Product of the Month: BodyCom™ Technology

Microchip Technology, Chandler, AZ, offers BodyCom™ technology, which provides designers with the world’s first framework for using the human body as a secure communication channel. BodyCom technology provides lower energy consumption and increased security via bidirectional authentication. It is activated by capacitively coupling to the human body. The system then begins communicating bidirectionally between a centralized controller and one or more wireless units. The technology eliminates the need for a wireless transceiver or high-power inductive fields, and uses a low-frequency framework with a common microcontroller and standard AFE frequencies (125 kHz and 8 MHz). Applications include access control (security systems and industrial door locks), personal safety and security (equipment access/disable, power tools, computer systems), and medical (patient monitoring, hospital-room access, and equipment tracking).