söndag 26 maj 2013

RFID tec and satelite


An introduction to New
Technologies (Part I)
by Patrick Redmond
Patrick Redmond graduated with a Doctorate in History
from the University of London, England in 1972. He taught at
the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, then at Adhadu
Bello University in Kano, Nigeria before joining IBM. He
worked in IBM for 31 years before retiring. During his career
at IBM he held a variety of jobs. These included; from 1992
until 2007 working at the IBM Toronto lab in technical, then in
sales support. He has written two books and numerous
articles. Here is a presentation he gave in Toronto on April
13, 2008.
* * *
I want to thank Yvon for inviting me here to talk about
new technologies. What I’m going to do is give you an
introduction to three technologies that are becoming more and more important. The first
is RFID chips, the second genetic engineering, and the third synthetic biology. This will
give you an understanding of what is happening and where science is going.
We will start with RFID chips:
So what are they? They are Radio Frequency Identification Devices. An RFID is a
microchip with an attached antenna. The microchip contains stored information which
can be transmitted to a reader and then to a computer.
RFID’s can be passive, semi-passive or active. Active RFID’s have an internal
power source such as a battery. This allows the tag to send signals back to the reader,
so if I have a RFID on me and it has a battery, I can just send a signal to a reader
wherever it is. They can receive and store data, and be read at a further distance than
the passive RFID’s. The batteries can only last a short while. But the current batteries in
the RFID’s can last for over a hundred years, because of their self-generating power.
Ultrawideband (UWB) allows the small battery operated RFID tag to be sensed over
fairly wide areas. For instance, GE Aircraft Engines in Ohio has installed five readers in
the factory and it covers over 30,000 square feet so they can track everything within that
area with only the five readers. That gives you an idea of the distance that can be
covered by an RFID tag that might be on you or on equipment.
An RFID held by a pair of tweezers
The readers can transmit over telephone or by internet to computers and they use
satellites as well. For example, Digital Angel has signed contracts with satellite
providers to transmit their data for military personnel location beacons (PLBs). These
beacons use the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system. This system has some 400,000
digital beacons around the world and it’s rising to some 900,000. By the year 2009 they
plan to have a GL stationary satellite system that will enable them to find the location
and details of any beacon. You may sometimes see these at night; the GO stationary
systemscan track any beacon. Skiers sometimes use them so that they can be
identified, and sailors as well, if they become lost at sea they will be able to be tracked.
Anything that has an RFID tag can be tracked by a reader or a computer.
An example of such transmission is a chip sold by Zarlink. This chip is implanted
in a person; it tracks problems and if one is detected, it alerts the doctor who uses a two
way RF link to interrogate and adjust the implanted device. Semi-passive RFIDs have
an internal power source that let them monitor environmental conditions, such as
temperature and shock, but they still require RF energy from the reader to respond.
Passive RFID’s do not have a power source but use a signal sent by the scanner
to power the microchip circuit to transmit back their stored information. Passive RFID’s
are getting very small. Hitachi a few years ago produced a chip (called the mu chip) that
was the size of a pencil point; if you take a pencil and put it on a piece of paper you get
a little dot. That’s how small they’re getting. In 2007 Hitachi came out with a chip that
was even smaller, they call it RFID powder. They are just like the talcum powder you
would put on a baby.
Somark Innovations in Jan 10, 2007 announced an invisible RFID ink. This can be
applied to cattle, prime cuts of meat, military personnel and it can be read through hair.
I brought along a couple of the larger size chips, and this particular chip I got from
Gillette fusion blades. I bought one of the blades and you can see that on one side what
looks like a bar code and if you open it up you can see parts of a RFID chip on the back.
This one here is from the Gap. One of my daughters went to the Gap; they put the tag
directly on the clothing and the instructions just say to remove before washing and
wearing. If you put it up to the light you will see the RFID chip inside it. These chips are
quite small and can be put on the back of labels. They would not be noticeable in
badges or ID cards; they could even be put in the eye of a person, they are that small.
In order for chips to be useful, they have to have a unique product number and
because of this, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) started developing some
standards. It’s called the AutoID Center. They then passed it on to the AutoID Group
within the Uniform Clothes Council. It will assign codes and publish specifications, so if
you have a company, government agency, or church you can contact these people and
they will give you a set of numbers.
So let’s say there are three or five people in this room wearing the same white hat
and each one of them has a chip on it with a different number. We could differentiate
everything even if you’re all wearing the same clothes, it doesn’t really matter because
everything has a unique number. MIT has the architecture of participation called EPC
Global so if you go on Google and type in EPC Global and you will come up with the
website they will give you instructions on how to apply and get chips. So if you want to
chip yourself, your family, relatives, company or anything like that; you can do it.
It works with people who want to use this technology. One of many companies
who sell the chip is called, Technic Imitations. If you have a company and you go to one
of their presentations, they will give you books like this that tell you what the chips look
like, how they work, the types that are sold, and what the readers look like. They will
help you install chips in your company. It’s a very big business and it’s spreading very
quickly.
When you use active or passive chips, active chips have advantages when you
want to track items or people over longer distances. Soldiers can have active chips so
they can be tracked via satellite wherever they might be in the battlefield. You can get
one for your car, so you can be tracked if you are on the 407 or something.
Passive ones suffice if you are only interested in tracking over shorter distances.
For example, in a sea container coming in from China, every box and every item within
the box can have a chip on it. A reader can track all the items as a box passes through
it. In a warehouse it is used to ensure the right shipments go to the right places. A man
carrying a skid on a forklift can have the goods inside the box verified without even
opening it.
They are using the chips to track inventory in order to be able to monitor what
items are going where, if the right items are in the truck, etc. The passive chips are
being put on devices to ensure they are valid.
There’s a lot of counterfeit drugs being produced and sold over the internet.
Viagra is one of the most commonly counterfeited ones although there are many others.
To ensure that people get the correct drugs they sometimes put chips on the containers
so when you’re buying them you know that you are buying the correct drug.
Chipping farm animals is now required by
the government
RFID’s are a great economic help to a company because they reduce theft and
loss. They also streamline inventory, reduce turnaround time and handling. They’ve
allowed companies to adjust production in response to inventory levels and to respond
on demand. That’s why companies are interested, because of these big economic
benefits and efficiency.
When you go to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, the U.S. Military and many other agencies
around the world, you will see that they are all implementing RFID chips on items and
increasingly on people.
The recent growth of the RFID industry has been staggering: From 1955 to 2005,
cumulative sales of radio tags totaled 2.4 billion; in 2007 alone, 2.24 billion tags were
sold worldwide and analysts project that by 2017 cumulative sales will top 1 trillion–
generating more than $25 billion in annual revenues for the industry.
We’re starting to see chips being implemented in credit cards, debit cards and
passports, driver’s licenses, health cards, and many other things. Increasingly they are
being used to monitor people as well as items. RFID tags embedded into clothes and
personal belongings allow people to be tracked and monitored in shopping malls,
libraries, museums, sports arenas, elevators, and restrooms. American Express has
them on their blue cards. They are announcing plans to place people-tracking readers in
stores to track customers movements and observe their behavior. If you bought
something with your credit or debit card, they will know what items you bought and if the
items were chipped, they will know what you were buying. In this way they will be able
to track you.
In 2006, IBM received a patent approval for an invention called, "Identification and
tracking of persons using RFID-tagged items." One stated purpose was to collect
information about people that could be "used to monitor the movement of the person
through the store or other areas."
When somebody enters a store a reader "scans all identifiable RFID tags carried
on the person," and correlates the tag information with sales records to determine the
individual’s "exact identity." A device known as a "person tracking unit" which then
assigns a tracking number to the shopper "to monitor the movement of the person
through the store."
If I had three readers in this room, I could scan everybody in one second and I
would know right away who’s here; so it would scan that quickly. The computers are
getting quite sophisticated and capable of doing large numbers of scans at any given
time. One company recently announced a computer that reads data transactions at 200
million/second, an incredible number.
Here’s an example of how they are being used in companies; a few oil companies
have given their employees smart cards so that they know where they are at any time of
the day. This ensures that people do not go where they are not authorized to go. They
will see how many times an individual might go to the washroom or outside to have a
cigarette; things like that. It allows continuous tracking of people, and so more and more
companies are thinking it’s a novel idea.
In early 2007, the American government complained to the Canadian government
that they were tracking American contractors who were visiting Canada by placing
loonies ($2.00 Canadian coins) with tiny RFID transmitters in their pockets. And a CIS
officer when confronted with this said: "Ah, give us a break! You might want to know
where the individual was going, what meetings he’s attending, who he’s talking with and
everything like that." So if they wanted they could track people with chipped loonies.
The University of Washington students, faculty and staff are being tracked as they
move around the site so the details of where they’ve been, what they’re doing and with
whom, will be stored in their database. One of the professors at the University was
asked, "Will you check on this student?" so he checked on him and said, "Oh, he’s on
the fourth floor just standing outside room 452 and now he’s moving into the
classroom."
In London you can buy a monthly pass to the transit cars that have an RFID on it
and if you link the bus pass to a person’s name you can track where this person is on
the bus and subway system throughout London, England. Last year the police were
getting four requests a month and now they are getting close to 100.
Just last week the London police announced that they were putting RFID chips on
all of the 31,000 police in London. Now this may be on their ID card, they did not say if
they were going to put them directly on their body, but they were getting chipped; it was
published in the Daily Mail. Some of the police were complaining that they "are going to
know where we are at any time, we won’t be able to go into a coffee shop and get a
donut." All 31,000 police in London now have RFID’s so if they ever need to stop or
control people they can direct 1,000 troops immediately to the scene.
In Southern China they’re implementing RFID readers in the city of Shenzhen to
track the movement of citizens; all citizens have an ID card with a chip so they can
identify who is in what part of the city at any point in time.
RFID readers in a library
The chips and National ID cards that they are trying to bring in now contain not
only a number, but also a person’s work history, education, religion, ethnicity, police
record and reproductive history. The United States has been trying to implement the
National ID card for a few years now and there are strikes going on in different states as
they try to resist this National ID that will identify everyone in the country.
Canada is adding a Real ID to the license plates and we don’t hear anything about
it, its being done a lot more secretly than it is in the States where there is a lot of public
debate. The increase of the use of RFID chips is going to require a increased rate of the
UBF spectrum, as a result in the United States they’re going to stop using the UBF
spectrum of the VHF frequency in 2009 and everything is going to go digital. You may
have seen that on television in the United States.
Canada is going to do the same thing, they’ll say it still works, and instead of the
antenna on your roof you’ll use a black box. The reason they’re doing this is that the
UBF and VHF analog frequency are being used for the chips, so they don’t want to
overload the chips with television signals, because the chips signals will now be
receiving those frequencies.
A friend of mine from Quebec says his cows have a chip embedded under the
skin. All farm animals have to be chipped and he says he’s no longer allowed to kill as
many cows as he wants. He was given a limit of two cows that he could kill and use only
for the farm. All the others had to be sold to particular companies who could control
those cows and get food from them. So he could only kill two and the others he had to
sell to a supermarket chain.
People are being chipped now. There’s a trend that they’re promoting in the media
in terms of chipping people; they’re saying why not chip children for safety, so we can
protect them, especially if they’re in the hospital then nobody could steal the newborn
babies. Why don’t we chip the sick, then if someone has a heart attack and falls on the
floor, we can read the signal in the chip and send someone to help them. We should
chip the military so we would be able to know where the soldiers are and if they’re alive.
After we could chip people on welfare so we could make sure they’re not cheating the
government. Then we can chip all the criminals so that we could control them, and we’ll
chip workers because a lot of them goof off at work. Then we’ll chip all the pensioners
because they’re just taking money from us; and after that we’ll chip everyone else.
Some 800 hospitals in the United States are now chipping their patients. You can
turn it down, but it’s available. Four hospitals in Puerto Rico have put them in the arms
of the Alzheimer’s patients, and it only costs about $200 per person.
The Baja Beach Club in Barcelona gets patrons chipped. A BBC reporter went the
club and got himself chipped. He said it was like getting a needle in your arm; they just
rubbed it with some antiseptic and put a chip in. Because it was fairly small, he said it
didn’t hurt too much and he had it inside him so whenever he ordered he would just
move his arm and pay for it. The reader on the bar would read the signal and since he
had his bank account information on the chip on his arm it would deduct the money from
his bank account.
Nigel Gilbert of the Royal Academy of Engineering said that by 2011 you should
be able to go on Google and find out where someone is at any time from chips on
clothing, in cars, cell phones, and inside many people themselves.
Chips are becoming more and more sophisticated. Nature Magazine reported
recently that a drug containing microchips has been developed that will release drugs at
the right time and amount. They can put a chip in you and release drugs so you don’t
have to take a pill every day. This particular one that they’re selling lasts for over 140
days, you just have to get chipped three times a year with this drug and it releases it
every day automatically. We will probably start hearing more about things like this in the
near future.
In 2006, LifeScience.com said that European researchers have developed neurochips,
they’ve coupled together living brain cells in silicone circuits and done a lot of
experimentation on rats and snails. An electrical signal from a neuron is recorded in the
chips transistors, while the chip’s capitulators stimulate the neurons. They can create
neuro-stimulators and use them to alleviate pain and lessen the debilitating effects of
Parkinson’s disease.
The mu chip is only .05 ml in length
There are gastric stimulators that can treat obesity, they would make you feel
hungry so you wouldn’t want to eat anymore, it would just be necessary to put a chip in
your brain that would connect and send signals. In another study, neuro-chip implants
were developed and are being used on violent prisoners. They were implanted with the
microchip (but they didn’t know they were implanted), and when the implant was set at
160 megahertz’s all the subjects became lethargic and slept about 22 hours a day. The
implants ended all aggression in violent prisoners. Another interesting application is a
silicone chip implant that mimics the hippocampus, the area of the brain known for
creating memories. If successful, the artificial brain prosthesis could replace its
biological counterpart, enabling people who suffer from memory disorders to regain the
ability to store new memories. It’s being developed by Professor Berger at the Center
for Neural Engineering at the University of Southern California.
They’re working on rats and monkeys, so if applied to humans what this could do
is restore your short-term memory which people lose as they get older, or it could
replace your existing short-term memory with artificial short-term memory.
Applied Digital Solutions has a Verichip that is compatible with human tissue and
can be used on implantable pacemakers or put defibrillators in artificial joints. It can be
injected using a syringe and used as a sort of bar code in security applications. That’s
seen as one of the easy ways to implement chips in people through injections. They
could very easily inject it via a flu shot or a vaccine.
Verichip is working on a glucose microchip that would determine glucose levels.
You wouldn’t have to draw blood to monitor glucose level. All you need is to have the
doctor read your chip and your information and tell what your blood levels have been for
the past month or two.
IBM has demonstrated a tiny device that measures heart rate and is able to sense
when a person wearing it is in distress, after which it will call a cell phone for immediate
help. The distress signal is sent wirelessly via Bluetooth.
Zarlink has developed the first swallowable camera capsule which uses Zarlink’s
RF transmitter to relay real-time images from the gastrointestinal tract. Our MICS
(Medical Implant Communication Services) platform is designed with in-body
communication systems that will improve patient care, lower healthcare costs, and
support new monitoring, diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
Currently the chip uses 100 hair-thin electrodes that sense the electro-magnetic
signature of neurons firing in specific areas of the brain in, for example, the area that
controls arm movement. The activity is translated into electrically charged signals and
are then sent and decoded using a program, which can move either a robotic arm or a
computer cursor. According to the Cyberkinetics’ website, three patients have been
implanted with the BrainGate system. The company has confirmed that one patient
(Matt Nagle) has a spinal cord injury, while another has advanced ALS.
This shows that human thoughts can be converted into radio waves and used by
paralyzed people to create movement.
Matt Nagle sends the thoughts to a computer to decipher. He can turn his TV on
or off, change channels, and alter the volume. (BBC 2005) He can also move his arms
and pick up things.
In addition to real-time analysis of neuron patterns to relay movement, the
Braingate array is also capable of recording electrical data for later analysis. A potential
use of this feature would be for a neurologist to study seizure patterns in a patient with
epilepsy.
Braingate is currently recruiting patients with a range of neuromuscular and
neurodegenerative diseases, so if you want a computer chip in your brain you can just
go on the website and volunteer.
What are the problems about these new technologies? Let me just give you a brief
explanation. Chips are going to end privacy. There’s a website called Spychips.com
operated by Katherine Albrecht; they research the use of RFID’s by different
companies. They have been warning people about them because chips that have
economic or health data could get that data stolen.
The New York Times in October of 2006 said that any card that doesn’t require
swiping (in other words that doesn’t have a chip in it), is vulnerable to un-authorized
charges and put people at risk for identity theft. You can buy scanners in electronics
stores for $60 or more that can read the information on the chip.
They are finding that once implanted in people, chips can be damaging to our
health. For example, the body of a rodent who was tested started rejecting some chips
and started a development of cancer. Also there is a danger of viruses; you are all
familiar with software viruses on your computers, imagine if you got a virus in your chip
that deletes your information in your chip.
If chips can disseminate medicine then they can disseminate other things too;
anything put inside a microchip can be activated by a signal. And finally, with this
technology, subliminal mind control becomes possible. I went on to Google and did a
search on mind control; you might find it interesting to check that yourself. I read one on
patents; there are patents that exist for mind control. This is what one states: non-aural
carriers, in the very low or very high audio frequency range or in the adjacent ultrasonic
frequency spectrum, are amplitude or frequency modulated with the desired intelligence
and propagated acoustically or vibrationally, for inducement into the brain. This is patent
number 5,159,703 1992.
Another explains a device that can be placed in the auditory cortex of the brain.
This device allows the following process: someone speaks into a microphone, the
microphone then has the sounds coded into microwaves which are sent to the receiver
in the brain and the receiver device will transform the microwaves back so that the
person’s mind hears the original sounds. In other words, a person with this device in
their head will hear whatever the programmers send via microwave signals. (Phillip L.
Stoklin took out patent number 4,858,612 on this.)
US Patent 4858612 - Hearing device
US Patent Issued on August 22, 1989
Estimated Patent Expiration Date: August 22, 2006Estimated Expiration Date is calculated
based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term
adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a
patent.
Abstract Claims Description Full Text
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for aiding of hearing in mammals. The invention is based upon
the perception of sounds which is experienced in the brain when the brain is subjected to certain
microwave radiation signals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In prior art hearing devices for human beings, it is well known to amplify sounds to be heard and
to apply the amplified sound signal to the ear of the person wearing the 
hearing aid. Hearing
devices of this type are however limited to hearingdisfunctions where there is no damage to the
auditory nerve or to the auditory cortex. In the prior art, if there is damage to the auditory cortex
or the auditory nerve, it cannot be corrected by the use of a hearing aid.
During World War II, individuals in the radiation path of certain radar installations observed
clicks and buzzing sounds in response to the microwave radiation. It was through this early
observation that it became known to the art thatmicrowaves could cause a direct perception of
sound within a human brain. These buzzing or clicking sounds however were not meaningful,
and were not perception of sounds which could otherwise be heard by the receiver. This type of
microwave radiationwas not representative of any intelligible sound to be perceived. In such
radar installations, there was never a sound which was generated which resulted in subsequent
generation of microwave signals representative of that sound.
Since the early perception of buzzing and clicking, further research has been conducted into the
microwave reaction of the brain. In an article entitled "Possible Microwave Mechanisms of the
Mammalian Nervous System" by Philip L. Stocklin andBrain F. Stocklin, published in the TIT
Journal of Life Sciences, Tower International Technomedical Institute, Inc. P.O. Box 4594,
Philadelphia, Pa. (1979) there is disclosed a hypothesis that the mammalian brain generates and
uses electro magneticwaves in the lower microwave frequency region as an integral part of the
functioning of the central and peripheral nervous systems. This analysis is based primarily upon
the potential energy of a protein integral in the neural membrane.
In an article by W. Bise entitled "Low Power Radio-Frequency and Microwave Effects On
Human Electroencephalogram and Behavior", Physiol. 
Chemistry Phys. 10, 387 (1978), it is
reported that there are significant effects upon the alert human EEGduring radiation by low
intensity CW microwave electromagnetic energy. Bise observed significant repeatable EEG
effects for a subject during radiation at specific microwave frequencies.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Results of theoretical analysis of the physics of brain tissue and the brain/skull cavity, combined
with experimentally-determined electromagnetic properties of mammalian brain tissue, indicate
the physical necessity for the existence ofelectromagnetic standing waves, called modes in the
living mammalian brain. The mode characteristics may be determined by two geometric
properties of the brain; these are the cephalic index of the brain (its shape in prolate spheroidal
coordinates) andthe semifocal distance of the brain (a measure of its size). It was concluded that
estimation of brain cephalic index and semifocal distance using external skull measurements on
subjects permits estimation of the subject's characteristic modefrequencies, which in turn will
permit a mode by mode treatment of the data to simulate hearing.
This invention provides for sound perception by individuals who have impaired hearing resulting
from ear damage, auditory nerve damage, and damage to the auditory cortex. This invention
provides for simulation of microwave radiation which isnormally produced by the auditory
cortex. The simulated brain waves are introduced into the region of the auditory cortex and
provide for perceived sounds on the part of the subject.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows the acoustic filter bank and mode control matrix portions of the hearing device of
this invention.
FIG. 2 shows the microwave generation and antenna portion of the hearing device of this
invention.
FIG. 3 shows a typical voltage divider 
network which may be used to provide mode partition.
FIG. 4 shows another voltage divider device which may be used to provide mode partition.
FIG. 5 shows a voltage divider to be used as a mode partition wherein each of the resistors is
variable in order to provide adjustment of the voltage outputs.
FIG. 6 shows a modified hearing device which includes adjustable mode partitioning, and which
is used to provide initial calibration of the hearing device.
FIG. 7 shows a group of variable oscillators and variable gain controls which are used to
determine hearing characteristics of a particular subject.
FIG. 8 shows a top view of a human skull showing the lateral dimension.
FIG. 9 shows the relationship of the prolate spherical coordinate system to the cartesian system.
FIG. 10 shows a side view of a skull showing the medial plane of the head, section A--A.
FIG. 11 shows a plot of the transverse electric field amplitude versus primary mode number M.
FIG. 12 shows a left side view of the brain and auditory cortex.
FIG. 13 shows the total modal field versus angle for source location.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
This invention is based upon observations of the physical mechanism the mammalian brain uses
to perceive acoustic vibrations. This observation is based in part upon neuro anatomical and
other experimental evidence which relates to microwavebrain stimulation and the perception of
sounds.
It is has been observed that monochromatic acoustic stimuli (acoustic tones, or single tones) of
different frequencies uniquely stimulate different regions of the cochlea. It has also been
observed that there is a corresponding one to onerelationship between the frequency of a
monochromatic acoustic stimulus and the region of the auditory cortex neurally stimulated by the
cochlear nerve under the physiologically normal conditions (tonotopicity).
It is has been observed that for an acoustic tone of a frequency which is at the lower end of the
entire acoustical range perceivable by a person, that a thin lateral region ("Line") parallel to the
medial axis of the brain and toward theinferior portion of the primary auditory cortex is
stimulated. For an acoustic tone whose frequency is toward the high end of the entire perceivable
acoustic range, a thin lateral region parallel to the medial axis and toward the superior portion of
theprimary auditory cortex is stimulated.
Neural stimulation results in the generation of a broad band of microwave photons by the change
in rotational energy state of protons integral to the 
neuron membrane of the auditory cortex. The
physical size and shape of the brain/skull cavity,together with the (semi-conductor) properties
(conductivity and dielectric constant) of the brain tissue provide an electromagnetic resonant
cavity. Specific single frequencies are constructively reinforced so that a number of standing
electromagneticwaves, each at its own single electromagnetic frequency in the microwave
frequency region, are generated in the brain. Each such standing electromagnetic wave is called a
characteristic mode of the brain/skull cavity.
Analysis in terms of prolate spheroidal wave functions indicates that transverse electric field
components of these modes have maxima
in the region of the auditory cortex. This analysis further shows that transverse electric field
possess avariation of amplitude with angle in the angular plane (along the vertical dimension of
the auditory cortex) and that is dependent only upon the primary mode number.
The auditory cortex in the normally functioning mammalian brain is a source of microwave
modes. The auditory cortex generates these modes in accordance with the neural stimulation of
the auditory cortex by the cochlear nerve. Mode weighting forany one acoustic tone stimulus is
given by the amplitude of each mode along the line region of the auditory cortex which is
neurally stimulated by that acoustic tone stimulus. A listing of mode weighting versus frequency
of acoustic stimulus is calledthe mode matrix.
In this invention, the functions of the ear, the cochlear nerve, and the auditory cortex are
simulated. Microwaves simulating the mode matrix are inserted directly into the region of the
auditory cortex. By this insertion of simulated microwavemodes, the normal operation of the
entire natural hearing mechanism is simulated.
Referring now to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 there is shown an apparatus which provides for induced
perception of sound into a mammalian brain. This hearing device includes a microphone 10
which receives sounds, an acoustic filter bank 12 which separatesthe signals from the
microphone into component frequencies, and a mode control matrix 14 which generates the
mode signals which are used to control the intensity of microwave radiations which are injected
into the skull cavity in the region of theauditory. cortex.
The acoustic filter bank 12 consists of a bank of acoustic filters F1 through Fk which span the
audible acoustic spectrum. These filters may be built from standard resistance, inductance, and
capacitance components in accordance with wellestablished practice. In the preferred
embodiment there are 24 filters which correspond to the observed critical bandwidths of the
human ear. In this preferred embodiment a typical list of filter parameters is given by 
Table 1
below:
TABLE I ______________________________________ Filter No. Center Frequency (Hz)
Bandwidth (Hz) ______________________________________ 1 50 less than 100 2 150 100 3
250 100 4 350 100 5 450 110 6 570 120 7 700 140 8 840 150 9 1,000 160 10 1,170 190 11 1,370
210 12 1,600 240 13 1,850 280 14 2,150 320 15 2,500 380 16 2,900 450 17 3,400 550 18 4,000
700 19 4,800 900 20 5,800 1,100 21 7,000 1,300 22 8,500 1,800 23 10,500 2,500 24 13,500
3,500 ______________________________________
The rectifier outputs one through K are feed to K mode partition devices. The mode partitioning
devices each have N outputs wherein N is the number of microwave oscillators used to generate
the microwave radiation. The outputs 1 through N ofeach mode partition device is applied
respectively to the inputs of each gain controlled amplifier of the microwave radiation generator.
The function of the mode control matrix 14 is the control of the microwave amplifiers in the
microwave amplifierbank 18. In the preferred embodiment thus will be 24 outputs and 24
microwave frequency oscillators.
Connected to each microwave amplifier gain control line is a mode simulation device 16 which
receives weighted mode signals from the mode partition devices 14. Each mode simulation
device consists of one through k lines and 
diodes 17 which areeach connected to summing
junction 19. The diodes 17 provide for isolation from one mode partition device to the next. The
diodes 17 prevent signals from one mode partition device from returning to the other mode
partition devices which are alsoconnected to the same summing junction of the mode summation
device 16. The diodes also serve a second function which is the rectification of the signals
received from the acoustic filter bank by way of the mode partition devices. In this way each
modepartition device output is rectified to produce a varying DC voltage with major frequency
components of the order of 15 milliseconds or less. The voltage at the summation junction 19 is
thus a slowly varying DC voltage.
The example mode partition devices are shown in greater detail in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. The mode
partition devices are merely resistance networks which produce 1 through N output voltages
which are predetermined divisions of the input signal fromthe acoustic filter associated with the
mode partition device. FIG. 3 shows a mode partitioning device wherein several outputs are
associated with each series resistor 30. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4 there is an output
associated with eachseries resistor only, and thus there are N series resistors, or the same number
of series resistors as there are outputs. The values of the resistors in the mode partition resistor
network are determined in accordance with the magnitudes of thefrequency component from the
acoustic filter bank 12 which is required at the summation point 19 or the gain control line for
amplifiers 20.
The microwave amplifier bank 18 consists of a plurality of microwave oscillators 1 through N
each of which is connected to an amplifier 20. Since the amplifiers 20 are gain controlled by the
signals at summation junction 19, the magnitude of themicrowave output is controlled by the
mode control matrix outputs F1 through F
n. In the preferred embodiment there are 24 amplifiers.
The leads from the microwave oscillators 1 through N to the amplifiers 20 are shielded to
prevent cross talk from one oscillator to the next, and to prevent stray signals from reaching the
user of the hearing device. The output impedance ofamplifiers 20 should be 1000 ohms and this
is indicated by resistor 21. The outputs of amplifiers 20 are all connected to a summing junction
22. The summing junction 22 is connected to a summing impedance 23 which is approximately
50 ohms. Therelatively high amplifier output impedance 21 as compared to the relatively low
summing impedance 23 provides minimization of cross talk between the amplifiers. Since the
amplitude of the microwave signal needed at the antenna 24 is relatively small,there is no need to
match the antenna and summing junction impedances to the amplifier 20 output impedances.
Efficiency of the amplifiers 20 is not critical.
Level control of the signal at antenna 24 is controlled by pick off 25 which is connected to the
summing impedance 23. In this manner, the signal at antenna 24 can be varied from 0 (ground)
to a value which is acceptable to the individual.
The antenna 24 is placed next to the subject's head and in the region of the subject's auditory
cortex 26. By placement of the antenna 24 in the region of the auditory cortex 26, the microwave
field which is generated simulates the microwavefield which would be generated if the acoustic
sounds were perceived with normal hearing and the auditory cortex was functioning normally.
In FIG. 2A there is shown a second embodiment of the microwave radiation and generator
portion of the hearing device. In this embodiment a broad band microwave source 50 generates
microwave signals which are feed to filters 52 through 58 whichselect from the broad band
radiation particular frequencies to be transmitted to the person. As in FIG. 2, the amplifiers 20
receive signals on lines 19 from the mode control matrix. The signals on lines 19 provide the
gain control for amplifiers 20.
In FIG. 6 there is shown a modified microwave hearing generator 60 which includes a mode
partition resistor divider network as depicted in FIG. 5. Each of the mode partition voltage
divider networks in this embodiment are individually adjustablefor all of the resistances in the
resistance network. FIG. 5 depicts a voltage division system wherein adjustment of the voltage
partition resistors is provided for.
In FIG. 6, the sound source 62 generates audible sounds which are received by the microphone
of the microwave hearing generator 60. In accordance with the operation described with respect
to FIGS. 1 and 2, microwave signals are generated at theantenna 10 in accordance with the
redistribution provided by the mode control matrix as set forth in FIG. 5.
The sound source 62 also produces a signal on line 64 which is received by a head phone 66. The
apparatus depicted in FIG. 6 is used to calibrate or fit a microwave hearing generator to a
particular individual. Once the hearing generator isadjusted to the particular individual by
adjustment of the variable resistors in the adjustable mode partition portion of the hearing
generator, a second generator may be built using fixed value resistors in accordance with the
adjusted values achievedin fitting the device to the particular subject. The sound produced by
headphone 66 should be the same as a sound from the sound source 62 which is received by the
microphone 10 in the microwave hearing generator 60. In this way, the subject can
makecomparisons between the perceived sound from the hearing generator 60, and the sound
which is heard from headphone 66. Sound source 62 also produces a signal on 68 which is feed
to cue light 69. Cue light 69 comes on whenever a sound is emitted fromsound source 62 to the
microwave generator 60. In this manner, if the subject hears nothing, he will still be informed
that a sound has been omitted and hence that he is indeed perceiving no sound from the
microwave hearing generator 60.
In FIG. 7 there is shown a modified microwave hearing generator which may be used to
determine a subject's microwave mode frequencies. In this device, the acoustic filter bank and
the mode control matrix have been removed and replaced by voltagelevel signal generated by
potentiometers 70. Also included are a plurality of variable frequency oscillators 72 which feed
microwave amplifiers 74 which are gain controlled from the signal generated by potentiometers
70 and pick off arm 76.
This modified microwave hearing generator is used to provide signals using one oscillator at a
time. When an oscillator is turned on, the frequency is varied about the estimated value until a
maximum acoustic perception by the subject isperceived. This perception however may consist
of a buzzing or hissing sound rather than a tone because only one microwave frequency is being
received. The first test of perception is to determine the subject's lowest modal frequency for
audition(M=1). Once this modal frequency is obtained, the process is repeated for several higher
modal frequencies and continued until no maximum acoustic perception occurs.
Another method of determination of a subject's modal frequencies is through anatomical
estimation. This procedure is by measurement of the subject's cephalic index and the lateral
dimensions of the skull. In this method, the shape is determinedin prolate spheroidal
coordinance.
Purely anatomical estimation of subject's modal frequencies is performed by first measuring the
maximum lateral dimension (breadth) L FIG. 8, of the subject's head together with the maximum
dimension D (anterior to posterior) in the medial planeof the subject's head. D is the distance
along Z axis as shown in FIG. 10. The ratio L/D, called in anthropology the cephalic index, is
monotonically related to the boundary value 
ξdefining the ellipsoidal surface approximating the
interfacebetween the brain and the skull in the prolate spheroidal coordinate system. ξdefinesthe shape of this interface;
ξand D together give an estimate of a, the semi-focal distance of thedefining ellipsoid. Using ξand a,together with known values of the conductivity and dielectric
constants of brain tissue, those wavelengths are found for which the radial component of the
electric field satisfies the boundary condition that it is zero at 
ξo. These wavelengthsare the
wavelengths associated with the standing waves or modes; the corresponding frequencies are
found by dividing the phase velocity of microwaves in brain tissue by each of the wavelengths.
A subject's microwave modal frequencies may also be determined by observing the effect of
external microwave radiation upon the EEG. The frequency of the M equal 1 mode may then be
used as a base point to estimate all other modal frequencies.
A typical example of such an estimation is where the subject is laterally irradiated with a
monochromatic microwave field simultaneous with EEG measurement and the microwave
frequency altered until a significant change occurs in the EEG, thelowest such frequency causing
a significant EEG change is found. This is identified as the frequency of the M=1 mode, the
lowest mode of importance in auditory perception. The purely anatomical estimation procedure
(FIGS. 8, 9, 10) is then performedand the ratio of each modal frequency to the M=1 modal
frequency obtained. These ratios together with the experimentally-determined M=1 frequency
are then used to estimate the frequencies of the mode numbers higher than 1. The prolate
spheroidalcoordinate system is shown in FIG. 9. Along the lateral plane containing the x and y
coordinates of FIG. 9, the prolate spheroidal coordinate variable 
φ (angle) lies FIGS. 9 and 10.
Plots of the transverse electric field amplitude versus primarymode number m are shown in FIG.
11. The equation is
The "elevation view" FIG. 12, of the brain from the left side, shows the primary auditory cortex
10. The iso-tone lines and the high frequency region are toward the top of 100 and the low
frequency region toward the bottom of 100.
The formula I, set forth below is the formula for combining modes from an iso-tone line at
φ=φjbeing excited to obtain the total modal field at some other angular location φ. For this formula, if
we let J=1 (just one iso-tone singlefrequency acoustic stimulus line), then it can be shown that
ALL modes (in general) must be used for any ONE tone. ##EQU1## φ=ANGLE (0°
LATERAL) φj
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2009-09-20 18:35 

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