Solar Flares and the Threat to High-Tech

The reliability of high-tech, miniaturized technologies is something easily assumed, but could they be reaching their peak? The looming presence of recent solar flare activity impacting communications is a reminder of the large and ever-present phenomenon of outer space and could mean preparing for the return of communication-by-pigeon.

 

 

Recent news events have shown disturbances caused by "tiny, high-energy particles from outer space", reported by the BBC to have caused over 6,000 aircraft to be grounded. This followed the occurrence of a JetBlue Airbus adopting a mind of its own after departing from Mexico, dropping in altitude unexpectedly, and resulting in the injury of multiple passengers back in October.

 

This infiltration of space matter into the earth's atmosphere could be attributed to the sun's current "period of high activity", which has the potential to create more problems than many may realize. The 1859 Carrington Event demonstrated that with a solar flare large enough, communication and computing may be at risk of getting wiped out from the heightened radiation. During the 1859 phenomenon, telegraph poles were so charged up with electricity from the sun, that they subsequently caught fire, with background electricity meaning some remaining telegraph systems could run with no battery at all. Today's technology, including the many wires and computer chips relied upon across the world, would likely be no match to the sun's strength, highlighting how the sheer force of such entities can be easy to ignore, until it's not.

 

 

 

Societies are becoming heavily dependent on the very electronics that would be most susceptible to powerful solar flares. As companies compete to achieve the smallest, fastest, and most sensitive semiconductor chips for high-speed communications, it's clear the potential drawbacks to deploying such fragile electronics may be overlooked.

 

Should a Carrington-level event reoccur, energy systems could fall victim, with solar panels ironically being likely to stop working as a result of damage to the electronics used to power them. Similarly, wind turbines would have no means of operating, leading to breakage and the downfall of the grid, that could even be seen to happen worldwide depending on the duration of the flares and the rotation of the earth. IDTechEx's portfolio of Energy & Decarbonization Research Reports covers the latest developments being made across some of the major energy sectors, while their research into Batteries & Energy Storage covers stationary energy storage systems currently utilized as backup solutions to the grid.

 

 

When it comes to smaller solar flare activities, similar to those of recent months, some measures could potentially prevent such drastic and unexpected effects. More frequent sampling of sensors could ensure rogue numbers are discounted, while a fuzzy logic approach to coding may also provide more protection against disruptions.

 

 

In looking to reliable communication systems from the past, older chips and computing systems with low transistor counts could be more robust and less likely to become affected by lower-level radiation, with airplanes never having needed the latest CPUs to fly. However, the provision of such traditional and favored technologies today is few and far between, being lost in the noise and momentum of modern-day designs.

 

There is no question as to the leaps and bounds of progression made across many tech sectors in recent years and the power of high-speed communication in revolutionizing modern day societies. However, in some rare contexts, with the probability of a Carrington-level event estimated at 12%, the hardware behind some of the most impressive technologies may be what catches them out.