UK-based Optical Antenna Solutions (OAS) is to launch an optical device that the company says will reduce the global problem of credit card fraud.
Working with scientists at Warwick University, OAS says it has developed an optical lens and antenna that is able to capture information signals more efficiently, over far greater distances and at far greater capacities than before.
When customers want to pay for goods, they simply point the antenna, which is connected to the infrared port on the mobile phone or other device, at the till to transfer the funds. To authorise payment, users enter a personal identification code to ensure the device is not stolen and to ensure the customer has enough funds to cover the purchase.
Transfer of information is through infrared ports on both devices. An electronic receipt for the transaction is sent back to the device using the same technology.
OAS MD Derick Wilson says the optical antenna will "vastly enhance the functional capability of other current technologies, including personal desktop assistants, laptops and portable computers and printers".
The antenna is configured through a series of mathematical curves which can be tailored to individual clients and can be made in a range of sizes to suit different devices.
"The 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," says inventor Roger Green, professor of engineering at Warwick University.
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