Ultrasound technology could allow you to stream Netflix in your body
Here at Plant Services, we talk a lot about better and faster ways to monitor your equipment health. But what about increasing the signal speed of devices like pacemakers or camera capsules?
According to Popular Science: "A team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign has found a way to increase the bandwidth for these electronic devices--a plan they call MEAT-COMMS.
Instead of using radio waves, the researchers created devices that transmit digital data via ultrasound. In the study, the researchers tested the speed and fidelity of wireless ultrasound communication between a transducer, which converts data into ultrasonic vibrations, and a hydrophone, a microphone that picks up sound waves underwater. They put the two devices on either side of a piece of meat (a plastic-wrapped beef liver in one trial, a pork loin in another).
They found that the maximum transmission speed was about 30 megabits per second, enough bandwidth to watch Netflix in Ultra HD quality. And while you probably wouldn’t use any of these devices to stream the latest movies inside your body (let’s be honest), that’s a big deal for researchers who want to use devices to gather data like video and send it back to their computers for analysis."
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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