Special Feature: Trends and Business Prospects for Human-area

Networking Technology––Connecting People, Objects, and Networks

RedTacton Near-body Electric-field

Communications Technology and
Its Applications
Yuichi Kado† and Mitsuru Shinagawa
Abstract
We discuss the background and principles for the development of near-human-body electric-field
communications technology and describe two key techniques for establishing stable communications:
efficient electric-field induction and ambient noise reduction. We also describe the features of this com-
munications technology, clarify differences from conventional short-range wireless technologies, and
discuss its application areas.

1. Introduction field communications technology are that it sup-

presses the emission of the electric field from the
The near-body electric-field communication sys- body into space, so mutual interference is reduced,
tem described in this Special Feature consists of (1) a and it enables intuitive connection through touch
transmitter that emits an alternating current (AC) communication since the signal propagates over the
electric-field signal modulated by input data from an bodily surface.
electrode and (2) a receiver that uses another elec- The first person to study this sort of electric-field
trode to read the weak AC electric field on the body communications technology, as a means of commu-
induced by the signal and demodulates it to recover nication among multiple wearable computers that
the data from it (Fig. 1). users would attach to their bodies, was T. G. Zimmer-
The transmitter and receiver are capacitively cou- man, who was at IBM at the time. He envisioned the
pled to the human body through flat electrodes that body as a signal bus between the computers and pro-
are equivalent to the antennas in regular wireless sys- posed an electric-field technology using an AC elec-
tems. The near-body electric field is modulated and tric field ranging from 0.1 to 1 MHz. He built a pro-
can be read and demodulated through these cou- totype electric-field communications system using
plings. A feature of the technology is that, because 330 kHz and demonstrated the potential of the con-
the signal is passed to and from the body’s surface cept [1]. However, he chose the frequency range from
through this capacitive coupling, it can be transmitted 0.1 to 1.0 MHz to limit electric-field emissions,
between transmitter and receiver via the body’s sur- which probably made it difficult to achieve stable
face, even if one of them is in the user’s pocket, and communication without transmitting a strong signal
the other is under the carpet on the floor, for example. because of the significant amount of ambient noise
If this technology is applied to an entry control sys- that is usually normally present at frequencies below
tem or ticket gate, it is much more convenient than 1 MHz. When the transmission signal is strong, a
conventional contactless cards because you do not stronger electric field is emitted around the body,
even need to remove the access card from your pock- reducing differentiation from other short-range wire-
et (Fig. 2). Other features of the near-body electric- less technologies. Ultimately, Zimmerman stopped
development of the technology in favor of other
† NTT Microsystem Integration Laboratories short-range wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi and
Atsugi-shi, 243-0198 Japan Bluetooth [2].

 NTT Technical Review

 Special Feature

Ground
Ground Signal Signal electrode
Transmitter electrode electrode electrode
f = 5−10 MHz

Receiver

Electric Transmitter Receiver

field lines

Earth ground Earth ground

(a) Model of electric-field distribution (b) Model of capacitive coupling

Fig. 1. Electric-field and capacitive-coupling models for near-body electric-field communications.

Transmitter
f = 5−10 MHz

Receiver Receiver

Fig. 2. Typical applications of near-body electric-field communication.

A key aspect of the technology is the behavior of frequency band from 5 to 10 MHz and developed
the AC electric field, which can be summarized in ways of modulating the near-body electric field effi-
terms of three components produced around the body ciently and reducing ambient noise such as electrical
when an AC signal is applied to a parallel-plate elec- hum in the receiver circuits. This enabled us to devel-
trode attached to the body. These components, which op a near-body quasi-static electric-field communica-
are all related to distance r from the body, are: the tions technology capable of providing the quality
quasi-static electric field (proportional to 1/r3), the required for communications services while using a
induced electric field (proportional to 1/r2), and the minimum level of power in the transmitter. We select-
emitted electric field (proportional to 1/r). Our near- ed this frequency range to avoid the strong environ-
body electric-field communications technology uses mental noise below 1 MHz and to control electric-
the quasi-static electric field, which attenuates steeply field emissions from the human body and the trans-
with r, and we can say that it suppresses both the mitter electrodes. We have confirmed that the actual
induced and radiated field components. To suppress electric field produced by our prototype transmitter is
these emissions, we use a low frequency to drive the an order of magnitude smaller than regulation levels
transmitter electrode, higher receiver sensitivity, and for short-range wireless schemes.
the minimum required power for the transmitter.
From the beginning, we were aware of the above
mentioned technical background, so we selected the

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Special Feature

High-efficiency AC electric field induction Ambient noise reduction

High-efficiency signal induction considering Virtual differential detection achieved through

near-body floating capacitance design of receiver and ground electrodes
⇒ Reactance matching circuit Common mode noise specific to near-body
communication is removed

Signal electrode Signal electrode

Reactance
Transmitter Receiver
matching
Xr
Phantom
Signal voltage

Ground electrode
Ground electrode
Floating Floating
capacitance capacitance
Earth ground

Fig. 3. Factors for stable communication.

2. Principles and strengths of the technology loosely coupled to it through this floating capaci-
tance. This capacitance tends to attenuate the AC
A model of the distribution of the electric field signal induced by the transmitter, and the value of this
around the human body is shown in Fig. 1(a). Here, floating capacitance changes continuously with body
the human body is standing above the earth ground, movements. To get efficient induction of a stable AC
and both the transmitter and receiver have signal and electric field, we need to control the effects of this
ground electrodes. An AC field can be transmitted to floating capacitance. We introduced a variable reac-
the body’s surface if the transmitter is capacitively tance circuit into the output stages of the transmitter:
coupled to the body (Fig. 1(b)), so the electrode is when there is resonance between the floating capaci-
isolated with an insulating layer. If the AC signal is in tance and the reactance circuit, the induced signal is
the 5–10 MHz band, the body can be treated essen- maximized. We also added a function enabling the
tially as a conductor, and for the most part, the AC reactance circuit to follow changes in this floating
electric field induced by the transmitter does not radi- capacitance as the body moves, resonating with it.
ate into the region of space around the body, but is Similar to the transmitter, the receiver is electrically
transmitted over the body’s surface and escapes to the floating with respect to the earth ground, as shown in
earth ground. Communication is achieved in the Fig. 4. If common mode noise is introduced, it has a
receiver by detecting this AC electrical field before it strong effect because the impedance balance between
escapes to the earth ground. the signal and ground lines is poor. To detect the weak
However, part of the AC electric field induced on AC electric field arriving at the receiver electrode, it
the body returns to the ground on the transmitter, and is important to somehow control common mode
a significant part escapes directly to the earth ground. noise. To do this, we created a differential structure in
The field distribution also changes continuously as the initial stage amplifier of the receiver and devel-
the person moves, so the receiver must detect a signal oped technology with a careful design from the
that is very faint and unstable, which is a challenge receiver electrode to the positive input of the initial
for ensuring stable communications. First, we stage low-noise amplifier and from the ground elec-
describe the key factors for the transmitter and receiv- trode to the negative input terminal to achieve an
er with reference to a simple equivalent circuit model equivalent differential structure. In this way we were
(Fig. 3). able to reliably remove common-mode noise at the
For the transmitter, it is important to somehow initial-stage amplifier and improve the signal-to-
efficiently induce a stable AC electric-field signal on noise ratio, creating a highly sensitive architecture
the body’s surface. Both the body and the transmitter able to amplify the weak signal.
are floating with respect to the earth ground and are Using the basic technologies described above, we

 NTT Technical Review

 Special Feature

Entry control application Ticket-gate application

Mobile transmitter
(high-efficiency electric field induction)
Wall

Communications

Reactance
matching circuit
Ground line Signal Embedded receiver Communications
line electrodes Signal line
Floor

Ground line

Embedded receivers
(ambient noise reduction technology)

Fig. 4. Common-mode noise suppressed by differential architecture.

Communication speed: 200 kbit/s

Protocol: custom NTT specifications
Uses: mainly security applications

Transmitter Receiver
(business card size)

Fig. 5. Transmitter and receiver prototypes.

were able to efficiently modulate the near-body elec- 3. Applications and future developments
tric field and implement a receiver that can reduce
ambient noise to develop a near-body quasi-electric- This communications technology, which transmits
field communications technology that achieves the signals using an electric field induced on the body’s
quality required to offer communications services surface, could be used to transmit an ID and initiate
and operates at a minimal transmission power level. various actions when you simply use a part of your
A prototype portable card transmitter and a receiver body such as a hand, foot, or the torso to briefly touch
that can be built into environments such as doors or a receiver plate embedded in an object, such as the
floors are shown in Fig. 5. The system uses a carrier floor, a door, or a piece of office equipment. The busi-
frequency of 5 MHz and binary phase shift keying ness-card-sized transmitter emitting the ID informa-
(BPSK) modulation and achieves transmission speeds tion could be attached to any part of the body. With a
of 200 kbit/s. In some typical applications including simple touch, the technology can trigger various
entry control and ticket gate systems, with the trans- responses (act on), so we coined the word tacton to
mitter carried in a jacket breast pocket or trouser express the combination of these two ideas. Since the
pocket transmitting an ID, we achieved communica- color red symbolizes the warmth of touch, we gave
tion with a packet error of rate of less than 10–3. The our technology the name RedTacton [3], [4].
transmitter can operate for approximately one year To highlight the fact that communication is only
using a single CR3032 button-type lithium-ion battery. with the touched object, we compared it with other

Vol. 8 No. 3 Mar. 2010 

Special Feature

Wireless local area networks

100 m

Propagation distance through space

RF-ID (active)/ 802.11b 802.11a/g 802.11n
Local
802.15.4 (Zigbee)
area
10 m Bluetooth UWB

1m RF-ID
(passive)
10 cm Human
Contactless area
IC card Near-body electric-
1 cm field communication
(passive)

1 mm
1 kbit/s 10 kbit/s 100 kbit/s 1 Mbit/s 10 Mbit/s 100 Mbit/s 1 Gbit/s 10 Gbit/s
Transmission speed
RF-ID: radio frequency identification
UWB: ultrawideband

Fig. 6. Comparison of short-range wireless technologies.

ITS
Gate

Communication
Communication able
able to
to
connect
connect intuitively
intuitively
Office security
Medical information
systems

Universal interface

Settlement systems Production/work

management systems

Fig. 7. Expected applications areas.

popular short-range wireless and contactless-card over 10 m through space, communication is limited to
technologies in terms of transmission speed and devices within arm’s reach (the human area). In addi-
propagation distance through space (Fig. 6). RedTac- tion to the above characteristics, in RedTacton, the
ton limits the propagation through space to a range start and end of communication are linked to the
similar to contactless cards and targets transmission user’s actions, which gives an intuitive sense of con-
speeds from 100 kbit/s to 10 Mbit/s. In contrast to nection to the network. This makes the technology a
technologies like wireless local area networks, Blue- universal data transmission interface, with potential
tooth, and ZigBee, which can propagate signals for for expanding the boundaries of information and

 NTT Technical Review

 Special Feature

communications technology (ICT) and creating transportation, as an innovative communications

whole new applications areas. In our aging society, interface connecting people with other people and
concern for health, safety, and security is increasing, with objects (devices).
and as shown in Fig. 7, this technology is promising
for applications in areas such as secure systems, intel- References
ligent transportation systems (ITS), medical informa-
tion systems, production and work-management sys- [1] T. G. Zimmerman, “Personal Area Networks: Near-field intra-body
communication,” IBM Systems Journal, Vol. 35, Nos. 3&4, pp. 609–
tems, and payment and settlement systems. 617, 1996.
We are continuing to expand these application areas [2] H. Goldstein, “NTT’s shaky approach to data transfer targets a solved
together with various partners. In particular, we are problem,” IEEE Spectrum January 2006, pp. 24–25, 2006.
[3] M. Shinagawa, K. Ochiai, H. Sakamoto, and T. Asahi, “Human Area
providing a bidirectional communications version Networking Technology: RedTacton,” NTT Technical Review, Vol. 3,
designed for high-level security applications and are No, 5, pp. 41–6, 2005.
working to further reduce the size and cost of the https://www.ntt-review.jp/archive/ntttechnical.php?contents=ntr2005
05041.pdf
communication modules. We are hoping to expand [4] http://www.redtacton.com/
the range of uses of this technology throughout soci-
ety, in the home and office, in public facilities, and for

Yuichi Kado Mitsuru Shinagawa

Director of Smart Devices Laboratory, NTT Senior Research Engineer, Supervisor, NTT
Microsystem Integration Laboratories. Microsystem Integration Laboratories.
He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees
electronics from Tohoku University, Miyagi, in in electronic engineering from Tohoku Universi-
1983 and 1998, respectively. He joined Nippon ty, Miyagi, in 1983, 1985, and 2005, respectively.
Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation He joined NTT Electrical Communication Labo-
(now NTT) in 1983. He is currently responsible ratories in 1985. His technical areas of interest
for ubiquitous communication appliance tech- include timing jitter analysis of high-speed sam-
nologies at NTT Microsystem Integration Labo- pling systems, electro-optic sensors, high-preci-
ratories. He is leading R&D projects on ultralow- sion waveform measurement for ultrafast elec-
power network appliances, sub-terahertz-wave tronics, electric-field measurement of printed
wireless communication, and intrabody commu- circuit boards, and communication technology
nication. He has been the recipient of several for human area networks. He received the
awards including the 1990 Young Engineer’s Andrew R. Chi Prize Paper Award from IEEE
Award presented by the Institute of Electronics, Transactions on Instrumentation and Measure-
Information and Communication Engineers ment in 1992 and the Okochi Memorial Award of
(IEICE) of Japan, the 2006 Top Innovation Japan in 1997. He is a member of IEEE and
Award (NAB2006), the 2007 BIRTV Award, the IEICE.
2009 Nikkei BP Technology Award, and the 2009
Radiowave Achievement Award presented by the
Association of Radio Industries and Businesses.
He is a member of IEEE.

Vol. 8 No. 3 Mar. 2010