New operating modes for Bluetooth networks in distributed process control systems

The master/slave time division duplex approach implemented in the Bluetooth MAC sublayer simplifies management of the physical communication channel, but suffers from some limitations which prevent efficient bandwidth exploitation and may affect the overall throughput and message delays. These limitation have up to now prevented Bluetooth being extensively and successfully used in areas which differ from the traditional target applications this protocol has been developed for. We address these limitations and propose alternative slave/slave operating modes which enable Bluetooth to support new kinds of applications, such as the ones typical of distributed process control systems.