UK-based Optical Antenna Solutions (OAS) has teamed up with scientists at Warwick University to launch an optical lens and antenna that can enable credit card-free 'point and pay' technology using mobile handsets.
The antenna is inserted in a mobile phone to read as part of the infrared port and pointed towards a similar port in a POS terminal.
When a PIN is entered into a mobile phone the antenna captures a light signal, carries autentication data and exchanges it with the till. Once verified, customers are given an electronic receipt.
OAS says live trials of the antenna in a range of 'point and pay' applications are currently under way in Korea. Further trials are planned for the US, Japan and the UK.