I've been thinking about building a nanosensor system based on the architecture shown below. Nanosensors or nanobiosensors are designed and selected for a particular application to detect the pesence and amount of a variety of substances that could include:

• Biotoxins like salmonella or E.coli
• Biomarkers like PSA and similar proteins associated with breast, lung, and ovarian cancer
• Chemicals
• Explosives
• Humans and animals for search and rescue

This could be individual nanosensors or arrays of sensors. The nanobiosensors would have a bioreceptor that is attached to a transducer by a linker molecule. The transducer could be a SAW, nanowires, microbalance, cantilever, or FET to name a few. These transducers all have different electrical interfaces an require a unique analog interface and analog signal processing. Once the output of the transducer is conditioned, digital signal processing can be applied to provide response times that are not possible with a low power microprocessor. The microprocessor provides overall control and communication of the nanosensor system.

This system could be attached to a robotic platform to allow the nanosensor system to be mobile. Armies of the robotic nanosensor systems could be unleashed for search and rescue,to locate toxins, or to locate resources (molecules with possible medical benefits in a jungle perhaps). With wireless communication the robotic nanosensor system could be relay data across all sensors to form a quantitative picture of the toxins in a region. GPS could be included in the system to provide accurate position information.