Paper Presentation On Redtacton

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Abstract— RedTacton is a Human Area networking technology, which is under development, that uses the surface of the human body as a safe, high speed network transmission path. It is a technology that bridges the last networking gap, creating the HAN – Human Area Network, connecting the last meter. It is completely distinct from wireless and infrared technologies as it uses the minute electric field emitted on the surface of the human body. Currently, RedTacton is gearing up to compete with Bluetooth, Zigbee, IrDA (infrared data association), UWB (ultra wide band), and other wireless communication forms.  These competing technologies are different in that they use radio frequency or light to transmit data short distances.  They also tend to work at slower speeds that RedTacton which, as mentioned before, uses the body’s electrical field to transmit at a high speed.  Communication is possible using any body surfaces, such as the hands, fingers, arms, feet, face, legs or torso. RedTacton works through shoes and clothing as well. When the physical contact gets separated, the communication is ended. This paper gives a focus on ubiquitous service has brought about the shortening of distances in communication. RedTacton is positioned as the last 1m solution to ultimate close-range communication.

Keywords-Wireless; Tacton; Human Area Networks; communication; duplex; fingertips; ultra wide band;

INTRODUCTION

Red Tacton is a human area network technology that uses the surface of the human body as a safe high speed network transmission path. The technology is called TACTON because this influences communication that starts by (Touch) which leads to various actions (Action). RED is used to convey the meaning of warmth in communication.

Red Tacton takes a different technical approach. Instead of relying on electromagnetic waves or light waves to carry data, a Red Tacton transmitter couples with extremely weak electric fields on the surface of the body. The weak electric fields pass through the body to a Red Tacton receiver, where the weak electric field affects the optical properties of an electro-optic crystal. Physically separating ends the contact and thus closes the communication .Communication is possible using anybody surfaces such as hands, fingers, arms, feet, face legs or torso.

The Red Tacton chips will be embedded in machines and contain a transmitter and receiver built to send and accept any form of data stored in a digital format. The chip then takes any type of file such as an MP3 music file or e-mail and converts it into digital pulses that can be passed and read through a human being’s electric field. The chip in the receiving device reads these tiny changes and converts the file back into its original form.

Several "human body communication" technologies using the human body as a transmission medium have been reported in the past. But Red Tacton employs a proprietary electric field/photonics method, which surpasses the other methods in terms of communication distance, transfer speed, and interactivity.

Background

In the past, Bluetooth, infrared communications (IrDA), radio frequency ID systems (RFID), and other technologies have been proposed to solve the "last meter" connectivity problem.

However, they each have various fundamental technical limitations that constrain their usage, such as the precipitous fall-off in transmission speed in multi-user environments producing network congestion. The implementation of ubiquitous network services requires three levels of connectivity: Wide Area Networks (WAN), typically via the Internet, Local Area Networks (LAN), typically via Ethernet or WiFi connectivity and Human Area Networks (HAN), for connectivity to personal information, media and communication appliances within the much smaller sphere of ordinary daily activities-- the last one meter. NTT's Red Tacton is a break-through technology that, for the first time, enables reliable high-speed HAN which provides ubiquitous services based on human-centered interactions and therefore more intimate and easier for people to use.

WORKING PRINCIPLE

Using a new super-sensitive photonic electric field sensor, Red Tacton can achieve duplex communication over the human body at a maximum speed of

10Mbps.

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.

3. Red Tacton relies upon the principle that the optical properties of an electro-optic crystal can vary according to the changes of a weak electric field.

4. Red Tacton detects changes in the optical properties of an electro-optic crystal using a laser and converts the result to an electrical signal in a optical receiver circuit.

It is to be noted that Red Tacton transceivers which integrate transmitters and receivers are also available. The physical layer enables half-duplex communication (transmission and reception are done alternatively) using a proprietary CSMA/CD protocol. As with Ethernet cards, each transceiver card has a unique MAC address. The upper layer above this is compliant with standard TCP/IP protocols.

MECHANISM OF COMMUNICATION

The transmitter sends data by inducing fluctuations in the minute electric field on the surface of the human body. The surface of the human body loses some field due to the electric field returning to ground and electric field dissipated to the earth from the legs. Data is received using a photonic electric field sensor that combines an electro-optic crystal and a laser light to detect fluctuations in the minute electric field. This sensor measures faint electric fields by using a laser beam to detect fluctuations in the optical properties of an electro-optic crystal that are caused by peripheral electric fields.

The illustration is as shown in the figure. It clearly depicts various paths of the field.

The crackling sensation one feels when shocked by static electricity is caused by an electric current of several dozen milli-amperes suddenly flowing into the body from the outside. The Red Tacton electrode is covered with an insulating material, no current flows into the body from the Red Tacton transceiver. As a result, there is no shock caused by the inflow of electric current from the outside. However, as in mobile phones, a weak induction current is created in the body owing to the minute electric filed created near the body when the movement occurs. This induction current is very weak and similar to those occurring in everyday life. The size of the induction current emitted on the body with Red Tacton is in conformity with the "Radio Frequency-Exposure Protection Standard established by the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB).

DOWNLOAD FILES VIA FLESH

Red Tacton uses the human body as a path for the electric signals that are communicated to represent data. The transmitter worn on a body uses the body’s electrical field to transmit digital messages. For example, by shaking hands two people can exchange business cards. When a user touches a door handle, the system realizes who the person is and gives the authorization. By holding a camera in one hand and touching the printer with the other the photographs can be printed. By touching a mobile phone the address book can be downloaded.

Wave Forms

The signal wave form observed on the body is as shown in the figure. However a distinction between a electric sensor and a photonic electric field sensor is also illustrated. Photonic electric field sensors used in Red Tacton can measure stand-alone contacts without being influenced by grounds. As a result, the received waveform is not distorted, regardless of the receiver location. This makes long-distance and high-speed body surface transmission possible.

FEATURES

Red Tacton has three main functional features. They are touch, broadband & interactivity and any media.

TOUCH:

Touching, gripping, sitting, walking, stepping and other human movements can be the triggers for unlocking or locking, starting or stopping equipment, or obtaining data. Using Red Tacton, communication starts when terminals carried by the user or embedded in devices are linked in various combinations through physical contact according to the human's natural movement.

BROADBAND & INTERACTIVITY:

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.

ANY MEDIA:

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. A communication environment can be created easily and at low-cost by using items close at hand, such as desks, walls, and metal objects.

System Safety

No current flowing into the human body from Red Tacton devices.

Red Tacton uses the electric field that occurs naturally on the surface of the human body for communication. Transmitter and receiver electrodes are covered with insulating films. No current flows into the body from the Red Tacton transceiver.

Displacement current occurring in the body is small enough.

There is no current flowing from the Red Tacton transceiver; however, the body indirectly receives a minute electric field. This causes electrons already present inside the body to move, creating a minute displacement current. This displacement current is similar to those occurring in everyday life.

Red Tacton conforms to the safety guideline of induced current.

Red Tacton is in conformity to the "Radiofrequency-exposure Protection RCR standard (RCR STD-38)" issued by the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB).

COMPARISON WITH OTHER NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES

Unlike wireless and infrared technologies, the transfer speed and other features can be termed as outstanding and exhibits remarkable ability to cope up with the frequent updates that are introduced.

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.

Microsoft has also experimented with touch-sensitive data transfer, even being granted a patent last summer for "a method and apparatus for transmitting power and data using human body." But NTT's system is more practical because it does not require for sensors to come in direct contact with your skin. The sensors built into different compatible gadgets work fine within 20cm (about 7.8 inches) of your body.

Instead of generating an electric current through you, Red Tacton uses the small electric field that is naturally on the surface of the human body, using a transmitter to modulate that field appropriately.

APPLICATIONS

Five major application fields using Red Tacton are:

ONE-ONE SERVICES

Enable one-to-one services tailored to the user's situation and tastes.

Attribute information recorded in the Red Tatcon device is sent to the touched objects.

The appropriate service is provided based on the attribute information received by the Red Tacton receiver.

ELIMINATION OF HUMAN ERROR:

Red Tacton devices embedded medicine bottles transmit information on the medicines' attributes. If the user touches the wrong medicine, an alarm will trigger on the terminal he is carrying. The alarm sounds only if the user actually touches the medicine bottle, reducing false alarms common with passive wireless ID tags, which can trigger simply by proximity.

IINTUITIVE OPERATIONS

Natural movements and actions are the triggers. There is no "operation" any more.

It is just intuitive human interaction. Touch the printer to print.

INSTANT PRIVATE DATA EXCHANGE

By shaking hands the ID and all information of people can be exchanged without the necessity of speech and so vital information can be exchanged. Also communication can be kept private which is the essentiality of business environment.

DEVICE PERSONALISATION

Setup, registration, and configuration information for an individual user can all be uploaded to a device the instant the device is touched, eliminating the need for the device to be registered or configured in advance.

A pre-recorded configuration script can be embedded in a mobile terminal with built-in Red Tacton transceiver.

When another device with Red Tacton capabilities is touched, personalization data and configuration scripts can be downloaded automatically.

PERSONALISATION OF MOBILE PHONES

Your own phone number will be allocated and commence bills.

Automatic importing of personal address book and call history.

NEW BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS

Various conductors and dielectrics can be used as Red Tacton communication media, and this has the potential to create new behavior patterns.

CONFERENCING SYSTEM

An electrically conductive sheet is embedded in the table.

A network connection is initiated simply by placing a lap-top on the table.

Using different sheet patterns enables segmentation of the table into subnets.

SECURITY APPLICATIONS

A Red Tacton receiver in cabinet where important documents are stored enables lock administration and keeps a record of who accessed documents at what time. Thus only authorized persons can have the access.

Carrying a mobile Red Tacton capable device in one’s pocket ID is verified and the door unlocked when the user holds the doorknob normally. Similarly secure lock administration is possible by combining personal verification tools such as fingerprint ID or biometric in the mobile terminal.

KEY ISSUES

The communication method is inherently different from wireless technologies, so there is no interference with wireless equipment that uses frequencies intermittently. However, communication may not be possible in some circumstances where the electric field is influenced by a powerful source of noise in the usage environment.

Multiple transceivers can be used simultaneously. This is because Red Tacton uses a proprietary CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection) protocol that allows multiple accesses with the same medium from multiple nodes.

The upper layer protocols have not been specified in the Red Tacton system. .So highly secure communication is possible by combining the system with encryption and other procedures. So information cannot be tapped or rather hacked.

The physical layer enables half-duplex communication (transmission and reception are done alternatively) using the proprietary CSMA/CD protocol. As with Ethernet cards, each transceiver card has a unique MAC (medium access control) address. The upper layer above this is compliant with standard TCP/IP protocols.

Red Tacton can be treated as a standard network device. Therefore, current network application software running on the Ethernet or on other TCP/IP protocol-based networks will run without modification.

Large-scale integration in the future will shrink size and power consumption to allow the transceivers to be embedded in mobile phones, other mobile terminals, and in other types of formats such as Compact Flash Card, SD-card, and Memory Stick.

There is likelihood that this technology is misused. So it is highly necessary that it is used for ethical and moral purposes and help to further the cause of human welfare.

CONCLUSION

Human society is entering an era of ubiquitous computing, where everything is networked.

By making Human Area Networks feasible, Red Tacton will enable ubiquitous services based on human-centered interactions and therefore more intimate and easier for people to use, when networks are seamlessly interconnected and information is always accessible at our fingertips.The existing networks namely Wide Area Networks (WAN), typically via the Internet, to remotely connect all types of severs and terminals, Local Area Networks (LAN), typically via Ethernet or Wi-Fi connectivity among all the information and communication appliances in offices and homes; and Human Area Networks (HAN) for connectivity to personal information, media and communication appliances within the much smaller sphere of ordinary daily activities. However compared to the technologies Red Tacton is definitely having an upper edge given its versatility and omni-features.

In the days to come where man is destined to scale new heights of technology ,a technology like Red Tacton is likely to propel him in the right direction giving him hope and motivation than any other technology man is able to perceive.

Future Developments

• Reduction in size to be embedded in other communication devices.

• Artificial Intelligence in Red Tacton.