Tech Universe: Monday 11 October

Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre's wireless sensor nodes monitor a person's physical and vital parameters and send the results to a smartphone. Photo / Supplied

A round-up of the latest technology news from around the globe.

BODY AREA NETWORK: Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre's lightweight, ultra low-power, wireless sensor nodes continuously monitor a person's physical and vital parameters and send the results to an Android smartphone. The phone processes the data and sends it over the Internet to physicians or alerts the user to problems. Twitter feeds for heart-rate will be coming soon. More at Imec and video on YouTube.

16 MEGAPIXEL PHONE: Sony's Exmor R back-illuminated 16 megapixel CMOS image sensors fit into mobile phones. The unit pixel size is a tiny 1.12?m. The photo diodes are arranged to produce high resolution, high sensitivity and low noise. Video is full HD. Forget the cellphone; those units would fit in jewellery. More at Sony.

MAPS OF SAND: Prime the world's smallest gyroscope with a locating GPS signal and then it handles location tracking on its own - indoors or out. A new optical gyroscope from Tel Aviv University is the size of a grain of sand. It uses semi-conductor lasers to track movement by measuring a vehicle's rotation rate and linear acceleration. Now combine this with a tiny 16 megapixel camera ... More at ScienceDaily.

CELLPHONE HEALTH: With Sana health software, workers in remote regions can use Android smartphones to collect data from patients. Sana can collect and transmit complex medical data including X-rays, ultrasound images, photos and electrocardiograms. The data goes via SMS to specialists, who then reply with an SMS diagnosis. It's not clear if
the phones take the X-rays or just accept the images. More at MIT.

SPEAK IPAD SPEAK: Victoria University has a grant from the Marsden Fund that allows them to study whether iPads and similar devices may help autistic children to communicate. "It's mine. Give it back." More at Victoria University.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz