Intel wants to use the body for transferring data
Two students participating in a summer internship at Intel have developed a tactile interface to transfer data between two devices via a powered solely by electromagnetic energy ring generated by the human body. The system currently allows to store a few bytes, but it opens up interesting prospects for interaction between objects connected.
Using the human body to transfer data between two computers, that is what managed to make two students participating in the program Collaborators Intel internship. Over a period of three months full-time, it aims to train student teams to "solve technical problems in the real world." In this case, Patrick Jr. and Arsen Buah Zoksimovski have created a device that allows you to copy and paste between two laptops using a ring.
For this, they installed two touch sensors on PC. When the wearer of the ring puts his finger on the first sensor, the application proposes to transfer him. It selects the desired file via Windows Explorer and it is then transmitted to the ring form of electromagnetic signal, the body playing as an antenna and transmitter-receiver ring. The user then places his finger on the touch sensor of the second laptop, select the "recovery" and the file is copied instantly option.
The ring is not powered by a battery, testing was done with a file only a few bytes containing an emoticon. But the two students have already approved for other uses. For example, the ability to retrieve GPS coordinates of a mapping application and transfer to a navigation device by touching it. Or, you can store on the ring ID of a file and then just touch a compatible printer to obtain a hard copy.
A software framework and APIs have been developed to exploit the method with various applications. Most of the work focused on the analysis of electromagnetic waves and how to manage interference caused by their passage through the human body. The objective was to obtain a stable enough signal to read, copy, store and transmit data via a device that is powered by the electromagnetic energy.
"We had to adjust the electrical circuit using capacitors and inductors, in order to reduce signal loss to a minimum and get the most stable connection possible in order to transfer data. This should be done quickly so you do not have to keep your finger on the touch sensor more than a second, "explains Patrick Buah Jr. and Arsen Zoksimovski in the statement released by Intel. They see two possible outlets for their invention. Built for connected objects or intelligent clothing, such communication protocol could create a network in which the human body is the channel. Various objects connected communicate with each other through electromagnetic waves without external power. The second possibility is that of an object or logged clothing that interacts with a third terminal of the computer type, printer, smartphone, screen, etc. Communication could even be between two people touching to exchange data. Intel, however, did not refer to specific project based on this technology.
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