Imagine a computer chip that thinks and navigates like a bee, using light instead of electricity to move information. By copying how insects use the sky to find their way, this tech creates a tiny 'internal compass' on a chip. It uses special nano-wires and dyes to process data with far less energy than today's electronics.
Current autonomous navigation relies heavily on GPS and energy-hungry processors. There is a critical need for low-power, compact sensing and computing systems that can operate independently of external satellite signals.
A nanophotonic on-chip device combining III-V semiconductor nanowires and molecular dyes to mimic insect brain navigation and memory.
If you are a drone manufacturer dealing with GPS signal loss in contested environments — this project developed a sensor array that outputs compass heading directly from polarized light. This allows autonomous vehicles to navigate without GPS using an energy-efficient chip.
If you are a micro-robotics developer dealing with limited battery life and space for processors — this project developed III-V nanowire circuits that offer a spatial footprint orders of magnitude smaller than present technologies.
If you are a chip designer dealing with the high energy cost of AI neural networks — this project developed a nanophotonic system using overlapping light signals for connectivity. This results in significantly lower power consumption compared to traditional electronic interconnects.
Based on available project data, specific pricing is not provided, but the project aims for orders of magnitude better energy efficiency and smaller spatial footprints than current technologies.
The project includes a specific objective to show upscaling, on-chip assembly, and the pathway to commercialization, including integration with silicon technology.
Based on available project data, the project is in the research and demonstration phase; specific licensing terms or patents are not listed in the summary.
The technology platform is designed to be integrated with standard silicon technology to facilitate commercial adoption.
The project period runs from 2022-04-01 to 2026-09-30.
The consortium is heavily academic, consisting of 5 partners from 5 countries (DK, NL, PT, SE, UK). With 4 universities and 1 research institution, there is a 0% industry ratio, indicating the technology is currently in a high-risk, high-reward research phase rather than a commercial deployment phase.
Lunds Universitet, Sweden
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