IBM scientist utilizes human body as data conduit
By Zatni Arbi
LAS VEGAS (JP): The terms LAN and WAN must be familiar to you, but hardly anyone has heard of PAN. PAN stands for Personal Area Network; a network that connects all of the data devices people carry on their body.
The reason for its name, according to its inventor, IBM scientist Tom Zimmerman, is that people are becoming more and more like a moving office.
People today carry all sorts of data stored in various electronic devices such as our credit cards, ATM cards, other magnetic cards, personal data assistance (PDA), pagers and cellular handphones.
For example, when your pager beeps you take it out of your pocket and read the message on the tiny LCD display. Then you take out your handphone and dial the person who paged you. In a way data is being transmitted from the pager to the handphone.
PAN it will enable you to touch both the pager and the handphone to initiate the call. This can be done because our body can function as a data transmission conduit.
At PAN's first public demonstration at last week's COMDEX computer convention, Tom showed the First Generation of PAN.
The prototype has two parts, a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is very small, with a 9V battery and a microchip. The receiver is no larger than a deck of cards but has more electronics involved.
During the demonstration, I was asked to put my foot on the transmitter which had his business card stored in it. He then placed one of his hands on the receiver connected to a ThinkPad. He held my hand with his other hand and the notebook started typing out his business card on the screen. The moment he let go of my hand, it stopped. There was a connection even when he just lightly touched my shoulder. What was more amazing was that I was wearing my Nike shoes the whole time.
How did this happen? Tom said the body's natural salinity made it an excellent conductor. PAN exploited this by creating an external electric field that passed an incredibly tiny current through the body. The current carried the data. This is why up to four people touching each other simultaneously can become a perfect conduit for data transmission between two electronic devices.
The transmission rate is about the same as a 2400 bps modem but the theoretical limit was 400.000 bit per second, Tom said.
The obvious questions concern the potential hazards to your body. Tom said the electrical current was only one-billionth of an amp. It was tiny but could still go pass through clothes or the rubber soled shoes.
Furthermore, because the current was so weak, it would not penetrate skin by more than a half inch so people's organs should not be affected, Tom said.
He then demonstrated how a balloon scrubbed on a drape created a stronger electrical field than PAN.
The transmission used the AM radio frequency, and the low current was necessary to stop signals from jamming and interfering with each other.
This was why transmitting data through the body was the best type of PAN. Unless you touch both the transmitter and receiver, no data is transmitted.
Another big concern is security. How can you be sure somebody who taps your shoulder will not extract the number of the credit card in your pocket? Or, when queuing at an ATM, how can you make sure the person in front of you cannot not steal your data by touching your arm and the machine and then withdrawing cash from your account?
Tom emphasized the technology was at the research stage so there were lot of questions which needed answering. However, he said data encryption could be one solution to the security problem.
According to IBM, this new technology's potential application is tremendous. In its most trivial form, business cards could be exchanged when two people shook hands. More advanced applications could be made in business transactions, health services and any other electronic information exchanges.
Many great inventions have come out of IBM's labs that never resulted in a commercial product. Hopefully PAN will someday result in productivity enhancing products.