Fraunhofer Research News June 19, 2019 Researchers in Germany will be presenting the results of their research into sensor technology and its applications in the field of testing and measurement at Sensor+Test 2019, a forum for sensor and measurement technology. They will demonstrate how the quality of workpieces and components can be assured using a non-contact, non-destructive test method based on audio sensing of product and process parameters combined with machine learning. The nanoSPECTRAL technology developed by Fraunhofer IIS is based on optical nanostructures and enables a very cost-effective monolithic production of the required optical filters directly in CMOS semiconductor […]
Category Archives: Sensors
Hand-held scanner for detecting hazardous substances and explosives
Phys.org June 3, 2019 Researchers in Germany working under the EU project CHEQUERS www.chequers.eu combined very fast widely tunable quantum cascade lasers with adjusted transmission and receiver optics, fast IR detectors and a fitting control and detection software. The miniaturized quantum cascade laser with an external resonator can scan the whole spectral range of the QC laser chip within just a millisecond. The measuring principle is based on selective spectral lighting of the target in the wavelength range of 1000—1300 cm-1. The chemical substance is identified based on the intensity of the backscattered light and the illumination wavelength. The spectral […]
Hearing through your fingers: Device that converts speech
Medical Express June 3, 2019 An international team of researchers (Poland, Israel) hypothesized that they would be able to improve speech understanding under challenging conditions by exploiting the ability of the brain to integrate information coming simultaneously from different senses. They designed a minimalistic auditory-to-tactile sensory substitution device (SSD) that transforms low-frequency speech signals into tactile vibrations delivered on two fingertips. The reported improvement at the group level was 6 dB—a major difference considering that an increase of 10 dB represents a doubling of the perceived loudness. The device can provide immediate multisensory enhancement without any training. It has the […]
Household Radar Can See Through Walls and Knows How You’re Feeling
IEEE Spectrum May 30, 2019 Researchers at MIT have demonstrated a new technology that can infer a person’s emotions from RF signals reflected off a person’s body. EQ-Radio transmits an RF signal and analyzes its reflections off a person’s body to recognize his emotional state (happy, sad, etc.). The key enabler underlying EQ-Radio is a new algorithm for extracting the individual heartbeats from the wireless signal at an accuracy comparable to on-body ECG monitors. The resulting beats are then used to compute emotion-dependent features which feed a machine-learning emotion classifier. They describe the design and implementation of EQ-Radio, and demonstrate through […]
A new sensor for light, heat and touch
Phys.org May 14, 2019 Voltage arises in pyroelectric materials when they are heated or cooled. It is the change in temperature that gives a signal, which is rapid and strong, but it decays almost as rapidly. In thermoelectric materials, in contrast, a voltage arises when the material has one cold and one hot side. The signal here arises slowly, and some time must pass before it can be measured. Researchers in Sweden combined a pyroelectric polymer with a thermoelectric gel developed by them in a previous project. The combination gives a rapid and strong signal that lasts as long as […]
New method developed to detect and trace homemade bombs
Science Daily May 10, 2019 The new method for detecting trace amounts of explosives developed by researchers in the UK uses ion chromatography. The method is less time consuming. The technique can tell us so much more than just the explosives content. They have demonstrated that the technique detects thousands of different compounds simultaneously, which means there is an element of in-built future-proofing capability to detect new types of explosives if needed or provide critical information about where a device came from or who it belongs to. In particular, linearity for 19 targeted compounds yielded R2 > 0.99 across several orders of […]
Locating a shooter from the first shot via cellphone
Phys.org May 13, 2019 Tactical Communication and Protective Systems (TCAPS), earmuffs or earplugs with built-in microphones allowing active hearing protection, have four microphones: two outside the ear canal and two inside it, underneath the hearing protection. Researchers in France have developed a proof of concept shooter location device because most modern combat weapons fire bullets at supersonic speeds, creating two acoustic wave – supersonic shock wave and the second one is a muzzle wave. The device uses the microphone underneath the hearing protection to detect the shock and muzzle waves generated by supersonic shots and record the time difference of […]
Machine learning paves the way for next-level quantum sensing
Phys.org May 2, 2019 An international team of researchers (UK, Germany, USA – industry, University of Washington) show how machine learning can process the noisy readout of a single NV center at room temperature, requiring on average only one photon per algorithm step, to sense magnetic-field strength with a precision comparable to those reported for cryogenic experiments. The findings could lead to a new generation of MRI scanners as well as further potential uses in biology and material science…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Tiny, fast, accurate technology on the radar
Phys.org April 8, 2019 An international team of researchers (Italy, Saudi Arabia) has developed a low-power, portable frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar with an operating frequency of 24 Gigahertz. It has one transmitting and two receiving antennae, meaning it can better estimate the angular location of a target. The device fits into a 10-centimeter box, weighs less than 150 grams and is powered by a 5V battery. Initial trials suggest the device is capable of target detection, speed estimation and tracking at ranges of up to 12 meters. Possible applications include object detection for visually impaired people or unmanned moving […]
Printing self-powered sensor systems on plastic
Nanowerk April 22, 2019 An international team of researchers (China, USA – MIT) has developed a proof-of-concept wearable wristband which consists of inkjet-printed electrical interconnects, silicon solar cells for energy harvesting/conversion, printable MnO2-based planar supercapacitors for energy storage, and fully printable SnO2 gas sensor for ethanol/acetone detection. With the supercapacitors serving as photovoltaic energy storage units and providing power for the functional devices during intermittent light illumination, simultaneous functionality without external charging modules can be realized, which is highly desirable for wearable and portable electronics. They synthesized and prepared different functional nanoparticles into printable inks for the fabrication of supercapacitors […]