Secure
shopping using mobile phonesRevolutionary optical
device to combat credit card fraud20 November
2002 UK-based Optical
Antenna Solutions (OAS) launched a revolutionary optical device
that will help reduce the massive global problem of credit card fraud. 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 phones - 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 mobile phone
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. www.opticalantennasolutions.com www.warwick.ac.uk www.comdex.com | 
