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Red Tacton: NTT and 'Human Area Networking'

March 20, 2005 Views (12,840) /  Comments (9) /  Trackback (0) / Digg/Share


Japanese company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) claims to have developed the first viable Human Area Network (HAN) device, enabling fast data transfer between devices using the human body as a conduit.

NTT reckons this latest advance on the wireless Personal Area Network concept - dubbed RedTacton - can transmit data over the surface of the skin at up to 2Mbps. Where it differs, though, from previous offerings, is that a RedTacton-enabled device does not have to be in direct contact with the skin - only within about 20cm. NTT explains the technical background:

Instead of relying on electromagnetic waves or light waves to carry data, RedTacton uses weak electric fields on the surface of the body as a transmission medium. A RedTacton transmitter couples with extremely weak electric fields on the surface of the body. The weak electric fields pass through the body to a RedTacton receiver, where the weak electric fields affects the optical properties of an electro-optic crystal. The extent to which the optical properties are changed is detected by laser light which is then converted to an electrical signal by a detector circuit.

RedTacton can also “transmit” through clothing or shoes, allowing the useful possibility of downloading MP3s through a floor-based sensor while dancing the Lambada. What’s more, you can swap files by straight human contact, so two filesharers equipped with RadTacton devices can indulge in torrid illegal P2P activity and have sex at the same time.

But apart from that, why bother with RedTacton when Bluetooth can already do the job wirelessly? With Bluetooth, it is difficult to rein in the signal and restrict it to the device you are trying to connect to. You usually want to communicate with one particular thing, but in a busy place there could be hundreds of Bluetooth devices within range.

Besides, humans apparently make poor aerials, something which is good for security because even if you encrypt data it is still possible that it could be decoded, but if you can’t pick it up it can’t be cracked.

NTT says it is committed to “moving RedTacton out of the laboratory and into commercial production as quickly as possible by organizing joint field trials with partners outside the company”. There’s more technical info available here.

Bootnote

Microsoft last year patented a system for “transmitting power and data using the human body”. It’s based on the IBM concept, but MS sees the technology being used primarily for power, rather than data transfers.

(426 Words | )

 
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^1 kiran kumar said on February 23, 2006 2:04 PM:

the invenction of red tacton is really impressive, by seeing this topic i decided to give a seminar in my college in india, but i dont know much information about the device, can you provide the url’s where i can found a lot of info about red tacton.
s.kiran kumar
national institute of technology
warangal
india

^2 kiran .aki said on March 2, 2006 7:24 PM:

I require the actual procedure of reception and transmission in red tacton transceiver.how duplex transmission is possible in this technology?some of the applications ,atleast one with actual description of operation.so kindly provide the information as I would like to give seminar in this topic

^3 sri said on August 23, 2006 5:20 PM:

a detailed applications of redtacton

^4 venu reddy said on September 21, 2006 11:45 AM:

Does the waves generated by body interfere with red tacton electric field?

^5 simina m p said on September 25, 2006 9:02 PM:


I want to know more about redtacton and wish to present a seminar on that. could u plz send the inner working of redtacton. and i want to know how the data pass through human body,is der any current passing through it, if so how much volts

^6 sam said on September 28, 2006 1:42 PM:

can u give me more detail abt the differences between redtacton and bluetooth with example ….wating for u reply ..

thanks

^7 bhurewal s r said on November 10, 2006 11:47 AM:

nice explaination but need to include details…………….

^8 meenal said on November 25, 2006 10:32 PM:

can u give me more details on the working of red tacton ,its comparison with other technologies,one actual description of the topic,red tacton enabled area.so kindly provide the information as i would like to give a seminar on this topic.

thanks

^9 vikas said on March 22, 2007 9:25 PM:

I want to know more about redtacton and wish to present a seminar on that. could u plz send the inner working of redtacton. and i want to know how the data pass through human body,is der any current passing through it, if so how much volts

 

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