Swedes develop sensors for internal examination

Swedish scientists are working on a project which could revolutionise medical diagnosis.

Academics at the Blekinge Institute of Technology are working on a programme where patients drink a glass of water containing tiny sensors, allowing doctors to obtain a precise picture of what is going on inside their body.

'We are working on the idea that in the very near future medical examinations will be conducted using sensors,' said Arne Nilsson, of the department of electrical and computer engineering at the Institute.

'We are very close to having sensors that are very small and will be able find out if there's anything wrong with us by drinking them,' he said.

Nilsson says the sensors will operate using radio-based technology, running over next-generation 'super networks' that will run to terabytes of bandwidth.

'We will be able to do much, much more than we have been able to do so far,' he said. 'We will be talking about the terabyte network and even faster.'

The issue now is to attract sufficient funding that will allow the technology to be developed for use, he told Computing.

• Computer scientists at the Blekinge Institute say software companies will have to take more responsibility for their products if the technology market is to move forward.

  As software becomes more embedded in everyday devices, consumers will no longer put up with shoddy software, says Claes Wohlin, a professor in the systems and software engineering division.

  'We are buying software today and there is no responsibility for the people who developed it, but that will change,' he said.

  'As software is developed into more products, software companies have to take responsibility. If you buy a car for example, there's a huge amount of software and they have to take responsibility,' he said.

  Wohlin says the situation will change in five to 10 years, as a result of consumer pressure and awareness.

  'Today it's acceptable to say: "We have developed this software and you are buying it, but we take no responsibility." Well, it's not acceptable,' he said.