UK-based
Optical Antenna Solutions (OAS) will today launch a revolutionary optical
device that will help reduce the massive global problem of credit card
fraud.
Inset
is the new device between paper clip and coin.
Working with scientists
at Warwick University, OAS has developed the world’s most advanced
optical lens and antenna. This groundbreaking OAS antenna, unveiled
at today’s giant Comdex exhibition in Las Vegas, can capture
information signals more efficiently, over far greater distances and
at far
greater capacities than ever before.
The new lens brings credit
card-free ‘point and pay’ technology - the
ability to make secure purchases using devices like mobile telephones
-
closer than ever before.
Using the example of a shop-bought
purchase, the procedure of the ‘point and
pay’ financial transaction is fundamentally the same as that of
credit card
payment procedures. That is until you reach the point where the credit
card
would normally be handed over for swiping.
At this point, the antenna,
inserted in the mobile phone to read as part of
the infrared port, will be pointed towards the till where a similar
infrared
port can be found. A personal security code is then entered into the
phone
on the nine digit key pad at which point the OAS antenna captures a
light
signal, which carries the data required to authorise the transaction
and
exchanges it with the till. The typical data exchanged between the two
ports
will include:-
Is the telephone authorised for use (i.e. has it been stolen?)
Has the purchaser adequate financial resource to make the transaction?
Is the purchaser a member of any loyalty scheme?
Once this information has
been confirmed the mobile phone and the infrared
reader on the till give a virtual ‘handshake’, via the two
infrared ports
and the transaction is complete. The security code, at personal choice,
can
be between five and nine digits so is almost 100% unbreakable due to
the
number of possible combinations.
This added security will
further protect against fraudulent transactions and
significantly help to reduce the global payment fraud bill. An electronic
receipt will be given as proof of purchase on every occasion in keeping
with
legal requirements.
The antenna will also vastly
enhance the functional capability of other
current technologies, including Personal Desktop Assistant’s (PDA’s),
lap-tops and portable computers and printers.
“The development of
the optical antenna is truly a world technological
achievement that will touch the lives of millions, even billions, across
the
planet and potentially slash global fraud bills,” said OAS Managing
Director
Derick Wilson.
"Enabling business to
greatly curb payment fraud is just the start for this
breakthrough device. Other viable applications for the antenna will
be
limited only by our ability to identify them. It should ultimately deliver
benefits to any industry sector that utilises light measurement systems
for
data capture and delivery of any kind."
“The concentration
and gain capabilities of our optical antenna is achieved
by a complex series of mathematical curves which can be adjusted to
meet the
requirements of the customer and their application,” Mr Wilson
continued
“it can be made in any size required. In a mobile phone or PDA,
each
antenna would be tiny but larger antenna’s can be used in other
applications.”
The live trials of the antenna
in a range of ‘point and pay’ applications
are currently under way in Korea and are proving the antenna’s
capability as
predicted by OAS. Further trials are planned for Japan, the USA and
Cambridge in the UK.
The device was jointly developed
by Roger Green, Professor of Engineering at
Warwick University, and colleague Roberto Ramirez-Iniguez. “This
optical
antenna is so precise that it can search for a signal on just one wavelength
of light and is 100 times more efficient in gathering that signal than
any
other optical sensor of its kind anywhere in the world today.”
said
Professor Green.
OAS is already working closely
with the world’s leading semiconductor,
photonics and optoelectronic manufacturers. The optical antenna can
easily
be integrated onto semiconductor sensor devices. From this a significant
enhancement of current infrared sensors and transceivers will be witnessed,
making so many new applications, such as point and pay, possible.”
Says Alex
Clarke, Head of Marketing within OAS.
As Infrared Data Association
(IrDA) board members, OAS exclusively previewed
the device at the association’s annual conference earlier this
year.
IrDA is the world’s
infrared standards body. Infrared technology is used in
mobile phones, PDAs, portable computers and printers but previously
range
and data capacity has been limited. The optical antenna will allow all
industries using infrared to enhance their current technologies and
embark
on new projects.
