Emerging Technologies

Chapter Seven
Other Emerging
Technologies
 Outline
 Nanotechnology  Computer Vision
 Biotechnology  Embedded Systems
 Blockchain Technology  Cyber Security
 Cloud and Quantum  Additive Manufacturing
Computing (3D Printing)
 Autonomic Computing (AC)
Learning Outcomes
After completion of this lesson, students shall be able to:
 Explain nanotechnology and its applications.
 Explain biotechnology and its applications.
 Explain blockchain technology and its applications.
 Gain insights about cloud and quantum computing
and applications.
 Explain how computer vision works and applications.
 And more…
 Nanotechnology
 Nanotechnology is the application of science,
engineering, and technology on materials at the
nanoscale, roughly within 1 to 100 nanometers.
 Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study
and application of science & technology on
extremely small things and can be used across
other science fields, such as chemistry, biology,
physics, & materials science and engineering.
 Nanotechnology
 Ideas and concepts behind nanoscience and
nanotechnology started with a talk entitled
“There is plenty of room at the bottom” by
physicist Richard Feynman at a science society
meeting in 1959, long before the term
nanotechnology was used .

Physicist Richard Feynman, the father of nanotechnology

Fundamental concepts in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology

 Can you imagine how small a nanometer is? One nanometer

is a billionth of a meter or 10-9 meters.
 Here are a few illustrative examples:
 There are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch.
 A sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick.
 On a comparative scale, if a marble were a nanometer, then
one meter would be the size of the Earth.
 Nanotechnology is the application of nanoscience leading
to the use of new nanomaterials and nanosize components in
useful products.
Concepts in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology

How small is a nanometer?

Human hair and a sheet

of paper
Fundamental concepts in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology

 Nanoscience and Nanotechnology embrace

the ability to see and control individual atoms
and molecules.
 A nanometer is large as compared to the atomic
scale. An atom has a diameter of about 0.1 nm.
An atom's nucleus is much smaller about
0.00001 nm. Atoms are the building blocks
of all matter in the universe.
 0.1 nm = 1 Å (Angstrom) = 100 pm
Concepts in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
According to Dr. Störmer, a Nobel Prize
winner, the nanoscale is more interesting
than the atomic scale because the nanoscale
is the first point where we can assemble
something (by putting atoms together) and
make anything useful -- it's not until we start
putting atoms together that we can make
anything useful.
Concepts in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
 Based on definitions of nanoscale and atomic scale sizes,
we can redefine nanoscience and nanotechnology as
follows (most widely used definition):
 Nanoscience is the study of phenomena and manipulation
of materials at atomic, molecular and macromolecular
scales, where properties differ significantly from those at a
larger scale.
 Nanotechnology is the design, characterization, production,
and application of structures, devices, and systems by
controlling shape and size at the nanometer scale.
Concepts in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology

What makes technology at the nanoscale

different from technology at the macroscale?

Lovells LLP www.lovells.com

Surface area to Volume ratio
2 cm cube has a surface area of
 As objects get 24 cm2 and a volume of 8 cm3
(ratio = 3:1)
smaller they have
a much greater
surface area to
volume ratio

10 cm cube has a surface area

of 600 cm2 and a volume of
1000 cm3 (ratio = 0.6:1)
Concepts in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
 The properties of materials can be different at
the nanoscale for two main reasons:
 due to the high surface area to volume ratio when
compared to large-scale materials, which can affect
their strength or electrical properties.
 quantum effects begin to dominate the behavior
of matter at the nanoscale (particularly at the lower
end); affecting the optical, electrical and magnetic
behavior of materials.
Applications of Nanotechnology
 Coatings - self-cleaning windows and stain proof
clothing
Applications of Nanotechnology
 Microchips
Applications
 Catalysts  Food
 Envirox™ cerium oxide  packaging
 Nanoremediation  Paint
 SAMMS technology to  improved adhesion and anti-
remove mercury fungal qualities/anti-graffiti
 Paper  Clothes
 photographic paper  non-staining and anti-
radiation
 Filters
 Batteries
 nanofibres
 (Black & Decker) phosphate
 Toothpaste
nanocrystal technology
 to remineralise teeth
 Cleaning products
 Biotechnology
Biotechnology is the use of living systems
and organisms to develop or make useful
products, or "any technological application
that uses biological systems, living organisms
or derivatives thereof, to make or modify
products or processes for specific use“
 Biotechnology
Biotechnology – using living organisms, or
the products of living organisms, for human
benefit to make a product, a process, or solve
a problem.
Biotechnology is the manipulation of
living organisms and organic material to
serve human needs.
Biotechnology
Historical Examples
 Fermentation
 Selective breeding
 Use of antibiotics
 Yeast in bread making and alcohol
production
 Use of beneficial bacteria (penicillin) to
kill harmful organisms
 Biotechnology
 Example of Biotechnology – Selective Breeding

Normal zebrafish "Casper" zebrafish – made

by selective breeding
Biotechnology
Modern Examples
Cloning of plants and animals
Artificial insemination
Genetic engineering
Recombinant DNA technology
Human Genome Project
The relative sizes of various microscopic
and non-microscopic objects.
 Biotechnology
Based on this tree
metaphor , can
anyone become
successful in the
biotech industry only
studying biology?
Biotechnology
 An example "modern" biotechnology recombinant DNA
started modern biotech as an industry
 Examples of applications
 development of disease-resistant plants
 food crops that produce greater yields
 "golden rice" engineered to be more nutritious
 genetically engineered bacteria that can degrade
environmental pollutants
 medicinal biotechnology
Application & Impact of Biotechnology
 Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
are consumed by millions of people.
 Almost 56% of all soybean plantings worldwide
are genetically engineered (much higher in the
US)
 Blockchain Technology
 Made up of two words block and chain.
 Blockchain is a technology that enables moving digital assets, such
as bitcoin, from one individual to another securely.
 The information (or data) in the blocks determines the type of
application that blockchain is used for.
 The chain is the link between two adjacent blocks which is not
easy to create and which is practically impossible to tamper.
 Bitcoin blockchain, for example, stores the details about
transaction of digital money; such as sender’s identity, receiver’s
identity, and the amount of money to be transferred in each block.
 Blockchain Technology Cont.
 In the case of bitcoin blockchain, the technology
is attempting:
1. to transfer money without a third party (for example,
a bank).
2. to do it faster than the third party, actually
immediately.
3. to do it cheaper than the third party.
 Blockchain Technology Cont.
Bitcoin ≠ blockchain
Is an application of Is the underlying data-structure, which
blockchain technology can be used for many applications,
including cryptocurrencies

 Blockchain: A shared ledger technology allowing

any participant in the business network to see the
system of records (ledger)
 Blockchain Technology Cont.
 How does a blockchain work?
 1st concept: use of open ledger (transparency), which is an
open chain of transactions. The ledger is open that everyone in
the network can see it. It is public.
 2nd concept (principle): the ledger is distributed
(decentralized). Everyone participating can have a copy of
the ledger. No need for a 3rd party.
 3rd concept: synchronization (immutability), means that
once a block (information) has been verified and entered into
the blockchain, it cannot be tampered with (remains the
same in all locations).
 Blockchain Technology Cont.
 Regarding to the 3rd principle, which is probably the most
interesting one, only miners are able to add a new node to a
ledger. Miners are special nodes which can add new blocks to a
ledger.
 Miners compete among themselves to be the first to take an
un-validated transaction (block) and be able to validate and put
it in the ledger to get a (financial) reward.
 In order to chain (lock with a key) the new transaction to the
ledger, a miner needs to invest computational power and
time, because the search for a key is random.
 Linking of Blocks

If anyone tried to alter even the smallest piece of a transaction, it

would completely change the hash code for the transaction
and the block. This would cause cascading effects for all of the
connected blocks.
This would immediately be noticed by the nodes and
discarded.
Transaction Process in Blockchain
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp
Attributes of Cryptocurrency
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp
 Reading Assignment:
● Read Applications of blockchain
section 7.3.6 of module.
Cloud and Quantum Computing
What is Cloud?
 The term Cloud refers to resources on a computer Network
or the Internet. In other words, we can say that Cloud is
something, which is present at remote location. Cloud can
provide services over a network, i.e., on public networks or on
private networks, i.e., WAN, LAN or VPN.
 Applications such as e-mail, web conferencing, customer
relationship management (CRM), all run in the cloud.
Cloud and Quantum Computing
What is Cloud Computing?
 Internet-based computing in which large groups
of remote servers are networked so as to allow
sharing of data-processing tasks, centralized data
storage, and online access to computer services
or resources.
 Any computer related task that is done entirely
on the Internet.
Cloud and Quantum Computing
What is Cloud Computing?
 Allows users to deal with software and hardware
without having them in their premises.
 Everything is done remotely, nothing is saved
locally.
 Is both a combination of software and hardware
based computing resources delivered as a network
service.
Deployment Models
 Deployment Models
 PUBLIC CLOUD : allows systems and services to be easily accessible
to the general public. Public cloud may be less secure because of its
openness, e.g., e-mail.
 PRIVATE CLOUD : allows systems and services to be accessible
within an organization. It offers increased security because of its
private nature.
 COMMUNITY CLOUD : allows systems and services to be accessible
by group of organizations.
 HYBRID CLOUD : is mixture of public and private cloud. However,
the critical activities are performed using private cloud while the
non-critical activities are performed using public cloud.
Cloud Computing Models & Features
Cloud Computing Advantages
 Business benefits from economies of scale.
 Improved performance
 Reduced software costs
 Instant software updates
 Improved document format compatibility
 Unlimited storage capacity and other computing resources
 Increased data reliability
 Universal document access
 Latest version availability
 Easier group collaboration
 Device independence
Disadvantages
 Requires aconstant Internet connection
 Does not work well with low-speed connections
 Features might be limited
 Can be slow
 Stored data can be lost
 Stored data might not be secure
 Quantum Computing
 Quantum computers represent the next generation
of computing.
 Unlike classic computers, they derive their computing
power by harnessing the power of quantum physics
also called quantum mechanics.
 Quantum cloud computing is the access to a
quantum computer over the internet.
Introduction to quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental
branch of theoretical physics with wide
applications in experimental physics
that replaces classical mechanics and
classical electromagnetism at the atomic
and subatomic levels.
Introduction to quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is a more
fundamental theory than Newtonian
mechanics and classical electromagnetism.
It provides accurate and precise
descriptions for many phenomena that
"classical" theories simply cannot explain
on the atomic and subatomic level.
What is a quantum computer?
Aquantum computer is a machine that
performs calculations based on the laws
of quantum mechanics, which is the
behavior of particles at the sub-atomic
level.
Why bother with quantum computation?

Moore’s Law: We hit the quantum level 2010~2020.

Computer technology is making devices
smaller and smaller…
…reaching a point where classical physics
is no longer a suitable model for the laws of
physics.
The design of devices on such a small scale will
require engineers to control quantum mechanical
effects.
Allowing computers to take advantage of quantum
mechanical behaviour, and allows us to do more
than cram increasingly many microscopic
components onto a silicon chip…
… it gives us a whole new framework in which
information can be processed in fundamentally
new ways.
 Representation of Data
 Quantum computers would be based on the strange principles of
quantum mechanics, in which the smallest particles of light and
matter can be in different places at the same time.
 In a quantum computer, one "qubit" - quantum bit - could be
both 0 and 1 at the same time. So with three qubits of data, a
quantum computer could store all eight combinations of 0 and 1
simultaneously. That means a three-qubit quantum computer
could calculate eight times faster than a three-bit digital
computer.
 Typical personal computers today calculate 64 bits of data at a
time. A quantum computer with 64 qubits would be 2 to
the 64th power faster, or about 18 billion billion times
faster.
A bit of data is represented by a single atom that is in
one of two states denoted by |0> and |1>. A single bit of
this form is known as a qubit.
 Autonomic Computing
 Autonomic
 Pertaining to an on demand operating environment that
responds automatically to problems, security threats, and
system failures.
 Self-adaptive, Self-governing, Self-managing.
 Is derived from human biology, autonomic nervous system
 ANS monitors heartbeat, body temperature, …
○ Without any conscious effort on our part!

 The goal ofautonomic computing is to find appropriate

solutions based on current state/context/content that
are compliant with specified policies.
Autonomic Computing
 Motivations
 Present day IT environments are complex,
heterogeneous in terms of software & hardware
from multiple vendors.
 Computing systems have evolved into millions of
interconnected devices whose interactions create
complex web on increasingly complex architecture.
Growing Complexity of IT Systems
 Very large scales
 millions of entities
 Ad hoc (amorphous) structures/behaviors
 p2p, hierarchical architecture, client server
 Dynamic
 entities join, move, change behavior
 Heterogeneous
 capability, connectivity, reliability, guaranties, QoS
 Unreliable
 components, communication
 Lack of common/complete knowledge
 number, type, location, availability, connectivity, protocols, semantics, etc.
 Convergence of IT and BT
 Our system programming paradigms, methods, and
management tools seem to be inadequate for handling
the scale, complexity, dynamism and heterogeneity of
emerging future networks and systems.
 Biological
systems have evolved strategies to cope
with dynamic, complex, highly uncertain constraints.
 Recently, some research areas of
IT are applying
biological system concepts to solve their unsolved
problems.
Growing Complexity of Information Technology
Motivation: hardware faults
Question: what is the probability of a hard drive failure?
 In our laptop?
 Will happen every few years,
 hopefully not right now…

 In a large supercomputer or data center?

 More than 100k nodes
 Will happen during this class!
 Autonomic option
Autonomic computing
 Systems manage themselves
according to admin goals.
 Self-governing operation of
entire system, not just parts of it.
 New components integrate
effortlessly - as a new cell
establishes itself in the body.
The vision for Autonomic Computing
Building “Intelligent” systems that:
 Manage complexity
 Know themselves
 Continuously tune themselves
 Adapt to unpredictable conditions
 Prevent and recover from failures
 Provide safe environment
Characteristics of Autonomic Systems
Autonomic Computing Systems
They are Self-managing systems that deliver:

Increased Business Resiliency

Responsiveness
Discover, diagnose,
Adapt to dynamically and act to prevent
changing environments disruptions

Secure Information
Operational
and Resources
Efficiency
Anticipate, detect,
Tune resources and balance
identify, and protect
workloads to maximize use of
against attacks
IT resources
Autonomic Systems Self-management
 Four aspects of self-management
 Self-optimization
○ Continually seek ways to improve their operation
○ Hundreds of tunable parameters
 Self-protection from
○ Malicious attacks, Cascading failures
○ Admin mistakes
 Self-healing
○ Handle faults and errors
○ Analyze information from logs and monitors
 Self-configuration
○ Configure themselves automatically
○ High-level policies (what is desired, not how)
Self-management Cont..
 Self-management Issues
 Changing components
 Changing external conditions
 Hardware/Software failures
 Example, Component Upgrade
 Continually check for component upgrades
 Download and install
 Reconfigure self
 Run a regression test
 If errors are detected, revert to older version
Levels of Autonomic Maturity
Computer Vision
 What is Computer Vision?
 Make computers understand images and videos.

• What kind of scene?

• Where are the cars?

• How far is the building?

How Computer Vision Works?
1. Acquiring an image: Images, even large sets, can be
acquired in real-time through video, photos or 3D
technology -- for analysis.
2. Processing the image: Deep learning models
automate much of this process, but the models are often
trained by first being fed thousands of labeled or pre-
identified images.
3. Understanding the image: The final step is the
interpretative step, where an object is identified or
classified.
Huge Visual data on the Internet
 Flickr
 10+ billion photographs 90% of net traffic
 60 million images uploaded a month will be visual!
 Facebook
 250 billion+ Photographs
 300 million a day
 Instagram
 55 million pictures (photographs) a day
 YouTube
 100 hours of video uploaded every minute
History of Computer Vision

“In 1966, Minsky hired a first-year

undergraduate student and
assigned him a problem to solve
over the summer:

connect a camera to a computer

and get the machine to describe
Marvin Minsky, MIT what it sees.”
Turing award, 1969
Examples of Computer Vision
Applications
 Face Recognition
 Facebook face auto-tagging
 Smile detection
 Vision based biometrics
 Iris patterns
 Face detection

 Most digital cameras and smart phones detect faces (and more)
 Canon, Sony, Fuji, …
 For smart focus, exposure compensation, and cropping
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
 Technology to convert scanned docs to text
 If you have a scanner, it probably came with OCR software
Computer vision in sports

Hawk-Eye: helping/improving referee decisions

Visual recognition for photo organization

Google photo
Style transfer

Source image (Style) Target image (Content) Output (deepart)

A Neural Algorithm of Artistic Style [Gatys et al. 2015]

Embedded Systems
Definition
 Itis an Electronic/Electromechanical system
designed to perform a specific function and is a
combination of both hardware & software.
 A combination of hardware and software which
together form a component of a larger machine
or system (or unit).
Embedded Systems
Digital System vs. Embedded System
 Digital System: may provide service
 as a self-contained unit (e.g., desktop PC)
 as part of a larger system (e.g., digital control
system for manufacturing plant)
 Embedded System
 part of a larger unit
 provides dedicated service to that unit
Embedded Systems Continued
 Computing systems are everywhere
 Most of us think of “desktop” computers
 PC’s
 Laptops
 Mainframes
 Servers
 But there’s another type of computing system
 Far more common ... Embedded computing systems
 Embedded Systems (cont.)
Computers are in here...
• Embedded computing systems
• Computing systems embedded within
electronic and electromechanical devices. and here...

• Hard to define. Nearly any computing

and even here...
system less powerful than personal
computers.
• Billions of units produced yearly,
versus millions of desktop units. Lots more of these, though they cost a
lot less each.
• Perhaps 100s per household and per
automobile.
Lect-01.83
 Parts of an Embedded System

USER EMBEDDED SYSTEM

I/O

MEMORY PROCESSOR

HARDWIRED UNIT
• Application-specific logic (ASIC)
• Timers (Clock)
• A/D and D/A conversion

ENVIRONMENT
Lect-01.84
 Parts of an Embedded System (cont.)

• Actuators - mechanical or electrical components

(e.g., valve, motor controller, switch, robotic hands)
• Sensors - input data (e.g., accelerometer for airbag
control)
• Data conversion, storage, processing - parts
• Decision-making - parts

Lect-01.85
 Functions and Design Criteria of
Embedded Systems
• Monitoring and control functions for an overall system
(e.g., vehicle control)
• Information-processing functions (e.g.,
telecommunication systems -- data compression,
routing, etc.) for data communication

• Design Criteria: performance, reliability, availability,

safety, usability, etc.
Lect-01.86
Cyber Security
 It is the protection of computing systems from
theft and/or damage to hardware, software, or
electronic data, as well as from the disruption or
misdirection of services they provide.
 It is the practice of defending computers,
servers, mobile devices, electronic systems,
networks, and data from malicious attacks.
Cyber Security
 Cybersecurity is meant to protect attacks in
cyberspace to information assets such as data,
storage resources, devices, networks, etc.
 In contrast, information security is intended to
protect data from any form of threat regardless of
being analogue or digital/hard or soft.
 Cybersecurity usually deals with cybercrimes,
cyber frauds and law enforcement.
Essential cybersecurity measures
 Use strong passwords. Strong passwords are vital to good
online security. ...
 Control access. ...
 Put up a firewall (Inspect encrypted traffic). ...
 Use security software. ...
 Update programs and systems regularly. ...
 Monitor for intrusion. ... IDS
 Raise awareness.
 Use trusted DNS only
 Protect Your Sensitive Personal Identifiable Information
(PII)
Types of cybersecurity threats
 Malware is the collective name for a number of malicious
software variants, including viruses, ransomware and
spyware. Shorthand for malicious software, typically consists
of code developed by cyber-attackers, designed to cause
extensive damage to data and systems or to gain unauthorized
access to a network.
 Social engineering is the art of exploiting human psychology,
rather than technical hacking techniques, to gain access to
buildings, systems or data.
Types of cybersecurity threats
 Phishing is a cybercrime in which a target or
targets are contacted by email, telephone or text
message by someone posing as a legitimate
institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive
data such as personally identifiable information,
banking and credit card details, and passwords.
 Advice
 In the physical world we’re good at protecting
ourselves and our property, we need to replicate
this in the digital world.
 80% of cyber-crime is preventable.
 Technology is only a small part of Cyber Defence
 You are the best defence – protect yourself
 For businesses the most important and best defence
is Cyber Security Aware employees – train your staff
Additive Manufacturing & 3D Printing
Are they the same?
 ASTM equates the two terms as: “Additive manufacturing,
also known as 3D printing, uses computer-aided design (CAD)
to build objects layer by layer.”
 Wikipedia says, “Today, the precision, repeatability, and material
range has increased to the point that 3D printing is considered
as industrial production technology, with the name of
additive manufacturing.”
 In general we can define additive manufacturing as “the
industrial version of 3D printing”.
Difference between 3D printing and AM
3D printing is generally used to describe the
“entry level” processes such as FDM, whereas
additive manufacturing is used to describe
the advanced and more precise techniques
like SLS.
FDM 3D printing
 Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused
deposition modeling (FDM), or called filament freeform
fabrication, is a 3D printing process that uses a continuous
filament of a thermoplastic material.
 The print head is moved under computer control to define
the printed shape.
SLS – Additive Manufacturing
 Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive
manufacturing (AM) technique that uses a laser as the
power source to sinter powdered material (typically nylon or
polyamide), aiming the laser automatically at points in space
defined by a 3D model, binding the material together to
create a solid structure.
What are the downsides of 3D printing?