Communications of the ACM
5 More Tech Breakthroughs: Innovations in Access, Power and Control
Five new technology breakthroughs could change the way users power and interact with their devices and access the Internet.
The Wireless Gigabit Alliance has developed the WiGig specification that supports wireless communications at the 60 GHz transmission band, which is enough to transmit an entire high-definition movie in just a few seconds.
Meanwhile, Georgia Tech researchers have developed high-output nanogenerators that can produce between 2 and 10 volts from a flexible chip, which is enough energy to power very small devices.
PowerCast has developed a method for transmitting power via radio waves, and the company's goal is to develop technology that can extract usable amounts of power from ambient sources such as Wi-Fi signals.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers are trying to extend the useful life of batteries in mobile devices by adding gallium-indium microspheres that can help the battery repair itself.
And researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are developing NeuroSys, a project involving brain-computer interfaces. The researchers are monitoring volunteers' brains to develop patterns of brain activity related to nouns and verbs. The program has amassed a vocabulary of 1,000 words and can create simple sentences from subjects' brain patterns.
From Computerworld
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