INNOVATIONS FROM THE EDGE - KPIT

conventional computing with a difference that
bits are limited to only two states whereas qubits
can take multiple states. Therefore, qubits are
multi fold powerful compared to bits.
photonics gave birth to bio photonics [5]. Photon is
a quantum unit of light and photonics is the science
that deals with photons. Photons for information
technology are analogous to electrons in
electronics. Bio photonics is related to the
interaction of biological items and photons. Bio
photonics finds its applications in life sciences,
agriculture, environmental science, and medicine
[13].
Figure 1: Qubits -The fundamental building
block of quantum computers.
Source:Wikipedia [4]
Holographic disk drive
We have seen enormous increase in storage
capacity of disks right from the time of a floppy
disk capable of storing 512KB of data to Blu-ray
disk that can store data of the order of GB. Where
will the storage technology go from here Well,
again the answer is edge. Companies are working
on the new concept called holographic disk [11]
that can store 30 times more data compared to a
Blu-ray disk. The reason for increase in storage
capacity is that this uses holography concept for
data writing. Instead of writing data using laser
light, holography technique will make data writing
possible in three dimensions. This increases the
storage capacity.
FigureII: Concept of holographic disk drive
Source: Focus [11]
Bio-Photonics
Electrons are at the core of electronics or electrical
engineering. In order to do something
fundamentally different, researchers thought of a
new concept from the edge of biology and
photonics. The combination of biology and
Colorful Eco Textiles
Dye making industry uses chemicals and
predefined processes for many decades. However,
the chemicals involved in this process are toxic and
sometimes explosive. Additionally, the process to
provide safety to workers consumes large amount
of energy. Both of these situations are not
favorable and hence researchers at Catholic
University of Louvain in Belgium use a novel
technique to take care of the above problems. They
have extracted the enzymes from fungi that
produce eco dyes.
III. Conclusion
In this article, we have seen that most of the
technology marvels came into existence because of
using multi-disciplinary approach to come up with
the solution. On one hand, it looks virtually
impossible to think of products or innovations
without knowledge or awareness of various
branches of science, technology, commerce and
arts. On the other hand, there are discussions
about abolishing certain subjects from different
curriculums. Reasoning is very simple; it is not
useful so let us not overburden students. For
example, why biology is taught in high schools
when the student is aspiring to become an
Engineer What is the relevance of mechanics in
electronics engineering With the examples given
in this article, it is clear that it is important to have
knowledge of different domains. This is the key of
path breaking innovations. The important point is
that the problem lies at the core of one technology
and one can often find its solution on the edge of
other technology. It is also evident that the
8 TechTalk@KPITCummins, Volume 5, Issue 1, 2012