36.4 IRDA

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For many mobile phones and palmtops, the infrared (IR) port is available. When two palmtops are close to each other, they can exchange data. IR port is a very low-cost solution. The Infrared Data Association (http://www.irda.org) was founded in 1993 to develop standards for low-cost solutions for point-to-point infrared communication. IR communication can be implemented in devices such as PDA, digital camera, printer, overhead projector, bank ATM, fax machine, copying machine, and even a credit card. An IR device can communicate with another IR device within a range of 1 meter. Serial IR (SIR) supports data rates up to 115kbps, and Fast IR (FIR) supports data rates up to 4Mbps. The directed IR systems allow one-to-one communication in point-to-point mode and are not subject to regulations. However, the disadvantage with IR is that infrared rays cannot penetrate walls, and it supports only data. In spite of these limitations, IR-based systems are now being widely deployed on laptops, mobile phones, and computer peripherals (for instance to provide a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse) mainly because of the low cost.

Infrared technology (IR) is used to interconnect two devices through point-to-point links. IR has a range of about 1 meter. Data rates up to 4Mbps can be supported by these links.

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