The creators of the HDTV revolution seek to offer near-indestructible storage technology that can reduce a DVD movie to the size of a human fingernail.
SWS uses silver halide emulsion to ensure data preservation without the possibility of tampering.
Veteran engineers Clark Johnson and Richard Jay Solomon are facing a significant challenge in the realm of data storage: ensuring that information remains intact and safe for centuries without the need for energy. A new storage system, known as SWS (Standing-Wave Storage), has been developed at Wave Domain and combines ancient photography techniques with modern data storage needs.
Inspired by the emulsion technique of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Gabriel Lippmann, this technology captures color waves in a durable silver halide emulsion. Johnson, who was instrumental in the development of HDTV, along with Solomon and a team at MIT in the late 1980s, applied his expertise in optics and digital imaging to innovate this new archival medium. In collaboration with emulsion expert Yves Gentet, they adapted Lippmann’s method to store multiple colors per pixel, thus achieving a high-density archival medium.
The SWS system is specifically designed for applications where data preservation is crucial over long periods without the need for energy or backups. Solomon mentioned that data reading is performed at a very high bandwidth, emphasizing that “there is no computer on the planet that can absorb it without some form of intermediate storage.” Using specially formulated silver halide plates and LEDs, the system “writes” data in color waves, which, when processed, are immune to humidity, radiation, and cosmic rays.
In 2019, NASA conducted durability tests by sending 150 SWS samples to the International Space Station, where they were exposed to cosmic radiation for nine months. Upon their return, Solomon reported that there was “absolutely no degradation” in the data, highlighting the robustness of the technology even under the extreme conditions of space, suggesting its applicability in data centers, scientific research, and space projects where minimal energy consumption is required.
Johnson, at 94 years old, expressed his desire not to create a startup around this technology but to find a successor to lead the adoption of SWS in the market. Moreover, he emphasized that one of the goals is to use low-cost, readily available components to ensure its implementation beyond space exploration, particularly in sectors with high data loads.