What is the difference between bluetooth and infrared?

Answer 1

Bluetooth uses RF (radio frequency) to broadcast the information, like cordless phones. Infrared uses light like a TV remote control. RF will pass through opaque objects like walls.

Infrared, being light, must be seen by the item receiving the signal. So, there must not be anything between the sender and the receiver that blocks the light, or the light must be bounced off of something to get around an object in-between sender and receiver. Also, this means that the range of bluetooth can be greater than that of infrared.

Answer 2

Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light (400-700 nm), but shorter than that of terahertz radiation (100 µm - 1mm) and microwaves (~30,000 µm). Infrared radiation spans roughly three orders of magnitude (750 nm and 100 µm).

Direct sunlight has a luminous efficacy of about 93 lumens per watt of radiant flux, which includes infrared (47% share of the spectrum), visible (46%), and ultra-violet (only 6%) light. Bright sunlight provides luminance of approximately 100,000 candela per square meter at the Earth's surface.

Wireless device is the transfer of information over a distance without the use of electrical conductors or "wires".[1] The distances involved may be short (a few meters as in television remote control) or long (thousands or millions of kilometers for radio communications). When the context is clear, the term is often shortened to "wireless". Wireless communication is generally considered to be a branch of telecommunications

Answer 3

Bluetooth is a 2.4GHz wireless (RF) serial data protocol, whereas infrared ports rely on infrared light transmission (which is invisible to the naked human eye).