Eye Implant - Millimeter-scale Computing System

On February 22, 2011 in San Francisco, at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, researchers from University of Michigan presented a millimeter-scale computing system. It is the first in a new class of millimeter-scale ubiquitous computing. It is revolutionary and directly points to of Bell’s Law and Moore’s law – pervasive computing.

It is almost invisible having a microprocessor, pressure sensor, memory, thin-film battery, solar cell and wireless radio with an antenna that can transmit data to an external reader device just over one cubic millimeter in size.

It is significant in that it is a prototype for implantable continuous eye pressure tracking monitor, (readings are taken every 15 minutes) targeted for medical applications with the focus on glaucoma patients. The other innovative applications for building are to track pollution, weapons, and structural integrity, making any object smart and traceable.

The system uses ultra-low power consumption while in extreme sleep mode and stores up to one week of data. Each day it requires exposure to 10 hours of indoor light or 1 ½ hours of sunlight to keep the battery charged. It consumes an average of 5.3 nanowatts.

"This is the first true millimeter-scale complete computing system," said Dennis Sylvester, also a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan.

Key Qualities

Unique Architecture

Small in scale

Contains compact radio with wireless sensor networks

Better, faster