Don't have a LAN connection, use your body
Source: http://mb2.indiatimes.com/h/search?sfi=2#

 

Forget LAN or Bluetooth here's a way to turn yourself into a walking talking file transfer machine. Japanese company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) has developed technology that uses the human body as a high-speed network. What's more, it also forms a communications link between people and electronic devices.

This is the first viable Human Area Network (HAN) device, enabling fast data transfer between devices using the human body as a conduit.

The transceivers - called RedTacton - uses the surface of the human body as a safe, high speed network transmission path.

A transmission path is formed at the moment a part of the human body comes in contact with a RedTacton transceiver.

The company says that this latest development can transmit data over the surface of the skin at up to 2Mbps. RedTacton-enabled device does not have to be in direct contact with the skin - only within about 20cm.

Here's the logic: 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.

The HAN or Human Area Networks is scheduled to go on sale next year

 

NTT says that the technology can be developed as an alternative to Bluetooth or WLAN technologies for very short range, high-speed communications.

The transceivers use an optical sensor to interpret fluctuations in the electric field of the human body through the use of a miniature laser and a crystal mounted in the transceivers.

 

The weak electric fields that exist around many kinds of objects - including metals, many plastics, glass, ceramics and liquids - make communication between transceivers possible, NTT said. The system is able to work through socks, shoes and gloves, and on both dry and oily skin

 

A person equipped with a sensor can exchange data with another person carrying a sensor by shaking hands, and between a person and a device by touching it, walking on it, or by sitting on it, the company said.

The transceivers, which require a PCMCIA card to connect with an electronic device, use several hundred milliwatts of power and are insulated to avoid electric shocks.