The Office of Naval Research’s ‘Computational Neuroscience’ Program

In their own words:

http://www.onr.navy.mil/sci_tech/34/341/ne_comp.asp

“Computational Neuroscience

This program unit fosters research to elucidate the organization, structural bases, and operational algorithms characterizing information-processing networks within neural systems. The goal is the development of biological neural networks that incorporate the organizational principles and operational rules of real nervous systems that provide demonstrable enhancements in the capability of information processing systems. Research supported includes neural microcircuitry, in particular from cortical networks, and sensorimotor systems composed of multiple networks. The interest in microcircuitry is aimed at elucidating the principles of neural structure-function relationships, and identifying those aspects of connectivity, neural biophysics, and network dynamics that enable scaleable, powerful and efficient neural computation.

The current priority for this program is development of large-scale cortical models, possibly embedded within larger neural systems, with demonstrable computational ability. The goal is to develop large-scale neocortical models with capabilities extending beyond pattern recognition into the domain of cognitive skills.

New brain imaging technologies are providing important data on the neural substrates of cognition at the meso-scale provide an opportunity to bridge neuroscience and cognitive science accounts of cognitive skills. Interdisciplinary approaches that combine cognitive neuroscience and neural modeling based on biological principles are of particular interest. There is interest in computational neuroscience research aimed at developing models of neural structures involved in social interaction and neuroeconomics.“

Microsoft equips intelligence community with ultimate Windows cracking tool

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004235.html

How Do You Take Your COFEE?

A powerful set of tools specifically designed to circumvent security on computers running the Microsoft Windows operating systems was released to law enforcement and military intelligence staff in the U.S and other foreign countries by Microsoft in the summer of 2007.

The USB device was dubbed COFEE which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor. COFEE is said to contain over 100 software programs that allow the holder to quickly discover passwords, decrypt files and folders, view recent Internet activity and a great deal more. On piece of functionality allows evidence to be gathered while the computer is still connected to the Internet or other network. All you have to do is plug COFEE into a USB port of a running computer and the data extraction begins with the click of a mouse. Some security professionals and privacy advocates are concerned that Microsoft has created a secret back door within Windows. This is a concern the Microsoft has denied.

Nearly 400 people from more than 80 agencies in 35 countries attended the conference where Microsoft provided training on this tool. COFEE seems to be an easy to use, automated computer forensic tool that can be used by investigators in the field. However, one has to wonder how fast one of these devices will find their way to the darks side and in the hands of criminals. I would bet within hours of the initial distribution of this device, a bounty was established payable to the first person to deliver COFEE into the hands of the bad guys.

The attendees were shown how to use the device and other technologies that can help them fight cybercrime as well as help them investigate traditional crime with an online component. They were also instructed on topics that covered how to collect evidence from PDAs running Windows CE and how to gather evidence from Microsoft’s online services and products like Hotmail and Windows.

Distribution: More than 2,000 law enforcement and intelligence officers in 15 countries, including Poland, the Philippines, Germany, New Zealand and the United States have received the device.

Development: COFEE is said to have been developed by a former Hong Kong police officer who now works for Microsoft.

Professional hackers and cyber weapons designers are smarter than you think. They have their own versions of COFEE and in all likelihood they are much better than the Microsoft tool. In fact, one professional hacker said, “If it works as good as other Microsoft applications – no one has anything to worry about.” I bet they get the old “Blue Screen of Death as well.”

The risk of tools like this being used by criminals and our enemies is very real. So is the potential misuse of these capabilities and the threat that it poses to privacy. That being said, given the current state of cyber crime and the threat of cyber terrorism and the looming risk of cyber war, the military, intelligence organizations and law enforcement needs all the help they can get. As I have said many times before, one person’s tool is another’s weapon.

Rat Nerve Cell Pings Computer Chip

By Tracy Staedter, Discovery News
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060417/nervechip_tec.html

April 19, 2006 A rat nerve cell attached to a semiconductor chip has exchanged a signal with the chip, an achievement that could lead to organic computers that process information like a brain, say researchers.

Picture: Courtesy of Peter Fromherz |

Rat Nerve on Chip

This image shows the rat neuron on a transistor. Scientists registered communication between the chip and the neuron, bringing thinking computers and brain-controlled artificial limbs closer to reality.

Seashells hold key to building a better battery

Building on studies of seashells by the seashore, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have harnessed genetically engineered viruses to build nanoscale components that could lead to a new generation of powerful batteries that are as small as grains of rice and that spontaneously assemble themselves in laboratory dishes.

Read More:  Seattle Times

Also: Virus-Enabled Synthesis and Assembly of Nanowires for Lithium Ion Battery Electrodes

Science published 6 April 2006, 10.1126/science.1122716 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1122716v1

Software tracks mood swings of blogosphere

New Scientist:

Software that tracks mood swings across the ‘blogosphere’ and pinpoints the events behind them could provide more insightful ways to search and analyse the web, researchers say.

The software, called MoodViews, was created by Gilad Mishne and colleagues at Amsterdam University, The Netherlands. It tracks about 10 million blogs hosted by the US service LiveJournal.

“I noticed that blog posts on LiveJournal have mood labels attached,” Mishne says. “We started to collect this information and noticed trends in different moods over time.”

About 250,000 new LiveJournal posts are created every day and roughly 150,000 of these include a label for one of hundreds of different moods. Moodviews keeps track of these labels and generates a graph, revealing emotions shifts across all LiveJournal blogs over time.

Flirty and lonely

Moodviews reveals patterns that follow on weekly, monthly and even yearly cycles. For example, the label “drunk” becomes increasingly popular each weekend. The label “stressed” appears less during summer months and more towards the end of each year, perhaps because of end-of-year work deadlines or the stress of visiting in-laws.

On Valentine’s Day, there is spike in the numbers of bloggers who use the labels “loved” or “flirty”, but also an increase in the number who report feeling “lonely”.

The latest addition to Moodviews, a program called Moodsignals, tries to explain match these blogospheric mood swings to current events. It identifies emotional peaks by comparing recent label usage with records of previous use. When it finds a spike, the program picks out less commonly used words from relevant blog posts in an effort to identify the cause of the emotional change.

Moodsignals successfully determined that a peak in excitement and similar emotions over a weekend in July 2005 was related to the publication of a new Harry Potter book. “It found that words like ‘Harry’, ‘Potter’, ’shop’ and ‘book’ were coming up more than usual in posts,” Mishne explains. “These terms were submitted to the news archive which showed the excitement was about the latest Harry Potter book.”

Emotional search

The tool may have commercial applications. For example, one investment banker is interested in using it to track consumer confidence in different products.

But a long-term goal is to create new ways to find information online and the researchers plan to release an emotionally aware search engine later in 2006, which will measure bloggers’ moods towards a particular word or topic.

Jill Walker, who researches online communication at the University of Bergen, in Norway, sees potential in this approach. “It would be a very interesting new way to navigate the internet,” she told New Scientist. “It is good to try and think of ways to access the kind of information that’s not easily machine-codable, but is out there on the web.”

Walker notes that can be difficult to divine feelings from online posts as people can choose to portray very different images of themselves online, compared to their real-world personas. But she says the information collected by Moodviews may still be useful. “We can find out a lot about how people choose to represent themselves online this way,” she notes.

Computer Graphics Firm Adds 3-D to RFID

http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2237/1/1/

A 3-D computer graphics developer wants to use radio frequency identification to enable devices to understand and interact physically in the real world

Apr. 5, 2006Although De Espona Infografica has more than 20 years of experience working with three-dimensional computer graphics for movies, videogames and computer simulation, the Madrid-based firm admits it is a novice in the world of radio frequency identification and artificial intelligence. Even so, the 3-D computer graphics developer believes its approach could spur the development and deployment of robots and IT systems capable of interacting with physical objects in the real world.

The company’s 3DFORM-ID concept system would use the memory of an RFID tag to contain data describing the three-dimensional form and physical properties of the object to which the tag was attached. Equipping a system with an RFID reader would allow it to detect the object and download its 3-D data, as well as that of any surrounding tagged objects, to re-create a three-dimensional scene identical to the detected environment. The system could also make dynamic three-dimensional predictions concerning the detected objects.

Jose Maria de Espona, CEO at De Espona Infografica, hopes RFID will enable 3D devices to understand and interact physically in the real world.

Espona believes such a system could enable multiple applications. For example, with everyday objects in a home fitted with 3DFORM-ID tags, domestic robots would be able to help people clean and maintain their homes. In another application, the 3-D information on tagged objects could be used to help packaging and shipping companies reduce the costs of packing, and to optimize the number of containers being transported, thereby lowering transport costs. De Esposa Infografica has already registered a patent for its 3DFORM-ID concept for use in a number of applications, including automated driving. Details of the applications can be found here.

With the 3DFORM-ID system, object information is stored not centrally, but locally, on RFID tags. “Including three-dimensional intelligence in an RFID-based system means a drastic decentralization,” says Jose Maria de Espona, CEO at De Espona Infografica. “Any object can be understood totally by any other object equipped with readers and the computing capacity to run the 3DFORM-ID software, despite its location or whether or not its has a network connection.”

RFID also provides a way for computers to understand objects around them without utilizing video cameras, which generate far greater amounts of data that must then be stored and processed, than a system using data collected from each object’s tag.

However, the megabytes or gigabytes of 3-D data stored on the tags would far exceed the capacity of current RFID technology. A fully operative 3DFORM-ID tag would have to contain several different levels of data (LOD)that is, different levels of 3-D model resolution, according to how near the tagged object is to an interrogator.

“Current RFID tags don’t suit our needs, not only for the huge memory requirements, but because an ideal 3DFORM-ID system would be multifrequency-capable for communication at different distances, and in different situations,” says De Esponsa. Enabling such large data downloads from tag to reader would also require a new generation of RFID interrogators operating with multiple frequencies and protocols, and with software management to enable different degrees of tridimensional data about a tagged object to be accessed.

“RFID interrogators or readers must be capable of using a ‘cascade’ solution to manage huge amounts of information coming from tridimensionally identified objects,” De Esponsa explains. “According to different interrogator requests, the interrogation protocol must start downloading the lowest-resolution LOD model from the ID, thenand only after loading a previous lower-resolution LODproceeding with a higher-resolution LOD download, and so on until arriving at a critical distance, interaction or amount of data. And then, maybe, the interrogator must jump to another more direct, higher-capacity technology, such as 3G, Wi-Fi or WiMAX or a wired conection.”

Some simple 3DFORM-ID systems, however, may be possible using RFID tags and readers available today. “Current RFID tags are in the 64-kilobyte memory capability range, and this allows very crude 3-D form definitions of the real objectspractically only their maximum bounding volume,” says De Esponsa. “Therefore, their 3DFORM-ID usage is limited to such applications as managing containers.”

De Esponsa is seeking partners to develop and promote the use of 3DFORM-ID. He is also working to establish a 3-D standard format for the device, as well as the creation of a central database of 3-D objects concerning real objects using this technology. “The full implementation of 3DFORM-IDs in RFID will require a huge and expensive effort to develop a new generation of RFID,” he says, “with megabyte or gigabyte memories and multifrequency capabilities.”

‘Mental typewriter’ controlled by thought alone

18:35 09 March 2006
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8826&print=true

A computer controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated at a major trade fair in Germany.

The device could provide a way for paralysed patients to operate computers, or for amputees to operate electronically controlled artificial limbs. But it also has non-medical applications, such as in the computer games and entertainment industries.

The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface (BBCI) dubbed the “mental typewriter” was created by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin and Charité, the medical school of Berlin Humboldt University in Germany. It was shown off at the CeBit electronics fair in Hanover, Germany.

The machine makes it possible to type messages onto a computer screen by mentally controlling the movement of a cursor. A user must wear a cap containing electrodes that measure electrical activity inside the brain, known as an electroencephalogram (EEG) signal, and imagine moving their left or right arm in order to manoeuvre the cursor around.

“It’s a very strange sensation,” says Gabriel Curio at Charité. “And you can understand from the crowds watching that the potential is huge.”

Learning algorithms

Curio says users can operate the device just 20 minutes after going through 150 cursor moves in their minds. This is because the device rapidly learns to recognise activity in the area of a person’s motor cortex, the area of the brain associated with movement. “The trick is the machine-learning algorithms developed at the Fraunhofer Institute,” Curio says.

John Chapin, an expert in using implanted electrodes to control computers, agrees EEG sensing technology is advancing rapidly. “There’s been a lot of progress on the non-invasive side in recent years,” he told New Scientist.

The German researchers hope to develop a commercial version of the device as an aid for paralysed patients and amputees.

Chapin adds that brain-computer interfaces could have a range of uses beyond the medical. “Signals from the brain give you a fraction of a second advantage,” he says. The device could make a novel game controller and be used in other ways. The researchers have even begun testing the machine as a driving aid, as it can sense a sudden reaction and control a vehicle’s brakes before even the driver can.

The next stage is to develop a cap that does not have to be attached directly to the scalp. This should make the device easier to use and cause less skin irritation for the wearer.

Related Articles

• Brain implants ‘read’ monkey minds
• http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6127
• 08 July 2004
• Monkey’s brain signals control ‘third arm’
• http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4262
• 13 October 2003

Weblinks

• Berlin Brain-Computer Interface
• http://ida.first.fhg.de/projects/bci/bbci_official/index_en.html
• FIRST, Fraunhofer
• http://www.first.fraunhofer.de/en/home
• Charite
• http://www.charite.de/kompakt/english/p0.00_frame.html
• John K Chapin, University of Rochester
• http://www.downstate.edu/pharmacology/chapin.htm

MIT researchers extend computer life without batteries

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/pp.php?id=667172189&fp=2&fpid=1
Ben Ames, IDG News Service

08/03/2006 09:04:56

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found a way to extend the power life of mobile computers.

Instead of using batteries, they draw power from an electronic device called an ultracapacitor. The approach is still several years away from being used as the main electricity source for commercial laptops and handhelds, but is already used for backup power in many small consumer products.

“A number of electronic devices already use commercial ultracapacitors for specialized functions,” said Joel Schindall, a professor in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“For example, a clock radio may use an ultracapacitor as a keep-alive source in case of power failure, and even the old Palm III used an ultracapacitor to retain its memory while the AA batteries were changed.”

The new technology could shake up the retail computer business, where computer makers already compete for market share by boasting of more power-efficient machines.

Chip makers battle for business by launching more efficient processors like Intel’s Centrino and Advanced Micro Devices’ Turion, trading high performance speed for mobile endurance.

Hewlett-Packard Co. also says its customers demand longer run-times. The company announced Monday that its HP Compaq nx9400 notebook will run on three levels of battery packs. Those range from the standard, four-hour unit to a substitute battery that adds five more hours, and a clip-on, supplementary battery that adds another 10 hours.

The speed at which a battery charges is also important to users. HP says its enhanced, lithium ion battery can gain 90 percent of a full charge after just 90 minutes of being plugged into a wall outlet.

By comparison, a consumer with a cell phone powered by MIT’s ultracapacitor could gain a complete recharge in just a few seconds, Schindall says.

The new device is called a nanotube-enhanced ultracapacitor, or NEU. It works by applying nanotechnology to an existing electrical device; the capacitor.

Generic capacitors store energy as an electrical field. That is more efficient than standard batteries, which get their energy from chemical reactions. Even more efficient is the ultracapacitor, a capacitor-based storage cell that provides quick bursts of instant energy. The drawback is size — ultracapacitors need to be much larger than batteries to hold the same charge.

The MIT researchers solved this problem by taking advantage of the enormous surface area of nanotubes; molecular-scale straws of carbon atoms that enable ultracapacitors to store electrical fields at the atomic level. Storage capacity (and charging speed) in an ultracapacitor is proportional to the surface area of the electrodes, so the nanotubes provide a great leap forward.

Despite this promise, researchers say they still have three to five years more work before they can replace a computer’s main battery.

One drawback is that the ultracapacitor provides direct current power. That is suitable for running power-off functions like a laptop’s clock, but most desktop devices use alternating current for their main operations.

High cost could also be a problem at first, because of low quantity production and meager capital investment in manufacturing facilities, he said.

On the other hand, the device could clear these hurdles by finding customers across a variety of businesses. From cell phones to automobiles, the ultracapacitor could supplement fuel cell power sources by acting as an emergency reserve for peak power use.

“The eventual implications are profound,” says Schindall.

The Science Behind Brainwave Stimulation

Neurostimulation Research
by Transparent Corp

What are Brainwaves? When a neuron is fired in the brain it emits a charge of electricity for about a millisecond. Since billions of neurons are constantly firing on and off in the brain, this tends to produce a “wave” effect that has been popularly referred to as brainwaves. Sensitive medical equipment (EEG, electroencephalography), is used to detect brainwaves by measuring the electricity levels over areas of the scalp.

With the discovery of brainwaves came the discovery of various bands and subcategories of brainwaves (measured in hertz or “frequencies” ranging from .3 – 40). Depending on what is going on in a person’s head, the brain emits a large variety of brainwaves. For instance, the brainwaves of a sleeping person are vastly different than the brainwaves of someone wide awake.

Over the years, more sensitive equipment has brought us closer to figuring out exactly what various brainwaves represent and with that, what they mean about a person’s health and state of mind.

Entrainment

Entrainment is a principle of physics. It is defined as the tendency for two oscillating bodies to lock into phase so that they vibrate in harmony. It is also defined as a synchronization of two or more rhythmic cycles. The principles of entrainment are universal, appearing in chemistry, neurology, biology, pharmacology, medicine, astronomy and more.

CASE IN POINT: While working on the design of the pendulum clock in 1656, dutch scientist Christian Huygens found that if he placed two unsynchronized clocks side by side on a wall, they would slowly synchronize to each other. In fact, the synchronization was so precise not even mechanical intervention could calibrate them more accurately.

A clock is a simple example of a system responding to entrainment, but the same rules apply to more complex systems such as the brain. For example, when the brain is presented with a stimulus, it emits an electrical charge in response, called a cortical evoked response. If presented with a repeating stimulus, the brain responds by synchronizing these electric cycles to the same rhythm. This is commonly called the Frequency Following Response (or FFR ). The stimulus itself can be nearly anything – a physical vibration, a flash of light or a pulse of sound, which is what our programs focus on providing.

What is Brainwave Entrainment?

Brainwave Entrainment refers to the brain’s electrical response to rhythmic sensory stimulation, such as pulses of sound or light.

When the brain is given a stimulus, through the ears, eyes or other senses, it emits an electrical charge in response, called a Cortical Evoked Response (shown below). These electrical responses travel throughout the brain to become what you “see and hear”. This activity can be measured using sensitive electrodes attached to the scalp.

When the brain is presented with a rhythmic stimulus, such as a drum beat for example, the rhythm is reproduced in the brain in the form of these electrical impulses. If the rhythm becomes fast and consistent enough, it can start to resemble the natural internal rhythms of the brain, called brainwaves. When this happens, the brain responds by synchronizing its own electric cycles to the same rhythm. This is commonly called the Frequency Following Response (or FFR ):

FFR can be useful because brainwaves are very much related to mental state. For example, a 4 Hz brainwave is associated with sleep, so a 4 Hz sound pattern would help reproduce the sleep state in your brain. The same concept can be applied to nearly all mental states, including concentration, creativity and many others. It can even act as a gateway to exotic or extraordinary experiences, such as deep meditation or “lucid dreaming” type states.

If you listen closely to most NP2 Audio/Visual Sessions, you will hear small, rapid pulses of sound. These pulses may be harder to detect if you turn off Tones, but Noise and Background Sounds are also embedded within them. As the session progresses, the frequency rate of these pulses is changed slowly, thereby changing your brainwave patterns and guiding your mind to various useful mental states.

Further Reading

Bermer, F. “Cerebral and cerebellar potentials.” Physiological Review, 38, 357-388.

Chatrian, G., Petersen, M., Lazarte, J. “Responses to Clicks from the Human Brain: Some Depth Electrographic Observation.” Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 12: 479-487

Gontgovsky, S., Montgomery, D. “The Physiological Response to “Beta Sweep” Entrainment.” Proceedings AAPB Thirteenth Anniversary Annual Meeting, 62-65.

Oster, G. “Auditory beats in the brain.” Scientific American, 229, 94-102.

Shealy, N., Cady, R., Cox, R., Liss, S., Clossen, W., Veehoff, D. “A Comparison of Depths of Relaxation Produced by Various Techniques and Neurotransmitters by Brainwave Entrainment” – Shealy and Forest Institute of Professional Psychology A study done for Comprehensive Health Care, Unpublished.

Siever, D. “Isochronic Tones and Brainwave Entrainment.” Unpublished, but available through his book the Rediscovery of Audio-Visual Entrainment.

Walter, V. J. & Walter, W. G. “The central effects of rhythmic sensory stimulation.” Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1, 57-86.

More on Brainwaves:

Brainwave Bands

There are certain bands (subcategories) of brainwaves that are related to specific functions of the body and mind. In fact, you can tell a lot just by observing a person’s brainwave patterns for a short period of time. For instance, anxious people tend to produce an overabundance of high Beta waves while people with ADD/ADHD tend to produce an overabundance of low Alpha/Theta brainwaves.

Brainwave stimulation can be a very effective treatment for many types of mental and physical disorders. It can also be a gateway into exotic or extraordinary mental states.

Dominant Brainwaves

The brain is constantly emitting nearly every type of brainwave. However, based on the strength of the certain bands of brainwaves, and depending on where the EEG electrodes are placed on the scalp, a person can be said to be “in” a certain brainwave. As you are reading this, you are (assumedly) wide awake and are most likely producing more Beta brainwaves than any other type. So you could be said to be “in” Beta.

Mental States

By stimulating the brain to produce or decrease certain brainwaves bands, we can induce a huge variety types of mental states and emotional reactions, including meditation, excitation, motivation, anxiety, irritation, sexual excitement, relaxation, spiritualism and more.

For instance, if we were to embed Alpha waves into music, listening to it would be very relaxing, even causing your body to physically relax. If we embedded Theta waves into music, people might even fall asleep!

Specific Brainwave Frequencies

In addition to bands of brainwaves, very specific frequencies have been shown to have certain effects, such as stimulating the release Serotonin or human growth hormone (HGH).

Brainwaves Types

Wave	Frequency	Mental State / Sub-Categories (bands)
Beta	12hz – 38hz	Wide awake. This is the state you are normally in from the moment you wake up to the time you go to sleep at night. Usually, this state in itself is uneventful, but don’t underestimate its importance. Entraining SMR and Beta 1 in particular can be extremely beneficial to people with mental or emotional disorders such as insomnia, depression or ADD. This band can also be used for increasing focus or even IQ! SMR (sensorimotor rhythm) (12 – 15Hz): Related to body motion. Increasing this can result in relaxed focus, improved attentive abilities. Generally a good thing to increase. Beta 1 (15 – 20 Hz) – Can increase mental abilities, IQ, focus Beta 2 (20 – 38Hz) – Highly alert, but also anxious
Alpha	8hz – 12hz	Awake but relaxed and not processing much information. When you get up in the morning and just before sleep, you are naturally in this state. When you close your eyes your brain automatically starts producing more Alpha waves. Alpha is usually the goal of experienced mediators, but to enter it using this program is incredibly easy. You can also use this state for effective self-hypnosis and mental re-programming.
Theta	3hz – 8hz	REM sleep or extreme relaxation. Lucid dreaming and OBEs can also occur at this state. Other “weird” and often “paranormal” experiences have been reported while in or very near the Theta state. Theta can also be used for hypnosis, accelerated learning and mental programming (using pre-recorded suggestions). Theta 1 – (3 – 5 Hz) The suppression of this band can improve concentration, attention and reduce hyperactivity. Theta 2 – (5 – 8 Hz) Very relaxed and dreamful sleep. Life-Transforming, paranormal, and spiritual experiences are most common at this band.
Delta	0.2hz – 3hz	Deep, dreamless sleep. Delta is the slowest band of brainwaves. When your dominant brainwave is Delta, your body is healing itself and “resetting” its internal clocks. You do not dream in this state and are completely unconscious. Entrainment of the brain at this level is all but impossible. Most of the time, people wishing to enter Delta will have to settle for deep Theta and hope than their mind “drifts” down into Delta on its own.

Enzyme computer could live inside you

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/info-tech/dn8767.html
18:09 23 February 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Will Knight

A molecular computer that uses enzymes to perform calculations has been built by researchers in Israel.

Itamar Willner, who constructed the molecular calculator with colleagues at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, believes enzyme-powered computers could eventually be implanted into the human body and used to, for example, tailor the release of drugs to a specific person’s metabolism.

The team built their computer using two enzymes – glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) – to trigger two interconnected chemical reactions. Two chemical components – hydrogen peroxide and glucose – were used to represent input values (A and B). The presence of each chemical corresponded to a binary 1, while the absence represented a binary 0. The chemical result of the enzyme-powered reaction was determined optically.

The enzyme computer was used to perform two fundamental logic computations known as AND (where A and B must both equal one) and XOR (where A and B must have different values). The addition of two further enzymes – glucose oxidase and catalase – connected the two logical operations, making it possible to add together binary digits using the logic functions.

Intelligent drug delivery

Enzymes are already widely used to assist calculations using specially encoded DNA. These DNA computers have the potential to surpass the speed and power of existing silicon computers because they can perform many calculations in parallel and pack a vast number of components into a tiny space.

But Willner says his enzyme computer is not designed for speed it can take several minutes to perform a calculation. Rather, he envisages it eventually being incorporated into bio-sensing equipment and used, for example, to monitor and react to a patient’s response to particular dosages of a drug.

“This is basically a computer that could be integrated with the human body,” Willner told New Scientist. “We feel you could implant an enzyme computer into the body and use it to calculate an entire metabolic pathway.”

Martyn Amos from University of Exeter, UK, also sees great potential for such devices. “The development of fundamental devices such as counters is vital for the future success of bio-molecular computers,” he told New Scientist.

“If such counters could be engineered inside living cells, then we can imagine them playing a role in applications such as intelligent drug delivery, where a therapeutic agent is generated at the site of a problem,” Amos says. “Counters would also offer a biological ’safety valve’, to prevent engineered cells proliferating in an uncontrolled fashion.”

DARPA’s Babble-off (Babylon)

Program Objective:

The goal of the Babylon program is to develop rapid, two-way, natural language speech translation interfaces and platforms for the warfighter for use in field environments for force protection, refugee processing, and medical triage. Babylon will focus on overcoming the many technical and engineering challenges limiting current multilingual translation technology to enable future full-domain, unconstrained dialog translation in multiple environments.

Program Strategy:

The Babylon seedling project, “RMS,” or Rapid Multilingual Support, was deployed to Afghanistan in the spring of 2002. The Babylon program will focus on low-population, high-terrorist-risk languages that will not be supported by any commercial enterprise. Mandarin and Arabic were selected based on immediate and intermediate needs.

Planned Accomplishments:

FY 02: In direct support of field operations, Babylon will build and rapidly deploy one-way speech translation systems for four target languages: Pashto, Dari, Arabic, and Mandarin. Systems will be delivered in the form of militarized palm-sized PDA devices (12 hour battery endurance) that conform to the military uniform ensemble.

FY 02: Each of four Babylon two-way translation teams will develop ten domain (task)-constrained, natural language translation prototypes hosted on multiple platforms. Each system will undergo an evaluation process and the successful teams will advance and continue to refine their system through technology patches and insertions.

Follow-on years will expand the domains, or tasks, supported by the Babylon prototypes, and improve their robustness and responsiveness to field requirements.

Related Links:

• DARPA Babylon Site
• Charles Wayne, “Human Language Technology TIDES, EARS, Babylon” at DARPATech 2002
  • slides (PDF 1.6mb)
  • script (PDF 76kb)
• EFF Mirror: Charles Wayne, “Human Language Technology TIDES, EARS, Babylon” at DARPATech 2002
  • slides (PDF 1.6mb)
  • script (PDF 76kb)

-Thai Automatic Speech Recognition (PDF)
-http://csis.pace.edu/~ctappert/dps/d860-03/gao.ppt
-TRANSONICS: A SPEECH TO SPEECH SYSTEM FOR ENGLISH-PERSIAN INTERACTIONS (PDF)
-Mr. Charles Wayne Information Awareness Office (IAO) Human Language Technology: TIDES, EARS, Babylon (PDF)
-Joyce D. Williams (PDF)

The lie detector you’ll never know is there

Wait until they can add this to satellites, then they can say “you might as just accept the neural implants, we already know what you’re ‘thinking’”:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18925335.800

05 January 2006

From New Scientist Print Edition

Paul Marks

THE US Department of Defense has revealed plans to develop a lie detector that can be used without the subject knowing they are being assessed. The Remote Personnel Assessment (RPA) device will also be used to pinpoint fighters hiding in a combat zone, or even to spot signs of stress that might mark someone out as a terrorist or suicide bomber.

In a call for proposals on a DoD website, contractors are being given until 13 January to suggest ways to develop the RPA, which will use microwave or laser beams reflected off a subject’s skin to assess various physiological parameters without the need for wires or skin contacts. The device will train a beam on “moving and non-cooperative subjects”, the DoD proposal says, and use the reflected signal to calculate their pulse, respiration rate and changes in electrical conductance, known as the “galvanic skin response”. “Active combatants will in general have heart, respiratory and galvanic skin responses that are outside the norm,” the website says.

Because these parameters are the same as those assessed by a polygraph lie detector, the DoD claims the RPA will also indicate the subject’s psychological state: if they are agitated or stressed because they are lying, for example. So it will be used as a “remote or concealed lie detector during prisoner interrogation”.

But finding ways to fulfil the DoD’s brief will pose a practical challenge, says Robert Prance, an electrical engineer at the University of Sussex, UK, who specialises in non-invasive sensors. “They might capture breathing rate with an infrared laser that senses chest vibration, but how they will measure a pulse through clothes, for instance, is a very big question.”

“The device will be used as a concealed lie detector during interrogation”

If the RPA is ever produced, it is likely to prove controversial. A remote lie detector would face even more difficulties than standard polygraph tests, which were themselves the subject of a damning 2003 report from the US National Academy of Sciences. “There is no way a polygraph test can be carried out usefully without the subject knowing, because you actually want the person to worry about certain questions,” says Bruce Burgess, an examiner with polygraph firm Distress Services of Leatherhead, Surrey, UK.

But Steve Wright, a conflict analyst at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, raises the prospect of people identified as suspects by the device being captured and subjected to secret “prisoner rendition” as a result. And he warns that the RPA could introduce a “chill factor” into everyday life.

From issue 2533 of New Scientist magazine, 05 January 2006, page 22

Related Articles

• Gut reactions may rumble a liar
• 31 October 2005
• Liars’ brains make fibbing come naturally
• 30 September 2005
• Deception special: The truth about lies
• 30 July 2005
• Search New Scientist
• Contact us

Web Links

• Remote Personnel Assessment request
• Robert Prance, University of Sussex
• Distress Services

M.E.S.H. ‘Control Grid’

MESH

Self-Organizing Neighborhood Wireless Mesh Networks

---

Watch our video on mesh networking (4 min. 6 sec.)

---

Overview

Researchers in Microsoft Research Redmond, Cambridge, and Silicon Valley are working to create wireless technologies that allow neighbors to connect their home networks together. There are many advantages to enabling such connectivity and forming a community mesh network. For example, when enough neighbors cooperate and forward each others packets, they do not need to individually install an Internet “tap” (gateway) but instead can share faster, cost-effective Internet access via gateways that are distributed in their neighborhood. Packets dynamically find a route, hopping from one neighbor’s node to another to reach the Internet through one of these gateways. Another advantage is that neighbors can cooperatively deploy backup technology and never have to worry about losing information due to a catastrophic disk failure. A third advantage is that this technology allows bits created locally to be used locally without having to go through a service provider and the Internet. Neighborhood community networks allow faster and easier dissemination of cached information that is relevant to the local community.

Community-based multi-hop wireless networks is disruptive to the current broadband Internet access paradigm, which relies on cable and DSL being deployed in individual homes. It is important because it allows free flow of information without any moderation or selective rate control. Compared to the large DSL and cable modem systems that are centrally managed, mesh networking is organic — everyone in the neighborhood contributes network resources and cooperates.

However, to realize the community-based goal, one has to solve many challenging problems including; capacity and range enhancement, privacy and security, self-stablizing and multi-path multi-hop routing, auto-configuration, bandwidth fairness, etc. In addition to solving the tough problems, success also depends on spectrum etiquette, business models, and economics. We are investigating some of the fundamental technical problems that continue to remain challenging despite several decades of research in packet radio networks. We have deployed testbed networks in our office buildings and in a local apartment complex.

Software Artifacts & Support

Click here to get our Mesh Networking Academic Resource Toolkit 2005

We implement ad-hoc routing and link quality measurement in a module that we call the Mesh Connectivity Layer (MCL). Architecturally, MCL is a loadable Microsoft Windows driver. It implements a virtual network adapter, so that to the rest of the system the ad-hoc network appears as an additional (virtual) network link. MCL routes using a modified version of DSR (an IETF protocol) that we call Link Quality Source Routing (LQSR). We have modified DSR extensively to improve its behavior, most significantly to support link quality metrics.

The MCL driver implements an interposition layer between layer 2 (the link layer) and layer 3 (the network layer). To higher layer software, MCL appears to be just another Ethernet link, albeit a virtual link. To lower layer software, MCL appears to be just another protocol running over the physical link.

This design has several significant advantages. First, higher layer software runs unmodified over the ad-hoc network. In our testbeds, we run both IPv4 and IPv6 over the ad-hoc network. No modifications to either network stack were required. Network layer functionality (for example ARP, DHCP, and Neighbor Discovery) just works. Second, the ad-hoc routing runs over heterogeneous link layers. Our current implementation supports Ethernet-like physical link layers (e.g. 802.11 and 802.3) but the architecture accommodates link layers with arbitrary addressing and framing conventions. The virtual MCL network adapter can multiplex several physical network adapters, so the ad-hoc network can extend across heterogeneous physical links. Third, the design can support other ad-hoc routing protocols as well.

Downloads

• Mesh Connectivity Layer Documentation. Please read this documentation for information about how to install and use MCL.
• Mesh Connectivity Layer Binaries for Windows XP.
• Mesh Connectivity Layer Source.

Mailing List

We have a mailing list for discussing the Mesh Connectivity Layer. Please use this mailing list for questions about the release. To join the list, send “subscribe” email to mcl-users-request@list.research.microsoft.com. Only subscribers can send email to the list at mcl-users@list.research.microsoft.com, but you can peruse the archives here.

Publications

Algorithms & Software

• P. Kyasanur, J. Padhye, and P. Bahl
  On the Efficacy of Separating Control and Data into Different Frequency Bands
  IEEE BroadNets 2005 , Boston, Massachusetts, USA (October 2005)
• L. Qiu, R. Chandra, K. Jain, and M. Mahdian
  Optimizing the Placement of Integration Points in Multi-hop Wireless Networks
  A revised version will appear in IEEE ICNP 2004.
• R. Draves, J. Padhye, and B. Zill
  Routing in Multi-radio, Multi-hop Wireless Mesh Networks
  ACM MobiCom, Philadelphia, PA, September 2004.
• P. Bahl, R. Chandra, and J. Dunagan
  SSCH: Slotted Seeded Channel Hopping for Capacity Improvement in IEEE 802.11 Ad-Hoc Wireless Networks
  ACM MobiCom, Philadelphia, PA, September 2004.
• R. Draves, J. Padhye, and B. Zill
  Comparison of Routing Metrics for Static Multi-Hop Wireless Networks
  ACM SIGCOMM, Portland, OR, August 2004.
• L. Qiu, P. Bahl, A. Rao, and L. Zhou
  Fault Detection, Isolation, and Diagnosis in Multi-hop Wireless Networks
  Microsoft Technical Report, Microsoft Research-TR-2004-11, December 2003.
• K. Jain, J. Padhye, V. Padmanabhan, and L. Qiu
  Impact of Interference on Multi-hop Wireless Network Performance
  ACM MobiCom, San Diego, CA, September 2003.
• A. Adya, P. Bahl, J. Padhye, A. Wolman, and L. Zhou
  A Multi-Radio Unification Protocol for IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networks
  IEEE BroadNets 2004.
• L. Li, J. Y. Halpern, P. Bahl, Y-M. Wang, and R. Wattenhofer
  A Cone-Based Distributed Topology-Control Algorithm for Wireless Multi-Hop Networks<
  Accepted for publication in the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking.
  - download our IEEE INFOCOM 2001 paper on the same topic by clicking here
  - download our ACM PODC 2001 paper on the same topic by clicking here
• G. Holland, N. Vaidya, and P. Bahl
  A Rate-Adaptive MAC Protocol for Multi-Hop Wireless Networks
  ACM MobiCom 2001, Rome, Italy, July 2001.

Antennas & Hardware

• Y Kuga, J. Cha, J. A. Ritcey, and J. Kajiya
  Mechanically Steerable Antennas Using Dielectric Phase Shifters
  IEEE AP-S International Symposium and USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, June 2004.

Spectrum Policy & Etiquette

• V. Brik, E. Rozner, S. Banerjee (University of Wisconsin), and P. Bahl
  DSAP: A Protocol for Coordinated Spectrum Access
  IEEE DySPAN 2005, Baltimore, MD. November 2005
• P Bahl, P. DeVries, A. Hassan, J. Kruys (Cisco), and S. Mangold (Philips)
  Wi-Fi Alliance White Paper On Spectrum Sharing and Co-existence – First Phase, Internal Wi-FI Alliance Paper (will be available shortly).
• P. DeVries and P. Bahl
  Microsoft’s Proposal for Initiating Discussions on Spectrum Etiquette in the 5 Ghz Band (Real Time Video from Stanford Law School, 3/2/03, 42 mins. 58 secs)
• P. Bahl, A. Hassan, and P. DeVries
  Draft Proposal for Comment: Etiquette Rules and Procedures for Unlicensed Bands
  Proposal to the Industry and the FCC to generate discussions and interest, Version 1.1, January 27, 2003.

Presentations (Keynotes & Plenary talks)

• P. Bahl, Plenary Talk @ the Texas Wireless Symposium, October 26, 2005, Austin, Texas
• P. Bahl, Conference Keynote @ the International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS), September 6, 2005, Siena, Italy
• P. Bahl, Conference Keynote @ the International Conference on Mobile Business (ICMB), July 11, 2005, Sidney, Australia
• R. Rashid, Conference Keynote @ the Mobile Systems Conference (MobiSys), June 6, 2005, Seattle, Washington
• P. Bahl, Workshop Keynote, Opportunities and Challenges of Community Mesh Networking, MICS Workshop ETH Zurich, June 2004 (this talk was also presented at the Annual MSR Faculty Summit in Redmond, Washington on August 3, 2004)
• P. Bahl, Spectrum Policy: Property or Commons?, Stanford Law School, March 2, 2003,
  Spectrum Etiquettes for Short Range Wireless Devices Operating in the Unlicensed Band – A Proposal

Events

• Wireless Community Mesh Networks – Hype or next big Frontier? ACM MobiCom 2004 Panel, Philadelphia, PA, September 29, 2004
• Mesh Networking Summit 2004. A 2-day mindswap event between reseachers from industry, academia, and government to discuss Mesh Networking. Organized by Microsoft Research, June 23-24, 2004 (Check out all the talks, videos and presentation decks avaialble on web site)
  Press Report, Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, June 24, 2004

Press

• Information Week, Wireless Meshing: Microsoft is working on software to make Internet access cheaper for remote locations by Martin J. Garvey, June 13, 2005
• EE Times, Mesh Casts Wider Networks by Rick Merritt, March 28, 2005
• DataQuest, Microsoft Displays next-gen computing, MSR TechFest coverage on Mesh by Kapil Dev Singh, March 4, 2005
• MSR Web News, Your Neighborhood Network Article by Suzanne Ross, June 2004

People

• Researchers from Microsoft Research Redmond, Microsoft Research Cambridge, and Microsoft Research Silicon Valley.
• As an intern, Yih-Chun Hu implemented DSR within the MCL framework; this was our starting point for developing LQSR.

Mesh Networking Academic Resource Toolkit 2005

If you are a faculty member or researcher at an accredited academic institution such as a university or college, you are invited to apply for our Mesh Networking Academic Resource Toolkit — a research and teaching resource for exploring core technologies in wireless networks. This contains all the software and documentation you will need to get started.

Your body used to transmit signals

Chips that really get under your skin
By Tom Krazit
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: February 8, 2006, 6:15 PM PST

SAN FRANCISCO–Without the white headphones, how will anyone know you’re listening to an iPod?

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) weren’t concerned with such weighty questions when they developed a chip that allows you to listen to an iPod using your forearm as the transmission wire for the audio signals. The chip was detailed in one of several presentations during a session called “Silicon in Biology” at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) here Thursday.

Low power consumption was a common design thread throughout the several different chips presented by university researchers. The need to reduce power consumption of chips has become a mantra for the PC and server processor industry, but low power consumption takes on a new meaning when referring to chips that will be used inside the human body or on skin.

KAIST has built a prototype chip it thinks solves some of the problems encountered in setting up personal-area networks that take advantage of the body’s ability to conduct electricity. Computer scientists have long envisioned connecting the numerous personal electronic devices the average technology fan carries around each day, but wiring those devices together is impractical, and Bluetooth connections are prone to interference, said Seong-Jun Song, a professor at KAIST.

Other groups have explored ways of using the body itself as the networking cable, but early chips consumed too much power or used data rates that were too slow for effective communication, Song said. KAIST’s chip uses wideband signaling to reduce power consumption while boosting data rate. The chip sends low-power impulses across a wide swath of frequencies, rather than sending a high-power signal down a narrow frequency.

KAIST researchers modified an iPod nano and an earphone with its test chips for demonstration purposes. A user would need to keep a finger constantly pressed to a conductor on the iPod, which would send the audio signal through the arm to the earphone. The chips can produce data rates of up to 2 megabits per second while consuming less than 10 microwatts, Song said.

These chips are not something that will be included in one of Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs’ Macworld keynotes anytime soon. The papers presented at ISSCC are generally research projects that are several steps away from becoming products.

Another paper presented during the session outlined a chip designed to monitor brain activity by sending its data wirelessly to monitors. The University of Utah has been working on chips that monitor neural impulses in quadriplegics in hopes of finding a way to build prosthetic limbs powered by brain waves. However, early testers of those chips had to have the chips implanted in their brains connected to external computers by wires, which is obviously uncomfortable.

Wireless transmitters for this type of brain measurement also had to be very sensitive to power consumption levels to avoid destroying brain tissue, said Reid Harrison, a professor at the university. Researchers believe they have come up with a low-power wireless chip by reducing the size of the data captured by the chip, and allowing doctors to selectively choose what neural activity to monitor and when, he said.

DNA-wrapped carbon nanotubes serve as sensors in living cells

NBIC Success Story:

DNA-wrapped carbon nanotubes serve as sensors in living cells
James E. Kloeppel, Physical Sciences Editor
217-244-1073; kloeppel@uiuc.edu
1/26/06

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Single walled carbon nanotubes wrapped with DNA can be placed inside living cells and detect trace amounts of harmful contaminants using near infrared light, report researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Their discovery opens the door to new types of optical sensors and biomarkers that exploit the unique properties of nanoparticles in living systems.

“This is the first nanotube-based sensor that can detect analytes at the subcellular level,” said Michael Strano, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Illinois and corresponding author of a paper to appear in the Jan. 27 issue of the journal Science. “We also show for the first time that a subtle rearrangement of an adsorbed biomolecule can be directly detected by a carbon nanotube.”

At the heart of the new detection system is the transition of DNA secondary structure from the native, right-handed “B” form to the alternate, left-handed “Z” form.

“We found that the thermodynamics that drive the switching back and forth between these two forms of DNA structure would modulate the electronic structure and optical emission of the carbon nanotube,” said Strano, who is also a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and at the university’s Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory.

To make their sensors, the researchers begin by wrapping a piece of double-stranded DNA around the surface of a single-walled carbon nanotube, in much the same fashion as a telephone cord wraps around a pencil. The DNA starts out wrapping around the nanotube with a certain shape that is defined by the negative charges along its backbone.

When the DNA is exposed to ions of certain atoms – such as calcium, mercury and sodium – the negative charges become neutralized and the DNA changes shape in a similar manner to its natural shape-shift from the B form to Z form. This reduces the surface area covered by the DNA, perturbing the electronic structure and shifting the nanotube’s natural, near infrared fluorescence to a lower energy.

“The change in emission energy indicates how many ions bind to the DNA,” said graduate student Daniel Heller, lead author of the Science paper. “Removing the ions will return the emission energy to its initial value and flip the DNA back to the starting form, making the process reversible and reusable.”

The researchers demonstrated the viability of their measurement technique by detecting low concentrations of mercury ions in whole blood, opaque solutions, and living mammalian cells and tissues – examples where optical sensing is usually poor or ineffective. Because the signal is in the near infrared, a property unique to only a handful of materials, it is not obscured by the natural fluorescence of polymers and living tissues.

“The nanotube surface acts as the sensor by detecting the shape change of the DNA as it responds to the presence of target ions,” Heller said.

Co-authors of the paper with Strano and Heller are graduate student Esther Jeng and undergraduate students Tsun-Kwan Yeung, Brittany Martinez, Anthonie Moll and Joseph Gastala. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Optical Detection of DNA Conformational Polymorphism on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
Science 27 January 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5760, pp. 508 – 511
DOI: 10.1126/science.1120792

Daniel A. Heller,¹ Esther S. Jeng,² Tsun-Kwan Yeung,² Brittany M. Martinez,² Anthonie E. Moll,² Joseph B. Gastala,² Michael S. Strano^2*

The transition of DNA secondary structure from an
analogous B to Z conformation modulates the dielectric environment of the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) around which it is adsorbed. The SWNT band-gap fluorescence undergoes a red shift when an encapsulating 30-nucleotide oligomer is exposed to counter ions that screen the charged backbone. The transition is thermodynamically identical for DNA on and off the nanotube, except that the propagation length of the former is shorter by five-sixths. The magnitude of the energy shift is described by using an effective medium model and the DNA geometry on the nanotube sidewall. We demonstrate the detection of the B-Z change in whole blood, tissue, and from within living mammalian cells.

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
² Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

AI Architect Designs New Structure Types

Turning Buildings on Their Heads

By John Travis
ScienceNOW Daily News
19 February 2006
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/219/1?etoc

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI–In the 19th century, architect Antoni Gaudi designed unusual and complex buildings by hanging weights from chains; considered upside-down, the results provided a blueprint. With such hanging chains as an inspiration, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor John Ochsendorf and his colleagues have recently developed a computer program to simulate new, stable, and efficient architectural shapes.

Soaring structure.
An example of a design created by the new software.
Credit: Axel Kilian

The software, described here yesterday at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (which publishes ScienceNOW), models the gravitational load on a building’s exterior by simulating particles attached to springs and letting those particles “fall” into a stable form. The flipped version illustrates the feasible shell of a structure. “The hope is to invent new forms,” says Ochsendorf, “The possibilities of architectures with more exciting spaces are starting to be realized.”

Similar particle-spring modeling is already used in computer animation, depicting, for example, clothes hanging on virtual characters such as Yoda in the last Star Wars movie.

Related site

Learn about the simulation tool

Subliminal Skies

3D plasma shapes created in thin air
14:31 27 February 2006
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/dn8778.html

The night sky could soon be lit up with gigantic three-dimensional adverts, thanks to a Japanese laser display that creates glowing images in thin air.

The system is being developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Tokyo, in collaboration with Burton Inc and Keio University.

Floating adverts could be created using the instrument (Image: AIST)

“We believe this technology may eventually be used in applications ranging from pyrotechnics to outdoor advertising,” says a spokesman for AIST. According to Burton Inc, the technology might also be used for emergency distress signals or even temporary road signs.

The display utilises an ionisation effect which occurs when a beam of laser light is focused to a point in air. The laser beam itself is invisible to the human eye but, if the intensity of the laser pulse exceeds a threshold, the air breaks down into glowing plasma that emits visible light.

The required intensity can only be achieved by very short, powerful laser pulses – each plasma dot, or “flashpoint”, lasts for only about a nanosecond. But the resulting image appears to last longer due to persistence of vision. As with film and television, the impression of a continuous image is maintained by refreshing the flashpoints.

Zap, crackle and pop

The demonstration system uses an infra-red laser that creates a hundred flashpoints per second. Currently, these can be projected between two and three metres from the apparatus, in a space of about a cubic metre. Each flashpoint generates a popping sound, resulting in a constant crackling when the display is in operation.

The device has already been used to generate a swarm of virtual butterflies (Image: AIST)

Previous systems used galvanometric mirrors to control the focal point of the beam in two dimensions, to create only 2D images. But the new system adds a high-speed linear motor moving a lens to also control the focal point of the laser in a third dimension, allowing solid shapes to be sketched out.

The researchers behind the demonstration system plan to upgrade it to a higher pulsing rate, which should produce more dots and so smoother images. Future versions should also include moving pictures and AIST claims it should be possible to scale the system up to produce displays of any size. However, only white flashpoints can be created so a colour display will not be possible.

Related Articles

• See virtual worlds in the round
• 05 June 2005
• 3D ads to put virtual beers on bars
• 23 March 2004
• And the voice said… (This technology built by US military first?)
• 25 December 1999

3D Holographic Imaging used by DHS at the Superbowl

HOMELAND SECURITY TRIES NEW 3-D TECHNOLOGY AT SUPER BOWL XL

Birmingham, MI, Jan. 31, 2006 — Hidden from public view at Super Bowl XL, live-action 3-D holograms created from signals streaming in from networks of electronic eyes will help Homeland Security Agency officials detect people and objects suspected of endangering the 65 thousand ticket holders crowding into Ford Field, and the thousands more celebrating in downtown Detroit.

While officials may not go public with the details, the surveillance effort is likely to include

• scanning undersides of vehicles for suspicious objects
• face-in-the-crowd recognition and feature-matching
• monitoring street-level festivities, day and night
• underwater Detroit River monitoring
• classified methods of searching for and detecting potential threats.

Viewing 3-D holographic displays hidden in a security van, security officials will, for the first time ever, view three-dimensional holography that can reveal shadows, angles, depths and details unseen by conventional imaging.

Super Bowl XL marks the first public security use of this new technology, LifeVision3Dâ„¢, from privately held Intrepid Defense & Security Systems, Birmingham, Michigan.

Intrepid’s CEO James Fischbach says his LifeVision3Dâ„¢ system produces “true, live-action 3-D.   No funny eyeglasses.  No ‘virtual reality’ goggles.  Instead, the action appears to move out from the surface of the screen and envelop the viewer.”

Mark A. Hammond, Deputy Director, Wayne County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, believes this technology “should be considered a ‘must have’ for every agency and company with protection responsibilities.”

After over a decade in development, LifeVision3D now is ready for production and sale, “Opportunities are opening up with government agencies, the military, entertainment, medicine, and just about everyplace where people are starting to appreciate what they can accomplish with live-action 3D holography,” Fischbach says.

What’s ahead? Intrepid’s successful development of live-action three-dimensional full color holography promises to leap ahead of current technologies for

• Color night vision

• Revealing details of ground images from satellites

• Lifelike flight-training simulation

• Arcade video games

• Making education exciting

• Space exploration

• Underwater surveillance, threat assessment, exploration and recovery

• Remotely controlled precision surgery (already demonstrated at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital).

à Field support for operations

à Three dimensional image storage and retrieval

à Targeting

à Three dimensional mapping and Landstat Analysis

à Color Night Vision

à Telemedicine

à Encrypted holograms

à Three dimensional viewing of tarmac/buildings

à MOUT analysis

à Biometrics

à Weapon and mine detection

à Super simulators

à ROV and UAV information display

Company Background
Intrepid Defense & Security Systems, Inc (Intrepid Defense) was established in November 2001 to serve as a systems integrator of LifeVision3Dâ„¢ and other stereoscopic visualization systems. The company has offices in Birmingham, Michigan, and is establishing offices in Northern Virginia to better serve the government security and defense market.

Homeland Security & Defense

Intrepid Defense recognized the immediate need for improved homeland security and the ability of autostereoscopic three-dimensional technology to make an important contribution to the federal Government’s efforts in securing our homeland.  In recent months, LifeVision3Dâ„¢ was configured to meet standard specifications of both government and industry.  Because of this work, the product is now ready to be marketed to the government defense and security segments.

Discussion with government officials, as well as additional research, led to identification of applications and market opportunities in areas such as vehicle inspection, mapping, facial recognition, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

The critical need for better information and increased security are driving demand for three-dimensional imaging.  Opportunities in this market also include:  airport security; facilities security; biometrics; Intelligence/Surveillance/Reconnaissance; Homeland Security; telemedicine and training and simulation, for example.

Market Launch

Intrepid Defense & Security Systems launched LifeVision3Dâ„¢ at the prestigious Force Protection Equipment Demonstration V (FPED V) at Quantico Marine Corps Base in April, 2005.  FPED V is an invitation only demonstration hosted by the Department of Defense.  The purpose of the demonstration is to showcase state-of-the-art commercial off-the-shelf protection equipment to senior Department of Defense decision makers and federal, state and local government leaders.  Intrepid Defense, along with prime contractors and systems integrators such as General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Honeywell, was invited to demonstrate its technology to over 9,000 important decision makers.  These companies, as well smaller vendors such as iRobot and Viisage make security and defense products that capture data which can be displayed in 3D on the LifeVision3Dâ„¢ system.  FPED V provided a venue for Intrepid Defense to demonstrate how the LifeVision3D system can better visualize information captured by equipment designed for land mine detection, teleoperation of unmanned vehicles, biometrics, under vehicle inspection,  X-ray scanning, and analysis of information obtained via satellite and unmanned aircraft.  Notably, Intrepid Defense demonstrated breakthrough technology by showing the first three-dimensional color display of color night vision cameras during Night Vision demonstrations.

Colour Night Vision

Color Night Vision

PRODUCTS INCLUDE:

Color Night Vision Video Systems

The famous Green vs. Color Night Vision Cigar Split Screen Sequence.

Color Night Vision Goggles

Night Vision and Thermal Sensor Fusion Systems

CNVS-ENVG and CANVS Enhanced Night Vision Goggle are Trademarks of CANVS CORPORATION

Special Purpose Night Vision Solutions

RFID

RFID

Radio frequency identification (RFID) denotes the technology that enables objects to be identified without contact and without their RFID tags being visable. The list of areas that have already embraced RFID technology is substantial, including ski passes, remote controls for vehicle locking systems, anti-theft protection in department stores, logistics processes for retail objects such as pallets, containers, clothing, and idenification for domestic and slaughter animals. In many market sectors, RFID technology is set to replace bar codes. In supermarkets, however, where consumer articles are concerned, the bar code will continue to dominate for many years. (Source: Technology, Systems and Applications)

“Short for radio frequency identification, RFID is a dedicated short range communication (DSRC) technology.”

Excellent glossary containing RFID and electronics terms.

What’s it’s being used for:

-Hospitals

-Inventory on high maintaince parts. Example: Aircraft parts.

-Manufacturing facilities

-Biochips

-“Sunpass” or “E-Pass” auto tags for automatic highway tolls

-Warehouse, shipping and logistics

-“Save on labor costs”

-Fleet vehicles

-Theft protection

From the Spychips site:
WHAT IS RFID?

RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification, a technology that uses tiny computer chips smaller than a grain of sand to track items at a distance. RFID “spy chips” have been hidden in the packaging of Gillette razor products and in other products you might buy at a local Wal-Mart, Target, or Tesco – and they are already being used to spy on people.

Each tiny chip is hooked up to an antenna that picks up electromagnetic energy beamed at it from a reader device. When it picks up the energy, the chip sends back its unique identification number to the reader device, allowing the item to be remotely identified. Spy chips can beam back information anywhere from a couple of inches to up to 20 or 30 feet away.

Shown at left is a magnified image of actual tag found in Gillette Mach3 razor blades.Note: The chip appears as the tiny black square component. The coil of wires surrounding the chip is the antenna, which transmits your information to a reader device, which can be located anywhere!

Some of the world’s largest product manufacturers have been plotting behind closed doors since 1999 to develop and commercialize this technology. If they are not opposed, their plan is to use these remote-readable spy chips to replace the bar code.

RFID tags are NOT an “improved bar code” as the proponents of the technology would like you to believe. RFID technology differs from bar codes in three important ways:

1. With today’s bar code technology, every can of Coke has the same UPC or bar code number as every other can (a can of Coke in Toronto has the same number as a can of Coke in Topeka). With RFID, each individual can of Coke would have a unique ID number which could be linked to the person buying it when they scan a credit card or a frequent shopper card (i.e., an “item registration system”).

2. Unlike a bar code, these chips can be read from a distance, right through your clothes, wallet, backpack or purse — without your knowledge or consent — by anybody with the right reader device. In a way, it gives strangers x-ray vision powers to spy on you, to identify both you and the things you’re wearing and carrying.

3. Unlike the bar code, RFID could be bad for your health. RFID supporters envision a world where RFID reader devices are everywhere – in stores, in floors, in doorways, on airplanes — even in the refrigerators and medicine cabinets of our own homes. In such a world, we and our children would be continually bombarded with electromagnetic energy. Researchers do not know the long-term health effects of chronic exposure to the energy emitted by these reader devices.

Many huge corporations, including Philip Morris, Procter and Gamble, and Wal-Mart, have begun experimenting with RFID spy chip technology. Gillette is leading the pack, and recently placed an order for up to 500 million RFID tags from a company called “Alien Technology” (we kid you not). These big companies envision a day when every single product on the face of the planet is tracked with RFID spy chips!

As consumers we have no way of knowing which packages contain these chips. While some chips are visible inside a package (see our pictures of Gillette spy chips), RFID chips can be well hidden. For example they can be sewn into the seams of clothes, sandwiched between layers of cardboard, molded into plastic or rubber, and integrated into consumer package design.

This technology is rapidly evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Now RFID spy chips can even be printed, meaning the dot on a printed letter “i” could be used to track you. In addition, the tell-tale copper antennas commonly seen attached to RFID chips can now be printed with conductive ink, making them nearly imperceptible. Companies are even experimenting with making the product packages themselves serve as antennas.

As you can see, it could soon be virtually impossible for a consumer to know whether a product or package contains an RFID spy chip. For this reason, CASPIAN (the creator of this web site) is proposing federal labeling legislation, the RFID Right to Know Act, which would require complete disclosures on any consumer products containing RFID devices.

We believe the public has an absolute right to know when they are interacting with technology that could affect their health and privacy.

Don’t you?

Join us. Let’s fight this battle before big corporations track our every move.

Fight Back!

The Original Spychips Rebuttal, by Nicholas Chavez, President of RFID LTD.:

Spychips wrote their book demonizing RFID. RFID Limited wrote this PDF rebuttal. Like everything in life, there’s two sides to every story; usually you have to analyze both sides to get the real deal. I will say that RFIDL’s rebuttal is probably the most respectable debunking I’ve ever seen, and I highly recommend you read it. Spychips seems to imply that all RFID chips can spy on and track you, here RFIDL responds:

“The reason for why attention is drawn to this quote is that much of the rest of the book is predicted on this incomplete definition of RFID. The book’s insufficient definition begs the question “At WHAT distance may items be tracked, precisely?”

“The Answer is quite simple. Passive-or non-powered-RFID chips smaller than a grain of sand have a read distance of no more than a few millimeters, a very short “distance” by anyone’s definition. For the authors scenario of global tracking to be viable, manufacturers would have to place a active—or powered – RFID or GPS enabled tag about the size of a chalkboard eraser in the consumer product of reference. “

Ok, he does have a good point there, except if the tags on store merchandise only has a range “of no more than a few millimeters”, then how does the sensors go off if the tag isn’t deactivated? It’s simple, the typical tags are much larger than a grain of sand, especially with the attennea wrapping around it, under the adhesive. He seems to ignore this factor. Misleading, but I suspect he is stating this in reference to something the Spytags book must have mentioned at that point.

While he does mislead on this point, it’s not a major issue, assuming the tag is deactivated. Later he makes a good point, that even Spytags eventually mentions on page 72. Typically, the tags will be deactivated, therefore there shouldn’t be a threat afterwards.

Here Chavez presents a case for why there should be no concern about being tracked in our homes:

1. Your home would need to be equipped with multiple, if not dozens of RFID

interrogators, at a cost of several hundred dollars each.

2. These interrogators would then have to be connected to the Internet via your

personal connection or maybe by a wide area wireless broadband, where available.

3. The interrogators would need to transmit the data to the appropriate data buyers or

owners.

4. Presumably, you would have to make the choice to place interrogators in your home

and further decide whether or not to use your Internet connection for the purpose of

sending RFID collected data.

5. You would also have to make the choice to not disable the RFID tags associated with

purchased items, by not using a store’s RFID deactivation kiosk such as the one

referenced by the authors in the METRO “Future Store.”

That’s reassuring, but what about how the satellite’s can track RFID biochips world wide, even underwater? The answer is biochips are “active” chips, battery powered, and now they’re even powered from our muscles. I don’t think you have to worry too much about merchandise tags. Furthermore, I doubt they’re really trying to track every person who bought a 12 pack, and if you pay with cash the computers wouldn’t know who you are anyways.

This technology will become interesting when this printing technology proliferates: “This technology is rapidly evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Now RFID spy chips can even be printed, meaning the dot on a printed letter “i” could be used to track you. In addition, the tell-tale copper antennas commonly seen attached to RFID chips can now be printed with conductive ink, making them nearly imperceptible. Companies are even experimenting with making the product packages themselves serve as antennas.”, and cash is used less and less.

Some systems overview:

Cell phone frequencies : near match.

“Mr. Smith, you had 12 beers on your fridge last night, and now there are only 2. You must have a hangover – you’re fired!”

The biggest concerns would have to be in how well the EPCGlobal Network are tied in with the other records systems. If they really were keeping records, in a central database,

that would be stepping over the line in my opinion. Considering all of the things they could attach to the records, it could cause problems. Your Social Security Number would surely be attached to it, which would probably lead to the rest of your personal information.

People would probably not get hired for a job, say if they go to bars, or buy lots of alcohol or buy cigarette’s. These things wouldn’t necessarily ever affect their job performance, yet people may get skipped for employment if they ever had a bender on their “record”. Not that people really should, but that’s not the companies business. The last thing people need is to be informed they didn’t get hired over a kicked addiction, and then go into relapse. This is just one of the any problems that could plague society if they go overboard, but hey what can we do?

Technical details of the RFID specification:

[PDF] Session Code: II MAKING THE MOVE TO RFID Presenters:
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat – View as HTML

Source of images:

- http://pl.csie.ntut.edu.tw/93-2-pdf/0328-1.pdf

- plus the above linked PDF’s.

RFID News:

http://www.rfidjournal.com/

http://www.rfidnews.org/

http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/kfarrall/rfid/interface1.html

http://www.rfidupdate.com/

http://www.networkworld.com/topics/rfid.html

http://www.rfidlog.com/

In the news:

U.S. to require RFID chips in passports

Privacy groups question RFID use in medicine tracking

FCC Loosens RFID Rule for Homeland Security

Long-distance RFID reader

RFID and privacy: Debate heating up in Washington