© 1999 Robert A. Freitas Jr. All Rights Reserved.

Robert A. Freitas Jr., Nanomedicine, Volume I: Basic Capabilities, Landes Bioscience, Georgetown, TX, 1999

7.4.2.5 Electromagnetic and Thermal Inmessaging

The human body does not emit voluntary electrical or electromagnetic radiation except for modest dermal potentials associated with ECGs and EEGs which probably cannot be directly detected by individual in vivo nanorobots (Section 7.2.3). Simple voluntary actions that might allow electromagnetic inmessaging to subdermally-implanted nanorobots include placing a hand near a heated stove, then pulling it away; or blinking a flashlight beam on and off while the flashlight is pressed against the skin, for nanorobots positioned at most 12 cm below the epidermis (Section 4.9.4); or moving a bar magnet across a patch of skin (Section 4.7.2) all allowing ~0.1-1 bit/sec transfer rates. A thermographic system might also detect the slightly elevated dermal temperature caused by touching a hand to the face or thigh, much like a simple demarcation strategy (Section 8.4.1).

Last updated on 19 February 2003