Nanosensors fall into two categories: Sensors that use nanosensitive material, but are otherwise conventional from

m a technological standpoint Sensors that use nanosensitive material combined with nanoelectronics.

It is the first of these groups that represents the bulk of nanosensors available at the present time. It is the second that includes the nanosensors that are most likely to have a revolutionary impact commercially. Considered as a whole, nanosensors offer some important market advantages: Less costly Higher levels of integration Smaller size Improved performance

Less Costly Nanosensors are (at least potentially) less costly in a number of ways. Individual nanosensors could be produced at a low enough cost that they could be deployed in arrays, swarms and networks in a manner that for conventional sensors would never be cost effective. In some cases, current industrial sensors may cost tens of thousands of dollars, while nano versions of the same thing could, in theory, be built for tens of dollars, if volume production can be justified. Nanosensors could also reduce operational costs, since nanosensors are inherently less power consuming and are low enough in cost on a per-unit scale to be able to accomplish a high degree of redundancy. Higher Levels of Integration The level of integration that can be achieved with nanosensor technology can reduce costs, and make products simpler and easier to use. These facts are perhaps best exemplified in the nanoengineered labs-on-a-chip that are replacing expensive diagnostic equipment. Integration in nanosensors can bring together in a single chip the sensor itself with (1) the subsystem that converts the change in the sensing material and (2) the communication subsystem that sends it to a separate alarm or analysis system. Smaller Size That nanosensors are smaller than the conventional products that they could potentially replace is inherent in the whole nano-engineering concept. In theory, nanosensors could be small enough to be deployed in large swarms or arrays. This potentially conveys both ubiquity and a high level of redundancy on sensors and sensor networks.