The Special Research Field/Transregio (SFB/TR) 196 "Mobile Material Characterization and Localization by Electromagnetic Scanning" aka MARIE has been extended by another four years and is thus entering its second funding period. Since 2017, the basics for a mobile, highly sensitive mini detector are researched in MARIE. The device will one day be able to determine the material properties of almost any object, even if it is hidden behind a wall. In this way, people can be tracked down in contaminated rooms or smoldering cables inside walls. To do this, the detector must cover very high frequencies up to the terahertz range.
In the first funding phase, compact, high-performance terahertz transmitters and receivers were designed, measured and finally implemented in collaboration of electronics, photonics and micromechanics disciplines. According to the international SFB experts, these are among the best in the world. In the second funding phase, which begins in January, these detectors will be made mobile, i.e. particularly energy-efficient and lightweight. Thus, they will be suitable for numerous applications up to and including integration into a smartphone. Marie is led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Kaiser as speaker, head of the UDE department for digital signal processing, and Prof. Dr. Ilona Rolfes, Head of the RUB Chair for High Frequency Systems. The University of Wuppertal, the Technical University of Darmstadt and Fraunhofer Institutes for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems (Duisburg) and for High Frequency Physics and Radar Technology (Wachtberg) are also involved.
More information on the MARIE project website:
