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In this paper, we present the characterization of a new range sensing approach for use in emerging smart contact lens applications. Smart contact lenses offer a promising approach to treating the most common form of vision loss by using a tunable lens to accommodate for focal errors. A range sensor is an integral component of the system because it estimates an object's distance from the user in order to determine the target focal length. We performed an empirical study with custom fabricated coils in a mock eyeball setup to understand the energy-accuracy trade-offs of a burst-mode sensing approach based on transmission and reception of square pulses between the coils. We wirelessly transmitted square pulses between the coils and estimated the range of an object by sensing the received voltages and inferring the angular relationship between the two contacts. We demonstrate a functioning range sensing approach that can be implemented with energy as low as 1.8 nJ per measurement with at least 95% accuracy. 

We report on the genomic characterization of three novel classes in the phylum Desulfobacterota. One class (proposed nameCandidatus‘Anaeroferrophillalia’) was characterized by heterotrophic growth capacity, either fermentatively or utilizing polysulfide, tetrathionate or thiosulfate as electron acceptors. In the absence of organic carbon sources, autotrophic growth via the Wood–Ljungdahl (WL) pathway and using hydrogen or Fe(II) as an electron donor is also inferred for members of the ‘Anaeroferrophillalia’. The second class (proposed nameCandidatus‘Anaeropigmentia’) was characterized by its capacity for growth at low oxygen concentration, and the capacity to synthesize the methyl/alkyl carrier CoM, an ability that is prevalent in the archaeal but rare in the bacterial domain. Pigmentation is inferred from the capacity for carotenoid (lycopene) production. The third class (proposed nameCandidatus‘Zymogenia’) was characterized by fermentative heterotrophic growth capacity, broad substrate range and the adaptation of some of its members to hypersaline habitats. Analysis of the distribution pattern of all three classes showed their occurrence as rare community members in multiple habitats, with preferences for anaerobic terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments over oxygenated (e.g. pelagic ocean and agricultural land) settings. Special preference for some members of the classCandidatus‘Zymogenia’ for hypersaline environments such as hypersaline microbial mats and lagoons was observed.