EAGER: Bluetooth Open-Source Stack (BOSS) - A Flexible and Extensible Bluetooth Research Platform

Old Dominion University Research Foundation, Norfolk VA

Investigators

Abstract

Bluetooth technology continues to evolve and expand, taking advantage of the desirable attributes and features it possesses in comparison to other wireless technologies. With the latest update to the Bluetooth specification (version 4.1), Bluetooth devices are expected to become major players in the much-hyped Internet of Things market. A large body of the research community, utilizing this technology, will require modifications to the lower layers of the Bluetooth protocol. Given the lack of an open-source implementation of Bluetooth stack, the community efforts will be limited in validating and verifying their research under realistic scenarios. This ambitious project aims to design, develop, and disseminate a flexible and extensible open-source Bluetooth platform (BOSS) that will enable new research opportunities for the wireless and mobile computing community. The platform will enable development and evaluation of schemes, services, and applications across all layers of the Bluetooth stack, through the creation of a community-maintained, open-access repository. These goals will be accomplished by: 1) developing a complete Bluetooth open-source platform, by implementing lower layers of the protocol stack as firmware on an existing open-source Bluetooth hardware platform, and extending existing open source upper layers of the stack; and 2) creating and maintaining an open-access repository, where the community will play a key role in generating novel open-source modules. This project will empower the network community with a tool-set facilitating the development and evaluation of new Bluetooth protocols, applications and services. These new protocols and services could be used to contribute to future Bluetooth standards. BOSS project will have an impact on multiple areas in wireless networks and mobile computing research, such as protocol design, security, wireless network coexistence, and multi-interface smart devices, among others. The project will expose students to cutting-edge research in wireless networks, mobile computing, and computer architecture. In addition, the project?s outcome will be utilized in lectures targeting high school students to educate them about Bluetooth technology and its application as an example of wireless technology as well as Internet of Things. Results from this work will be disseminated through presentations at conferences, journal publications, and reports. An open-access repository, which includes all the designed and developed tools within this project as well as source code and documentations, will be created and made available on-line to the community through a dedicated website. In addition, the research community will be encouraged to upload their modifications and extensions on BOSS to the repository.