This paper presents a model for the expected throughput in a Bluetooth network in presence of a number of other Bluetooth networks that cause radio interference. The analysis considers unidirectional traffic and makes worst-case assumptions on the effect of radio interference. In order to verify the model, simulation results are presented. The results from this work may be very useful when designing ad-hoc networking functionality for future versions of Bluetooth.

The vision of ad-hoc networking with Bluetooth includes the concept of devices participating in multiple "piconets" and thereby forming a "scatternet". However, the details of scatternet support for Bluetooth are not specified yet. This paper presents a scheme for Bluetooth scatternet operation that adapts to varying traffic patterns. Being based on sniff mode, it does not require substantial modification of the current Bluetooth specification and may thus be incorporated into currently available Bluetooth products. We present simulation results that confirm the applicability of our approach to realistic scenarios.

Future applications of Bluetooth are likely to include ad-hoc networking. Therefore, it is desirable to interconnect multiple Bluetooth piconets to form a scatternet. Up to now, there is no extensive proposal for scatternet support available. We present and analyze an adaptive scheme for scatternet scheduling that is based on the sniff mode and thus does not require substantial modification of the current Bluetooth specification. The suitability of our approach is shown by first simulation results.

The BLUEPAC (BLUEtooth Public ACcess) concepts present ideas for enabling mobile Bluetooth devices to access local area networks in public areas, such as airports, train stations and supermarkets. The proposed protocols support mobility on OSI layer 3. This paper concentrates on the necessary layer 2 protocol concepts for supporting mobility and handoffs between different access points. Furthermore, we present the necessary adaptations for allowing IP datagrams to be exchanged between the mobile Bluetooth devices and access points. The BLUEPAC protocol concepts have been implemented above a Bluetooth emulation system to test their feasibility. First results clearly showed the importance of minimizing the handoff duration to allow efficient operation of upper layer protocols such as TCP.

Cellular IP is a protocol presenting a micro mobility solution for mobile devices in a limited geographical area. It allows routing of IP datagrams to mobile stations and offers a fast handoff control. It is designed to cooperate with mobile IP to provide wide area mobility support. This paper presents ideas for better protecting location information in cellular IP networks.

Previous articles by Frank and Martini (see 22nd Annual Conference on Local Computer Networks, LCN '97, Minneapolis, 1997 and 23rd Annual Conference on Local Computer Networks, LCN'98, Boston, 1998) on the concept of ROBIN (Regulation Of Bandwidth in Intra-Networks) gave a motivation for and presented first results of our approach to regulate the sending bandwidth of data flows in heterogeneous campus networks by determining bottlenecks and possible rate limitations with a global knowledge of the network state based on the end-to-end operation of the mechanism. This paper presents the latest results of our performance study of the ROBIN approach with a focus on the scalability and the concept of data flow aggregation within the bandwidth regulation. The QoS properties of ROBIN together with the flow aggregation for the local domain show a close relation to the ideas of the differentiated services activities for QoS support in the Internet, which is also discussed in this paper.