Techno Page
Blue Tooth
3D Chips
Blue Tooth
Hello, all you techno people out there! Before we explore the techno-sphere
this week I have to warn you that the weatherman forecasts heavy showers
and strong winds in the near future. This is mainly due to heavy pressure
building up North of the Internet and towards the South-East of hardware
technologies and Bluetooth(tm) technology. This will result in heavy winds
and occasional showers if improvements in graphics and nano technologies
do not occur. The forecast in detail is as follows.
Bluetooth(tm) wireless technology is redefining the term 'personal connectivity'
by providing freedom from wired connections by enabling links between mobile
computers, mobile phones, portable handheld devices, and connectivity to
the Internet. Bluetooth technology redefines the very way we experience
connectivity.
Hardware that complies with the Bluetooth wireless specification ensures
communication compatibility worldwide. As a low-cost, low-power solution
with industry-wide support, Bluetooth wireless technology allows you to
bring connectivity with you. You define the boundaries of your productivity
anywhere in the world, in whatever place your business may take you. Establishing
a standard means integrating well-tested technology with the power-efficiency
and low-cost of a compliant radio system. Establishing a standard also
means a group of industry leading promoter companies who drive the specification
forward. Bluetooth technology has been developed as a cross industry solution
that combines a vision of engineering-innovation with an understanding
of business and consumer expectations. It is supported by product and application
development in a wide range of market segments, including software developers,
silicon vendors, peripheral and camera manufacturers, mobile PC manufacturers
and handheld device developers, consumer electronics manufacturers, car
manufacturers, test and measurement equipment manufacturers and a whole
lot more.
Nano-machines and the molecular computer
There is a race among scientists and researchers to develop computers that
operate on the molecular level using only a few atoms to convey information
and do calculations. Binary technology with its simple on-off signals allows
for technology of the most complex kinds to be represented by almost anything.
From the race to make smaller more energy efficient computers two models
have come to the fore; the electronic and the biological. Each is still
experimental. Each has potential advantages and disadvantages. Neither
is ready to replace your computer yet, but as of the last few weeks due
to some breakthroughs, the advantage has shifted toward the biological
models. What does this mean to us? There has been a great deal of science-fiction
and future projections of the reduction of computer size with component
being of molecular size. The logic of such an approach can be seen in the
results of component reduction in computers from the vacuum tube; to the
transistor; to the integrated circuit; to the microprocessor computer chip.
With each reduction in size came an exponential increase in power and
efficiency of computers. Today's desktop and laptop personal computers
are light-years in advance of the most advanced computers of the early
space age. In fact, today's personal computers are several times more powerful
than those used to place men on the moon a little more than thirty years
ago. Keep in mind that it is easy to understand why so much effort and
research has gone into the development of computers which will work using
components that are molecular in size.
The technology to work effectively with small groups of atoms in molecules
designed for calculating and detecting using sub-atomic particles did not
even exist a couple of years ago. But then the micro-biologists had examples
of micro-machines with molecular components around them all the time.
Single-celled animals and plants worked with components which operated
through enzyme stimulation offered an interesting model. Living organisms
offered examples of micro-computing that had been overlooked! If binary
is either an "off" or an "on" these living things switched off and on by
reacting to enzymes. Somewhere along the way someone figured that if a
small scale biological reaction could be detected, living material could
be used as a computer.
Researchers successfully tested this theory using enzymes to cause DNA
strands to calculate using binary as we reported in Techno Page a few months
back. While this is far from the complex circuitry of a sophisticated computer,
it is a breakthrough that may shift the whole focus of research.An organic
based computing system has several drawbacks. Living material would be
susceptible to "infections" of a sort, and you can image that computer
virus is could be both organic and software based. Then we face the ethical
question of animating organic material.
The first to successfully create a working molecular computer will be
able to create the microscopic nano-machines that will be able to build
and repair things at a fundamental level. They will create a new technology
that will change everything from medicine to space exploration. Both technologies
hold promise, but both also have limits. If history is any indicator, the
potential of this prospective new technology is beyond measure. Think of
computers small enough to operate machines which could travel through your
bloodstream, repair your body, or monitor the flow of oil in an engine,
or fight disease. These would be some of many possibilities, and the race
is on!
3D Chips
One of the traditional bottlenecks of 3D graphics hardware has been the
rate at which pixels can be rendered into a frame buffer using conventional
DRAM or VRAM.
3D-RAM emerged from a complete redesigning of frame buffer technology
developed towards the end of year 2000. 3D-RAM produces an order of magnitude
increase in rendering performance.
The essence of the 3D-RAM architecture is an optimized array system
that minimizes the average memory cycle time of 3D rendering and a selective
on-chip logic that converts the interface with the rendering controller
from a read-modified-write mode to a write-mostly mode. In addition to
the performance boost, the new architecture also significantly reduces
the system chip count. |
