Wireless Personal Area Networks Imagine living your entire life within the confines of a bubble. Now imagine that this bubble has a radius of 10 meters. This invariable bubble is called your Personal Operating Space (POS). Now look around in your bubble. How many electronic devices do you see? How many wires do you see? The Bluetooth technology provides wireless connectivity among these devices within (or moving into) your POS. These wirelessly connected devices create a network called a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). In the Wide Area Network (WAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), and Local Area Network (LAN) hierarchy, the WPAN’s scope is the smallest and least developed. In March of 1998, the WPAN Study Group was formed. The study group’s goal was to investigate the need for a wireless network standard for devices within a POS. In May of 1998, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed. In March of 1999, the WPAN study group became IEEE 802.15, the WPAN Working Group. The working group’s goal is to define a wireless communications standard for a PAN, focusing on low power consumption, small size, and low cost. In July of 1999, the Bluetooth SIG released the Bluetooth 1.0 Specification. WPAN of the Future The obvious applications of a WPAN are in the office workspace. With the Bluetooth technology, your essential workspace electronic devices will be wirelessly networked together. These could include your desktop, mobile computer, printer, handheld device, mobile phone, pager, portable stereo, etc. Imagine wirelessly checking e-mail in an airport by connecting to data access points or wirelessly printing documents from the printer in the back of the plane. The less obvious applications of a WPAN are outside of the office. Imagine an oven that sends a message to the TV you are watching when your meat loaf is done, or a handgun that only fires when an authorized person uses it. In today’s environment, information is our most valuable commodity. In an electronic future with smaller,cheaper, and more powerful devices, the speed and convenience at which information is accessible will be exponentially more important. By creating a WPAN of these devices, the Bluetooth technology enables a future where a lifetime of knowledge may be accessed through gateways worn on the body. For more information about WPANs, go to