Major Areas of Opportunity - Implications of Emerging Micro-and Nanotechnologies - page 80

dramatically increased the performance of design tools and the availability
of complex space-qualified MEMS devices.
Recommendation 3-4. The Air Force should actively pursue improvements
and/or adaptations of commercial efforts for military needs and be prepared
for a larger investment at the 6.2 through 6.4 levels. This recommendation is
not meant to imply total reliance on commercial sources. Commercial inter-
ests may drive the market in a different direction than is needed by the
military, and commercial interests may interfere with military interests in the
MEMS-based community.
Finding T4. Large, distributed fixed arrays and moving swarms of multi-
spectral, multifunctional sensors will be made possible by emerging micro-
and nanotechnology, and these will lead to significant fundamental changes
in sensing architectures. Concepts such as smart dust and distributed com-
munication networks actively exploit the technological capabilities of emerg-
ing micro- and nanotechnologies. The fusion of data from large numbers of
sensors as well as large numbers of sensor types will drive research in new
networking concepts.
Recommendation T4. The Air Force should develop balanced research
strategies for not only the hardware but also the requisite software and
software architectures for fixed arrays and moving swarms of multispectral,
multifunctional sensors.
BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS
Most natural materials exhibit a combination of desirable properties—for
example, strength, flexibility, and light weight—that are not usually found in
synthetic systems. Examples include spider silk and a bird's bone structure. The
unique properties and performance of these natural substances arise from a pre-
cise hierarchical organization at the micro- and nanoscales, coupled with nature's
use of composite materials incorporating inorganic components alongside bio-
logical materials, e.g., bone or tooth enamel. Therefore, it is important to investi-
gate, understand, and ultimately reproduce nature's ability to precisely integrate
organization at the atomic and molecular levels. Using the molecular forces of
nature to create materials templates and/or to solve nanoscale assembly prob-
lems, e.g., self-assembled monolayers, 138,139 nanotubes, molecular motors, 140 bi-
otin-avidin binding, 141 and hydrophobic/hydrophilic surfaces, 142,143,144 has al-
ready been demonstrated. Bioorganisms may one day be employed to perform
directed nanomanufacturing of complex structures. Already, genetically engi-