Researchers are looking to use the human body as a tool to transmit digital data. Digital data can be successfully transmitted to the receiving point with a special wristband. New technology for transferring data through the human body has been developed by Perdue University engineers. This project will make it possible to make a payment by simply touching the machine with your finger instead of inserting a card or scanning a smartphone. This kind of technology has been developed in the past, in which two people wearing a special bracelet can transfer data by touching their fingertips. In this system, even the door locks could be opened by touching. Sensor experts Shreyas Sen and David Yang from Purdue University announced a similar technology. Again, the person wearing a special wearable device transmitted digital data to the receiving point through his body. The new prototype developed by Purdue University engineers simply makes it possible to transmit information just by touching a surface as it makes your body to be linked between a card or smartphone and the reader or scanner. In this technology, low-power electromagnetic fields are assisted. That means, while digital data is kept securely in the body, it is transmitted only when the receiving point is contacted.
Making Your Body Online The prototype is the first technology that can transfer any information with the direct touch of a fingertip. Yet it doesn’t transfer money. A user can wear this prototype as a watch to use their own body to send information such as a photo or password when touching a sensor on a laptop. The technology establishes “internet” within the body to send information through smartphones, smart watches or any other wearable devices. These devices typically communicate using Bluetooth signals that tend to radiate out from the body. But Sen’s technology keeps signals confined within the body by coupling them in a much lower on the electromagnetic spectrum than typical Bluetooth communication: so-called “Electro- Quasistatic range”. This mechanism enables transferring information by only touching a surface. The information wouldn’t transfer through this technology without direct touch, even if your finger hovered just one centimeter above a surface. That could help to protect private information like credit cards from possible stealing attempts of hackers by intercepting the signals. Researchers state that in this transmission method, moves such as interception or shortcuts by attackers will not work. So it is more secure than other transfer methods. Therefore it has great potential in many areas such as mobile payment or digital identity at the entrances of buildings. However, a way needs to be found so that the digital identity in the body is not transmitted to unrelated receiving points, as transferring critical data to every contact point can cause a major problem. Researchers think that after overcoming such obstacles, data transmission technology over the body will become perfect. It will also find widespread use when integrated into daily wearable devices such as smart watches.