When the word speed is mentioned to us, we cannot stop thinking about everything related to vehicles, airplanes, motorcycles, among other things. But something that is very certain is that the aforementioned inventions are among other things; objects that made life easier for billions of people, in addition to communicating in a matter of hours. Thanks to these inventions, people can be in one part of the planet and in a matter of hours on the other side of the globe. Never before has face-to-face communication been seen between individuals separated by thousands of kilometers.
But all this had its origin in a prototype; Like many other great inventions, inventions always have their origins in an idea that is later embodied in something physical; that in many cases it is a prototype that embodies the initial idea. Such as the engine, the spoilers, the rubber tires. All these artifacts had their beginnings with an idea that was later put into practice and with the passage of time it was perfected. So, should we be suspicious of an invention just because it is new and has not been put into practice?
It is a question that has addressed millions of minds around the world, as well as religions and idealism and that has given way to theories such as: robots will control the world one day, synthetically manufactured organs are diabolical or a more extreme statement than the previous one; blood transfusion is a process by which you contaminate your soul and that is why you deserve to go to hell. Many of these theories were created by skeptics and pessimists about an invention that has well helped improve people's quality of life and extend it a few more years.
Today the speed with which we live our lives and the quality of life that we lead requires us to continually renew ourselves in different sectors. One of these is the automotive sector that has well helped millions of people to move from home to school, work or just to a restaurant on a weekend. The automobile has become so important in our lives that today we could not even imagine living the pace of life that we currently lead without this invention that emerged more than a century ago.
But the invention of the automobile as we know it did not arise overnight, indeed, not even the automobile that was invented one hundred and thirty years ago is similar to what we know today; the convenience and comfort of traveling in a vehicle were features that were added recently, seat belts like air bags, are inventions that were added to vehicles recently. However with all the security measures that our vehicle has today, such as abs brakes; whose task is to prevent the tires from losing adherence to the ground, due to sudden braking, airbags and the design to cushion a pedestrian's roll, is not a factor in reducing the thirteen million deaths due to road accidents.And is that a large part of these accidents are due to the negligence of the driver, such as falling asleep at the wheel, traveling at speed, traveling while intoxicated or being distracted on the cell phone; are some of the reasons for these accidents.
However science offers a solution to this problem with devices as small as a bed mite, MEMS for its acronym; Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, refers to all micrometric size technology, which can fulfill different tasks. One of these tasks is one in which they fulfill the role of a sensor, these sensors are used in the automotive industry, because due to their usefulness, they can serve as part of an automatic management that provides for this type of situation in the that the driver does not pay attention and the sensors do their homework and help to drastically lower the rate of accidents that occur in the world each year.
Some companies such as Tesla or Volvo anticipated these demands and are working on smarter vehicles that drive automatically, so that the driver can enjoy a quiet and stress-free trip. Sensors in addition to this task in the automotive industry, also have a role in the space industry; since they are used to capture different stimuli from the environment, for example the probe that was sent to Mars had certain sensors that capture the air currents and recorded them in a computer. There are many uses that we can give to such a small sensor, since it can be used in almost any technology found on the market today.
However, with a new technology, doubts begin to circulate as to whether the device has the materials to be able to fulfill its task efficiently and not fail in the event of a mishap. Like many other technologies in their early days these have certain flaws, as was the computer at the time or something closer to smartphones. But with the passing of the years and the updates of this there is no doubt that it will be one of the parts that our vehicle will have by default; like seat belts and air bags. The reliability of these types of devices and their profitability is increasingly visible, but will MEMS really be the future of automotive safety and will they guarantee a life in which we can trust these devices?
Hopefully, due to the great technological advances that are being presented every day, these inventions are more palpable and guarantee us many of the things that are promised today. Hopefully this does not remain the prototype of a great idea and becomes consolidated because without a doubt this type of invention is one of those that gives a twist to what is already established.
It is very true that although these technologies are consolidated, they cannot achieve the objectives that are proposed; This is due to the fact that for an industry such as the automotive industry, today the car is moving from a mechanical object to an electrical one, this due to the numerous components that these must have, in addition to being coupled to many problems such as the decrease in fossil fuel reserves; so the automobile has to migrate to other types of energies to continue advancing. In addition, smart roads today play a large role in conductivity by giving vehicles information about road weather conditions ahead and congestion.
This makes us think that in addition to the invention and advancement of our famous MEMS, they also depend on other technologies to be able to develop properly. In the following pages, MEMS will be discussed and some terms that can help the reader to assess the importance of this invention and how the invention of this device can help not only the sector of the population that has a vehicle, but also the human race. As with other types of inventions.
The science behind the invention
MEMS, as already mentioned, are all those mobile or rigid devices of a millimeter or micrometric size that can perform tasks of much larger devices, but with the advantage that due to their size you can place them in many systems. One of these examples is actuators; which are devices that convert the type of mechanical energy to electrical for human use, in the same way that a generator does in any type of plant, be it geothermal, thermoelectric, nuclear, wind, among many others.
Another use of MEMS, which is one of the most used in the industry, is sensors. In order to better understand the examples that will be given in this research work, we have to know what a sensor is and its variants depending on the one used; A sensor is defined as a device capable of capturing physical or chemical quantities, called instrumentation variables, which are converted into electrical impulses, which are much easier to quantify and manipulate, unlike some other physical phenomena. For the purpose of this research and understanding of the reader, we will talk about the types of sensors according to the type of physical variable measured and also how they respond to these variables:Mechanical sensors are those that, as they can be influenced, change their behavior under the action of a physical magnitude exerted on this sensor, that is, the sensor under certain parameters behaves differently from how it is at rest. These sensors are used primarily to measure certain variables such as: displacement, position, tension, pressure, etc.
In addition to the aforementioned mechanical sensor, there is one that is more used by the type of response that it generates to the phenomenon studied and is the electrical sensor, this type of sensor, unlike the one explained above, is easier to quantify and manipulate because it responds with an electrical impulse that can be sent to a computer. The electrical sensor captures physical or chemical quantities which are also called instrumentation variables and is capable of transforming them into an electrical type variable; some of the uses of this sensor or the magnitudes that it can get to capture are: distance, acceleration, force, movement, etc.
Both sensors are widely used in different sectors in which the automotive, space, aeronautical, health and robotics industries stand out, among others. Due to its great utility to innovate these industries and to be able to take existing inventions to the next level. In the automotive industry, MEMS are already used today as sensors to facilitate driver driving, the objective of introducing these sensors to today's cars is to try to ensure the safety of both the person who is driving and of those that are not inside the vehicle such as: pedestrians, animals and even with other vehicles.
Sensors of this type are already used by the automobile industry for a long time by companies such as Ford, Volkswagen, General Motors; The sensors are used to create a report on the conditions of the vehicle, for example oil level, fault detection, among others. But companies like Volvo, Tesla and many others use MEMS sensors to help the driver in more deadly cases such as helping the driver to brake or avoid an object when the driver is not paying attention. In addition to these uses, a very popular example among the population today are autonomous cars, that is, those that are driven without the need for a driver; this type of invention that, in the same way as the previous ones, uses MEMS sensors,It is an invention that changes the driver-vehicle paradigm, since it revolutionizes the comfort in which a person can travel, since instead of taking the time to drive from one place to another, this time can be used to finish a project, have a meeting between co-workers, eat or simply sleep in case the trip is very long and tedious.
In the aeronautical industry, for several years now, sensors have been used to obtain greater conductivity in commercial aircraft that fly hundreds of kilometers every day, since they are already capable of even navigating in the skies with automatic pilot, to be able to make a report of the meteorological conditions outside the plane, among other things; the subject will be covered in greater depth later and the magnitude of the importance of MEMS sensors will be better understood.
The space industry is not far behind on this list since MEMS sensors are also used to obtain some important factors in the middle in space, some of the probes and manned spacecraft that NASA sends into space, use this type of technology to be able to gather information and make a more complete report of the adverse conditions that are on that planet; in addition to doing a study of planets that have not been fully studied and you want to know the conditions to make adequate planning for a possible trip and why not installation in distant worlds.
As expected, MEMS could not be left behind in a sector as important as health, every day we hear reports of the invention of a cure for a certain disease that had been destroying some sector of the population, of the number Exaggerated number of treatments that a person must receive either daily or every certain time and also as if that were not enough, there are not enough sufficient records of the evolution of the patient with the disease that haunts him. Well today, as a few years ago, doctors needed patients to come to the offices to be able to do a general check-up to be able to confirm that things were going properly, but the transfer and also the long waiting line made this task very complicated.,Furthermore, far from benefiting the patient, they made things worse due to the wear and tear of the transfer.
Now the new emerging technologies offer a solution to be able to obtain these records more quickly and without the need for the sick patient to leave home. With the help of sensors that may well be located on the patients' watches or in some other device, they can obtain the heart rate, the stress accumulated by the days, among other types of variables that the doctor takes into account in order to evaluate the evolution of the patient with a certain disease and evaluate a diagnosis only with the help obtained by the devices composed of MEMS sensors.
We have been seeing that MEMS is a technology that for some years has been used to carry out different tasks, but in order to address the issue in a better way and to better understand its importance, we will rely on Minsky's agents for this task; That said, many of the inventions today are not the result of a single invention; In other words, automobiles are not only a single component; work thanks to the combination of many other devices that together make a car can be what we know today. One of these fundamental tasks is getting the driver to ride safely and comfortably, but achieving this requires many factors.
MEMS sensors are those agents in conjunction with computers that accomplish many of the tasks that have been reviewed, the sensors capture physical phenomena and send an electrical signal to the motor that is capable of responding to this phenomenon, without their cooperation. two agents, many of the tasks that are performed today would not be possible; But it is not only with automobiles, in addition to these, sensors have the ability to function in many of the communication and industrial areas; its use is highly variable.
Una de las aplicaciones que los automóviles ya desde hace mucho tiempo habían utilizado; eran el uso de los sensores para poder garantizar la seguridad del piloto a la hora de conducir un vehículo; los usos que se habían estado utilizando son los sensores que recopilan información del vehículo, la cual es enviada a la computadora y previene al piloto sobre un mal funcionamiento en el motor y en otras partes del vehículo, además de prevenir al conductor sobre peligros potenciales que este puede sufrir por las fallas mecánicas que el vehículo puede estar sufriendo y enviar notificaciones al conductor sobre algunos componentes que se están agotando y requieren una recarga como es el aceite y/o gasolina. Otro de los usos que hoy en día no son tan comunes pero que se espera que en algunos años puedan ser una parte fundamental del vehículo y sea un componente que todas las empresas automovilísticas incorporen a sus vehículos es el uso de sensores para la conducción. Hace algunas meses Volvo incorporó en la XC90 algunas características que pueden ser el futuro de la seguridad automovilística hoy en día.
One that has become popular from the Volvo brand is the “Volvo City Safety” which captures objects that are in front of the car such as: vehicles, cars, cyclists, etc. And it slows down to the point where the vehicle considers it to be a dangerous distance and brakes, this technology has evolved because previously it could only capture the presence of vehicles until components were added that helped it capture smaller objects.
In addition to the one mentioned above, there is a technology that is not new, but it is important to mention it, the lane maintenance assistant is a technology that tries to place the vehicle within the lane lines so that it does not suffer an accident, but what to do in in case it is impossible ?; Well Volvo asked itself this question and decided to develop the fatigue detection system, which recognizes signs of exhaustion by analyzing the reactions and movements of the steering wheel and alerts the driver of a possible catastrophe due to the driver's situation and at worst In most cases, the vehicle responds to this situation by tightening the seat belt so that the seat is the one that absorbs the impact and saves the driver.
A characteristic that is its own and is being implemented in vehicles more and more frequently, is the semi-automatic parking aid that, through sensors located at the rear and front of the vehicle and with a computer connected by cables to the entire vehicle, performs the The movements necessary to park it are very popular nowadays, but as the name implies, acceleration and braking must be controlled by the driver, but automatic parking is very close every day, thanks to the innovation of new components.
Another sensor which is used not only in cars but also in other sectors due to its identification capacity, are the radio frequency identifiers or RFID which function as an identification for an object or animal, which in its Most are used to be able to know the location of an object in almost any part of the planet. This type of technology is used in: pets to know their location in case they are lost, in trucks that transport important loads to know their location in case of theft. But in cars where it is most widely used, the RFID found in the keys is used as a vehicle locator and as an anti-theft system, which basically works so that the vehicle is locked until the key is inserted.
It should be noted that again in these types of examples Minsky's agents enter because the sensors broadly speaking and in a highly connected community like the one found today, MEMS sensors play an important role because they allow us to be part of a more global network in which we can collect information about the location and other parameters that help us to transcend and be able to innovate certain devices.
In addition to the uses of sensors that are used in vehicle keys to prevent theft, the planes that take millions of people to their destinations each year are too expensive, only the sensors occupy 35 percent of the initial cost and to size the number of sensors in an airplane there can be more than a thousand sensors for takeoff, navigation and landing of this, some examples of these sensors that are used in an airplane are the tachometer which indicates the speed with which it is flying, the torque sensor whose task is to quantify the torque in a rotation system, the altimeter, the mach meter which gives us a speed of the plane, but unlike the first, the speed that this device gives us is with respect to the air; that is the relative speed,Turn indicator which provides us with the angle of the plane, displacement indicator. Among many others that are just as important when piloting an airplane.
But speaking of taking the subject to such a high altitude, exceeding the distance from here to the moon, it is a subject that may well be seen very far from our time, in reality it is not like that, in fact the probes that are sent to Mars are just the pioneers for an information gathering technology. The probes sent among many of the components that they have are some sensors that measure the atmospheric pressure, humidity, direction and strength of the wind, as well as the environmental temperature and the levels of ultraviolet radiation; this in order to have more information on the environmental conditions that occur on that planet and to better plan a mission in the future.
The need to innovate
Tras haber tocado algunos ejemplos más a fondo sobre los diversos usos que los MEMS pueden llegar a tener nos damos cuenta de que los inventos tocados en los ejemplos anteriores, los sensores se originaron por la necesidad de poder tener un dispositivo el cual te permite cuantificar la información necesaria para poder entender y traducir mejor la información. La necesidad es la madre de la innovación y los sensores MEMS es un claro ejemplo de ello. Como bien decía Fiodor Dostoievski “La verdadera seguridad se halla más bien en la solidaridad que en el esfuerzo individual aislado” y hasta para un gran invento como los sensores, se necesita de cooperación y puede que cada institución le da los usos que necesite y es por eso que algunas veces algunas instituciones pueden tener un mejor desarrollo de las tecnologías que otras, pero al final la innovación sirve para todos no solo para una institución.
In order to better understand the point made above, a comparison will be made between the way in which different companies have developed emerging technologies.
Two vehicles of two brands that are very popular today in the automotive world will be used, such as: VOLVO and AUDI. Both companies have worldwide recognition for being one of the most avant-garde companies when it comes to producing cars, but there are some inventions that sometimes put one ahead of the other. As happened with the seat belt a few years ago with VOLVO and that allowed it to position itself as one of the safest companies in the automotive world.
In this case, we will compare two very recent models that have become something to talk about in the automotive world, such as the XC90 from VOLVO and the Q7 from Audi, for the purpose of this investigation, the safety that vehicles can provide both to the driver and to the companion; related to the subject of sensors and their direct applications, some of which were previously reviewed, such as airbags and driving assistance.
Using the data collected by one of the institutions in charge of testing different parameters of a vehicle such as the "EuronCap", which is in charge of testing both safety and conductivity and gives a rating on a scale of one to one hundred so that the consumer may have certain parameters when deciding which car to buy.
The first parameter verified is the airbags, the sensors play a very important role since they are responsible for capturing the physical phenomenon of a crash and sending the signal to the computer so that it can expel the airbags, the faster the sensor captures and sends the signal to the computer, increases the driver's chances of survival In addition to expelling the air bags, the seat belts are compressed in order to restrain the driver and prevent the driver from being thrown out of the vehicle by the force of the crash.
In both cases, both the XC90 and the Q7 present a good level of response to the stimulus of a crash; both have a rating above 93 percent of quality for airbags and seatbelt compression, but in this case the VOLVO XC90 has an advantage since apart from covering the parts from the waist up, it presents bags low airs, which help the driver have most of the body protected and that is why in this area the XC90 has a 97 percent effectiveness over the Q7 that only reaches 94 percent.
In addition to this item, the sensors that are located at the rear and front of the vehicle were previously discussed in order to optimize driving and help the driver in adverse situations. In this case, both vehicles have sensors installed that work in conjunction with the autonomous braking systems, or AEB for its acronym in English, for both city and interurban that help the vehicle to brake when they capture an object in front of them; both work at their maximum capacity and offer one hundred percent effectiveness at speeds below 50 km / h, in addition to offering a 70 percent chance that the pedestrian will survive a mishap, but again the XC90 takes the title for having in addition to AEB,They have lane assist systems that help the exhausted driver to stay in the lane and not suffer any mishap.
For some of the innovative ideas that were previously shown, Volvo is one of the companies known for being one of the safest on the planet because they are always looking to protect both drivers, passengers and pedestrians from any type of mishap that may suffer on the street, but it is certain that just as it happened with seat belts some time ago and today it is incorporated in every car on the planet, the innovations exposed in the previous paragraphs are very likely to be found in all cars in a not so distant future.
The importance of innovation
The impact on this type of technology is so great that when you are constantly looking for an innovation in this type of vehicle, it can be reduced, as was the case with AEB, the autonomous braking system mentioned above that based on the behavioral data that is can observe in real situations suggest that car accidents can be reduced by up to 38 percent, however with this, just look back and look at the large number of accidents that were caused by driver negligence when driving, thousands of Cases are heard daily of people who die from some type of car accident and all of these are increasingly close to being reduced by the inventions that hit the market in which the security system is responsible for protecting the driver.
Only in Mexico there are thousands of deaths per year due to road accidents, in 2014 (Table 1.1) a total of 4,089 were registered throughout the country and although the number of deaths has decreased since 2010 it is still very large the number of deaths that is registered today by road accidents in which many of these are caused by human errors that can be prevented.
Table 1.1 Number of fatal road accidents from 2010 to 2014
Number of fatal road accidents from 2010 to 2014
In addition to fatal road accidents that occur in which the outcome is a death by the driver and other people involved in the accident, there are also a large number of road accidents in which the outcome may not be the death of the people involved but it is certain that both these people and the flow of many main and secondary roads in the cities are affected every day by small crashes. In 2014, 79,832 non-fatal traffic accidents were recorded (figure 1.2) in which it is very likely that the number of accidents has followed the downward trend as the years go by,but it is very certain that the number of accidents is very large and in general the accidents are not caused by a mechanical failure but by human negligence that is caused by lack of attention to the road.
Table 1.2 Number of non-fatal road accidents from 2010 to 2014
Number of non-fatal road accidents from 2010 to 2014
If we consider the large number that was presented previously and we reduce 38 percent of these in relation to the implementation of accessories such as AEB, the number of accidents is dramatically reduced, thanks to the implementation of this type of components, so the importance of sensors in the automotive sector is becoming a trend that in a few years will be seen that many of the companies that today do not opt for the cost of the sensors they present, but as the years change, these trends will change and a greater number of companies that use this type of device in their vehicles will be appreciated.
Taking into account the considerations that have been raised in this investigation, based on the facts and data that were exposed, we can realize that in many of the sectors that today are very important because they connect us with the whole world in A matter of seconds, they are being updated, they are moving at the rate at which technology does so in order to be at the forefront and that communication becomes easier and easier. The sensors have helped us to open new doors in which they had never been able to open before in history, the advances that are being made today could make it possible for a few years to see the devices that we use today transformed into inventions that they do not resemble anything known today.
In a few years we will be able to see vehicles that are no longer driven by people but with the help of sensors and computers we will be able to see that people will only be crew members of a much safer vehicle because it responds to the limitations of the roads and road recommendations, we will be able to see to a world more communicated by advances in telecommunications due to the fact that RFDI sensors today are collecting information so that, based on the information collected, they can innovate the technologies that already exist and transform them into some that today are still unknown. capacity of these. In health, being able to have better control of patients when it comes to curing deadly diseases such as tuberculosis, which is one of the diseases in which the importance of taking a treatment is essential to be able to recover and heal.
References:
- MEMS and Nanotechnology Exchange. (2014). Whar is a MEMS ?. February 18, 2016, from MEMS and Nanotechnology Exchange Website: https://www.mems-exchange.org/MEMS/what-is.html Digital Academy of Knowledge. (October 24, 2012). Who Invented the Automobile ?. February 18, 2016, from Fundación Carlos Slim Website: http://www.academica.mx/comparte/qui%C3%A9n-invento-elautom%C3%B3vilNotimex. (October 19, 2015). How many people die each year in road accidents? February 18, 2016, from El Economista Website: http://eleconomista.com.mx/internacional/2015/10/19/cuantas-personas-muerenano-accidentes-viales with computer science. » Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica Academic. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.
