How small can a computer system get? Well, the world’s smallest computer system has just been unveiled by researchers at the University of Michigan Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and it measures at just over 1 cubic millimeter, a tiny fraction of the penny coin you see in the image above. Now, don’t look down on this minute thing, it coes with an ultralow-power microprocessor, a pressure sensor, memory, a thin-film battery, a solar cell, and a wireless radio with antenna that can transfer data. But what could this tiny thing be used for? Well to be put into the eyes of glaucoma patients.
It’s supposed to be implanted into the eyes, so what about power consumption and battery? According to the developers, the processor uses a unique power gating architecture and an extreme sleep mode so it will keep power consumption to the lowest. The system will only wake up to take measurements every 15 minutes, consuming an average of 5.3 Nano watts of energy. The battery can then be recharged back using the solar power and requires 10hours of indoor light or 1.5 hours of sunlight daily.
No, it won’t help these patients see again, instead, the computer will be able to collect data, store and transmit it. It’s only a tiny computer system by itself for now, the professors, Dennis Sylvester and David Blaauw, are hoping for developers to create applications for it. They are already currently working with a doctoral student to develop a consolidated radio with an on-chip antenna to eliminate the need for external crystals for two isolated devices to communicate with each other.
(Source: Slash Gear, Dvice)
Article From: Lowyat
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