Human electric fields create ethernet
Japanese researchers have constructed a high-speed indoor PC network using human bodies as invisible ethernet nodes.
Technicians at NTT Docomo Multimedia Labs and NTT Microsystem Integration Labs collaborated to produce a 10-megabits-per-second network, a so-called ElectAura-Net.
The wireless network avoids the use of infrared and radio or microwaves to transmit information between electric fields produced by humans and transceivers in special floor tiles.
The network is reportedly faster than Bluetooth and beats speeds set using infrared.
The prototype allows users with PDAs or other portable devices to connect to the internet by merely standing or walking on the floor. Each transceiver on the floor covers an area of roughly one square metre.
The wireless network was first developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996.
According to scientists at NTTDoCoMo, one of the advantages of ElectAura-Net is that security is enhanced, as there is effectively no over-the-air data transfer.
Critics say ElectAura-Net may be costly as a transceiver is required under each square metre of indoor space.
Moreover, the health ramifications of using the human body’s electric fields have yet to be fully explored.
