Helium as a guide

2002/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Elektronika

They have invented a totally different system of GPS and computer to know which is the shortest path between two points of a city.

The Imperial College of Science in London, the Andreas Manzes of Technology and Medicine and George Whitesides and their work teams at the University of Hardvard have recorded the map of London in glass chip and covered it with another thin, soft glass sheet. Thus, the streets of London have created a ‘pipeline network’ under the chip, which has filled the helium tubes. The first and last point of the route is marked and the shortest of all roads is ‘lit’. But how?

The starting and end points of the route are considered terminal and the difference of potential is applied by electrodes. The electric current is a gas that can be ionized as a material means of transition from one terminal to another (helium, in this case). Just as the mountain waters go down the steepest path, the electric current runs along the shortest path between two points, that is, the helium shines on the shortest path, as in the fluorescent bulbs.

In any case, will it be possible to take into account the streets, traffic lights and mandatory addresses that are forbidden access?