Power of touch

The power of human touch might soon be used to transmit data. Japan’s telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) is planning to launch a system that frees users from the trouble of rummaging in their pockets or handbags for ID cards or keys, whenever they want to enter rooms, unlock car doors, etc.

It uses technology to turn the surface of the human body into a means of data transmission.

“In everyday life, you’re always touching things,” said NTT’s research engineer Mitsuru Shinagawa. “These simple touches can result in communication.”

Future applications of the technology, dubbed ‘RedTacton’, could include a walk-through ticket gate, a cabinet that opens only to authorised people and a television control that automatically chooses favourite programmes.

How it works

The RedTacton system comprises a super-sensitive sensor – which has to be carried on the person – that uses the minute electric field emitted on the surface of the human body to transmit data to a transceiver at a maximum speed of 10 Mbps.

Technically, it is completely distinct from wireless and infrared.

A transmission path is formed when a part of the human body comes in contact with a RedTacton transceiver; thanks to the sensor-equipped special card that the user is carrying.

The transmitter induces a weak electric field on the surface of the body. The receiver senses changes in this electric field, and converts the same to an electrical signal.

Communication is possible using any body surfaces, such as the hands, fingers, arms, feet, face, legs or torso. The system works through shoes and clothing as well.

So, as data travels through the user’s clothing, handbag or shoes, anyone carrying a special card can unlock doors simply by touching the knob or standing on a particular spot without taking the card out.

The system also improves security. It ensures that only drivers can open their cars by touching the doors if the keys are in their pockets, not people around them.

NTT employee Akiko Shimojima, holding the new RedTacton smart-card, touches a printer to make prints (top right), and a knob to open a cabinet while standing on a special mat (above), demonstrating the system’s identification of data through her hands and feet

The company plans to start sales of the room-entry system in the coming months.

“There is demand for hands-free entry as there are workplaces where you always have your hands occupied. In some factories, it’s simply dangerous to dangle something from your neck,” said NTT business creation official Toshiaki Asahi.

Shinagawa said his technology’s ultimate aim was to go beyond human-to-machine communications and focus on interaction among humans.

“Eventually, doctors and nurses may be able to record patients’ data, such as their pulse and temperature, just through physical contact,” he said.

NTT has already developed technology that allows swapping data as heavy as motion pictures through a handshake, although it has not been commercialised.

“We started the research to develop a new concept of telecommunication through touching,” Shinagawa said.