Mobile phones could one day have the memory capacity of a desktop computer thanks to a microchip that mimics the functioning of the brain, scientists report today (9 September) in the journal Science.
Researchers from Imperial College London, Durham University and the University of Sheffield say their new computer chip design will enable large amounts of data to be stored in small volumes by using a complex interconnected network of nanowires, with computing functions and decisions performed at the nodes where they meet a similar approach to neurons and axons in the brain.
Currently the memory chips of mobile phones have a very limited capacity, making it impossible to store the videos that the new generation of phones can record. Electronics firms have been looking at miniature hard drive disks as a possible solution but so far the high expense of this option has rendered it unattractive.
This latest research, however, has the potential to develop a chip that combines the storage capability of a hard drive with the low cost of memory cards, potentially increasing memory capacity by 200 times from an average of 500MB to around 100GB.
By Abigail Smith