Human-structure and human-structure-human interaction in electro-quasistatic regime
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Augmented living equipped with electronic devices requires widespread connectivity and a low-loss communication medium for humans to interact with ambient technologies. However, traditional radiative radio frequency-based communications require wireless pairing to ensure specificity during information exchange, and with their broadcasting nature, these incur energy absorption from the surroundings. Recent advancements in electroquasistatic body-coupled communication have shown great promise by utilizing conductive objects like the human body as a communication medium. Here we propose a fundamental set of modalities of non-radiative interaction by guiding electroquasistatic signals through conductive structures between humans and surrounding electronic devices. Our approach offers pairing-free communication specificity and lower path loss during touch. Here, we propose two modalities: Human-Structure Interaction and Human-Structure Human Interaction with wearable devices. We validate our theoretical understanding with numerical electromagnetic simulations and experiments to show the feasibility of the proposed approach. A demonstration of the real-time transfer of an audio signal employing an human body communications-based Human-Structure Interaction link is presented to highlight the practical impact of this work. The proposed techniques can potentially influence Human-Machine Interaction research, including the development of assistive technology for augmented living and personalized healthcare. Samyadip Sarkar, David Yang, and colleagues demonstrate how to extend electro-quasistatic body communication to conductive objects through the human body to enable a human-computer interaction. Their proof-of-concept study shows an interaction between wearable and off-body communicating devices via a conductive surface.
Source: Communications Engineering
Authors: Samyadip Sarkar, David Yang, Mayukh Nath, Arunashish Datta, Shovan Maity, Shreyas Sen
Institution: Purdue University West Lafayette
Language: English
Topic: Wireless Body Area Networks
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,190
OpenAlex ID: W4407696993