Ubiquitous services that are genuinely user-friendly to everyone will require technologies that enable communication between people and objects in close proximity. Focusing on the naturalness, inevitability, and sense of security conveyed by touching in everyday life, which describes Human area network that enables communication by touching, which we call RedTacton. Here, the human body acts as a transmission medium supporting IEEE 802.3 half-duplex communication at 10Mbit/s. The key component of the transceiver is an electric-field sensor implemented with an electro optic crystal and laser light. Power constraints play a key role in designing Human Area Networks (HANs) for biomonitoring. To alleviate the power constraints, we advocate a design that uses an asynchronous time encoding mechanisms for representing biomonitoring information and the skin surface as the communication channel. Time encoding does not require a clock while allows perfect signal recovery; the communication channel is operated below 1 MHz. The ultimate human area network solution to all these constraints of conventional technologies is “intrabody” communication, in which the human body serves as the transmission medium. The concept of intrabody communication, which uses the minute electric field propagated by the human body to transmit information, was first proposed by IBM [1]. The communication mechanism has subsequently been evaluated and reported by several research groups around the world.

1. Human Area Network By: Vinayak Nandikal

2. Introduction to HAN Human Area Networking is a technology that safely turns the surface of the human body into a data transmission path at speeds up to 10 Mbps between any two points on the body. Human body is surrounded by a minute electric field Personal data stored on a transmitter A circuit is created when a person touches a target object Data travels across the body’s natural electric field Information enters a receiver – can activate commands such as unlock door

7. What is Red Tacton? TACTON “ touch-act-on” Meaning “action triggered by touching”. RED It is an auspicious color according to Japanese culture

8. Figure shows a photograph of the Red Tacton transceiver connected to a PDA and a block diagram of the Red Tacton transceiver developed by NTT. Red Tacton transceiver

10. How RedTacton works? 1. The Red Tacton transmitter induces a weak electric field on the surface of the body. 2. The Red Tacton receiver senses changes in the weak electric field on the surface of the body caused by the transmitter.

14. Features of Red Tacton Red Tacton has three main functional features.

15. Touching, gripping, sitting, walking, stepping and other human movements can be the triggers for unlocking or locking, starting or stopping equipment, or obtaining data. Duplex, interactive communication is possible at a maximum speed of 10Mbps. Because the transmission path is on the surface of the body, transmission speed does not deteriorate in congested areas where many people are communicating at the same time. In addition to the human body, various conductors and dielectrics can be used as transmission media. Conductors and dielectrics may also be used in combination

33. Contd…. Signal & Detection system Ground line Distance & speed Contact status with the electrode Amperage electric Clear signal lines needed for body and earth ground Elbow to fingertip at approx. 3kbps The electrode must be in constant contact with the body to maintain good conductivity Voltage electric Capacity coupling between the earth ground and equipment Wrist to fingertip at approx. 1kbps Communication possible even when passing through thin insulators Electric field photonics (RedTacton) Capacity coupling between the earth ground and equipment Anywhere on the body at up to 10Mbps Communication possible even through shoes and clothing

34. Comparison with other network technologies Performance: E: Excellent P: Poor Evaluation criteria Wireless LAN Infrared Red Tacton Transfer speed (Can DVD-quality images be sent?) E P E Performance deterioration during periods of congestion (Simultaneous use by many people in small spaces) P E E Duplex data transfer (Interactive processing) E E E

35. Red Tacton prototypes NTT has made three types of prototypes: Communicationspeed:10Mbps Protocols : TCP/IP Communication method :Half-duplex Interface: PCMCIA Communicationspeed:10Mbps Protocols :TCP/IP Communication method : Half-duplex Interface: RJ45 (under constructions)

37. Thank You