Bluetooth protocol over wifi?

martymcfly picture martymcfly · May 19, 2011 · Viewed 20.2k times · Source

I'm looking to implement the Bluetooth protocol over a physical Wi-Fi based transport, if that makes sense.
Basically my phone has Bluetooth, and my laptop has a Wi-Fi card (802.11a/b/g).
I know that Wi-Fi operates over the range 2.412 GHz - 2.472 GHz, and that Bluetooth operates over the range 2.402 GHz - 2.480 GHz.
I couldn't help but notice the overlap here. So my questions are:

  • What sort of low-level APIs would I need (preferably in C, on Windows) in order to send a signal out at certain frequencies on the Wi-Fi card?
  • Would I be able to implement a Bluetooth stack on top of this?

So basically, can I transmit Bluetooth using my Wi-Fi card as essentially a radio transmitter?

Thanks

Answer

Brad picture Brad · May 19, 2011

No, you can't do this. Bluetooth devices are typically wrapped up all in one chip. Plus, they use completely different modulation techniques. No low-level anything is going to allow you to transmit anything different, unless you are flashing the device. Even then, it may not get you much closer.

Bluetooth Modulation Information: http://www.palowireless.com/infotooth/tutorial/radio.asp and http://classes.engr.oregonstate.edu/eecs/spring2003/ece44x/groups/g9/jon_gillen/white_paper_jon.pdf

About the only thing you can share between WiFi and Bluetooth devices is the antenna. (Assuming only one device is using it at a time... don't blast 32mW into the receiver of the other radio!) The radio itself is all wrapped up into the same chip. The same is generally true for WiFi.