FET Flagships (Future Emerging Technologies) is an initiative promoted by the European Commission to support long term research and science driven projects that once delivered will produce a high impact in society and economy.
In 2010 scientists and professionals from a wide variety of countries presented 21 proposals to the Commission, and in 2011 a panel chose six pilots. In April 2012 these schemes will compete for the final long-term funding of 100 million Euros per year during 10 years. One of the six projects selected was GA, Guardian Angels for a Smarter Life.
Guardian Angels for a Smarter Life
Professionals of several institutions and private corporations are involved in the development of miniaturized devices that will be built with nano mechanisms and will take care of citizens from infancy through to old age. They will be personalized and embedded into fabrics.
These microstructures are energy scavengers that will require zero power to function. They absorb energy like body movements, temperature or light, from their surrounding and at the same time store it for a long term use. They are going to be implemented with CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor: CMOS circuits require much less energy than chips using a single transistor) and MEMS technology (microelectromechanical systems: integration of microsensors, microactuators, microelectronics, and microstructures on a silicon substrate) as well as solar cells. Moreover, they will generate some energy through photosynthesis, the same biological system utilised by plants.
How Guardian Angels work
GA sensors will be able to detect multiple environmental stimuli as well as several physical and human emotional reactions. For example an alarm will be activated, if there are gases, pollen or any kind of dangerous fluids nearby the person who wears the device and that can cause him/her any harm.
These devices will function as well as electrocardiogram readers and oxygen meters, monitoring oxygen levels in the blood, blood sugar levels, heart rate and other physiological body activities. This biological data will be essential to prevent illnesses such as diabetes, heart disorders, strokes…
The nanosensors will act also as accelerators and gyroscopes; they will control their wearer’s motion detecting sudden falls or speed changes.
GA will perceive psychobiological patterns in human behaviour. They will identify stress, anxiety and attention through sensors that measure brain waves, sweat, heart rate and probably hormonal activity.
GA will be of great assistance to disable and autistic individuals. Their developers have also explained that these mechanisms will enhance the cognitive abilities of their wearers.
Ethical Issues
Though there is no doubt of the promising advantages that GA expertise will provide for millions of individuals, some European citizens interviewed for this article have expressed their concerns about the misuse of biological data extracted from this technology particularly taking into account that these electromechanical sensors will also be “meters” for certain types of human behaviour. Will our emotional responses and brain activity be recorded in a databank and exploited later as information held against us? Only the future will answer this question.
GA Partners
Below there is a list of the universities and private corporations that have united their efforts to accomplish the GA project.
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland; ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium ; Lund University in Sweden; KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden; Université Catholique de Louvain; University of Cambridge in UK; CNRS Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique in France; CEA Commissariat a l’ Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives in France; IUNET Consorzio Internationale Interuniversitario per la Nanoelettronica in Italy; CSEM Centre Suisse d’ Electronique et de Microtechnique SA; Recherche et Développement in Switzerland; ITE Instytut Technologii Elektronowej in Poland; IMEC Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum VZW in Belgium; SINANO Institute in France; Tyndall National Institute University College Cork in Irland; VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland; IBM Research GmbH in Switzerland, Infineon Technologies AG in Germany; Intel Performance Learning Solutions Limited in England; HiQScreen in Switzerland; NXP Semiconductors BV in Netherland; Sanofis Aventis Recherche and Développement in France; Siemens AG in Germany; Stichting Imec in Netherland; STMicroelectronics Crolles 2 SAS in France; Thales SA in France.
Sources
- Guardian Angels for a smarter life, ga-project.eu
Dinah JL Novak - Years of hard work within investigative journalism (online, print and TV ), scientific research and academics (BA and BSc) have provided ...
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