computing and wireless communication in a space that is typically only a few millimeters in volume
Since when is millimeter a unit of volume? And while we're on the subject of size:
these devices can stay suspended in an environment just like a particle of dust.
It's pretty questionable how something a few millimeters in diameter will stay suspended like dust. Things that large tend to be heavy enough to settle to the ground fairly quickly, especially if they're gonna have batteries and electronics in it.
They won't have batteries, at that scale they'll be able to harvest stray radio waves for energy. Maybe a tiny tiny capacitor instead of a battery, but we're still talking about "devices" so small that their energy requirements are insanely small. They could just as likely turn ambient sound into electricity.
All this stuff is coming, maybe not as fast as people think, but it's definitely coming.
So instead of the extra weight of a battery,they'll have the extra weight of the electronics that make the battery unnecessary. Not sure that invalidates the point.
Maybe, but when you're working at this small a scale the circuitry is probably going to be negligible compared to a battery. Even a 'battery' such as it would be on that scale would weigh almost nothing because the amount of power required is very small. And again, harvesting ambient light and sound could likely power nano devices without much trouble.
Uh...the context of the discussion is the ridiculous idea that these several mm sized items are going to stay afloat like dust. The weight of a battery or power generating mechanism might seem negligible on the scale we usually work on, but when you're talking about these items floating through the air for an extended duration, I'm pretty certain it's nowhere near negligible.
I'm not ready for these new units of measure. (Score:2)
computing and wireless communication in a space that is typically only a few millimeters in volume
Since when is millimeter a unit of volume? And while we're on the subject of size:
these devices can stay suspended in an environment just like a particle of dust.
It's pretty questionable how something a few millimeters in diameter will stay suspended like dust. Things that large tend to be heavy enough to settle to the ground fairly quickly, especially if they're gonna have batteries and electronics in it.
Re: (Score:2)
They won't have batteries, at that scale they'll be able to harvest stray radio waves for energy. Maybe a tiny tiny capacitor instead of a battery, but we're still talking about "devices" so small that their energy requirements are insanely small. They could just as likely turn ambient sound into electricity.
All this stuff is coming, maybe not as fast as people think, but it's definitely coming.
Re: (Score:2)
So instead of the extra weight of a battery,they'll have the extra weight of the electronics that make the battery unnecessary. Not sure that invalidates the point.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe, but when you're working at this small a scale the circuitry is probably going to be negligible compared to a battery. Even a 'battery' such as it would be on that scale would weigh almost nothing because the amount of power required is very small. And again, harvesting ambient light and sound could likely power nano devices without much trouble.
Re:I'm not ready for these new units of measure. (Score:2)
Uh...the context of the discussion is the ridiculous idea that these several mm sized items are going to stay afloat like dust. The weight of a battery or power generating mechanism might seem negligible on the scale we usually work on, but when you're talking about these items floating through the air for an extended duration, I'm pretty certain it's nowhere near negligible.
Re: (Score:2)
Uh...the context of the discussion is the ridiculous idea that these several mm sized items are going to stay afloat like dust.
Real nanomachines will be fractions of a millimeter, if that. Nothing millimeter-sized can be called "nano" scale.