Cyborg Cicadas Create Wireless Data Network With Chirps
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 18 of June , 2009 at 3:00 am
Next time you hear some crickets chirping, listen a little bit closer: they could be sending email. The DARPA is already working on cyborg insects, but now the military wants them to be able to form their own ad-hoc wireless networks, using chirps:
Insects will be equipped with embedded MEMS transceivers that pick up modulated calling sounds from nearby insects. Once the information in a call is extracted by the transceiver, the information code is applied to an electromechanical device on board the insect that modulates the insect calls, thereby retransmitting the information to another insect, and so on.
I can’t imagine that a cricket chirp has a super high amount of bandwidth, and the transmission is not exactly going to propagate at the speed of light. But as a covert communication network, it seems like it could be a fairly cheap and robust system, especially if the transceivers are able to use electromagnetic harvesters to power themselves from the muscle movements of the insect. Just release a whole orchestra of crickets where you want a network, and you’ll have a your own little swarm of self sustaining, noisy routers.
VIA [ Danger Room ]
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Category: Biorobotics, Military
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