Engineers at MIT have developed a modular computer chip with components that can communicate using flashes of light. This could allow for electronics that can easily be upgraded with new sensors or processors, rather than replacing the whole chip.
The electronics market has gotten to a point where many consumers will turn over a smartphone every year for a newer, shinier, slightly better model. Upgrading individual parts isn’t really an option for many devices, requiring the whole thing to be replaced. That’s not the most environmentally responsible attitude to electronics. Modularity could go a long way, allowing users to swap in new or improved functionality, like bigger batteries or upgraded cameras. So for the new study, the MIT team has now demonstrated this approach within a single computer chip. The team’s modular chip is made up of layered components like artificial intelligence, processors and sensors, which can be stacked or swapped in to build a chip to perform specific functions as needed, or upgrade it as new technology becomes available. “You can add as many computing layers and sensors as you want, such as for light, pressure, and even smell,” says Jihoon Kang, an author of the study. “We call this a LEGO-like reconfigurable AI chip because it has unlimited expandability depending on the combination of layers.”
But perhaps the most impressive thing is how the layers of this chip interact with each other. Modular electronics face a problem in getting new and old components to communicate with each other in a fast and simple way. The MIT chip, however, uses flashes of light to convey information between each layer.
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