The fabric, which performs the calculations and requires no power

Maybe sometime in the future it will be possible to put a computer on the body, like a T-shirt or shirt. In this direction conduct research scientists from the School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson. They developed responsive to impact fusion material that receives energy from chemical reactions oscillations and thus can perform arithmetic computations based on changes in the environment or a movement of the subject, and may even potentially respond to human vital signs, which is wearing such clothing. < br />
Co-authors of the present invention - Professor Anna Balazs (Anna C. Balazs), Siven Levitan (Steven P. Levitan) and John Yurenko (John A. Jurenko), a professor of electrical and computer engineering. They were able to combine the model based on oscillating systems susceptible polymer gels and piezoelectric micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) for creating a new reactive material capable of actually perform computation without any power source, any whatsoever amplifier or using computers.

Scientific work "achieve synchronization with the active hybrid materials: a compound of self-oscillating gels and piezoelectric films» («Achieving synchronization with active hybrid materials: Coupling self-oscillating gels and piezoelectric (PZ) films») опубликована June 24, 2015 in the journal «Scientific Reports». In the combined study Balazs gels Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) - a substance that ranges in the absence of external stimulation, as well as experience in the modeling Levitan calculations in vibrational computing systems. Through collaboration with Dr. Victor Yashin (Victor V. Yashin), a graduate student in chemical and petroleum engineering, which was the lead author of the scientific work, it was possible to develop rules to create the hybrid material BZ-PZ.



"Reaction BZ causes periodic oxidation and reduction of the metal catalyst, which is associated with the gel; in turn, this causes the gel to swell or shrink. We put the console on a piezoelectric gel, so that when the gel PZ generates an electrical voltage. Conversely, the application of voltage to the console PZ makes flex gel material - said Balazs. - Thus, when each module BZ-PZ connected to other such modules, expansion of the gel oscillating BZ in a first unit influences the piezoelectric console which generates an electrical voltage. This voltage, in turn, affects the console PZ in the second module, and the deviation of the gel modifies the oscillation circuit in the second module. The result is a system oscillations of the swing that makes possible communication and exchange of information between units ».

Numerous modules BZ-PZ can be connected in parallel or in series, which creates opportunities for different communication patterns generated and saved in the system. These stored patterns can be seen as a "memory" of the computer. However, such a computer can hardly be used for all tasks, but only for specific calculations that match the pattern, and other nebulevyh computing, says Levitan.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/252650/