The Hindu Business Line : Dreadful e-bombs are more sci than fi

AS an increasingly wired world comes to grips with the constructive (GSM/CDMA phones) and destructive (e-bombs) abilities of digital wireless technology, experts are wondering if all the electromagnetic waves unleashed would not pose a health hazard.

For instance, the supposedly harmful effects from constant use of mobile phones are being hotly debated. At the extreme end is a slew of emerging wireless technologies such as `e-bombs' and `smart dust devices'.

E-bombs, or high power microwave (HPM) weapons, are the wireless version of high-tech armament. They generate an intense "blast" of electromagnetic waves in the microwave frequency band.

They shut down telecom networks, disrupt power supplies and "fry" all computers and electronic gadgets, but leave buildings, bridges and highways intact. Humans caught in the burst are untouched and might not even know if hit.

Smart dust devices, also called `motes', are tiny wireless micro-electromechanical sensors that can detect everything from light to vibrations.

The size of a grain of sand, motes contain sensors, computing circuits, bi-directional wireless circuits and power supply.

Applications include snooping for military intelligence, serving as traffic sensors, gauging humidity levels in warehouses and detecting forest fires.

The "excitingly intimidating" world of wireless was unravelled in a talk, `A peep into the future', by Mr N.T. Nair, Vice-President, CMS Computers, Thiruvananthapuram, which was sponsored by the Kerala State Centre of the Institution of Engineers (India) and held at the Institution of Engineers Hall.

Doing away with power cord: According to Mr Nair, tomorrow's amazing wireless technologies would be of little use if they must rely on today's bulky batteries - it would look like a tortoise in a keenly fought techno-race.

This explains the drive to cut the "other wire", or the power cord.

"The move is to chuck the battery entirely and replace it with a tiny hydrogen fuel cell. Fuel cell systems have always been limited by their ability to effectively store hydrogen and release it in the necessary doses."

He added: "Tiny fuel cells using sodium borohydride can power a mobile for 12 hours of talk time compared to four hours for a lithium battery of the same size. A laptop can run up to eight hours, from the current three hours."

Proliferation of wireless systems suffered during the early analog era. Portable devices, the hallmark of wireless world, were bulky in the analog scheme of things as exemplified in the brick-sized police wireless sets of yesteryears. Power requirement was also on the higher side.

Digitalisation - transforming information into zeros and ones, the binary language of computers - brought in tremendous improvements in wireless devices. Smaller the size, longer is the battery life.

After DTH, mobile and WLL phones, Bluetooth and GPS, the wireless invasion is now taking the form of Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), based on IEEE 802.11 b standard.

So-called "hot spots" and "hot zones" are being created the world over to access the Internet through laptop, wirelessly.

Malappuram district in Kerala could well be the first in the world to become Wi-Fi enabled. Most five-star hotels are setting up hot spots.

The Dal Lake of Srinagar, a famous tourism destination, was recently declared Wi-Fi enabled. The IEEE 802 suite of networking standards is what makes all this happen, Mr Nair said.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Alcatel tech for domestic manufacturer — Handset majors may set up base in India

Dreadful e-bombs are more sci than fi

Reliance Info offers global SMS at Rs 2

corDECT tech finds market in 10 nations

Borland planning R&D facility here

Cordys unveils tool for quality management

Deloitte thrust on e-learning solution

NEC arm sets up service centre

Sun-n-Sand ties up with Tata Indicom for WiFi

Trade surplus not a one-off event: Rakesh