Advances in Miniaturization
Electronics fuelled miniaturization with the invention of the Integrated Circuit (IC) chip. Soon, computers took over the engineering industry with CNC machines, and every industry was affected by the miniaturization wave.
The drive towards small hand-held computers and mobile communications equipment has stimulated even further miniaturization- specifically in low-power microprocessors, efficient transmitters, low mass and high-capacity battery technology and low-power GPS receivers.
This has been followed by specific developments of mobile multimedia systems such as digital cameras, spurring low-cost, low power, high-density data storage as well as high-resolution imaging sensors. Recent trends have also tended towards full integration of electronics onto a single chip (System-On-a-Chip), which is particularly applicable to picosatellite technology (Spacecraft-On-a-Chip).
Microelectronic and mechanical structures (MEMS) have led to battery-powered sensor nodes that have sensing, communication and processing capabilities. Wireless sensors networks are capable of observing the environment and making decisions based on that data.
Engineering advances has had far reaching consequences in the healthcare segment. It has devised CT scan machines, CAT scan machines, and has placed diagnostic, monitoring, and treatment tools directly into the hands of the patients as science improves and costs are reduced.
Nanotechnology has fabricated prostheses, which would have been impossible without miniaturization. The application of epidemiological knowledge to large populations and databases has enabled us to understand more and more about the dynamics of wellness and disease.
One of the consequences of advances in miniaturization is that the level of awareness has greatly increased in all branches of knowledge, and this has led to the fact that people are nowadays living longer and healthier.
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