TouchHBC: Touch-Based Human Body Communication via Leakage Current

Dian Ding, Hao Pan, Yongzhao Zhang, Yijie Li, Yu Lu, Yi-Chao Chen, Guangtao Xue

Abstract: Wearable devices, including smartwatches, are increasingly popular among consumers due to their user-friendly services. However, transmitting sensitive data like social media messages and payment QR codes via commonly used low-power Bluetooth exposes users to privacy breaches and financial losses. This study introduces TouchHBC, a secure and reliable communication scheme leveraging a smartwatch’s built-in electrodes. This system establishes a touch-based human communication system utilizing a laptop’s leakage current. As the transmitting device, the laptop modulates this current via the CPU. Simultaneously, the smartwatch, equipped with built-in electrodes, captures the current traversing the human body and decodes it. The modulation and decoding processes involve techniques such as amplitude modulation, variational mode decomposition, channel estimation, and retransmission mechanisms. TouchHBC facilitates communication between laptops and smartwatches. Real-world tests demonstrate that our prototype achieves a throughput of $ 19.83\ \text{bps}$. Moreover, TouchHBC offers the potential for enhanced interaction, including improved gaming experiences through vibration feedback and secure touch login for smartwatch applications by synchronizing with a laptop. Furthermore, the system can be integrated with high-throughput communication protocols such as Bluetooth, enhancing its scalability while maintaining a strong foundation of security.

External IDs:dblp:journals/tmc/DingPZLLCX25