Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine May 2018 - 74

Industry Insights:

DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2018.170091

CONASENSE as a Platform for the Implementation of
Human Bond Communication
Maryam Rahimi, Ramjee Prasad, Aarhus University, Herning, Denmark

INTRODUCTION
The concept of human bond communication (HBC) was proposed
by [1]. Owing to HBC, the five senses, namely, optic, auditory,
olfactory, gustatory, and tactile, can be transmitted via wireless
communication technology. HBC is a comprehensive approach of
describing and transmitting the features of a subject in the way
humans perceive them. The HBC concept covers several steps
from sampling the physical subject, interpreting the sample into
five sense domains, transforming these domains into a dataset, and
using a compatible communication medium for transmitting the information to recovering the information at the receiving side. Predictions indicate that the end goal of HBC will be fully achieved by
2050, considering that several groups and institutes are currently
working on different aspects of the concept [2].
Extensive research has been conducted on the vision and core
technical enablers of the HBC paradigm. Several recent studies
were discussed in [3]. In [4], the contributions of 3D optical vision,
thermal vision, acoustic profiling, olfaction, and tactile sensing to
remote inspection were discussed. Analytical solutions were also
investigated. The authors proposed the use of a robot-mounted opto-thermal acoustic sensing system as a possible integrated system
to gather data; this system could be the first step in HBC technology development.
Several investigations have also been conducted on the standards of future wireless systems to support the HBC architecture
[5]. Management of security and privacy issues was also discussed
in these studies.
One of the challenges in the HBC transmission is that olfactory, gustatory, and tactile senses in contrast of optic and auditory are not wave based sensing and could not be analyzed based
on wave properties. The transmission for these three senses
needs more complicated solutions such as taking samples of
material particles of the subject to be properly smeared along

Authors' address: Future Technologies for Business Ecosystem
Innovation (FT4BI), Department of Business Development
and Technology (BTECH), School of Business and Social
Sciences, Aarhus University, Herning, Denmark, E-mail:
(maryam.b.rahimi@gmail.com and ramjee@btech.au.dk).
Manuscript received May 28, 2017, revised November 6, 2017,
and ready for publication December 22, 2017.
Review handled by L. Ligthart.
0885/8985/18/$26.00 © 2018 IEEE
74

the neuron receptors for it to be accurately analyzed. Another
method could be brain-to-machine transmission, which is developing rapidly recently.
Moreover, there have been some proposals and solutions
for transmitting some senses such as touching [6]. The method
is called Huggy Pajama and is a wearable system that provides
physical interaction in remote communication. The product helps to reproduce the sense of touch and hugs between
people. The system works by sensing the pressure variation by
the module, digitize it, and transmit this information via the
Internet.
There is also another solution introduced for smell transmission by sampling and transmitting different aroma via phone. The
system works like: "A custom-made app allows you to take a photo
of something and "tag" it with a few aroma notes (from more than
3,000 scents). These smells-which range in category from "Paris
Afternoon" to "Plantation"- are transferred via a pipe-like smelling station called an oPhone Duo and are controlled by a phone
application" [7].
It should be mentioned that any of these solutions could be developed and optimized to use for HBC transmission; it is obvious
that more investigations and researches are also needed for more
novel solutions of data sampling and transmitting.
The HBC system can be used in several applications, such as
utilizing knowledge to assist handicapped people in any stage of
the HBC system from sensing to transmitting data. Telemedicine
and personal healthcare [8], dental and biological implant prosthesis for early warning performance [9], multibusiness model
innovation for future wireless technology as a platform for HBC
technology [10], and the impact of network neutrality on futuristic
innovation, particularly on HBC [11], are notable applications of
HBC at present.
Achieving the final stage of transmitting all five senses demands a new definition in wireless communication technology
in terms of architecture, security, mobility business model, and
application services. The current work discusses how Communications, Navigation, Sensing and Services (CONASENSE)
can provide a proper platform from the physical layer to the
application layer and to support the idea of HBC. CONASENSE not only offers technical requirements for the future of
wireless communication but also provides essential paths and
solutions to reach the goal [12]. CONASENSE involves a wide
range of novel converged services, applications, technologies,
and business models.

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