Sensor bionics

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The sensor bionics includes part of bionics , which examines the physical and chemical irritant recording and dealt with the location and orientation in the environment. The systems for stimulation absorption by natural models, such as beetles, bats and fish, are being examined by researchers with a view to their transferability into technology. A problem that is becoming more and more important for people is the measurement and control of chemical substances, for example in the human body ( diabetes ) or large-scale converters ( biotechnology ).

Examples of sensor bionics

Examples of technical sensors are electric fish, which include the elephant-trunk fish and the nile pike . They orientate themselves with the help of active electro- localization, whereby the fish create an electric field with their electroreceptor organs , which localizes objects in the environment, as these distort the electric field. This is the principle on which electrical location sensors work, which can produce and measure an electrical field in a conductive medium. They are used on ships or fishing ponds to measure distances and to monitor machines in production or to check the quality of finished products. One advantage is that they are resistant to dirt.

Another example is a flow sensor that can monitor the respiratory flow of intensive care patients, for example , based on the principle of the sensory lateral line organ of the fish . The same principle can be used to detect leaks in drinking water pipes or gas pipes. A flow sensor thus enables cost savings, measurement accuracy and helps protect drinking water.

Electronic parking aids, like bats with ultrasonic sensors, can send out ultrasonic waves and receive the reflected echo and thus calculate the distance between the obstacle and the vehicle, which enables safe parking. It must be noted, however, that this technology for ultrasonic distance measurement was discovered independently of the findings on the bat. "[Also] the echo sounder was developed independently from bats [...], it is not a matter of bionics."

Dolphins and whales have a sonar system for communication with ultrasound sounds , whereby they constantly change frequencies and can emit up to 1,200 clicks per second with the organ. If an object comes within range of the sound waves ejected by the dolphins, the waves are reflected by the object or animal and echo back to the marine mammals. A dolphin now receives precise information about the object and can process it in the brain. The multiple reflections of the sound do not interfere with the transmission of the information. The marine mammals also use the sonar system for orientation. You can use it to determine the material composition, size and shape of objects, as each object generates an individual reflex spectrum. Based on this principle, bionists developed an "underwater modum", which can transmit differentiated messages with ultrasound in a large environment. The underwater mode can be used to control underwater robots, transmit data from probes in the sea to a receiving station on the surface and set up a tsunami early warning system .

The black pine jewel beetle is able to perceive infrared radiation with its infrared sensory organs and thus to locate forest fires 80 kilometers away, as the larvae of the beetle feed on freshly burned wood. It serves as a model for a highly sensitive infrared sensor that is responsible for monitoring a forest area and gives an early warning in the event of a fire.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sigrid Belzer: The ingenious inventions of nature . Ed .: Fischer Schatzinsel. S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-596-85389-2 , p. 155 .
  2. ↑ Martin Zeuch: Was ist Was, Volume 122, Bionics . In: Tesslof Verlag (Ed.): Was ist Was . tape 122 . Tesslof Verlag, ISBN 978-3-7886-1509-3 , pp. 41 end .