BluePower - a new distributed multihop scatternet formation protocol for Bluetooth networks

Bluetooth is a promising local area wireless technology designed to establish both personal area and multihop ad hoc networks. In this paper, we present BluePower as a novel and practical distributed scheme for building large multihop scatternets based on device transmitting power. The protocol is executed at each node with no prior knowledge of network topology and constructs the topology simply by enabling each node to alternate between scatternet formation and communication. Different from existing solutions, our design integrates device mobility and network self-healing from partitions with topology formation. Besides, partial loop detection is applied to minimize the redundant links in the network. The simulation results show that BluePower has low scatternet formation latency, decent number of slaves per piconet, short average route length and small connection delay for nodes to establish the first communication links in dynamic environments.