What is Infrared Wireless and Bluetooth?
So for this post I will be telling you about Wireless Infrared signals and Bluetooth signals. By the end of this post you will feel educated on these two signal types!!!
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A Bluetooth signal is used for transmitting data using radio waves. With these waves communicating at a frequency of 2.45 GHz these radio waves are having a jolly time waving slowly, like a wave in the morning. This radio frequency has been set aside for the use of industrial, scientific and medical devices.
A great thing about Bluetooth is that it isn’t going to interfere with too many other signals. How? Well the way a Bluetooth signal works is different than say a phone signal, Bluetooth signals send out 1 milliwatt signals, phones send out a whopping 3 watts. A Bluetooth signal is like the kid in the back of class who doesn't like speaking too loudly so their reach is minimal. And yes, that was a very well thought out analogy. A Bluetooth signal can only reach about 10 metres due to the one milliwatt power, this means that in most case scenarios the signal will not interfere with other wireless signals. Even with such a low signal Bluetooth does not need to be in a line of sight to connect and transmit data. This means a person or object could be obstructing a the line of sight (straight line between devices) and the signal will still reach the other device.
Bluetooth can connect 8 devices at the same time! Now you may be thinking “wouldn’t these devices be interfering with each other?”. Well hold on there, don’t go getting all your signals in a twist! Bluetooth uses something called “spread-spectrum frequency hopping” which makes it rare for one device to interfere on the same connection.
More of that technical good stuff!
When Bluetooth devices become in range of each other they will start to communicate without a users input. Now you may think that is a risk but most of the time this isn’t because devices will hide access behind a password or the other device having to allow access.The reasons Bluetooth devices do this is so they can determine which one will control the other one and if they can send and receive data. Once this conversation is over these devices will set up a PAN(personal area network) so that a good connection can be established.
Where is Bluetooth commonly used
Well Bluetooth came around to be around 1997 and 1998 and its still going strong! The devices that are commonly Bluetooth capable are:
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IR wireless stands for, Infrared wireless. IR is the use of wireless technology via radiation. But not to worry! This type of radiation is harmless and will not affect you in any way. This form of radiation is electromagnetic energy. Infrared signals use this at wavelengths somewhat just longer than that of red light, this is why when you see a remote using infrared the light is red. These signals are shorter than radio waves too! However these signals need a line of site to transmit a signal.
To put this signal type into perspective. You can only talk to your friend if you can see them. So if a wall or person or anything else is in the way you cannot speak to your friend no matter what. This is IR in a retrospect.
Where is IR commonly used
IR is used in remotes which is given due to its red light on the end of it. These remotes usually only work with one device because a password is stored in the remote which is sent when the IR signal is sent to the device that the required remote is used for, this is why most universal remotes don’t work with most TV’s.
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So that’s it! You are now more educated on the signal types related to infrared and Bluetooth devices. Which one do you think is better? Is Bluetooth better because of its many uses or is Infrared better due to the science behind it?Which one do you use more on a weekly basis? Leaves comments below!
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