Infrared meets speed and security needs
- Posted:
- 16:45 26 May 2005
- Topics:
- PDA & Hand-helds
You would be forgiven for believing that infrared data
connectivity has been sidelined by the arrival of radio frequency
wireless Lan standards-based equipment, which has enjoyed
phenomenal exponential growth in recent years. But with more than
500 million infrared interfaces shipping each year, it clearly
dwarfs WLan in the volume race.
And don't assume that this market is sustained by remote- control
units, for nearly half of the interfaces shipped conform to the
Infrared Data Association (IRDA) standard, which clearly targets
data communication.
Famously associated with applications such as personal digital
assistant to laptop synchronisation, PDA business card exchange and
short-haul mobile phone data transfer; IRDA, with its short range
and relatively low 4mbps throughput, was understandably discounted
by the IT community as irrelevant for WLan application.
Infrared has squared up to recent competition from Bluetooth, an
alternative radio frequency communications standard designed to
support similar connectivity to IRDA. Simple set-up and good
reliability initially secured IRDA's popularity over Bluetooth.
More recently, questions about Bluetooth's inherent insecurity have
reinforced IRDA's popularity.
IRDA, with its range limit of 1m and inability to penetrate walls,
is extremely secure. Bluetooth, on the other hand, is mired in
controversy, with numerous hacking stories and reminders to users
to disable it when not in use. But really, the battle with
Bluetooth is small beer in comparison with the prize of ubiquitous
connectivity on which IRDA is focused.
IRDA is on the move, with activity and initiatives that are likely
to further increase the already significant number of unit
shipments. Moreover, emerging applications will cause pause for
thought and re-evaluation of infrared and its benefits for
widespread data communications uses.
This even applies to WLan, particularly where security is paramount
or third-party interference is affecting the user experience.
The infrared supplier community has embraced the challenge to
deliver data rates in excess of 100mbps, with talk of possibly
achieving 500mbps to accommodate a wide range of imaginative
applications for which real demand has already been identified in
Japan and the Far East.
Two immediate applications that are set to transform our lives are
multimedia file transfers and electronic funds transfer at the
point of sale.
Fast-connect methods allow near instant exchange of high-definition
photos between digital cameras, phones, PDAs and, potentially,
television sets over infrared transmissions. An interface to
television sets of the future will enable home users to simply view
their photo albums through their TV where the whole family can
gather round.
Next generation multimedia file transfer will be more demanding of
technology than traditional Jpeg photos or short audio files and
ring tones.
In the near future consumers will be able to download video films
from kiosks, which are already being designed and built and will
soon be installed at stores, railway stations and airports. The
video rental industry is preparing for change far more significant
than the recent migration from video tape to DVD.
The concept is simple. Before embarking upon a journey the consumer
downloads a film to their phone or PDA for viewing en route. Both
radio frequency WLan and Bluetooth are inappropriate vehicles,
since it would not take long for people to work out how to share a
single download.
Infrared, on the other hand, cannot permeate walls or physical
barriers and, with the IRDA specification limiting range to 1m, it
is ideal for this application. Of course the size of the files in
question renders a throughput of 4mbps or 16mbps inadequate, but
with potential data rates exceeding 100mbps in the relatively near
future IRDA is set to offer sufficient performance to satisfy users
rushing for planes and trains. In making a quantum leap in data
rates, IRDA has not forgotten the mantra of low power consumption,
essential for portable equipment, and another area in which it
scores over radio frequency WLan.
It is not unreasonable to assume that the same application will
migrate to set-top TV boxes where a home user will be able to point
a phone or PDA and upload a film for viewing later. When combined
with the digital wallet of the future the commercial opportunities
are immense.
For this vision to become reality it will be necessary for IRDA to
review its commitment to short range, but there are pressures to do
so from a variety of sources.
The mobile phone is fast becoming a digital wallet. If you browse
the menu of a modern device, you will see options to store credit
card details. At first glance this would appear to be a useful data
back-up. However, trials already under way in Japan point to a more
functional objective.
Currently you carry a wad of credit cards with magnetic stripes and
intelligent chips, storing information that allows you to purchase
goods and services. In addition to your credit/debit card details,
other information that could easily be stored on your phone might
include passes for public transport, discount tokens and
awards/loyalty points.
At the point of sale, you will point and shoot your digital wallet
to an Epos terminal, a vending machine, car parking barrier,
railway station access gate etc, to pay.
There are strong return on investment arguments to support the
business case. Retailers are excited by the opportunity to speed up
transactions at the point of sale and, along with the banking
fraternity, see obvious benefits in digital receipts that will be
issued to your phone as opposed to the paper-based, easily
misplaced alternative.
From a consumer standpoint, ease of use (imagine never having to
queue for a train or bus ticket) coupled with the potential
personal money management programs that will doubtless accompany
the technology, make the proposition equally attractive.
IRDA has a special interest group targeting this initiative. The
group is already in collusion with other standards bodies,
including retail and banking consortia to ensure a universal,
dependable and secure service.
With security clearly paramount, IRDA wins out as the obvious
communications medium with its high speed, low distance and limited
field of view, coupled with a low power consumption rate. IRDA has
obvious security attractions that cannot be matched by WLan or
Bluetooth.
Considerable work has been completed by the infrared financial
messaging group and trials are under way. Commercially available
RS232 to IRDA adaptors ensure low-cost easy upgrade of existing
Epos terminals and vending equipment.
For sceptics concerned about the ramifications of having a phone
stolen it is worth noting that the pilot projects are largely
taking place in Japan, where the 40 million strong mobile phone
user base is less concerned about phone theft. In any event, it is
arguably much easier for credit to be abused with card-based
systems than it will be with a digital wallet.
A number of emerging applications are likely to move IRDA to
endorse a variety of standards in much the same way that the IEEE
concerns itself with multiple media for data communications.
A practical TV-based photo album, for example, is likely to see
consumers demanding communications distances greater than 1m to
allow the family to sit around the living room for the show.
Pointing and uploading Powerpoint slides one at a time to
projectors will doubtless need to afford the presenter an
opportunity to move around a stage at will, once again giving cause
for reviewing extensions to the 1m limit.
An application that has been presented to IRDA supporting distances
of 300m or more is already being embraced by highways agencies in
Korea, Europe and the US that are seeking low-cost dependable
methods for collecting motorway tolls.
To date, radio frequency products have dominated this market, but
there are attractions to infrared. The lower cost of communications
components is not lost on agencies or consumers.
Equally important is modern infrared technology's tolerance to
third-party interference, notably metallic elements in windscreens,
which have the propensity to block radio frequency communication.
Add your electronic wallet and it becomes clear that infrared
should be actively considered for longer-range communications,
which leads to the potential for a WLan architecture based on
infrared.
About six years ago, I extolled the virtue of infrared WLan at an
international press symposium, only to be largely dismissed by a
community naturally excited by the success of emerging radio
frequency standards. But with the throughput achievements that I
predicted at the time now becoming a reality, it begs the question
what advantages infrared WLan could bring over radio frequency
alternatives.
Radio frequency WLans are not utopian. There is third-party
interference from microwave ovens, Dect phones and Bluetooth
devices. There are security concerns surrounding an inability to
trap radio waves within a building, and there are spectrum planning
challenges coming to the fore as we begin to saturate the
airwaves.
Infrared cannot penetrate walls, and this gives a high degree of
control over data leakage. It is not subject to spectrum
restrictions, as is the case with radio frequency communications,
alleviating much of the potential radio planning hassle.
Until now data rates, range and field of view limitations have made
IRDA-based technology unsuitable for WLan applications. But with
the prospect of these issues being addressed in a
standards-compliant manner there is a distinct possibility that
low-cost infrared products will emerge, where it will have
particular appeal in certain environments.
Within military and other high security environs, high-speed
infrared WLan offers ease of secure implementation.
In hospitals, aircraft and other applications where third-party
equipment is sensitive to radio frequency interference, an infrared
WLan can be safely and easily deployed.
And who knows, once infrared WLan equipment becomes commercially
available it is not inconceivable that the low-cost arch- itecture
of the communications system may make the apparently collapsed
prices of radio frequency WLan equipment today seem outrageously
expensive.
John Earley is general manager at wireless research firm
Supergold
What is IRDA and what is it for?
The Infrared Data Association is a membership-based
organisation.
It was founded in 1993 and is dedicated to developing standards for
wireless, infrared transmission systems between computers.
IRDA ports fitted to a laptop or personal digital assistant can
exchange data with a desktop computer or use a printer without a
cable connection.
Just as a TV remote control requires line-of-sight access, IRDA
transmissions are restricted by obstacles and walls, which can be a
security benefit.
The IRDA serial infrared physical layer provides a half-duplex
connection of up to 115.2kbps. At this speed a low-cost chip can be
used, although more expensive, high-speed extensions up to 4mbps
for fast infrared have also been defined.
To enable the simultaneous handshaking and multiplexing of several
different data streams IRDA uses the infrared link access protocol
and the infrared link management protocol.
www.irda.org
