Echolocation

Echolocation is the use of "sound" as a form of navigation

Navigation using sound

Human echolocation

Human echolocation is the ability of humans to detect objects in their environment by sensing echoes from those objects, by actively creating sounds – for example, by tapping their canes, lightly stomping their foot, snapping their fingers, or making clicking noises with their mouths – people trained to orient by echolocation can interpret the sound waves reflected by nearby objects, accurately identifying their location and size. This ability is used by some blind people for acoustic wayfinding, or navigating within their environment using auditory rather than visual cues. It is similar in principle to active sonar and to animal echolocation, which is employed by bats, dolphins and toothed whales to find prey.

Background

Human echolocation has been known and formally studied since at least the 1950s. In earlier times, human echolocation was sometimes described as "facial vision". The field of human and animal echolocation was surveyed in book form as early as 1959. See also White, et al., (1970)

Animal echolocation

Echolocation, also called bio sonar, is the biological sonar used by several kinds of animals Echolocating animals emit calls out to the environment and listen to the echoes of those calls that return from various objects near them. They use these echoes to locate and identify the objects. Echolocation is used for navigation and for foraging (or hunting) in various environments. Some blind humans have learned to find their way using clicks produced by a device or by mouth.

Echolocating animals include some mammals and a few birds; most notably microchiropteran bats and odontocetes (toothed whales and dolphins), but also in simpler form in other groups such as shrews, one genus of megachiropteran bats (Rousettus) and two cave dwelling bird groups, the so-called cave swiftlets in the genus Aerodramus (formerly Collocalia) and the unrelated Oilbird Steatornis caripensis.

Early research

The term echolocation was coined by Donald Griffin, whose work with Robert Galambos was the first to conclusively demonstrate its existence in bats in 1938. As Griffin described in his book, the 18th century Italian scientist Lazzaro Spallanzani had, by means of a series of elaborate experiments, concluded that bats navigate by hearing and not by vision. In 1912, Sir Hiram Maxim had independently proposed that bats used sound below the human auditory range to avoid obstacles. In 1920, the English physiologist Hartridge proposed instead that bats used frequencies above the range of human hearing, which ultimately proved to be the case

Integrated circuit

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small plate ("chip") of semiconductor material, normally silicon. This can be made much smaller than a discrete circuit made from independent electronic components. ICs can be made very compact, having up to several billion transistors and other electronic components in an area the size of a fingernail. The width of each conducting line in a circuit can be made smaller and smaller as the technology advances; in 2008 it dropped below 100 nanometers, and has now been reduced to tens of nanometers.

ICs were made possible by experimental discoveries showing that semiconductor devices could perform the functions of vacuum tubes and by mid-20th-century technology advancements in semiconductor device fabrication. The integration of large numbers of tiny transistors into a small chip was an enormous improvement over the manual assembly of circuits using discrete electronic components. The integrated circuit's mass production capability, reliability and building-block approach to circuit design ensured the rapid adoption of standardized integrated circuits in place of designs using discrete transistors.

Microchip (comics)

David Linus "Microchip" Lieberman (often known as Micro) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Mike Baron and artist Klaus Janson, he first appeared in The Punisher #4 (Nov. 1987) as an ally of The Punisher for many years. He assisted the Punisher by building weapons, supplying technology and providing friendship, though in more recent publications, Microchip gradually evolved from the Punisher's friend to a bitter villain.

Fictional character biography

David Linus "Microchip" Lieberman was a legendary computer hacker in the early days of the hacking business, performing numerous scams and hacks still held in awe today, until one scam brought him too close to real-world criminals forcing him to go into "retirement" as a quiet unassuming businessman. This ended when his nephew, attempting to follow in his favorite uncle's footsteps, was caught and killed after accidentally hacking into the private computers of Wilson Fisk (a.k.a., The Kingpin). While personally investigating his nephew's murder, Lieberman met and started collaborating with The Punisher. Microchip's help proved invaluable to Castle; he served not just as a hacker and cyber-investigator. Micro also helped Castle: manage and launder his finances (i.e., the money Castle takes from the criminals he kills); set-up and equip Castle's safehouses; train Castle in more "specialized" skills for his war on crime; and, obtain hard-to-get ammunition and equipment. Less obsessed with Castle's personal war, Microchip acts as a de facto counseler to Castle (e.g., encouraging Castle to take occasional vacations and breaks, to avoid burn-out or losing his mind).

Microchip (disambiguation)

A microchip or integrated circuit is a set of electronic components on a single unit.

Microchip can also refer to:

See also