NANO TECHNOLOGY
FUTURE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION
By Wg Cdr Munim Khan Majlish, psc
Bimansena (BAF Journal), Vol-XLIII, June 2012

INTRODUCTION

1. My first SATCO is wandering while visiting his old sqn at BAF Base Matiur Rahman when he was ushered by his beloved student to the newly installed Surveillance Approach Radar site. “What is happening these days? Are there no training programs for the junior controllers? Or, these jolly fellows are just doing whatever they feel like without any supervision”. The retired wing commander is particularly disappointed when he observes, ”five to six aircraft are vectored into final approach having hardly any horizontal separations; the young Tower Controller does not bother to change the runway-in-use with more than 20 kts tail wind; to his utter surprise he had monitored that the tower controller had been asking one trainer to take off from the parallel runway in opposite direction when another fighter was on short final for landing; he had further noticed that the radar scope was full of blips and the controller had been vectoring those aircraft by pointers on the touch screen instead of giving any RT calls. Yes, such fascinating condition is no more a science fiction or fairytale, rather will be a reality in near future with the exploitation of ‘Nanotechnology’.

2. We know that the materials are made of atoms. The properties of matters depend on how the atoms are arranged in the molecule. The basic science is that if we only rearrange the atoms we may get a completely different type of element. For example if we rearrange the atoms of coal we may get diamond; or if we rearrange the atoms in sand and add a few other elements we may get scares food grains. Likewise if we rearrange the atoms in soil and add water and air we may make vegetables or precious fuel. If we can acquire these method of rearranging the atoms the concept of conventional material will be totally changed. This rearranging of atoms is called ‘Nanotechnology’. Nanotechnology will let us amend our conventional thinking process. In future we will be able to orchestrate the fundamental building blocks of this universe easily, inexpensively and as per our requirements. We will be able to fabricate an entire new generation of products that are enough, cleaner, stronger, lighter, and more precise.

DEFINITION

3. "Nano" means a factor 10 to the power -9. The unit is the meter, and so the scale is called nanometer. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, roughly the width of three or four atoms. The average human hair is about 25,000 nanometers wide. Therefore, ‘Nanotechnology’ is any technology which exploits phenomena and structures that can occur at the nanometer scale.

4. The science of rearranging atoms is actually called ‘Mechanochemistry’. Nanotechnology is ultimately the engineering of tiny machines that has got the ability to manufacture materials inside ‘Nanofactories’. This complex factory utilizes techniques to make complete and highly advanced products. After this predicted molecular machinery is created, it will result a manufacturing revolution, causing total rethinking of all conventional concepts.

5. Nanotechnology is also referred to as a ‘general-purpose technology’. Due to its advanced form it will have significant impact on almost all industrial arena and all areas of human civilization. It offers better built, longer lasting, cleaner, safer, and smarter products for the home, for communications, for medicine, for transportation, for agriculture, and for industry. It will have major economic, social, environmental, and military implications in future. By innovative applications of this unique technological platform we may have abundant of products in traditional industries, biochemistry, military hardwires, energy sector, aviation industry, electronic media, ICT etc.

HISTORY OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

6. First mentioning of this distinguishing concept was in "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom," a talk given by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29, 1959. Feynman described a process by which the ability to manipulate individual atoms and molecules might be developed. Another significant thinker on nanotechnology was Tokyo Science University Professor Norio Taniguchi in 1974, the professor in his paper "Basic Concept of 'Nano-Technology' reveals that 'Nano-technology' mainly consists of the processing of, separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or one molecule." In 1980s the basic idea of this definition was explored in much depth by Dr. Eric Drexler, who promoted the technological significance of nano-scale phenomena and devices in his reaserch ‘Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology and Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation’ and therafter the term acquired its present sense.

MIRACLES OR MAGIC

7. The trends in computer hardware capability have remained steady for the last 50 years. These trends are likely to continue for at least another several years and then conventional lithography starts to reach its limits. If we are to continue our development we need to develop a new manufacturing technology. Our aim is to develop a technology which will let us inexpensively build computer systems with mole quantities of logic elements that are molecular in both size and precision. Nanotechnology will let us do this. It refers to a future manufacturing technology based on molecular machine systems. Though biology clearly demonstrates that molecular systems are possible, non-biological molecular machines are our future goals whose motion is controlled from the desktop. Therefore, future nano-systems will be a combination of hybrids of silicon technology and biological molecular machines.

8. We have already discussed that Nanotechnology is the engineering of tiny machines that is able to manufacture nanomaterials by rearranging atoms inside nanofactories. Nanotechnology will enable us to control matter at the nanometer scale, using mechanochemistry. Let us now explain what is Nanofactory. It is a proposed new appliance, something that is attached to a computer. To build a nanofactory, first we need to build a working fabricator, a nanoscale device that can combine individual molecules into useful shapes. Then the fabricator will build a very small nanofactory, which then could build another one bigger, and so on. Using Nanofactory by computer aided design (CAD) and programs; it will be possible to create state-of-the-art products simply by specifying a pattern of pre-designed nano-blocks.

9. Nanotechnology not only will allow us making many high-quality products at very low cost, but will also allow us making new nanofactories at the same low cost and at the same rapid speed. This unique ability to reproduce its own means of production is why nanotech is said to be an ‘Exponential Technology’. It represents a manufacturing system that will be able to make more manufacturing systems; and factories that can build factories. The means of production will be able to reproduce exponentially, so in just a few weeks a few nanofactories may become billions. It is a revolutionary, transformative, powerful, and potentially very beneficial technology.

10. Doesn’t it look like a magic? A small appliance, about the size of a washing machine, that is able to manufacture almost anything. Packed with nanotechnology and robotics, weighing 200 pounds and standing half as tall as a person, it can produce two tons per day of products. Control is simple: a touch screen selects the type and number of products to produce. It costs very little to operate, just the price of materials fed into it. In one hour, $20 worth of chemicals can be converted into 100 pairs of uniforms, or 50 coveralls, or 200 RT sets, or even a duplicate nanofactory.

11. A key understanding of nanotechnology is that it offers not just better products, but a vastly improved manufacturing process. A computer can make copies of data files essentially as many copies as we want at little or no cost. It may be only a matter of time until the building of products becomes as cheap as the copying of files in computer. That's the real meaning of nanotechnology, and why it is sometimes seen as "the next industrial revolution."

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTOF NANO TECHNOLOGY

12. The technology to create such a machine is speedily being developed in the modern world. A Nanofactory will be the end result of a convergence between nanotechnology (molecular scale engineering), rapid prototyping (3D typing), and automated assembly (mechanochemistry). Already scientists have made chemical reactions happen by directly manipulating the individual atoms. They can draw lines of chemicals only ten atoms wide. They can send electricity down molecular wires. They can attach propellers to molecular motors and analyze their performance. They can make functioning tweezers from DNA molecules. Within a few years, we will have the ability to build three-dimensional, active, molecular constructions. It is the ultimate building robots and chemical plants at the nanometer scale.

13. In the field of supercomputers, the IBM Blue Brain is the most powerful on the planet. Its objective is to create a detailed simulation of one of the functional units of the human brain (a neo-cortical column) by exploiting nanotechnology.

14. Another development in the field of nanotechnology focuses on the oscillation of a nanomachine for telecommunication. In Boston University an antenna one-tenth the width of a human hair oscillated in the laboratory basement. This nan-omachine is comprised of 50 billion atoms and is able to oscillate at 1.49 billion times per second. The technology enables communication devices smaller and exchange information at gigahertz speeds.

15. Nanotechnology is most advanced in the field of the bio-sciences. Nano scale medicine is rapidly advancing, especially in areas like cancer treatment where drugs are required to target a small group of cells. Nano technology’s ultimate promise will add to advances in nano scale medicine with the development of nano scale robotic devices to repair damage in our bodies. By 2020, scientists at Rutgers University believe that nano-sized robots will be injected into the bloodstream and administer a drug directly to an infected cell. We may also look into some other inventions in the field of medicine by exploiting nano-technology.

16. These are all present-day technologies. None of them has yet reached its full potential, but each of them is advancing rapidly, driven by powerful economic, social, and military forces. The integration of these technologies will be far more powerful than we can even visualize. The scientists predict that it won't be 30 years before we see nanotechnology mature, it will probably happen within the next decade. Some experts claim that a crash program that has already been started could complete the first working nanofactory within a decade at a cost of between five and ten billion dollars. And once the first one is built, it can start making copies of itself. No more shipping costs or time spent waiting. No more wasted resources or hazardous by-products. No more starvation, homelessness, or poverty.

PROSPECTS OF NANO TECHNOLOGY IN AVIATION

17. The aviation is the most advancing technology of modern science. The developed nations are looking for the easiest way to reach the outer space. With the advent of nanotechnology the idea of conventional aircraft design, its mechanical, electrical, aerodynamic functions or controls will be redesigned and reformed in near future.

18. Conventional aircraft uses rigid control surfaces and fuselage. Look at the difference between the conventional graphic fibre and Nano graphic fibre. Presently, if we want to change the airflow over it, we deflect a piece of that structure (aileron, elevator, and rudder) and guide the aircraft as per our desires. Nanotech will be using materials called ‘Piezoelectrics’, which can alter their shape instantly in response to changes in electrical current. This will be the biggest advancement when the researchers would be able to build nanostructures that will perform mechanical actions. Aircraft built of such materials will become more responsive than the conventional methods. Thousands of such devices, incorporated into a wing, would provide a highly redundant control surface that would replace today's flaps, aileron, elevator, and rudder. Therefore, the airframe of future aircraft will response to environment and change its shape to obtain the desired control and stability. The flight profile that is inserted in the memory of the aircraft’s control will guide its airframe to the destination with precise time.

19. People had imagined floating in the atmosphere after watching the bird’s manoeuvre in the sky. Once again the mechanics of bird’s flight had indeed provided us the key to another revolutionary concept. Birds can activate individual feathers; they can also dump excess lift. At present the scientists are paying a lot more attention to birds’ flight once again. In the past, it was not possible to find out anything that was the equivalent of a bird’s feather. Now it is off course a possibility. With the emergence of the adaptive structure of nano-material, the ability to have feather-like control is now in the realm of possibility.

20. Another aspect of nanotechnology in aircraft’s design is that in future we may be able to add nano-material membrane or covering over the wings of an aircraft. Thereafter we will be able to 'puff' an air pocket through the wing's airflow boundary layer. If we separate the flow, the aircraft will lose weight and wings will move. Thus using basic theory of aerodynamics we will be able to control lift and thrust without requiring much engine power.

21. Nano-material may also change the electrical signature of the aviation platforms. Tiny amount of carbon nanotubes has got the ability to alter the electrical qualities of a material. Aircraft, satellites and spacecraft all need to shed electrical charges imparted by the environment safely. The Nanocomposite polymers will be able to perform that function quite easily. Similar qualities make nanoparticles as completely undetected by the electronic eyes. The invisible air vehicles in its true sense will be a reality soon. Indeed the absorbing stealth technology will attain its ultimate success.

22. The another place it is expected to achieve nanotech in its uniqueness in aviation is in avionic devices for its ability to make miniature sensors. If we can add mechanical linkages at the end of nanotubes to make sensors, that's going to be another significant areas in aviation technology. We will witness tomorrow's aircraft having a structure a lot like circuit boards; in the sense of having electronics and sensors implanted everywhere. The sensors will be able to monitor stress loads on an aircraft's structure continuously. The structural information, combined with the precise location data from Global Positioning System satellites and other sources, should make the next-generation aircraft to "refuse" to crash under regular operating conditions.

23. The integration of sensing, computing and wireless transmission will enable true health management of future aircraft. Future air vehicles will have biological characteristics that include autonomy to be able to think for themselves; self-reliance to identify, diagnose and correct internal problems and failures; self-repair to overcome damage; adaptability to function and explore in unknown environments; and efficiency to operate with limited resources. The aviators specially the pilots will forget the emergency action procedures because the nano-aircraft may have ten of the nanodevices fail, but the rest will lead the system of the aircraft safely. If it is happened to have suffered damage in one part, the system can reconfigure itself automatically and repair the damages instantaneously.
24. In brief the science of manipulating individual atoms or molecules in order to build never-before-seen substances will enable us to create aircraft that can sense and respond to the environment in ways more like birds than machines. Will there be any requirement of Air Traffic Controlling? The self responsive air vehicles will probably be able to control themselves in the changing environment. But the reality does not reveal such predictions. The future air traffic management is going to be more complex in nature with the increased number of traffic, onboard computing systems for future autonomous intelligent vehicles, revolutionary computing technologies, smart compact precision sensors, and advance miniaturization of all system devices.

POTENTIAL RISKS OF NANO TECHNOLOGY

25. The technology is on its way. Non-factory forms of nanotechnology already are being developed. But the concern for the world’s scientists is that who would control such immense capability? Nanotechnology will be able to unwritten the theme ‘empty or scarcity of wealth’ but it can also manufacture weapons, poisons or biological forms, tiny surveillance cameras, and other illicit products. There is a great risk of this technology being used roughly either by the entity that first develops it, or by groups that later gain access to it. Therefore, control of the technology by a special interest group would probably lead to military or economic oppression. Two competing programs could lead to an unstable arms race. Uncontrolled release would make the full power of the technology available to terrorists, criminals, dictators, and irresponsible users. The world community is mainly concerned for finding the answer of the following questions:

a) Who will own the technology?
b) Will it be heavily restricted, or widely available?
c) What will it do to the gap between rich and poor?
d) How can dangerous weapons be controlled?

26. A technology this much powerful has implications in the areas of national security, commercial rights, human rights, global environment, and even cultural stability. As such nanotechnology must be regulated at a global level, but the regulatory system must be designed with extreme care to be acceptable to the world's population. The safest course appears to be a single and rapid worldwide development program by an organization that recognizes the necessity of wise administration.

CONCLUSION

27. Designing and developing molecular nanotechnology is a major challenge in itself. It will not be easy, and it will not happen overnight. But it will happen, and it should happen. Like electricity or computers before it, nanotech will offer greatly improved efficiency in almost every facet of life. As a general-purpose technology, it will not only be used by commercial uses but also it also will have many military uses—making far more powerful weapons and tools of surveillance. But above all the greater humanity will be the most beneficiary by replicating assemblers, permitting an exponential growth of productivity and personal wealth. Technology of this sophistication could vastly lower the cost of consumables from computers to food; solve our energy requirements, help us to properly extend our culture into space; and stabilise and clean up our existing environment on earth. We will be able to eliminate the hunger, sufferings, and suppressions of our beloved planet. Officers, the future world will have the society of happiness, joys and pride for all. My first SATCO may not understand its technical consequences but definitely be the most satisfying one to witness the triumph of mankind.