Michigan Micro Mote (M3) makes history as the smallest computer (2015)

ece.engin.umich.edu

49 points·throwoutway··9 comments

An interesting take on similar technology is Vernor Vinge's _A Deepness in the Sky_.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Deepness_in_the_Sky#Locali...

One key application for this line of smart sensors lies in personal security and information. Numerous specks of technology could be discretely placed to invisibly monitor a home, business, or personal device.

Do most people really want more pervasive surveillance?

I wonder how sensitive these are to EMP...

> I wonder how sensitive these are to EMP...

Potentially "not very". Their small size means you would need higher electric field to get decent voltage difference across the device.

I wonder how easily they can be "sniffed" out and found.

Server still giving up? Here's the web archive link... http://web.archive.org/web/20240917032317/https://ece.engin....

Why isn't this widely available yet? There's a few chips that can do battery free Bluetooth, but I haven't seen any commerical products.

This one is baterry-powered, and the article says power is the difficult part.

It also says:

> With the M3, engineers at Michigan are the first to accomplish energy neutrality via indoor energy harvesting in a wireless system of its size. With a 1mm2 solar cell producing 20nW, the device can harvest enough energy under ambient light to run perpetually.

No way to read the article any more ...

[UPDATE] Now it is back!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com