An investigation into the viability of UWB as lower-layer for Bluetooth
type: CreativeWork
description: This report presents an investigation into some merging options between an upper-layer Bluetooth (BT) protocol stack with a lower-layer ECMA-368/9 Ultra Wideband (UWB) radio connection. A Bluetooth over Ultra Wideband (BToUWB) system is implemented by channelling an existing compliant Bluetooth connection’s data over an Ultra Wideband Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layer radio channel. The aim of this project is to provide a description of the methodology used to create a BToUWB link and evaluate some advantages pertaining to the merger between the two Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) technologies. Prior to channelling data over a UWB connection, a compliant Bluetooth and UWB connection were configured between two Linux enabled computers by use of Bluetooth and UWB enabled Universal Serial Bus (USB) dongles. BlueZ, the official Bluetooth stack for Linux, were used to implement a modified Bluetooth stack. By modifying the open source BlueZ files, the Host Controller Interface (HCI) commands sent to the HCI sublayer by upper layer Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol (L2CAP) and Synchronous Connection-Oriented (SCO) implementations were hijacked and routed to a UWB “router and convergence” implementation for transmission over the UWB subsytem. Similarly lower level HCI events were spoofed to the L2CAP and SCO layers by the UWB convergence implementation upon receiving packets from the UWB subsystem. The commercial availability of UWB hardware through Wireless USB dongles enabled the realization of a compliant UWB link between the systems, requiring special driver modifications and Intel provided firmware to establish a WiMedia Logical Link Control Protocol (WLP) network. A specially developed test program generates L2CAP, Radio Frequency Communication (RFCOMM) and SCO Bluetooth data for testing the BToUWB link. The various Bluetooth data packets are routed from the Bluetooth stack to a developed kernel space routing module, which encapsula…
abstract: This report presents an investigation into some merging options between an upper-layer Bluetooth (BT) protocol stack with a lower-layer ECMA-368/9 Ultra Wideband (UWB) radio connection. A Bluetooth over Ultra Wideband (BToUWB) system is implemented by channelling an existing compliant Bluetooth connection’s data over an Ultra Wideband Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layer radio channel. The aim of this project is to provide a description of the methodology used to create a BToUWB link and evaluate some advantages pertaining to the merger between the two Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) technologies. Prior to channelling data over a UWB connection, a compliant Bluetooth and UWB connection were configured between two Linux enabled computers by use of Bluetooth and UWB enabled Universal Serial Bus (USB) dongles. BlueZ, the official Bluetooth stack for Linux, were used to implement a modified Bluetooth stack. By modifying the open source BlueZ files, the Host Controller Interface (HCI) commands sent to the HCI sublayer by upper layer Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol (L2CAP) and Synchronous Connection-Oriented (SCO) implementations were hijacked and routed to a UWB “router and convergence” implementation for transmission over the UWB subsytem. Similarly lower level HCI events were spoofed to the L2CAP and SCO layers by the UWB convergence implementation upon receiving packets from the UWB subsystem. The commercial availability of UWB hardware through Wireless USB dongles enabled the realization of a compliant UWB link between the systems, requiring special driver modifications and Intel provided firmware to establish a WiMedia Logical Link Control Protocol (WLP) network. A specially developed test program generates L2CAP, Radio Frequency Communication (RFCOMM) and SCO Bluetooth data for testing the BToUWB link. The various Bluetooth data packets are routed from the Bluetooth stack to a developed kernel space routing module, which encapsula…
keywords: Simulation, Wpan, Btouwb, Ultra wideband, Bluetooth ecma-368, Uwb, Protocol, UCTD
date published: 2009-12-08
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:52:23Z
provider: University of Pretoria
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Pretoria

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29918