Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 15 . 1 . Lines of Compactly Written Low-Error Software Code Required to Control
Complex Semiautonomous Machines
Control software for device
Estimated lines
of code
Bits of code
(
B
100 bits/line)
Ref.
Voyager Spacecraft Software
3,000
300,000
[45]
Viking Lander Software
—
432,000
[46]
Respirocyte Control System (est.)
—
500,000
[4]
B
Galileo Spacecraft Software
8,000
800,000
[45]
Cassini Spacecraft Software
32,000
3,200,000
[45]
Microbivore Control System (est.)
—
B
5,000,000
[5]
Ariane Flight Control Software
90,000
9,000,000
[47]
Airbus 340 Flight Warning System
100,000
10,000,000
[48]
Mars Pathfinder Spacecraft
160,000
16,000,000
[45]
Space Shuttle Software
500,000
50,000,000
[49]
Boeing 777 and Airbus 340
3,000,000
300,000,000
[50]
body will encounter natural phagocytic cells many times during its mission [2d],
microbivores, like respirocytes, may incorporate any of several possible phago-
cyte avoidance and escape techniques [2d], possibly including, for example,
surface-tethered phagocyte chemorepellent molecules [2g, 51] or phagocyte
engulfment inhibitors [2h, 52], as well as more proactive approaches to phagocy-
tosis avoidance [2d].
Many special protocols will be needed by microbivores but a complete
enumeration is beyond the scope of this chapter. Biocompatibility-related proto-
cols (Section 15.4.2) provide examples ranging from the simple to the more
complex. At the simple end of the range is the microbial tail protocol [5]. Free
releases of bacterial flagella into the bloodstream could produce inflammation or
elicit various immune system responses and thus should be avoided. Complete
internalization of tail may be ensured by specialized operational routines (e.g.,
forced end-over-end rotation of an internalized microbe while inside the morcella-
tion chamber, thus completely spooling the tail into the microbivore before fully
sealing the ingestion port door) or by specialized mechanical tools or jigs (e.g., a
counterrotating interdigitated-knobbed capstan-roller pair).
An example of a more complex protocol arises from the fact that all
bloodborne nanorobots larger than
1 micron in all three physical dimensions
are subject to possible geometrical trapping in the fenestral slits of the splenic
sinusoids in the red pulp of the spleen [2e]. A small percentage of blood is forced to
circulate through a physical filter in the spleen requiring passage through slits
measuring 1-2 microns in width and
B
6 microns in length [2e]. Microbivores
which become pinned to a slit face-on, or which become stuck edge-on during an
attempted passage, can detect that they have become trapped by measuring
various blood component concentration and pressure differentials across their
surfaces. The nanorobot then activates its automatic splenofenestral escape
protocol
B
[5], which involves the extension and patterned ciliation of surface
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