Wireless Communications with Bluetooth. Zebra ZQ620, ZQ610/620

Wireless Communications with Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a worldwide standard for the exchange of data between two devices via radio frequencies. This form of pointto-point communication does not require access points or other infrastructure. Bluetooth radios are relatively low powered to help prevent interference with other devices running at similar radio frequencies. This limits the range of a Bluetooth device to about

10 meters (32 feet). The default for ZQ6 is Class 2, but the range can be set to Class 1 via a SGD ( bluetooth.power_class

) to increase power. Both the printer and the device it communicates with must follow the Bluetooth standard.

Bluetooth Networking Overview

Each Bluetooth enabled ZQ6 printer is identified by a unique

Bluetooth Device Address (BDADDR). This address resembles a

MAC address whereby the first three bytes are vendor, and the last three bytes are device (e.g. 00:22:58:3C:B8:CB). This address is labeled on the back of the printer via a barcode for ease of pairing.

(For the dual radio, the MAC address label only represents WiFi

MAC address.) (see page 57.) In order to exchange data, two

Bluetooth enabled devices must establish a connection. Bluetooth software is always running in the background, ready to respond to connection requests. One device (known as the client) must request/initiate a connection with another. The second device (the server) then accepts or rejects the connection. A Bluetooth enabled

ZQ6 printer will normally act as a slave creating a miniature network with the terminal sometimes referred to as a “piconet”. Discovery identifies Bluetooth devices that are available for pairing whereby the master device broadcasts a discovery request and devices respond. If a device is not discoverable, the master cannot pair unless in knows the BDADDR or has previously paired with the device. If both devices support Bluetooth 2.1 or higher they will use Security Level 4 Secure Simple Pairing (SSP), a mandatory security architecture that features two (2) association models:

Numeric Comparison and Just Works (no user confirmation).

54

ZQ610 & ZQ620 User Guide