TRR 196:  Mobile Material Characterization and Localization by Electromagnetic Sensing

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Physics
• Term: since 2017
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 287022738

More than 100 years ago, scientists invented a Mobile Camera Receiver to take pictures in any place. More than 30 years ago, engineering scientists invented a Mobile Communica-tion Transceiver to make phone calls in any place. Almost 4 years ago we started to invent a Mobile MAteRIal TranscEiver to explore surface and sub-surface materials in any place.All these groundbreaking inventions relied on important technological advances, enabling us to gradually progress from “bricks” composed of electronic components via integrated circuits towards a complete solution. Following these steps, we aim to extend the benefits of today’s static and bulky material detection systems with a Mobile MAteRIal TranscEiver. This will enable us to achieve sig-nificant breakthroughs in numerous applications with societal relevance: to autonomously localize the source of a fire or unconscious people within a burning building, to reliably detect cables and artefacts inside a wall, or, more generally, to systematically create material maps, e.g. for searching and classifying objects in arbitrary environments. MARIE’s sensing frequency started at 250 GHz and it ends at 5 THz, rendering a variety of materials identifiable as a result of molecule absorption lines. The research challenges of MARIE are fourfold: first, to thoroughly measure, analyze and model the dynamical wave propagation for almost unexplored frequencies; second, to compactly realize wire-less transceivers over such frequency range for mobile material exploration; third, to dynamically characterize surface and also sub-surface materials; and fourth, to precisely localize such materials with sub-mm resolution. MARIE is structured into three phases, each one with a duration of 4 years: the 1st Static Lab phase (2017-2020) which is soon coming to an end successfully, with the demonstra-tion of significant lab-based advances in technology and with frequencies up to 4 THz. Enriched with this know-how, we now embark into the 2nd phase of our ambitious endeavor: A Mobile Sensor (2021-2024), developed in detail in this proposal. The core aim here is to address mobility with an extended frequency range towards 5 THz. In the 3rd phase these concepts will be extended even further into a Dynamic Environment (2025-2028) mainly by fusing with additional sensing principles, to ultimately achieve the vision of a Mobile MAteRIal TranscEiver.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios

Current projects

• C01 - UWB Phase-Locked Loops with Highest Phase-Stability (Project Head Musch, Thomas )
• C02 - Resonant Integrated Circuits with On-Chip Antenna (Project Heads Pohl, Nils ;  Prost, Werner ;  Weimann, Nils )
• C03 - Transceiver Front-End Circuits for THz MIMO Radar (Project Head Pohl, Nils )
• C04 - Silicon-Integrated Transmitter and Receiver Components for Multi-Color Imaging and Broadband CW Spectroscopy (Project Head Pfeiffer, Ullrich )
• C05 - Efficient On-Chip Antennas for THz Systems (Project Heads Erni, Daniel ;  Rennings, Andreas )
• C06 - Compact Optoelectronic THz Spectroscopy System (Project Heads Brenner, Carsten ;  Stöhr, Andreas )
• C07 - Photonic integrated THz image sensor (Project Heads Hofmann, Martin ;  Preu, Sascha ;  Stöhr, Andreas )
• C08 - Components for Mobile Broadband Passive Imaging Systems (Project Heads Pfeiffer, Ullrich ;  Weyers, Sascha )
• C09 - THz RFID Tags & Components enabled by Additive Manufacturing (Project Heads Benson, Niels ;  vom Bögel, Gerd ;  Jakoby, Rolf )
• C12 - Passive beam-steering waveguide arrays (Project Head Hoffmann, Martin )
• M01 - Mobile THz Measurements (Project Heads Kaiser, Thomas ;  Saraceno, Clara )
• M02 - Multidimensional Multiscale Simulations for Sub-mm-Wave Radio Systems (Project Heads Rolfes, Ilona ;  Schulz, Christian )
• M03 - Functional Electromagnetic Signatures from Complex Surface Systems and Indoor Scenarios (Project Heads Erni, Daniel ;  Rennings, Andreas )
• M04 - 3D Reflectometric Material Characterization using Co-located MIMO Radar (Project Heads Barowski, Jan ;  Pohl, Nils ;  Rolfes, Ilona )
• M05 - THz Characterization of Dielectric Objects in the Scope of Fire Detection (Project Heads Schultze, Thorsten ;  Willms, Ingolf )
• S01 - High-Speed Beamforming Concepts for THz Frequencies (Project Heads Czylwik, Andreas ;  Häring, Lars )
• S02 - Digital Compensation in MIMO THz Systems (Project Head Sezgin, Aydin )
• S03 - Space-Time Signalling for MIMO Radar Imaging with Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (Project Heads Erni, Daniel ;  Sezgin, Aydin )
• S04 - Passive Sub-mm Localization and Tracking System (Project Heads Kaiser, Thomas ;  Solbach, Klaus )
• S05 - Real-Time Material Map (Project Heads Goehringer, Diana ;  Kaiser, Thomas )
• Z01 - Central Administrative Project (Project Head Kaiser, Thomas )
• Z02 - Integrated Research Training Group (Project Heads Czylwik, Andreas ;  Häring, Lars )
• Z03 - Information Infrastructure (INF-)Project "VERIE for MARIE" (Project Heads Kaiser, Thomas ;  Rehwald, Stephanie ;  Rolfes, Ilona )

Completed projects

• 2 - High-power tunable THz source (Project Head Saraceno, Clara )
• 2 - Efficient Subharmonically Locked THz Indium Phosphide Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor Circuits for Mobile Applications (Project Head Weimann, Nils )
• 2 - 3D Printed Dielectric Structures for THz Applications (Project Head Benson, Niels )

• Applicant Institution: Universität Duisburg-Essen
• Co-Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Participating University: Bergische Universität Wuppertal; Technische Universität Darmstadt; Technische Universität Dresden
• Participating Institution: Fraunhofer-Institut für Hochfrequenzphysik und Radartechnik (FHR); Fraunhofer-Institut für Mikroelektronische Schaltungen und Systeme (IMS)
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Kaiser