Category: Store-Information

DNA data storage is regarded as a Technology Landmark for use in an OmegaMap. It is estimated that 160 zettabytes per year storage capacity will be required worldwide by 2025.The information presented here is based on an article “The Rise of DNA Data Storage” written by Megan Molteni and published in Wired on June 26, 2018. This article cites many sources, but focuses on the work of Hyunjun Park at Catalog Technologies.

The locus of innovation is a new Principle of Operation embodied in a system using the code for of DNA (symbolised by the letters C G A and T)  as well as the carrier for this code as well (four nitrogen containing nucleobases (cytosine, guanine, adenine, and thymine). This is a step beyond present data storage devices such as magnetic tape, silicon chips, hard disc drives and flash memories. In these cases the code and the carrier are two separate elements.

The effect of this innovation is to improve the Functionality : Store-Information. Its position is indicated on the Functionality Grid. (See diagram below).

Three Functional Performance Metrics are recorded. (i) Data stored per unit of space. At present hard disc drives store approximately 30 million gigabytes per cubic metre, while the potential for DNA is 600 billion gigabytes in the same space. (ii) Duration of storage. Hard disc drives need to be refreshed once in five years, tape has to be replaced after ten years, while DNA is stable over millennia. (iii) Energy used to store a unit of information. Details are not available but present data storage centers require as much electricity as a medium sized country. The functional performance metric for DNA storage is orders of magnitude less.

The Technology readiness level on a scale of 1 to 9seems to be TRL3 : i.e., “Experimental proof of concept”.

Technical terminology is covered in: Van Wyk, Rias, (2017) Technology: Its Fundamental Nature, Beau Bassin, Mauritius, LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, (http://amzn.to/2Avsk3r)
For descriptions of: 

• Technology Landmark; pp. 83-84, Diagram 11.1, Stage 3
• Principle of operation; p. 20
• Functionality; pp. 24-25
• OmegaMap; pp. 92-93
• Functionality Grid; pp. 29-32
• Technology readiness levels; pp. 22-23

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In an article on the Seagate Blog, December 2, entitled “HAMR Milestone: Seagate Achieves 16TB Capacity on Internal HAMR Test Units”, John Paulsen describes an enhanced hard disk drive. It has been identified as a Technology Landmark for an OmegaMap.

The abbreviation HAMR stands for Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording. “HAMR uses a new kind of media magnetic technology on each disk that allows data bits, or grains, to become smaller and more densely packed than ever…” The essence of the innovation lies in the principle of operation. A laser beam is used to heat tiny spots on the disk.

The functional performance metric is terabytes per drive. The units described by Paulsen store 16TB per drive. These are internal test units. The company is working on 20TB per drive by 2020. These units will be delivered at the same size as a conventional hard drive.

Their technology readiness level is judged to be TRL4, i.e., “Technology validated in lab”.

Technical terminology is covered in: Van Wyk, Rias, (2017) Technology: Its Fundamental Nature, Beau Bassin, Mauritius, LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, (http://amzn.to/2Avsk3r)
For descriptions of:

• Technology Landmark; pp. 83-84, Diagram 11.1, Stage 3
• Principle of operation; p. 20
• Functionality; pp. 24-25
• OmegaMap; pp. 92-93
• Functionality Grid; pp. 29-32
• Technology readiness levels; pp. 22-23