receiver sensitivity, the connection is lost. An
excellent analogy is human hearing. Transmitted RF power is analogous to how loud
someone is speaking, and receiver sensitivity is analogous to a listeners hearing acuity.
When two people are having a conversation in reasonable proximity to each other, it is easy
for the listener to understand what the speaker is saying. However, if the speaker and listener
are very far apart, or are in different rooms, it may be difficult or impossible for the listener to
make out what the speaker is saying.

Dissimilar materials absorb RF energy at different rates. Therefore, it is very hard to
accurately predict the amount of RF energy lost during transmission in a given environment.
To make this prediction even more complicated, there are often multiple ways for the RF
signal to get to the receiver. So, even if the direct RF path is blocked by a metal wall with a
known absorption rate, there may be a way around or over the wall with enough signal
strength for the receiver to correctly detect the signal. Due to these complications, radio range
is best represented by approximations based on average assumed levels of RF power
absorption. For the purposes of this paper, the discussion is limited to theory and experiments
performed in open air environments.

Bluetooth radio range is primarily defined by the maximum allowable path loss, which is
defined as the delta between the max RF power output and the maximum sensitivity of the
radio. The formula for path loss is:

L
total
=20 * log
10
(f) +N * log
10
(d) +L
f
(n) 28,

where:

N =Distance Power Loss Coefficient



Cordless scanning in a typical
warehouse environment with a
Motorola LS3578-ER.

f =Frequency (MHz)
d =Distance (meters) between nodes (d >1)
L
f
=Floor Penetration Loss Factor (dB)
n =Number of Floors Penetrated (n >0)

The above equation assumes that the Bluetooth receiver and
transmitter antenna provide no additional gain (0dB), which is
typical in many applications. To simplify this equation to the
open-air environment that is being discussed, the frequency
should be set at 2,500 MHz (maximum frequency assigned
for Bluetooth communication). Since we are limiting our
discussion to open air environments, there is no RF
transmission between floors. Therefore, n =0. According to
Shellhammer
1
, the distance power loss coefficient in Free
Space would be equal to twenty (N =20). For the purpose of
this exercise, we shall assume that the distance power loss
for typical outdoor line of sight applications is equivalent to
that of free space. Under these assumptions, the formula
simplifies to:

L
total
=40 +20 * log
10
(d)

Therefore, we can solve for the maximum allowable path loss,
L
total
, as the difference between the sensitivity of the Bluetooth
radio and the RF output power. The maximum range, d, at
which the Bluetooth radio can communicate is based on the
maximum allowable path loss, and is independent of whether
the radio is classified as Class 1 or Class 2 Bluetooth. Figure
1 is an example of a typical Class 1 Bluetooth (early design)
compared to a typical Class 2 Bluetooth (current design).
Although they both have different RF output power and
receiver sensitivity, their maximum allowable path loss is
equivalent at 85 dB. Therefore, both theoretical radio designs
should have equivalent radio range. Based on the Path Loss
Model presented above, the maximum distance that each
design can theoretically operate at is 178 meters in free
space. At these hypothetical RF power levels and sensitivities
in a real open-air environment, the actual radio range would
be less than 178 meters. This could be due to interference
from physical objects and electromagnetic waves.

A key characteristic of a Bluetooth radio is the level of RF
power it radiates when transmitting; the Bluetooth standard
defines three classes of RF power output levels. Class 1
radios can emit a maximum of 20 dBm of RF power, while
Class 2 radios are limited to 4 dBm and Class 3 radios
capped at 0 dBm. In practice, Classes 1 and 2 make up the
vast majority of Bluetooth radios. The range for Class 2
Bluetooth radios was defined early on by the Bluetooth
industry group as 10 meters.



Figure 1. Example of equal performance between a Class 1
and Class 2 Bluetooth radio.


This value assumes a near-worse-case environment for radio
range (N ~ 30), an RF power output of ~ 0 dBm and a
receiver sensitivity of approximately -70 dBm, which was
common among early Bluetooth radios. However, todays
Bluetooth radios achieve sensitivities of -80 dBm or better,
which increases radio range logarithmically. The benefit of
increased receiver sensitivity is apparent in open air line-of-
sight range estimations. Motorolas Class 2 Bluetooth
scanners and cradles have receiver sensitivities less than -80
dBm.


Test Measurements

Open air measurements of Bluetooth radio range were
recorded for the Motorola LS3478 (Class 1 Bluetooth) and
Motorola LS3578 (Class 2 Bluetooth) scanners. The
experiment included multiple LS3478 scanners and STB3478
cradles, as well as LS3578 scanners and STB3578 cradles.
Each device was paired to a specific cradle and a 13 mil UPC
barcode was scanned every three feet while the scanner was
1 TECHNICAL BRIEF: Rugged Bluetooth Scanners
2 TECHNICAL BRIEF: Rugged Bluetooth Scanners
moved further away from the cradle, which remained in a
constant position. The radio range was recorded at the last
point that the scanner decoded the UPC barcode and
transmitted the data back to the cradle. The cradle was
connected to a laptop computer via a USB cable and the
barcode information was recorded in a Word document to
confirm the decode and transmission of the data. In all cases,
both the LS3478 and LS3578 yielded similar radio range, with
both products outperforming the Class 1 Bluetooth standard
range of 100 meters. Therefore, the conclusion is that
Motorolas Class 1 and Class 2 Bluetooth scanners have
equivalent performance in an open-air environment and
exceed the defined Class 1 Bluetooth radio range.

Independent Bluetooth radio range tests were conducted with
the same Motorola LS3478 and LS3578 scanners in an
indoor office environment. The result of the tests indicate that
the performance between the Class 1 and Class 2 Bluetooth
scanners is equivalent in a typical office environment, which
consists of standard office cubicles and multiple Wi-Fi access
points. However, this does not guarantee that the Bluetooth
performance between the LS3478 and LS3578 will be
identical in all indoor environments, since physical layouts,
such as walls and shelving units, will affect the performance
of the Bluetooth radio.


Coexistence with WLAN

Another fundamental attribute of Bluetooth is its use of the
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) technique to
avoid interference. Up to 1,600 times per second, the radio
changes the frequency used for transmitting and receiving
information
2
. All devices in a piconet (i.e. scanner and cradle
paired together) are synchronized, so they are always
changing frequency in lockstep. The frequencies used by the
radios are not arbitrary; rather, the devices in a piconet
randomly choose from one of 79 predefined frequencies in
the 2.4 2.5 GHz spectrum called channels. The hopping
between frequencies is entirely handled by the radio itself,
and is fully transparent to the user of the scanner.

The Bluetooth radios in the LS3578 scanner and STB3578
cradle utilize Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH), which is
required for all version 1.2 Bluetooth radios. AFH is an
algorithm which detects fixed sources of interference in the
allocated Bluetooth frequency spectrum and excludes them
from the list of available channels. Although multiple sources
of interference exist, the most likely source is an access point
or base station for an 802.11b/g wireless network (WLAN).
802.11b/g WLAN networks utilize the same frequency band
as Bluetooth (2.4 2.5 GHz) and each access point in a
WLAN network occupies 22 MHz of spectrum. Most WLAN
networks optimized for capacity set their access points to
occupy one of three equally-spaced channels within the
available 80 MHz of spectrum to minimize interference.
Therefore, a maximum of 66 MHz of spectrum can be
occupied by the wireless network, if three access points are
located in close proximity. A Bluetooth radio used in this
environment is the worst-case situation for AFH. Even under
these conditions, the AFH would detect or sniff interference
on 66 of the 79 available frequencies, and operate on the
remaining 13 available quiet channels. One main difference
between WLAN and Bluetooth, is that the WLAN does not
hop between frequencies. Rather, it will continuously
occupy the same 22 MHz frequency band until the source has
been powered down. Therefore, once AFH determines which
channels in the frequency spectrum are currently being used,
those channels are removed from the hopping sequence,
leaving the available channels free to transmit packets of data
cleanly.

Although earlier versions of Bluetooth (version 1.0 and 1.1)
did not include AFH and had the potential to affect wireless
networks working in the 2.4-2.5 GHz frequency spectrum,
todays Bluetooth 1.2 radios and beyond are designed to
sidestep this interference and allow the two standards to
coexist peacefully.

Summary

The radio range achieved by the scanner and cradle is
dictated by the path loss of the system, rather than its
classification as Class 1 or Class 2 Bluetooth. As shown in
this paper, Motorolas use of a high-sensitivity Class 2
Bluetooth design in the LS3578 scanner and STB3578 cradle
does achieve comparable radio range as the previous Class 1
Bluetooth design, utilized in the LS3478 scanner and
STB3478 cradle. In addition, the integration of AFH enables
the LS3578 scanner and STB3578 cradle to perform robustly
in even the most demanding WLAN environments.


References

[1] Symbol Technologies, Inc., Propagation Data and
Prediction Methods for Planning of Indoor Radio
Communication Systems and Radio LAN in the Frequency
Band 900 MHz to 100 GHz, doc. IEEE 802.15-00/294r1,
www.itu.int./itudoc/itu-r/rec/p/1238-1.html, P.1238

[2] Bluetooth Special Interest Group, Specification of the
Bluetooth System, Core Version 1.1, www.bluetooth.org.


Motorola Contact

J aime Weidler
Motorola Product Manager
Rugged Handheld Scanners
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: (631) 738-4450