Page 140 - Nanotechnology an introduction

building, or a structure such as an aircraft, or even a living organism). It is only feasible if the sensors are in, or close to, the nanoscale, from the
viewpoints of both cost and space requirements; that is, nanotechnology is an enabling concept. Sensorization is likely to lead to a qualitatively
different way of handling situations in at least four areas:
• Structural (civil) engineering: bridges, walls, buildings, etc. Sensors—typically optical fiber Bragg gratings, the technology of which already
exists—will be incorporated throughout the structure (e.g., embedded in the concrete, or in the wings of an aircraft). The output of these sensors
is indicative of strain, the penetration of moisture, and so forth.
• Process (including chemical) engineering: sensors embedded throughout machinery and reaction vessels will monitor physical (e.g.,
temperature) and chemical (e.g., the concentration of a selected substance) variables.
• Sensors will be incorporated into the human body, continuously monitoring physiological variables (cf. Section 4.2).
• Sensors will be dispersed throughout the environment (e.g., along rivers and in lakes), reporting the purity of water. The concept is somewhat
analogous to what is already taking place in agriculture (“microfarming”; that is, intervention guided by high-resolution satellite images of fields,
indicating local moisture, etc.).
In most, or perhaps all, cases where sensorization is envisaged, at present we simply do not have data of the spacial and temporal intensity that will
be obtainable. Its availability will almost certainly qualitatively change our views. It will perhaps come to seem primitive to base an assessment of
health on a single analysis of key physiological biomarkers. Vehicle health—as appraised by analyzing sensor readouts—will become the criterion
for the airworthiness of aircraft (etc.).
Apart from making the miniature sensors themselves, the two main challenges of sensorization are (i) how to deal with the vast proliferation of data
(an example of vastification) and (ii) what about the reliability of the sensors? The first challenge can presumably be dealt with by automated
processing of the data, and human intervention will only be alerted in the event of some unusual pattern occurring. This implies vast data processing
capacity, which is, however, anyway an envisaged development of nanotechnology. The second challenge may be dealt with in the same way: the
system will come to be able to determine from the pattern of its readouts when sensors are malfunctioning (cf. Chapter 10).
Ultramicroscope. Synonym for nanoscope; that is, an instrument able to reveal features in the nanoscale.

Vastification. An enormous increase in the number of elementary units or components in a system. Typically, vast numbers of objects are a
corollary of their being very small (cf. Moore's law, which is as much about the vast increase in the number of components fabricated in parallel on a
chip as the diminishing size of the components). The main qualitatively distinctive consequence of vastification is that explicit specification and
control become impracticable. To tackle this problem, an evolutionary approach will be required, notably in design (see Section 10.3), but very
possibly also in operation (e.g., a stigmergic approach). Biomimicry of the human brain may become the favored approach. Vastification usually
implies complexification (although typically not found in dictionaries, this term is already used by mathematicians and does not therefore rank as a
neologism) and, sometimes, errification (q.v.).