First came the internet, now the world’s smallest computer, little larger than a speck of dust, is poised to usher in another revolution.
Designed at Michigan University for monitoring glaucoma from within a human eye, the computer measures just over one cubic millimetre and generates enough power from a tiny solar cell to report back wirelessly for years.
High-tech companies such as Google, IBM and Hewlett-Packard are now planning to crisscross the globe with a trillion-strong network of such ultra-miniaturised computers, to be installed underground, in household appliances, inside clothes and even on food.
Called “smart dust”, they can track or monitor almost any physical object, making it impossible to lose anything or buy food past its sell-by date. Supporters claim smart dust can also end traffic jams, save lives in hospitals and revolutionise mining.
Hewlett-Packard is in the process of building miniature sensors that it says will “feel, taste, smell, see and hear what is going on in the world” and analyse the data. It says its first million sensors are already being deployed underground, helping Shell search for oil and gas in America without drilling expensive test wells.
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Each seismic sensor works for months, communicating wirelessly with its neighbours to build up a picture of oil fields. They could also help to predict earthquakes such as the one that struck Japan last week.
“A similar system could be put in place on bridges or dams,” says Peter Hartwell, a Hewlett-Packard scientist. “Instead of manually checking for stability every year or two, you could do it every hour. With our extremely sensitive motion detectors, sensors could spot the slightest tremor — or count every car, lorry and bicycle on a nearby road.”
The company envisages a worldwide network of a trillion smart-dust computers, tracking everything from severe weather to the progress of flu epidemics. Heating systems, lights and television sets in the home would monitor occupants and come on only when needed, and cars will automatically book themselves in for an oil change.
However, Hartwell concedes: “If we don’t get the size and cost down to where the sensors are practically free, our dream to deploy them on a global scale can’t happen.”
Bernie Meyerson, of IBM, hailed smart dust as “pure goodness”, adding: “We can predict traffic jams 20 minutes before they happen, and by analysing data from neonatal emergency units, doctors can treat infections in premature babies a day earlier than before.”
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David Blaauw, at Michigan University, says that his cubic-millimetre-sized computer will soon be able to be mass-produced for a few pennies each.
IBM estimates that the number of objects connected to the internet has gone up by a factor of 2,000 over the past five years, and will continue to increase exponentially. “People are already very much outnumbered by things connected to the web,” says Meyerson.
But the arrival of smart dust threatens a deluge of data that could bring even the fastest internet connections to a halt. Its complexities make it likely to remain the preserve of multinational technology giants.
“Handling the vast amounts of data that smart dust will generate is a specialisation for companies that have mastered systems and networks,” says Meyerson. “It’s not going to be resolved by two guys in a garage.”