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The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) is the body that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and the licensing of the Bluetooth technologies and trademarks to manufacturers. Founded in 1998, it is a privately held trade association headquartered in Bellevue, Washington with Michael Foley presently its Executive Director.

Introduction

Bluetooth provides a way to exchange information between wireless devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, computers, printers and digital cameras via a secure, low-cost, globally available short-range radio frequency band. Originally developed by Ericsson, Bluetooth is now used in many different products by many different manufacturers. These manufacturers must be members of some level (see below) in the Bluetooth SIG before they are granted access to the Bluetooth specifications. The SIG also specifies a qualification process that products must be tested in accordance with before they may be branded with the Bluetooth trademarks and sold to consumers. It also markets the Bluetooth brand and technology and owns the trademarks and standardization documents.

From its founding in 1998 until recently, the SIG was run by volunteer staff from its member companies. However, it now has an Executive Director, Michael Foley, a General Manager and a small staff comprising operations, engineering and marketing specialists. It is based in Bellevue, Washington but also has offices in Malmö, Sweden. In addition to its professional staff, the SIG still relies on many volunteers from member companies who participate in the various working groups that produce the standardization documents and oversee the qualification process for new products.

Structure

The SIG comprises Corporate Groups, Study Groups, Expert Groups and Working Groups, along with committees [1].

The Corporate Groups are simply the Board of Directors and the professional staff of the SIG.

Study groups

The Study Groups carry out research into their various areas which informs the development of the Bluetooth specifications. They may eventually become Working Groups in their own right. The current working groups are:

• Attribute Study Group
• Global navigation satellite system (similar to the Global positioning system) Study Group
• Message-push Study Group
• Ultra wideband (UWB) Study Group

Expert groups

The Expert Groups deal with issues of technical importance to all aspects of Bluetooth's development. As with the Study Groups their work informs the Working Groups as well as the corporate groups. At present there are two Expert Groups

• Audio/visual – hands-free profile (A/V-HFI) Expert Group
• Security Expert Group

Participation in the Expert Groups is restricted to Promoter members and Associate members.

Working Groups

The Working Groups carry out the principal standardization and specification work of the SIG. They are responsible in large part for determining what these documents will say and are thus a core part of the development process.

• Audio/video Working Group
• Automation Working Group
• Car Working Group
• Host controller interface (HCI)) Working Group
• Human interface device (HID) Working Group
• ISDN Working Group
• Local positioning Working Group
• Personal area networks (PAN) Working Group
• Printing Working Group
• Radio improvements Working Group
• Still-image Working Group
• Unrestricted digital information (UDI) Working Group

Participation in the Working Groups is restricted to Promoter members and Associate members.

Committees

The committees of the SIG deal with the other aspects of licensing, marketing and review. The current committees are the

• Bluetooth architectural review board (BARB)
• Bluetooth qualification review board (BQRB)
• Bluetooth technical review board (BTRB)
• Errata process group
• Marketing committee
• Regulatory committee
• Roadmapping committee
• Test initiative committee
• UnPlugFest forum

(UnPlugFest is an annual event at which manufacturers are invited to confidentially test their mutual interoperability)

Probably most significant among them is the Qualification Review Board since this body specifies the manner in which manufacturers must go about complying with the Bluetooth specifications before they are allowed to Bluetooth-brand their products and sell them.

Membership

Membership of the SIG is a prerequisite for gaining access to the technical documents that define Bluetooth and thus is necessary for any manufacturer wishing to produce Bluetooth technology. There are three levels of corporate membership totalling more than 3400 members, and individuals may also participate.

Promoter members

These members are the most active in the SIG and have considerable influence over both the strategic and technological directions of Bluetooth as a whole. The current promoter members are

• Agere Systems (since 1999)
• Ericsson Technology Licensing (founder member)
• IBM (founder member)
• Intel (founder member)
• Microsoft (since 1999)
• Motorola (since 1999)
• Nokia (founder member)
• Toshiba (founder member)

Each Promoter member has one seat (and one vote) on the Board of Directors and the Qualification Review Board (the body responsible for overseeing the qualification process). They each have hundreds of staff in the various working groups and committees that comprise the work of the SIG.

Associate members

Any member may become an Associate member provided they pay an annual subscription fee. In 2005, this fee was $7 500 for companies with an annual revenue less than $100million and $35 000 for others [2]. Associate members paying the full fee have early access to draft specifications and to work with other Associate and Promoter members on enchancing existing specifications. They are also able to review specifications before their publication and have voting rights in the working groups and committees as well as being able to make keynote speeches at industry conferences. Those Associate members who pay the discounted fee retain the document access rights but are not allowed to participate in the working groups and thus have considerably less influence on the standardization processes. The SIG's website carries a full list of Associate members.

Adopter members

Any company may become an Adopter member for free. These companies have access to the published specification documents and are able to use the trademarks but play no part in the standardization processes and have no access to draft documents. This is the largest category of membership. The SIG's website carries a full list of Adopter members.

Individuals

Anyone can contribute to the 'Ideas Lab' which discusses possible uses of Bluetooth.

Qualification

Next to the development of the technology itself, the qualification process is one of the most important aspects of the SIG's work. It is the means by which members ensure that Bluetooth devices meet the technical and performance specifications and in so doing ensure that Bluetooth-enabled devices perform as consumers expect.

The Bluetooth Qualification Review Board sets the qualification policies, but the SIG is responsible for determining if and when a particular device has met the requirements. The SIG delegates this authority to a number of Bluetooth Qualification Bodies (BQBs). These are individuals who are either members of the SIG in their own right or are employees of a corporate member. The BQBs are not necessarily linked to any particular manufacturer or qualification-testing facility.

There are three categories of test a device must pass before being qualified: A, B and C. (Additionally, the manufacturer must be a member of the SIG.) A number of different tests are defined in each category, and a device must pass them all to qualify. There is a fourth category, D, but tests in this category are not fully developed and are informative in nature; they are not a requirement for qualification. Category C tests are carried out by the manufacturer themselves, and they have simply to declare to a Bluetooth Qualification Body that their device passes these tests; there is no requirement for evidence. The device then progresses to the Category B tests which are again carried out by the manufacturer (or a competent third party). These tests formally examine the device's conformance to the specifications and interoperability requirements and are specified in detail. The manufacturer must report the results of these tests to a BQB. If they do not follow the specification of a particular test, the manufacturer must also report the detail of what they did instead.

If these tests are all passed, the device progresses to the Category A tests. These must be carried out at recognised Bluetooth Qualification Test Facilities, of which there are currently only 23 in the world. As of 2005, this testing process costs $10 000 for Adopter members and $5 000 for Associate members and Promoter members. These test facilities use equipment developed specifically for the purpose, and are approved on behalf of the Qualifications Review Board by a Bluetooth Technical Assessor (BTA). These assessors are individuals who are experienced with such laboratory assessment procedures and who can demonstrate their understanding of the technical requirements of Bluetooth. The SIG currently contracts with accreditation organizations to carry out the process of selecting and training Assessors, with the Qualifications Review Board giving the eventual formal approval.

Once a device has passed all the Category A, B and C tests to the satisfaction of a BQB, it is allowed to be marketed as a Bluetooth device using the Bluetooth trademarks.

See also

• Bluetooth
• IEEE 802.15.1

Reference

• The Bluetooth Qualification Program Reference Document (.zip file)

External links

• The Official Bluetooth Membership Site
• The Official Bluetooth Wireless Info Site

For other uses of Farquhar, see Farquhar (disambiguation)

Farquhar Group, a part of the Seychelles, consists of the Farquhar Atoll, Providence Atoll (Providence and Cerf Islands) and St. Pierre Island.

See also

• Geography of Seychelles