Bluetooth scatternet formation - state of the art and a new approach

The emerging radio technology Bluetooth offers configuration- and administration-free ad hoc networking between mobile terminals. A simple so-called Bluetooth piconet consisting of up to eight active devices can easily be formed with products available today. The Bluetooth specification, however, goes a step further and indicates the combination of several piconets into a larger network, a so-called scatternet. But any details of this self organization are far beyond the scope of the specification - scatternet formation is an active research area. This paper first gives a survey of the state of research and development in the area of scatternet formation. Secondly, a new approach in scatternet formation is presented: formation dependent on the QoS requirements of the applications.