PAN +Profile Overview

Purpose

The +Personal Area Network (PAN) profile is designed to make a Bluetooth network +simulate an ethernet, from an application's perspective. Symbian platform +supports only one active PAN at a time. Each remote device that connects to +the PAN device for networking purposes will be merged into the same active +PAN.

Symbian platform provides support for a PAN agent to assume the +role of PANU (User), PAN-GN (Group ad hoc Network) or PAN-NAP (Network Access +Point).

The Symbian PAN implementation is integrated into the Symbian +networking framework enabling IP applications to run on a Bluetooth network.

Required background

You need to be familiar with +the PAN Profile specification.

Key concepts +and terms

Personal Area Network (PAN): A PAN is an ad-hoc network of devices communicating on a standard network +configuration, over a Bluetooth radio connection. A PAN may have anywhere +from 2 to 8 participating member devices.

A PAN is not the same as +a piconet. Where a piconet is any ad-hoc networking of devices over a Bluetooth +connection for the purposes of sharing data or services, like when you pair +your phone to your Bluetooth hands-free kit, a PAN deals specifically with +networking resources.
PAN Profile: The Bluetooth specification identifies several profiles including the +Bluetooth Personal Area Networking (PAN) profile. The PAN profile simplifies +the now deprecated Bluetooth LAN Access and Dial-up Networking profiles by +reducing the number of layers in a network Bluetooth connection.

The +PAN profile identifies certain configuration and setup details of a participant +of the network, including the PAN host. If a device wants to join a PAN it +must support and be able to be configured according to the requirements of +the profile in use. For more general information about Bluetooth profiles +see Introduction +to Bluetooth Profiles.
PAN profile roles: Typical PAN profile roles include the following:

+
PANU

+
PAN-GN

+
PAN-NAP

+

PANU (User) acts as a client member of a PAN-GN (Group ad hoc Network) +or a PAN-NAP (Network Access Point). Any device in either the PAN-GN or the +PAN-NAP role acts as a server.

PAN Roles

The +PAN Profile roles are described below:

PANU

A +Bluetooth enabled device seeking entry into a network or participating in +a peer-to-peer (one on one) connection assumes the PANU role, thus becoming +a client member of the piconet.

+ PANU to PANU connection + +

PAN-GN

A +PAN-GN device assumes the role of a forwarding node or host and the attached +PANU devices act as clients, networking up to a maximum of seven PANUs. The +wireless network is formed without the need of additional hardware like a +hub or router as in the case of a conventional cabled network.

Group +Ad-hoc Network (GN) is a temporary, ad hoc network of devices in proximity +for sharing information and services. It is called ad hoc because of its on-the-fly +or transient nature and can include up to eight (including the host) available +Bluetooth-enabled devices in the immediate vicinity, that are willing to participate.

The +device that initiates the network - in this case the PAN-GN - becomes the +host or controller. Correspondence in a PAN between the clients is routed +through the PAN-GN device (host) in both one-to-one and one-to-many cases.

PAN-NAP

A PAN-NAP device plays the role of a proxy, bridge, +or a router between an existing network say a LAN or the Internet and Bluetooth-enabled +devices. The PAN-NAP device takes up to seven active wireless clients. The +NAP device acts as a bridge between PANU devices or bluetooth networks and +other networks for routing ethernet packets. The Symbian platform PAN-NAP +role allows only a single PANU client access to the uplink for the external +network.

+ PAN-NAP, bridging networks + +

The following image shows a Bluetooth-enabled laptop accessing the +Internet through a mobile handset that is acting as a PAN-NAP device. The +Bluetooth handset may provide the uplink via GPRS, WIFI, dial-up, or in some +other way.

For more information about please see the PAN +NAP Role Guide.

Architecture

The +PAN Profile specification fits in between the application and the hardware +abstraction layers. It is connected to and accessed through the Comms-Infras +socket by the application.

Initially, the connection preferences are +set in CommDB through the code. The Bluetooth stack is then initialized. An RConnection and RSocketServ instance +are created as part of initiating an ESock session and the RConnection object +opens the connection through the RSocketServ instance. RConnection::Control() allows +configuration of certain aspects of the PAN, for instance adding and deleting +devices to/from the PAN.

Intact ethernet payloads are transported +with the BNEP (Bluetooth Network Encapsulation Protocol) underneath. The PAN +profile interacts with the Bluetooth BB (baseband) and conveys the various +roles that PAN network nodes would play.

Typical uses

The following tutorials have been +provided to help give licensee developers guidance when writing applications +that make use of the PAN profile.

Creating +a Personal Area Network
Adding +a device to the PAN
Removing +a device from the PAN
Closing +the PAN