04/09/2015
Forget Bluetooth, new wireless technology uses your body to transmit data
Bluetooth redefines ubiquitous. It’s seemingly everywhere, and nowhere more so than in personal wearable devices such as fitness trackers, smart watches, audio headsets, earphones… you name it.
But what if it’s not the best technology for the job? Researchers at the University of California, San Diego in the US have developed a prototype to show off a new wireless communication technique which they say massively outperforms existing wireless tech by using the human body itself to help send data between devices.
The researchers call their new method “magnetic field human body communication”. The technique uses the body as a vehicle to deliver magnetic energy between wearable electronic gadgets. For the system to function and propagate magnetic fields through the body, the wearable device needs to be circular in nature (like the coil shown in the image above), meaning it could work for things like fitness bands, smart watches, headbands, or belts.
The primary benefit is lower power consumption. Whereas Bluetooth devices worn on the body transmit data via radio signals, the electromagnetic radiation that makes up these signals is blocked by something – you.
Compared to something like Bluetooth, which transmits data in a wide radius of several metres, magnetic field human body communication prevents any kind of digital eavesdropping, as the signals are largely contained to your body.