Bluetooth: Born in our backyard, raised by the world

During more than two decades at Ericsson, I’ve been able to share my passion for innovation with many others at the company. The origins of Bluetooth, which can be traced back to our research lab in Lund, Sweden is just one fantastic example of Ericsson’s longstanding commitment to R&D and innovation.

Bluetooth today is so ubiquitous a technology, so enmeshed in our lives that most of us take it for granted. But not me. My time at University in Lund, Sweden, home to Ericsson’s research facility and the birthplace of Bluetooth, means I’ve always felt a little bit closer to this deceptively simple piece of technology than my peers. That connection prompted me to take a deeper dive into Bluetooth’s remarkable three-decade run, a journey that began in 1989.

A closer look at the origins of Bluetooth

The seed leading to Bluetooth’s creation was planted by Nils Rydbeck, Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson Mobile and Swedish physician and inventor Johan Ullman, two bright sparks on a mission to find marketable alternatives to a wired connection.

Rydbeck tasked Tord Wingren, Director & General Manager, Research & Technology Development at Ericsson Mobile Communications, to specify the technology and build a team to create the product. Wingren commissioned two engineers, Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson, to join them on that mission, and come up with a way to connect computers with wireless headsets. Haartsen and Mattisson set out to create a replacement for the RS-232 telecommunication cables standard and, together, went on to design a workable implementation of what we know as Bluetooth today.

And while it wouldn’t be until 2001 that the first widely available Bluetooth consumer device, Ericsson’s T39 phone, hit the mass market, Haartsen’s work was pivotal in developing the technology in its current form. So much so, that it caught the attention of the European Patent Office, Europe's highest distinction for inventors worldwide, earning him a European Inventor Award nomination.

The technology behind Bluetooth

Every day I see people use Bluetooth to share files on their smartphones or go hands-free on their runs. But how does this technology named after a 10th-century Viking king actually work? Let’s take a dive into the basics. Bluetooth allows devices to create small networks called piconets and transmit data using radio waves in the 2.4 GHz band. It enables a central device like a smartphone to send or request data from peripheral devices like headsets or speakers, for example, which can then share data with the central device, but cannot talk to each other.

While Ericsson went down in history as the inventors of Bluetooth, credit for the frequency-hopping spread spectrum of its waves is sometimes attributed to Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil in the 1940s. And it’s this frequency hopping that makes Bluetooth highly resistant to interference and hard to intercept.

And for a tech with a short range, Bluetooth has certainly learned to turn a limitation into a strength. Newer versions can reach up to 240 metres, the range is still easily shortened by walls and ceilings. But… it’s this short range that makes Bluetooth more effective, allowing multiple devices to exist in proximity without conflict or interference.

Pairing: A seamless process with an elaborate story

Thanks to Bluetooth, my drive back from work is more entertaining than ever. Every time I get into the car, my phone instantly connects to the speakers and starts streaming my top favourite tunes. With the speed at which this takes place, you almost miss the stages that data needs to go through before it gets transmitted. Devices go through three stages before they start communicating with each other wirelessly. In the first ‘Inquiry’ stage, devices discover each other. One device sends out a request containing its address, name and other information and the other device listens for the request.

The second stage is ‘Paging,’ in which the two devices start forming a connection using the address of the other discovered during Inquiry process. After a device has completed the Paging process, it enters the ‘Connection’ stage. In this final stage, the two devices can send and receive data. Once paired, these devices develop memory like an elephant. They remember each other and connect automatically when they are in close range. So the next time you put your phone in pairing mode, remember there are billions of other devices undergoing these stages – all in the blink of an eye.

The Harald Blåtand (Bluetooth) stone outside the Ericsson building in Lund.

Evolution of Bluetooth

For a technology that started life in a Swedish university town as a wired connection upgrade for wireless voice calls – Bluetooth’s more than 30-year journey to global household name has been nothing short of remarkable. Initially, Bluetooth was only meant to be a better alternative to wired connection for wireless voice calls but its evolution continues apace. In today’s Bluetooth 5.0 era, the technology has evolved to an almost unrecognizable state from its humble beginnings.

The range of wireless connectivity has increased from 10 metres in its first generation to 240 metres in its fifth. And while earlier versions drained a lot of power from central devices the latest one operates on Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) which saves a massive amount of battery power. Today, it not only offers HD call quality but also streams high-quality audio. Bluetooth has even prompted smartphone companies to ditch the 3.5 mm jack and go wireless. To top it all, the exponential growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices looks set to make Bluetooth more relevant than ever over the next decade.

Today, I can think of at least 15 different ways in which I connect to data using Bluetooth on a normal day. Whether that’s connecting a speaker for a park picnic, running on a treadmill, or connecting to my wireless printer in my home office, Bluetooth is the simple cable-replacing technology that revolutionized the way we connect. It’s safe to say that Bluetooth is still one of the smartest inventions pre-dating the smartphone.

By 2026, Bluetooth device shipments look set to reach an estimated seven billion and it all started in an Ericsson lab, in my Swedish university town. That’s pretty neat, if you ask me. It never fails to put a little spring in my step and inspires me to keep living the Ericsson ethos, every day. Thanks Nils, Johan, Tord, Jaap and Sven. And thanks, Bluetooth!