The Infrared Data Association (IrDA) is an Industry-Driven Interest Group .

That was Founded in 1993 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 IrDA had been wireless data transfer over the “last one meter” using point-and-shoot principles.


Specifications :

IrPHY
IrLAP
IrLMP
Tiny TP
IrCOMM
OBEX
IrLAN
IrSimple
IrSimpleShot

The Optional Tiny TP (Tiny Transport Protocol) lies on top of the IrLMP layer.

It provides:

Transportation of large messages by SAR (Segmentation and Reassembly)
Flow control by giving credits to every logical channel


The mandatory IrPHY (Infrared Physical Layer Specification) is the physical layer of the IrDA specifications


SIR: 9.6–115.2 kbit/s, asynchronous, RZI, UART-like, 3/16 pulse
MIR: 0.576–1.152 Mbit/s, RZI, 1/4 pulse, HDLC bit stuffing
FIR: 4 Mbit/s, 4PPM
VFIR: 16 Mbit/s, NRZ, HHH(1,13)
UFIR: 96 Mbit/s, NRZI, 8b/10b
GigaIR: 512 Mbit/s – 1 Gbit/s, NRZI, 2-ASK, 4-ASK, 8b/10b
5/10GigaIR: seems to be a new IrPHY coming soon

Further Characteristics are:

Range:
standard: 1 m;
low-power to low-power: 0.2 m;
standard to low-power: 0.3 m.
The 10 GigaIR also define new usage models that supports higher link distances up to several meters.
Angle: minimum cone ±15°
Speed: 2.4 kbit/s to 1 Gbit/s
Modulation: baseband, no carrier
Infrared window
Wavelength: 850–900 nm