Whether they are detecting toxic molecules in the air or pathogenic bacteria in a vat of yoghurt, many microscopic sensors share a crucial weakness: the ultra-thin wires that relay signals from the physical sensing components to the circuitry. If those fragile wires break or corrode, the sensor becomes useless.
Now a wireless sensor has been developed that detects substances through their effect on an applied magnetic field. “This is a wireless technology you can embed in any environment where sub-millimetre wiring is a risk, either due to spark risk or because of its fragility,” says the sensor’s developer, Mike Gibbs,…
