Piconet: embedded mobile networking

Abstract

Piconet is a general-purpose, low-power ad hoc radio network. It provides a base level of connectivity to even the simplest of sensing and computing objects. It is our intention that a full range of portable and embedded devices may make use of this connectivity. This article outlines the Piconet system, under development at the Olivetti and Oracle Research Laboratory (ORL). The authors discuss the motivation for providing this low-level "embedded networking", and describe their experiences of building such a system. The article concludes with a commentary on some of the implications that power saving, and other considerations central to Piconet, have on the design of the system.