Human body communication technologies and markets are currently being actively developed. We interviewed Hideyuki Nebiya, who is the president of Amplet Inc and familiar with wireless communication and human body communication technologies, in respect to their applications, technological issues, orientation of the development and requirements for establishing the market. (Interviewer: Hideo Ampo, editorial staff)
Q: Could you briefly explain what human body communication is?
Nebiya: It is a means of communication between devices via the human body. It will contribute to a reduction in information leakage because the communication is carried out via the human body. In addition, the transmission loss is believed to be smaller compared with that of wireless spatial transmission, realizing wireless communication with low power consumption.
Q: What kind of applications is it intended for?
Nebiya: It can be used for locking and unlocking of doors as well as medical and health care purposes. It can also be adopted by the entertainment field for transmission of music and image information. And don't forget automotive keyless entry systems and wearable computing systems.
Until the spring of 2008, NTT DoCoMo Inc ran TV commercials in which a user, with a mobile phone equipped with a human body communication capability in his/her pocket, unlocks a door, starts the engine of a scooter, goes through an automatic ticket gate and pays for a drink at a vending machine.
Q: How about the progress in the development of its usage and market?
Nebiya: A number of companies have been working on the employment of human body communication technologies and actually developed prototypes. A variety of companies, including electronic manufacturers, mobile phone companies, office equipment manufacturers, automobile manufacturers and house builders, showed demonstrations.
In the demonstrations, they used the products incorporating human body communication technologies, such as keys for locking and unlocking, cash registers for retail shops and transmission and common use of video, music and textual information in the entertainment field. Some demonstrations could be seen at Security Show 2009 and IC Card World 2009, both of which took place in March 2009 (See related article).
We have recently received many inquiries about their applications to sensor networks, which are drawing attention from not only the industrial sector but also from the medical and healthcare sectors. People in medical organizations and healthcare companies seem to be placing greater expectations on human body communication technologies probably because the human body information gained by sensing can be transmitted to devices via the human body.
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