Honeyfish - a high resolution gesture recognition system based on capacitive proximity sensing

The recognition of gestures in free space using sensors that determine the proximity of a body mass based on electric field variance is a challenging research topic. Arrays of such capacitive proximity sensors allow the creation of novel user interaction systems based on recognizing presence and position of body parts and inferring performed gestures in three dimensions from that information. These systems may be incorporated as unobtrusive remote control in home automation scenarios or automotive applications, for example as a smart car-dashboard. Present systems that use time-division multiplexing have limitations in their temporal and spatial resolution. In this paper we present the Honeyfish - a novel capacitive proximity sensing system that uses a combination of frequency division and time division multiplex, improving both temporal and spatial resolution. With this affordable system we are able to detect fast multi-hand gestures in three dimensions above large surface areas.