Emerging Technology Watch

Emerging TechnologySMART DUST: Moreen Gibbs Gaurav Tuladhar Rafael Irula Denise PersaudWhat we will coverBackgroundWhat is Smart Dust?How communication occurs?Problem it addressesCompanies/Industries that can use Smart DustMedical ApplicationEnvironmental ApplicationHype? Hope?Recommendation

BackgroundKris Pister, researcher, professor at University of California, BerkleyResearch project over 20 years ago - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) & the Research And Development Corporation (RAND)How technology revolutions would change the battlefield of 2025?Very small autonomous systemsFuture vision Smart Dust to improve quality of lifeInexpensiveubiquitous

also Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Dust Networks 3What is Smart Dust?

Motes Tiny wireless mircoelectromechanical sensors (MEMS), robots and other devicesWireless Sensoring NetworkLow power consumptionDetects temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, motion, or pollutants

Used to monitor changes in the environmentFactory and Process AutomationSeismic and structural monitoringTraffic monitoring and managementHealth and well being monitoring1. Measures a cubic millimeter.

4AgricultureChemical processingSpace explorationHealthManufacturingMilitary

Smart Dust in Motion

Agriculture The farming industry will benefit from this technology as well. Once the Smart Dust is sprinkled on the ground where the crops are to be grown, the farmers will be notified if the ground is dry and needs watering, if the humidity is too high or if the crops need more nutrients. The ground will be monitored for any changes and farmers will be alerted so they can take measures to fix the problem.

BP Several failures that caused the BP oil spill in two among the failures were gas alarm that failed, leakages that werent identified fast enough, misinterpretation of pressure text readingsThe paper mills, chemical plants, or oil refineries are using sensors in various ways such as determining the flow rates or stress in the valves

5How Smart Dust communicatesAn individual mote is not much good on its own but by swapping information like peer-to-peer network can provide a detailed portrait A collection of motes is dispersed in an environment Motes use wireless communications to relay information to a base station (gateway) over distances of 15-50 m.

Control System

The Base Station could be, hand held binoculars, palm, & cell phone, or laptop, command center unmanned vehicle, autonomous systems6Benefits of using Smart DustResourceManagement

CostSavingsEfficiencyIncreaseProductivityBetter ForecastingReal Time DataInformation Lag time

2013 Hype CyclePotential Applications

Diagnostic Medicine

Inject a patient with a small swarm of computers (made to break down slowly in the blood, so we dont clog any arteries)

Autonomous endobots are one of the holy grails of diagnostic medicine

Blood sample could be sent to the laboratory for screening

Or the way a specific wavelength of light, or color, reflected from them when thin layers of surface films react chemically to a specific chemical or biological agent

Medical Applications

1 - DNA Probes for various types of infectious diseases could be coded with the crystals, and these probes could be mixed in with the patients blood sample.2 If They could flush down larger blood vessels to detect a blockage the blood sample binds with one of the DNA Probes, its crystal code will exhibit a pattern that identifies the probe10Medical ApplicationsTherapeutic Application

Porous Silicone Nanoparticles ---- Each 100 times smaller than a human hair, contain microscopic reservoirs that can hold and protect sensitive drugs

Surface of these particles covered with targeting molecules and they seek out for diseased cells - release their therapeutic payloads

Project Development of a Longer-Acting Injectable Contraceptive - nanomaterial to deliver drug at a constant rate for the duration of the therapy, and then disappear very quickly when the drug reservoir is exhausted

Porous nanoparticles contain highly effective therapeutics on the inside and targeting molecules on the outside

More than one-third of contraceptive users in sub-Saharan Africa choose injectable contraceptives. Despite their popularity, discontinuation rates are high, and currently available formulations are effective for only 1 to 3 months, requiring women to return to their provider 4 to 12 times per year.FHI 360 is funding an exploratory projectin our lab aimed at developing an injectable contraceptive that would last for 6 months. If successful, this project could expand contraceptive access and choice for women around the world. We are focusing on controllably biodegradable porous silicon (pSi) microparticlesas host matrices for contraceptive drugs such as progestins. The composite nanostructures are intended to act as a depot formulation that will degrade in vivo into non-toxic byproducts at a controllable rate, releasing the contraceptive payload at a therapeutic concentration for up to six months and then tapering quickly to allow a rapid return to fertility. The major challenge here is to engineer the nanomaterial to deliver drug at a constant rate for the duration of the therapy, and then disappear very quickly when the drug reservoir is exhausted.11Therapeutic application

Targeting molecules also activate tissue-specific transport pathways to deliver the nano-therapeutics deep into the targeted tissues

Projects Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (SBMRI) have demonstrated specific targeting of tissues such as brain tumors, atherosclerotic plaques, and blood clots in the heart

Porous Silicon Particles for Sustained Intravitreal Drug Delivery - objective of the microparticle-based drug delivery project is localized injection into the target organs, such as the eye or peritonneal cavity

Medical Applications

Porous Silicone-Based Therapeutic Nano platforms

Porous Si microparticles injected into rabbit eye12Autonomous Application

Smart Dust Could Be Used To Monitor Human ThoughtSensors inserted into the brainExternal Transceiver outside the skullGovernment Support to similar project Brain Initiative by Obama Human Genome ProjectDrawback / Limitations

Medical Applications

Neural DustExternal Transceiver outside the skull receive data transmissions from the chip inside the skull and supply wireless power to it

Neural Dust - an implantable system, ultra-miniature, extremely compliant, and scalable to be viable for a lifetime, for brain-machine interfacesTransceiver - placed directly under the skull but above the brain and communicate with the sensors via ultrasoundPower transfer is already used in a variety of medical applications, including cochlear implantsNo enough people to volunteer for clinical trials for surgery

13Controlled release of Therapeutic Drugs like treating Cancer cells

Micro RNAs for Therapy of Visual DisordersGoal is to develop a porous nanoparticle sustained delivery system that will sequester and release microRNA in a controlled fashionSignificant barrier to RNA therapies is the degradation of the oligonucleotide before it is able to reach its targetMultifunctional Magnetic Nanoparticles for in vivo Imaging The goal of this project is to synthesize new nanomaterials that can be used to allow the early diagnosis and effective treatment of cancer

Medical Applications

Nano-worms are made of magnetic iron oxide (magnetite) coated with a polymer. The wormlike structure and a specialized coating allows these nanodevices to find and attach to tumors

Main issues of medical applications, based on wireless sensor networks

Technical issues Power management Communication protocolsNetworks reliabilitySecurityBody incompatibility Social issuesCulture / Religion Political willpower Ethics Personal IssuesPrivacy issues Interest to pursue

Issues of applications

Emergence of Application in MedicineTimeline of Use of Smart Dust Diagnostic Medicine( 3 - 6 Years) 2020Therapeutic Application( 6 - 10 Years) 2024Automous Application ( 15- 20 Years) 2034

Technology can support a variety of fields in the environmentRevolutionize the line of communication between objects and peopleSmart dust can fill in where microscopes and telescopes can't

Environmental Applications

Smart dust can fill in where microscopes and telescopes can't:Thedust motes can measure light, wind, rainfall, temperature, humidity, and other details about the environmentAs the health of our Earth is put on life support,these wireless sensor networks give scientists more understanding about uncontrollable events like volcanic eruptions (as we know how frustrating that can be!).

17Limitless applications provide great incentives for all industriesThe smartest, most strategically focused companies are calculating climate change and resource risks into their operations. True visionaries know that if their business practices arent sustainable long term, their businesses arent either.

Potential for GrowthThe U.S. National Science Foundation has predicted that the global market for nanotechnologies will reach $1 trillion, or more, within 20 years. Nanotechnology-related job projections are estimated to be at nearly TWO million engineers/scientists, worldwide, by 2015As nanoscale science and technology come to have increasing impacts on many aspects of our daily lives, the opportunities for careers in these fields are expanding rapidly. A major challenge for the field is the education and training of a new generation of skilled workers.As more companies jump on the smart dust band wagon, the more we will know aboutevery breath of Earth's vital signs and be able to predict its environmental hiccups. Knowing more about the natural world and being able torecord them in detail will help uslive smarter and more efficiently.[transition]- The aim is to get more information about how cities and the environment work - and then use that data to be more efficient and create less environmental damage.

18CeNSE technology, HP and Shell will build a wireless sensing system to acquire high-resolution seismic dataWorking with Royal Dutch Shell to install a million monitors to aid in oil explorationHP Project

Central Nervous System for the Earth (CeNSE)allow Shell to more easily and cost-effectively explore difficult oil and gas reservoirs. generate a Central Nervous System of the Earth and is working with Royal Dutch Shell to install a million monitors to aid in oil exploration. These tiny devices would evaluate the health of ecosystems, foresee the possibility of earthquakes effectively, review traffic patterns, and observe energy useIn a couple years, HP willwork withRoyal Dutch Shell to install 1 million of the smart dust sensors to measure rock vibrations and movements to give them a smarter way to look for oil. Currently, half the oil wellsturned out to bedry, soknowing where the abundant places to drill would help.Hartwell envisions sensing nodes about the size of a pushpin stuck to bridges and buildings to warn of structural strains or weather conditions. They might be scattered along roadsides to monitor traffic, weather and road conditions. Embedded in everyday electronics,19The ecological science community is in a new era in which accurate forecasting of ecological conditions can become commonplace if we can bring to bear the new toolsScientists at the James San Jacinto Mountain Reserve in Riverside County, CA, are using tiny wireless sensors-called motes to monitor the forest on a micro-scale and over timeEcological Forecasting

Whether we realize it or not, the health of the U.S. economy is inextricably linked to the health of our nations ecosystems, and the goods and services those ecosystems deliver.Consider a sampling of the goods. Agricultural ecosystems provide over $200 billion annually. Marine ecosystems provide almost $4 billion in fisheries alone. Worldwide, temperate forests provide raw materials valued at more than $890 billion. However, ecosystems do more than furnish food and fiber. Ecosystem services provide among many other things clean air and water for every citizen, and the detoxification and decomposition of wastes, the pollination of crops and natural vegetation, drought and flood control, and recreational opportunities.The sensors measure data such as light, wind speed, rainfall, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. Millions of these tiny devices, which are also known as "Smart Dust," can be deployed over large tracts of land and long periods of time, opening a whole new window on ecology.Dr. Eric A. Graham, a biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is studying the James Reserve, says:"It's very cool to be out into the woods with a laptop and be connected to the Internet and see all these motes in action. It's real-time visualization over a large area. It's new science.

20Technical issues Have to make sensors that are vastly more sensitive than anything else that have ever existed beforeSocial issuesCritics fear people willreject itand see it as an invasion of their privacy Non-biodegradable

Issues of Applicationwe have to make sensors that are vastly more sensitive than anything else that have ever existed before, while being absolutely dirt cheap so that we can deploy them in very large numbersBecause sensors can also pick up sound and can be equipped with cameras, critics fear people willreject itand see it as an invasion of their privacy. But the information isn't uploaded on the Real World Web the way the Internet is wired, the data would be ushered directly to the company or organization collecting it. As the world spirals into a crisis more severe than the banking one, privacy concerns seem trivial.

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Emergence of Application in the EnvironmentTimeline of Use of Smart Dust CeNSE( 3-8 Years)Ecological Forecasting( 6 - 10 Years)Advanced CeNSE( 15- 20 Years)

Hype? Hope?Disruptive Innovation TheoryMedical IndustryDisruptiveNeural Dust is similar, but requires extensive surgery and is very expensiveSmart Dust can replace prescription drugsEnvironmental IndustryNot DisruptiveTools and scales already exist to measure environmental statusCostTodays cost per node: $50-$100 eachExpected to drop to $1 per node within the next 5 years, and even more to about $0.10-$0.50 within the next 10 yearsInnovation Attributes

Relative AdvantageCompatibilityComplexityTrialabilityObservabilityMedical IndustryEnvironmentalIndustryInnovation AttributesS-CurveMedical IndustryEnvironmental Industry

Smart DustSmart DustPrescription Medicine& Neural DustCurrent tools/scalesTechnology Diffusion

2.5%13.5%34%34%16%Technology Diffusion

RecommendationSmart Dust Questions?