By monitoring blood oxygen lev-els, civilian medics can gauge whether firefighters are getting too much smoke or other toxins in their respiratory systems. Babies at high risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome could also be remotely monitored. In the context of miniaturization and its companion field of nano-technology, it is not that risky to suspect that one day these micro flyers will be routed inside your ear to treat infections or repair damaged eardrums. Video technology is being miniaturized along with everything else. Researchers at Oak Ridge have invented a camera lens smaller than a coat button that can be concealed in a police badge.
Law enforcement wants to use it to videotape field interrogations.
Such innovations are sure to find their way into the sensor suites on MAVs. However, as yet no MAVs exist. At present, Gary Lee said, there are no military or commercial users supporting MAV development strongly enough. The effort to design these micro flyers involves many technical challenges. Blankenship believes only organizations with broad interdisciplinary expertise will be successful in building them.