The **Infrared Data Association** (**IrDA**) is an industry-driven interest group that was founded in 1994 by around **50 companies**. **IrDA** provides specifications for a complete set of **protocols** for **wireless infrared communications**, and the name **"IrDA"** also refers to that set of protocols. The main reason for using the **IrDA protocols** had been **wireless data transfer** over the "last one meter" using point-and-shoot principles. Thus, it has been implemented in portable devices such as mobile telephones, [[laptop|laptops]], [[camera|cameras]], [[printer|printers]], [[Handheld PC|PDA]]'s, and medical devices. The main characteristics of this kind of wireless optical communication are physically secure data transfer, line-of-sight (LOS) and very low bit **error rate** (BER) that **makes it very efficient**.