REDTACTONA NEW HUMAN AREA NETWORKING

Presented by: Ekta Mohapatra, Dept: ECE, 7th Sem.TITE, BPUT

Overview•Evolution of networking

•RedTacton Introduction and Goal

•RedTacton as in ?

•History of HAN and its Overview

•Principle

•How it works

•Block diagram of RedTacton Transceiver

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•Working procedure

•Security

•Features

•Applications

•Advantages and limitations

•Future use

•Conclusion

•Reference

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Can you imagine locking or unlocking a door simply by touching the doorknob? Or being able print a document by placing one hand on the copy machine and the other on your laptop? It may sound like science fiction but is actually a very real possibility .Thanks to a new close-range communication technology called RedTacton.

To the security industry, the RedTacton body field communication technology paves the way for a new breed of access control systems.

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INTRODUCTION

• RedTacton is a new Human Area networking technology, under development.

• gives safe and high speed network transmission upto 10 Mbps between any two points on the body.

• uses weak electric fields on the surface of body as a transmission medium.

• TACTON: “touch-act-on” RED: auspicious color according to Japanese culture• RedTacton works through shoes and clothing as well.

GOAL • A new technology that will allow us to use human body as

a network transmitter.

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REDTACTON AS IN ?Red : a color to emphasis warm and cordial

communications.TACTON : Action triggered by Touching.• RedTacton utilizes a point to point network, known as

a Pico net that allows information to be exchanged between two transceivers without the need for a server to store or process information

Above Figure shows RED TACTON Device

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HISTORY• The concept of intra-body communication was first

proposed by IBM in 1996. • This communication mechanism was later evaluated and

reported by several research groups around the world.All those reported technologies had two limitations.

The operating range through the body was limited to a few tens of centimeters.

The top communication speed was only 40 bit/s!! • These limitations were overcome by NTT (Nippon

Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) located in Tokyo, Japan by using photonic electric field sensors and finally in 2005 they came up with a human area networking technology called ‘REDTACTON’

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OVERVIEW OF HAN• Human Area Networking technology turns human body as

a safe, high speed network transmission path.• possible communication surfaces are such as hands,

fingers, toes, arms, feet, face, or legs.• RedTacton works through shoes and clothing as well.• uses minute electric field emitted on the surface of human

body for data transmission.

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Optical properties of an electro-optic crystal can vary according to the changes of a weak electric field.

HOW DOES IT WORK ?

Principle: Optical properties of an electro-optic crystal can vary according to the changes of a weak electric field.

Figure shows the working of the REDTACTON device over the surface of our body.

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WORKING PROCEDURE

• Transmitting transceiver creates a change in the field.• Some field from human body dissipates into the earth• Electric field is received using sensing technology• Receiving transceiver recognizes the change in the electric

field.• Sensing technology measures the weak electric field induced.• Electro-optical crystals uses laser to convert and read the

signal.• Receiving data is more complicated because the strength of the

electric field involved is so low. RedTacton gets around this using a technique called electric field photonics: A laser is passed though an electro-optic crystal, which deflects light differently according to the strength of the field across it. These deflections are measured and converted back into electrical signals to retrieve the transmitted data.

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• Multiple transceivers can be used simultaneously. This is because RedTacton uses a proprietary CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection) protocol that allows multiple access with the same medium from multiple nodes. Each transceiver card has an unique MAC address

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Block diagram of RedTacton Transceiver

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REDTACTON TRANSCEIVER:

• The signal from the interface is sent to the data sense circuit and the transmitter circuit.

• The data sense circuit senses the signal and if the data is present it sends control signal to the transmitter which activates the transmitter circuit.

• The transmitter circuit varies the electric field on the surface of our body.

• This change in the electric field is detected by the electro-optic sensor.

• The output of the electro-optic sensor is given to the detector circuit, which in turn given to the interface of the receiving RedTacton device.

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Mechanism of communication with RedTacton

Figure shows the various electric fields on the surface of our body induced by the RED TACTON device..

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Only a portion of the induced electric field is sensed by the

receiving RED TACTON device. The remaining electric fields are dissipated to the ground

The electric field Es that reaches the receiver is Es = Ea – (Eb + Ec)

• 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.  

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SECURITY

• Both transmitting and receiving electrodes of the RedTacton transceiver are completely covered with insulating film.

• When communication occurs , displacement current is generated by the electrons in the body because the body is subjected to minute electric fields. However such displacement currents are very common everyday occurrences to which we are all subjected.

• We decide what to share with whom and what devices we communicate with.

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WHAT DOES IT NEED?

• Each device we wish to communicate with must be equipped with a RedTacton transceiver that is able to detect the messages programmed into our own device.  

• We are able to program our devices to exchange specific types of information by using a programmable transceiver that connects to any computer and allows users to customize their transmission settings through a graphical user interface. 

• Once our transmitter, is programmed to recognize and exchange information with other devices we select, we will be able to communicate with them easily.

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WHAT DOES IT DO?

• When using a RedTacton device, the human body effectively becomes an Ethernet cable, so the body can use its electrical field to connect devices to networks or the internet. 

• For example, if a person wearing a RedTacton device sat at a table with RedTacton capabilities that was connected to the Internet, the laptop would immediately be connected to the internet. 

 • Seems similar to a wireless network connection, but it is

not.  There is a physical connection, the person. 

• The connection is more secure and does not slow down if many people are using the same connection, as a wireless connection does.  

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WHY REDTACTON ?

• Problems with short-range wireless communication systems like Bluetooth, infrared etc..

• The principle drawback of infrared communications (IrDA) is the tight directionality of beams between terminals needed for the system to be effective.

• Human area networks would solve all the problems including throughput reduction, low security, and high net -work setup costs.

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FEATURES

•Touch• Broadband and interactive• Any media

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1.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 RedTacton, 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 movements.

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2.Broadband and interactive Bandwidth does not deteriorate even with duplex

operation & simultaneous access by many users• 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 .

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3. Any MediaWorks with many transmission media common in human life.

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APPLICATIONS

Elimination of Human error: An Alarm sounds automatically to avoid accidental medicine ingestion

Marketing Application(Context Awareness): Touch advertising and receive information

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Connect to various systems via the metal sheet.

Just sitting in the seat triggers the car to load all its presets, just the way you like

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Touch a printer to print

Instantaneous private network viapersonal handshake

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USER VERIFICATION AND LOCK MANAGEMENT AT THE ENTRANCE:User verification and unlocking with just a touch

Security Applications

CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT:Automatic access log for confidential document storage

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Comparison over other intra-body communication method

"Intra-body communication" using the human body as a transmission medium has been reported, but the electric field photonics method employed by RedTacton is superior to conventional methods in terms of communication distance, speed, and interactivity. P: Possible N: Not possible P*: Possible under certain conditions

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Comparison with other network technologies

Evaluation Criteria Wireless LAN Infrared/Bluetooth

RedTacton

Transfer Speed(Can DVD quality images can be sent)

E P E

Performance deterioration during periods of congestion (Simultaneous use by many people in small places)

P E E

Duplex Data Transfer (Interactive Processing)

E E E

Performance: Excellent (E) Poor (P)

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• Wireless communication creates connections when signals arrive, allowing for easy connections because connectors are unnecessary. However, seen from another aspect, the arriving signals can be intercepted, so security becomes an issue.

• Wired communication transmits data between two connection points, so interception is difficult and security can be considered to be high. However, connectors and cables are a nuisance.

• RedTacton is situated directly between wireless and wired communication. In other words, RedTacton allows for easy connection without connectors, while at the same time allowing transmission of data only between two contact points. It thus has the feature of being difficult to intercept.

• The 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

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ADVANTAGE OVER BLUETOOTH

• RedTacton claims to be able to send data over the human skin surface at transfer speeds of up to 10Mbps, or better than a broadband T1 connection.

• Maximum speed offered by Bluetooth is 3Mbps.

• According to Tom Zimmerman, inventor of the IBM personal networking system, body-based networking is more secure than broadcast systems, such as Bluetooth, which have a range of about 10m.The issue is that with Bluetooth, it is difficult to rein in the signal and restrict it to the device you are trying to connect to. In a busy place there could be hundreds of Bluetooth devices within range. The signal can be tapped into and used by others.

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PROTOTYPE DEVICES

Portable Card-Size Transmitter• Transmission rate:230 kbps • Protocol: Proprietary protocol• Transmission method: Unidirectional

Embedded Receiver• Transmission rate:230 kbps • Protocol: Proprietary protocol• Transmission method: Unidirectional• External device interface: 10/100Base-T,RS232C

Security devices whose development has been completed

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REDTACTON Transceiver (PC-Card Type)Transmission rate: 10 Mbps Protocol: TCP/IPTransmission method: Half-duplexTerminal interface: PCMCIA

REDTACTON Transceiver (Hub Type)Transmission rate:10 Mbps Protocol: TCP/IPTransmission method: Half-duplexExternal device interface:10BASE-T

USB TransceiverTransmission rate not yet determined (in testing stage)

Transmission devices whose development is in progress.

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ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGESADVANTAGES :

• RedTacton does not require the electrode to be in direct contact with the skin.

• RedTacton transceivers are programmable and we can decide what to share with whom and what devices you communicate with.

• Transmission speed does not deteriorate even though the number of users increases.

• Data loss during transfer is less• Use of minimum amount of power.• Security is more.• No problem of hackers . It is very hard to pick up stray electronic signals

radiating from the body.

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• Cable connections are eliminated. The body itself is used as transmission medium.

• Print out where you want just by touching the desired printer with one hand and a PC or digital camera with the other hand to make the link.

• A RedTacton receiver in a cabinet where important documents are stored enables lock administration and keeps a record of who accessed documents at what time.

• More secure than Bluetooth.• Superior than infrared technology & Wi-Fi.

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CHALLENGES:

• The obvious barrier to entry is that the cost and time to develop HAN TECH. is very expensive.

• As a new technology HAN need to gain popularity among users to help pull the technology into the marketplace instead of having it pushed upon them.

• Widespread marketing campaigns will need to be developed to highlight the benefits of HAN technology to facilitate its adoption.

• Not useful unless many people adopt it.

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FUTURE USE: PLANS FOR COMMERCIALISATION

• It seems like there was a press release event where they demoed the technology. The first demo was a PDA medication assistant that shows instructions relevant to touched medicine bottles. The second was a museum guide PDA whose contents was fed from a floor-embedded transmitter through user’s feet.

• NTT plans to develop transceivers with an emphasis on portability that are more compact, cost-effective and less power consumption. Through field testing, NTT will continue to investigate and improve the robustness of Human Area Networking and human body surface communication applications

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CONCLUSION

Many areas can benefit from this technology. Human society is entering an era of ubiquitous computing, where everything is networked. RedTacton is gearing up to compete with Bluetooth, Zigbee, IrDA (infrared data association), UWB (ultra wide band). So we can clearly say that, this technology will spawn revolutionary changes in the modern communications and become a pivot technology. When we compare RedTacton with other technologies, RedTacton will give a better performance over other. If RedTacton is introduced into cyber market it brings a marvelous & tremendous change and will be adopted by many more people. So, in few years from now everything is going to fall under this super technology. And, finally I conclude,

“FUTURE BELONGS TO  RED TACTON ”

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REFERENCE• CIRCUIT TODAY : 17 Jan 2011 – RedTacton technology report and

research data given in this article.For details : www.circuitstoday.com/redtacton-technology

• www.ntt.com/resource-center/video/data/03redtacton_text.html

• www.studymode.com/subjects/redtacton-page2.html• www.sourcesecurity.com/news/articles/co-3108-

ga.4590.html• 19th feb 2005:article on RedTacton published in usability

news: For details: usabilitynews.usernomics.com/2005/02/redtacton.html

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