VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

BELAGAVI-590018, KARNATAKA.

REDTACTON TECHNOLOGY

A SEMINAR REPORT

Submitted by

ABHISHEKH H T
4JD13EC001

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
IN
ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Mr. ANANDA M. K.
ASST. PROFESSOR
DEPT. OF E&CE

ARKA educational & cultural trust

Jain Institute of Technology, Davangere
(A Unit of Jain Group of Institutions)
#323, Bada Cross, Avargere,
Davanagere 577003

2016-17
JAIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DAVANGERE 577003
 C E R T I F I C AT E

This is to certify that the seminar entitled REDTACTON TECHNOLOGY

submitted by Ms. ABHISHEKH H.T. (4JD13EC001) to the VISVESVARAYA
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY (VTU), BELAGAVI towards partial
fulfillment of the requirements, for the award of the degree of BACHELOR OF
ENGINEERING (B.E) in ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION
ENGINEERING (E&CE) is a bona fide record of the work carried out by him under
supervision and guidance of Mr. ANANDA M. K., Assistant Professor, Dept. of
E&CE, Jain Institute of Technology, Davangere during the academic year 2016-17.

Prof. Ananda M. K. Prof. Manjunath D. M.

Assistant Professor Seminar Coordinator
Department of E&CE Department of E&CE
JIT Davangere JIT Davangere

Dr. Nagaraja B. G.
Professor & HOD
Department of E&CE
JIT Davangere

DECLARATION
 "I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the
best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously
published or written by another person nor material which has been
accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of the university
or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgment
has been made in the text.

Place: Davangere Signature

Date: 27/01/2017 Name: Abhishekh H. T.

USN: 4JD13EC001
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the people who have
extended their help and support during my seminar work.

I express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Manjunatha T. S., Principal, JIT

Davangere and Dr. Nagaraja B. G., HOD, Dept. of E&CE, JIT
Davangere for his motivation and support.

I am highly thankful to seminar Coordinator, Prof. Manjunath D. M

and my guide Prof. Ananda M. K. for the guidance and valuable
suggestions during the course of seminar work.

I would like to thank all the teaching staff of Dept. of E&CE, JIT
Davangere for their help and support during my seminar work.

I would like to thank my friends who helped and provided suggestions

during the seminar work.

ABHISHEKH H. T.
USN 4JD13EC001
 ABSTRACT

All the user-friendly services require technologies that enable communication

between people and objects in close proximity. This paper describes a model of
human area networking technology that enables communication by touching, a
technology we call Red Tacton. Human area networking technology for
communication between mobile terminals and between terminals that are embedded
in the environment has become important. When cables are used for communication
between terminals, the routing of the cables is clearly inconvenient. When very weak
radio signals are used for the communication, data speeds are reduced by packet
collision and other such problems in crowded places such as exhibition sites and
security risk from unwanted signal interception is another problem. Technology for
solving such problems includes the use of the person body as a signal path for
communication. A transmission path is formed automatically when a person comes
into contact with a device and communication between mobile terminals begins. Here,
the human body acts as a transmission medium supporting IEEE 802.3 half duplex
communication at 10Mbit/s.

Keywords - Red Tacton, Human Area Networking, Communication

through Touch Technology
 Contents
CHAPTER 1.............................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................1
1.1. HUMAN AREA NETWORK.......................................................................................................1

CHAPTER 2.............................................................................................................................................3

REDTACTON......................................................................................................................................3
2.1. What is RedTacton?..................................................................................................................3
2.2. FEATURES.................................................................................................................................4
2.3. RED TACTON TRANSCEIVER..................................................................................................6

CHAPTER 3.............................................................................................................................................7

WORKING PRINCIPLE AND MECHANISM................................................................................7

3.1 WORKING PRINCIPLE..............................................................................................................7
3.2 MECHANISM..............................................................................................................................8
3.3 HUMAN SAFETY........................................................................................................................9

CHAPTER 4...........................................................................................................................................10

APPLICATIONS................................................................................................................................10
4.1 One To One Service...................................................................................................................10
4.2. Intuitive Operation...................................................................................................................11
4.3. Personalization.........................................................................................................................11
4.4. Security Applications................................................................................................................12

CHAPTER 5...........................................................................................................................................14

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES......................................................................................14

5.1 ADVANTAGES...........................................................................................................................14
5.2 DISADVANTAGES.....................................................................................................................14

CHAPTER 6...........................................................................................................................................15

CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................15

REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................................16
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Communication between electronic devices on the human body ..............................2

Figure 2: operation carried out by motion of human body........................................................4
Figure 3: interaction by RED TACTON...................................................................................5
Figure 4: Block diagram of RedTacton Transceiver..................................................................6
Figure 5: Block diagram of RedTacton working.......................................................................7
Figure 6: communication with Redactor...................................................................................8
Figure 7: One to one services..................................................................................................10
Figure 8: Intuitive Operation...................................................................................................11
Figure 9: Personalization........................................................................................................12
Figure 10: Security application...............................................................................................13
 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. HUMAN AREA NETWORK

In todays world, people can communicate anytime, anywhere and

with anyone over a cellphone. Also, through internet people can download large
quantities of quality data from remote locations. These technologies facilitate far-
away communication for the users. Most electronic devices including personal
digital assistants (PDAs), pocket video games and digital cameras have reduction
in size, so that they can be carried around and used at the instance of requirement.
These are used to carry various personal or public information and
communications in everyday activities. However, user friendly ubiquitous services
involve more than just networking between remotely located terminals
.Communication between electronic devices on the human body (wearable
computers) and ones embedded in our everyday environments such as illustrated
in Figure 1 is also critical, so this has driven extensive research and
development on human area networks. Wired connections between electronic
devices in human area networks are cumbersome and can easily become
entangled. Short range wireless communication systems such as Bluetooth and
wireless local area networks (IEEE 802.11b, etc.) have some problems.
Throughput is reduced by packet collisions in crowded space such as meeting
rooms and auditoriums filled with people and communication is not secure
because signals can be intercepted. The principle drawback of infrared
communication (IrDA) is the tight directionality of beams between terminals is
needed for the system to be effective.

The ultimate human area network solution to all these constraints of

conventional technologies is intra body communication, in which the human
body serves as the transmission medium. In ubiquitous services (which imply
communication between electronic devices embedded in the environment in close

JIT, Davangere 1 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

proximity to people), if we could use the human body itself as a transmission

medium, then this would be an ideal way of implementing human area networks
because it would solve at a stroke all the problems including throughput
reduction, low security and high network setup costs. The concept of intra
body communication, which uses the minute electric field propagated by the
human body to transmit information, was first pro-posed by IBM. The mechanism
has subsequently been evaluated and reported several research group around the
world.

Figure 1: Communication between electronic devices on the human body (wearable computers)

However, all those reported technologies had two limitations:

The operating range through the body was limited to a few ten of
centimeters.
The top communication speed was only 40kbit/s. These limitations arise
from the use of an electrical sensor for the receiver.
An electrical sensor requires two lines (a signal line and a ground
line), whereas in intra body communication there is essentially only one signal
line i.e. the body itself, which leads to an unbalanced transmission line, so the
signal is not transmitted correctly.

JIT, Davangere 2 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

CHAPTER 2

REDTACTON

NTT has had excellent success with an electro- optic sensor combining an electro-
optic crystal with laser light and recently reported an application of this sensor for
measuring high frequency electronic devices. The electrooptic sensor has three key
features:
It can measure electric fields from a device under test (DUT) without
contacting it, which minimizes measurement disturbance,
Ultra-wide band measurement is possible, and
It supports one point contact measurement that is independent of the
ground, which is the most significant feature in the present context.
NTT utilized this third feature to fabricate an intra body communication
receiver for its human area networking technology, which is called Red Tacton.

2.1. WHAT IS REDTACTON?

RedTacton Technology was introduced by Nippon Telegraph and

Telephone Corporation (NTT). TACTON-meaning action triggered by touching
and RED - It is an auspicious color according to Japanese culture for warmth. It is
a technology that uses the surface of the human body as a safe, high speed
network transmission. The study of Human Area Networking
RedTacton uses the minute electric field emitted on the surface of the
human body. It is completely distinct from wireless and infrared.
A transmission path is formed at a part of the human body which
comes in contact with a RedTacton transceiver. Physically
separating ends the contact and thus ends communication.
Using RedTacton, communication starts when terminals carried by the
user are linked in several combinations according to the user's natural,
physical movements.

JIT, Davangere 3 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

Communication is possible using any body surface, such as the hand, fingers,
feet, face, legs, skin or toes. Red Tacton works through shoes and clothing as
well

2.2. FEATURES

RedTacton has three main functional features.

TOUCH:

Touching, gripping, sitting, walking, stepping and other human movements can be
the triggers for unlocking or locking, starting or stopping equipment, or obtaining data
as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: operation carried out by motion of human body

Using RedTacton, communication starts when terminals carried by the user or

embedded in devices are linked in various combinations through physical contact
according to the human's natural movements.

BROADBAND & INTERACTIVE:

Duplex, interactive communication is possible at a maximum speed of
10Mbps. Because the transmission path is on the surface of the body, transmission
speed does not deteriorate in congested areas where many people are communicating
at the same time. Maximum communication speed may be slower than 10Mbps

depending on the usage environment as shown in Figure 3.

JIT, Davangere 4 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

Figure 3: interaction by RED TACTON

Communication speed can deteriorate in crowded spaces due to a lack of

bandwidth. Device drivers can be downloaded instantly and executable programs can
be quickly sent. Taking advantage of this speed, device drivers can be downloaded
instantly and execute programs can be sent.

ANY-MEDIA:
In addition to the human body, various conductors and dielectrics can be used as
transmission media. Conductors and dielectrics may also be used in combination.
signals travel along the surfaces of materials
Signals pass through materials.
combinations of travel along and passing through materials
The examples for conductor & dielectric mediums are:
In which signal traveling along and passing through materials, a
communication environment can be created easily and at low-cost by using items close
at hand, such as desks, walls, and metal objects.

JIT, Davangere 5 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

2.3. RED TACTON TRANSCEIVER

Human Area Network (HAN) development grew out of a meeting between

Professor Mike Hawleys Personal Information Architecture Group and Professor
Neil Gershenfelds Physics and Media Group, both at the MIT Media Laboratory.
Professor Hawley's group needed to i n t e r c o n n e c t body-borne information
appliances, and Professor Gershenfelds group had been applying electric field
sensing to position measurement.
RedTacton Transceiver:

Figure 4: Block diagram of RedTacton Transceiver

Transmitter consists transmitter circuit that sends electric field towards the body
and a data sense circuit which distinguishes transmitting and receiving modes by
detecting both transmission and reception data and output control signals
corresponding to the modes to enable two way communication as shown in Figure

4.
Implementation of receiver half-duplex communication scheme that sends
only after checking to make sure that there is no data to receive in order to avoid
packet collusion. Redtacton takes advantages of the long overlooked electric field
that surrounds human body.

JIT, Davangere 6 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

CHAPTER 3

WORKING PRINCIPLE AND MECHANISM

3.1 WORKING PRINCIPLE

RedTacton takes a different technical approach. Instead of depending

on electromagnetic waves or light waves to carry data. RedTacton using weak
electric fields on the surface of the body as a transmission medium as shown in
Figure 5,

Figure 5: Block diagram of RedTacton working

The RedTacton transmitter induces a weak electric field on the surface of the
body.
The RedTacton receiver senses changes in the weak electric field on the
surface of the body caused by the transmitter.
RedTacton relies upon the principle that the optical properties of an electro-
optic crystal can vary according to the changes of a weak electric field.
RedTacton detects changes in the optical properties of an electro-optic
crystal using a laser and converts the result to an electrical signal in an
optical receiver circuit.
Multiple transceivers can be used simultaneously. The reason is RedTacton
uses a proprietary CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision

JIT, Davangere 7 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

Detection) protocol that allows multiple accesses with the same medium
from multiple nodes.
3.2 MECHANISM

Figure 6: communication with Redactor

The naturally occurring electric field induced on the surface of the human

body dissipates into the earth as shown in Figure 6.Therefore, this electric field
is exceptionally faint and not stable. The photonic electric field sensor developed
by NTT enables weak electric fields to be measured by detecting changes in the
optical properties o f an electro-optic c r ys t a l with a laser beam.
The electric field induced towards the body by the transmitters signal
electrode is represented by Ea. The system requires a ground close to the
transmitter signal electrode, so electric field Eb induced from the body can follow a
return path to the transmitter ground. Moreover, since people are usually standing
on a floor or the ground, electric field Ec escapes from the body to ground, mainly
from the feet. The electric field Es that reaches the receiver is Es= Ea-(Eb +Ec). It
couples to the electro-optic crystal and changes the crystals optical properties. This

JIT, Davangere 8 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

change is detected by laser light and transformed into digital data by a detector
circuit.

3.3 HUMAN SAFETY

The transmitting and receiving electrodes of the RedTacton t r a n s c e i v e r

are completely covered with insulating film, so the body of the person acting as
transmission medium is completely insulated. This makes impossible for current to
flow into a persons body from the transceiver. When communication takes place,
displacement current is generated by the electrons in the body because the body is
subjected to minute electrical fields. Such type of displacement currents are very
common everyday occurrences to which we are all subjected.

JIT, Davangere 9 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

CHAPTER 4

APPLICATIONS

There are many application of redtacton technology in different fields. This

technology will widely used in daily working schedule and provide convenience to
people.

4.1 ONE TO ONE SERVICE

4.1.1.An Alarm
RedTacton devices embedded medicine bottles transmit information on the
medicines attributes. If the user touches the wrong medicine, an alarm will trigger on
the terminal he is carrying. The alarm sounds only if the user actually
touches the medicine bottle, reducing false alarms common with passive wireless
ID tags, which can trigger simply by proximity as shown in fig. Fig 7 shows an
alarm sounds automatically to avoid accidental medicine ingestion in the first

application on the left side of Figure 7. Right part of fig describes touch
advertising and receive information.

Figure 7: One to one services

4.1.2.Touch Advertising

JIT, Davangere 10 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

When a consumer stands in front of an advertising panel and information

matching his or her attributes is automatically displayed. By touching or standing in
front of items, consumers can get more in-depth information.

4.2. INTUITIVE OPERATION

4.2.1.Touch a printer to print

Print out where you want just by touching the desired printer
with one hand and a PC or digital camera with the other hand to make the
link Complicated configurations are reduced by downloading device

drivers at first touch as you see in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Intuitive Operation

4.2.2.Instant private data exchange

By shaking hands, personal profile data can be exchanged between
mobile terminals on the users. (Electronic exchange of business cards)
Communication can be kept private using authentication and encryption
technologies.

4.3. PERSONALIZATION

There are several application under which personalization. Some application

are as shown in the Figure 9.

4.3.1.Just Touching a phone makes it your own

JIT, Davangere 11 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

Your own phone number is allocated and billing commences.

Automatic importing of personal address book and call history

4.3.2. Personalization of Automobiles

The seat position and steering wheel height adjust to match the
driver just by sitting in the car. The drivers home is set as the destination
in the car navigation system. The stereo plays the drivers favorite song

Figure 9: Personalization

4.3.3. Wireless Headset

Redtacon can carry music or video between headset, mobile devices,
mobile phones, etc. Users can listen to music from a Red Tacton player
simply by putting on a headset or holding a viewer.

4.3.4. Conference System

An electrically conductive sheet is embedded in the table. A
network connection is initiated simply by placing a lap-top on the table.
Using different sheet patterns enables segmentation of the table into
subnets.

JIT, Davangere 12 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

4.4. SECURITY APPLICATIONS

Red Tacton is very secure in all respects such as authenticity,

authorization and verification as well as unlocking as we see in Figure 10.

4.4.1. User verification and unlocking with just a touch carrying a

mobile
Red Tacton capable device in ones pocket, ID is verified and the door
unlocked when the user holds the doorknob normally. Secure lock
administration is possible by combining personal verification tools such as
fingerprint ID or other biometric in the mobile terminal.

4.4.2. Automatic access log

There is also a facility to access automatic log for confidential document
storage. These access logs contain database information in the form of log
files.

Figure 10: Security application

JIT, Davangere 13 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

CHAPTER 5

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

5.1 ADVANTAGES

RedTacton does not require the electrode to be in direct contact with the
skin.
High speed communication is possible between any two arbitrary points
on the human body.
Transmission does not deteriorate even if number of users increases.
Superior than Wi-Fi.
Security is more.
Use of minimum amount of power (of some millivolt range).
Data loss during transmission is less.

Data transfer is faster and easier.

5.2 DISADVANTAGES

Accidental transfer of data is possible if interface is not programmed

properly.
Effects on human body is still under research.
It can be useful within few centimeters only.

JIT, Davangere 14 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

This technology definitely stands out with perfection, when transfer of data is fast,
feasible and more importantly reliable. So, in few years from now everything is
going to fall under this super technology. And, finally I conclude,
FUTURE BELONGS TO RED TACTON

JIT, Davangere 15 Dept. of E&CE

 Seminar Report On Redtacton Technology

JIT, Davangere 16 Dept. of E&CE

16