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Electrical engineers at the University of California, San Diego demonstrated a new wireless communication technique that works by sending magnetic signals through the human body. The new technology could offer a lower power and more secure way to communicate information between wearable electronic devices, providing an improved alternative to existing wireless communication systems, researchers said. They presented their findings Aug. 26 at the 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in Milan, Italy.
While this work is still a proof-of-concept demonstration, researchers envision developing it into an ultra low power wireless system that can easily transmit information around the human body. An application of this technology would be a wireless sensor network for full-body health monitoring.
"In the future, people are going to be wearing more electronics, such as smart watches, fitness trackers and health monitors. All of these devices will need to communicate information with each other. Currently, these devices transmit information using Bluetooth radios, which use a lot of power to communicate. We're trying to find new ways to communicate information around the human body that use much less power," said Patrick Mercier, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego who led the study. Mercier also serves as the co-director of the UC San Diego Center for Wearable Sensors.
This could lead to many lab hijinks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 02 2015, @09:52PM
You know, it's very unscientific of you to dismiss out of hand any claims that you may dislike due to personal bias just because proof of those claims is not immediately forthcoming. Wi-Fi has become so pervasive that telling people not to use Wi-Fi is akin to telling people to get the fuck out of your exclusive society because society belongs to the elites who are exactly like you.
(Score: 2) by Zinho on Thursday September 03 2015, @04:57PM
Wi-Fi has become so pervasive that telling people not to use Wi-Fi is akin to telling people to get the fuck out of your exclusive society because society belongs to the elites who are exactly like you.
I made no such suggestion. I was suggesting that attacking producers of a potentially useful technology that has no possible method for transmitting beyond the person using it is unreasonable. If this technology causes pain to the wearer then that person should discontinue use; no one is forcing them to adopt this. Further, since this is a non-transmitting method of networking, the extraordinary claim that being near it causes suffering in people who claim electromagnetic hypersensitivity will require equally extraordinary proof.
You know, it's very unscientific of you to accept out of hand any claims that you may like due to personal bias when proof of those claims is not immediately forthcoming.
FTFY. I don't doubt that there are people experiencing real discomfort which they attribute to electromagnetic radiation. Unfortunately for them, despite concerted efforts from the global scientific and medical community [who.int] no link has been established between electromagnetic emissions and the symptoms reported. The researchers are careful to state [emfandhealth.com] that they believe the suffering is real: "a mobile phone triggers symptoms, but it doesn't do so through electromagnetic radiation." Many repeated tests over time have found the same thing. Science is on the side of the skeptics in this case, and burden of proof is now on those who claim against evidence to have a 6th sense for radio.
Regardless, I have high hopes that TFA's new technology may even be a great thing for people who can't use bluetooth headsets or hold their phone to their ear due to the discomfort they experience when doing so. A non-radio method of getting the sound to the ear would be a welcome blessing for those people.
In light of the other posts saying that this requires a full-circle band around a body part to receive, what are the odds that chokers with bone-conduction speakers become fashionable if this takes off? I just hope it doesn't look like a dog's electroshock training collar; it's going to need to be REALLY miniaturized to not look silly. It's probably more practical to embed it in a hat instead. [coolpile.com]
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin