The Phoenix Processor microchip, developed at the University of Michigan, uses 30,000 times less power in sleep mode–30 picowatts–and 10 times less in active mode than comparable chips now on the market.

It would allow for a sensing system, including the battery, to be 1,000 times smaller than the smallest known sensing system today.

A group of U-M researchers is putting the Phoenix in a biomedical sensor to monitor eye pressure in glaucoma patients.

Engineers envision that chips like this could also be sprinkled around to make a nearly invisible sensor network to monitor air or water or detect movement. They could be mixed into concrete to sense the structural integrity of new buildings and bridges. And they could power a robust pacemaker that could take more detailed readings of a patient’s health, researchers say.