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Smart Dust: Swarms of Mini Sensor Nodes Powered By Integrated Solar Cells
Tiny solar cells applied directly to a silicon chip are a potential way of efficiently and reliably powering wireless sensor networks in the near future. Above all, this would simplify large-scale applications, for instance in agriculture.
Such sensor networks made up of countless individual sensor modules that communicate wirelessly with one another have the capacity to measure local parameters over large areas, and to then pass on these data over multiple sensor modules to a central station. This makes sensor networks suitable for a wide range of applications, whether for fire prevention or monitoring large areas of farmland.
The issue of how to power the individual sensor modules remains a sticking point in these sorts of applications. Wiring the sensors together is hardly a viable option nowadays due to the cumbersome and costly installation. What’s more, many applications require the sensor network to blend unobtrusively into the surroundings and not to have an impact on the aesthetics.
An example of this would be the systems used for adjusting window positions as part of smart building management programs. Using batteries to power the sensor network does eliminate the need for inconvenient cables, but the amount of maintenance involved in replacing the batteries regularly as required should not be underestimated, particularly in large networks.
Now, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS have developed an ingenious alternative based on SOLCHIP Ltd IP. The resource they have harnessed to provide power is one that is freely available in almost any location: sunlight. “We use special process steps to place a mini solar cell straight on sensor modules’ silicon chips,” explains Dr. Andreas Goehlich, who heads up the project for Fraunhofer IMS.
This might sound easy at first, but it actually isn’t. For one thing, the Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) on the silicon chip cannot be disturbed in any way by later steps in the process. ASICs could be termed the brain of the sensor module, facilitating its specific functions. They are manufactured on a piece of silicon in the course of several processing steps, including ion implantation, oxidization or metal deposition. “The structures of ASICs are extremely sensitive, which makes subsequent processing extremely tricky,” explains Goehlich. “That’s why we use a specially developed ‘soft’ processing technology that has already proved itself on a variety of different ASICs.”
In opting for mini solar cells, the researchers from Duisburg are turning to a method that is becoming more and more established in the low-power sector in particular. Energy harvesting, as it is known, is about exploiting resources in the immediate vicinity to generate small amounts of power. This means that the sensor modules are their own mini power stations, independent of external sources of electricity.
Potential energy resources include harnessing vibrations or differences in temperature. Goehlich, however, believes that solar cells have a few advantages over these solutions: “Light is almost always available over long periods of time. What’s more, it is not subject to such great fluctuations in supply as other resources.” Then there is the advantage that solar energy can be converted into electricity relatively easily.
Development work is currently focusing primarily on agricultural applications. For instance, wireless, energy-autonomous sensor networks known as smart dust could be distributed over large areas of farmland. Goehlich says: “You can picture it as simply scattering the sensor nodes over the field.” These miniature smart helpers would then measure details such as the moisture in the soil or the level of sunlight and relay the data to a central interface. The farmer could then use the measurements to regulate the amount of watering or even to predict the expected crop yield. The technology is ready to be implemented and SOLCHIP Ltd. is now taking care of marketing its first product. -- © by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Hansastraße 27 c, 80686 München, all rights reserved
Source: http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/9314/20130906/smart-dust-swarms-mini-sensor-nodes-powered-integrated-solar-cells.htm
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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