Fraunhofer magazine 1 / 20 Green gains Sustainability – the tie that binds ecology and the economy closer together Health: A way out of the antibiotics crisis Transportation: Autonomous, but not dangerous Security: Fending off drones with microwaves Ole Hansen, Project Manager at Fraunhofer WKI

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 3 Maintaining innovative strength in times of crisis Prof. Reimund Neugebauer © Fraunhofer / Bernhard Huber In the midst of the warmest winter since records began, a single topic dominated the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting earlier this year: climate change. The message that reached us from the fresh mountain air of Davos, Switzer- land, at 1560 meters above sea level, was a positive one. Industry is not the sworn enemy of climate policy. On the contrary, industry is our best hope for finding a way out of the climate crisis. And then, just a few weeks later, we saw how this issue was suddenly and unexpectedly swept aside by another crisis, which affects all of us personally and soon became the only topic of public debate. A novel virus, which the World Health Organization has named “Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,” has profoundly disrupted every aspect of our lives. And so, once again, a single topic dominates our concerns. value must be brought to bear on the changes that ensue if these are to take hold successfully. In this context, economy and ecology are not opposing forces. They will always come together in a concerted effort to create a sustainable future for everyone. According to the Bloomberg Innovation Index 2020, which rates national economies in terms of their innovative strength, Germany has moved up to the number-one posi- tion, beating South Korea into second place after six years at the top. The USA has slipped down to ninth place. We have the strength to shape the future. So let us continue unabated to put our energy and passion into research for the long-term benefits it provides. It will be decisive for our economy, our prosperity, and our wellbeing. But we should beware of abruptly switching direc- tions in these turbulent times. Instead we should be thinking in terms of longer-term developments. This is what is expected of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the world’s leading applied research organization, as its contribution to the German and European economies. Stay safe and stay healthy! Yours sincerely, The present situation has demonstrated how much people rely on knowledgeable experts to provide factual informa- tion when the world is in disarray. They turn to experts for comfort when panic rises, for a true assessment of dangers threatening their health and lives, and for reassurance that vaccines and therapeutic drugs will soon be available. Scientific research was never as essential as today. Whatever the current crisis – climate, public health, or the economy: whenever society has to redefine its basic precepts, added Reimund Neugebauer President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 5 34 Voice of industry Dr. Peter Leibinger of Trumpf GmbH + Co.KG calls for Germany to step up its commitment to quantum technology. 42 Anti-drone defense with microwaves Drones pose a growing threat. Fraunhofer is looking to boost security and safety. 61 Solving the antibiotics crisis with phage therapy A century-old idea gives cause for renewed hope in the battle against multi-drug resistant bacteria. 46 The quest for an anti- icing formula In the air yet or still stuck on the ground, de-icing? New technology saves time and money, and spares the chemicals. 41 42 44 46 48 How will we eat in the future? Fraunhofer ISI is investigating the trends that will shape tomorrow’s food industry. Anti-drone defense with microwaves Drones pose a growing threat, but new tech can boost security and safety. Fraunhofer worldwide Applications and projects The quest for an anti-icing formula De-icing aircraft takes time, costs money and consumes lots of chemicals. New solutions are in the works. A new audio experience for movie and music lovers Much of life takes place at home in times of crises like the coronavirus pandemic. Fraunhofer IIS researchers are perfecting ways of replicating the concert-hall or movie-theater experience. 50 52 57 61 67 Hunting the killers in the body Fraunhofer ITEM is investigating the mechanisms of metastasis. Heat from a coal mine Water sourced from disused collieries provides heating in winter and cooling in summer. Little things, big opportunities Memristors could be a boon to artificial intelligence. Multi-drug resistant germs Phage therapy was discovered 100 years ago and then forgotten. The antibiotics crisis is fueling its renaissance. Putting safety to the test Fraunhofer is creating new opportunities for smart vehicles. In 2019, wind power became the biggest source of energy fed into the German national grid, having increased by 15.7 percent compared with the previous year. In 2020, the winter cyclone Storm Ciara fed up to 43.7 gigawatts into the grid at times, set- ting a wind power record in Germany. According to an assessment made by Fraunhofer ISE, last year the share of renewable energies increased overall from 40.6% to 46

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 7 A smart way of tapping renewable power The amount of energy produced by renewable sources ebbs and flows. But excess solar or wind energy is hard to store and transport over long distances. The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM has found a smart solution to that problem – an innovative energy management system. Featuring wood, glass and synthetics, the award-winning architecture of Amsterdam’s floating homes is certainly an eye-catcher. Their innovative energy management system is no less compelling. © Isabel Nabuurs This system serves to connect photovoltaic systems, batteries, heat pumps and electric cars in a smart way to power indi- vidual households – largely with renewable energy despite these sources’ fluctuating power production. This system has passed muster in a pilot project encompassing 30 floating houses in an Amsterdam neighborhood. “We built on our energy management system for individual houses to develop a system for entire energy communities,” says project manager Matthias Klein, deputy head of the High Performance Computing department at Fraunhofer ITWM. “It controls photovoltaic systems and heat pumps, and recharges home and electric cars’ batteries, thereby supporting sector coupling.” Furnishing enough energy to everyone in the neighborhood – all the time, even on dark days and without overtaxing the shared power line to the public grid – is no simple matter. This energy management system is modular. It serves as a communal energy hub that constantly analyzes the situation to determine where the power needs to go. The photovoltaic systems, heat pumps and batteries installed in the individual houses interoperate as one big system. A case in point: House A’s residents are on vacation. House B’s residents are throwing a party, so its demand for power is spiking. The energy produced by the photovoltaic system then flows from house A to house B. The system taps the home battery when it is dark outside and the solar unit is not generating electricity. It can do this across homes too. The energy management system’s modules may also be deployed individually and tailored to the given application. “There is already a permanently installed base of 60 to 70 of our systems ranging from private households and cafeterias to entire businesses and one sewage treatment plant,” says Klein. Wendeware AG, a Fraunhofer ITWM spin-off, has been selling the system since early 2019. Getting power to where it needs to go with modular energy manage- ment

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 9 The Ariane 5’s two boosters hold 238 metric tons of fuel each, but fuel costs are just part of what makes launches so expensive. Microlaunch- ers are to provide a more affordable means of hauling CubeSats into space. © John Kraus / ESA The aerospike engine con- sumes up to 30% less fuel. Speeding sats into space Small satellites called CubeSats may soon account for the lion’s share of sats in low Earth orbit (LEO). Affordable and easy to make, Airbus has been cranking out CubeSats on a Florida assembly line since last year. Fraunhofer researchers have designed an efficient new engine for mini rockets that will soon take over from large launch vehicles to haul CubeSats up into space and send them off into the desired orbit. Until now, CubeSats have had to wait for the likes of Ariane, Vega and other rockets to launch. Then they have to set out on an orbit dictated by the rocket’s main passenger, usually a large satellite. This could soon change with mini rockets engineers call microlaunchers. Latched onto the underbelly of an aircraft wing, they can be launched in flight and propelled into space, quickly and accurately. These versatile microlaunchers do not need a spaceport to take flight. An airport that can accommodate the special launch aircraft will do. Talks about repurposing a former military airfield at Nordholz near Cuxhaven, Germany, are underway. The one great drawback of microlaunchers is that their payload is limited to 350 kilograms, so they need light engines that consume little fuel. Aerospike engines happen to be a perfect fit. “The technology behind aerospike engines dates back to the 1960s. But our ability to produce engines as efficient as this is owed to the freedom brought by additive man- ufacturing,” says Michael Müller, a research fellow at the Additive Manufacturing Center Dresden (AMCD), which is operated jointly by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS and TU Dresden. On its way from Earth to orbit, the aerospike nozzle adapts to the changing pressure at various altitudes. This makes it more efficient, so it burns up to 30 percent less fuel than conventional engines. The nozzle consists of a spike-like center-body designed to accelerate combustion gases. The fuel injector, combustion chamber and nozzle are all printed layer by layer in an addi- tive manufacturing process called laser powder bed fusion. The aerospike engine is more compact than conventional systems, so the rocket is lighter. “Every gram saved is worth its weight in gold in space flight. The heavier the overall system, the lighter its payload has to be,” says Müller. Temperatures of several thousand degrees Celsius prevail in the combustion chamber – a major issue for aerospike engines. This has changed with an additive manufacturing process designed to enable effective cooling. This workflow creates a complex system that cannot be milled or cast in conventional ways. It one-millimeter-wide cooling channels follow the combustion chamber’s contours. Researchers have already tested a prototype aerospike engine, achieving a burn time of 30 seconds. They are now striving to further increase the propulsion system’s efficiency.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 11 Research for a healthier world: “People need to relearn how to live with nature,” says Anita May. She works as a group manager at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP.

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Fraunhofer. Das Magazin 4.19 - 15 Are cars the only prob- lem? Swiss environmental consultants ESU-ser- vices have investigated the carbon footprint of domestic ani- mals. Perhaps it’s time to say “neigh” to pets. Keeping a horse generates CO2 emissions of 3.1 metric tons a year. According to ESU-services, that corresponds to driving 9170 kilometers in a car. In fact, when all environmental impacts are included, the equivalent comes to 21,500 kilome- ters. By comparison, a car in Germany is driven, on average, some 13,000 kilometers a year. © Illustration: Daniela Leitner

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Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 19 The environ- mental impact of digitali- zation: an hour’s video streaming is the same as driving 3.5 kilometers in the car The digital media industry’s carbon footprint is estimated to be twice that of global air traffic – and thereby makes up 4 percent of global carbon emissions. On current trends, it will be produc- ing more greenhouse gases than total vehicle traffic by 2025. © Illustration: Daniela Leitner

Fraunhofer. Das Magazin 1.20 - 21 Clothing to rent rather than buy? “The models we investigated are all economi- cally viable,” says Dr. Johannes Schuler, project manager at Fraunhofer ISI.

Fraunhofer. Das Magazin 1.20 - 23 Prof. Charli Kruse is director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Marine Biotechnology and Cell Technology EMB.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 25 Julia Arlinghaus has headed the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF in Magdeburg since October 2019. © Viktoria Kühne You are making yourself the advocate of – pardon the overused expression – the human factor. How do you manage to make your case for this soft factor to businesses in increasingly hard times? To be honest, I never have to convince any company at all. On the contrary, I’m seeing industry coming to us with these issues. At our institute, we have staff members in every unit who have specialized in learning processes and adaptation processes. In my experience, businesses are grateful for this service, which we provide along with the technology. Researching for the future without losing sight of the present? At Fraunhofer, we have to be thinking five, ten and maybe even more years ahead, of course. But we have to remember that the reality of people's lives develops more slowly. A fac- tory stands as long as eighty, sometimes one hundred years. Talking about visionary ideas isn't enough there. We also have to take traditions, historical processes and established structures into account. That’s the only way we’ll reach the German Mittelstand. We have to bring people and businesses on board wherever they are really situated. Where do you see major challenges in the future? This balancing act between the present and the future is one. I have been dealing with supply chain risk management in my research for many years. We have to become more responsive and resilient to disruptions and fluctuations. We have to envision our energy and manufacturing systems collectively – that's an ecological and economic path into the future. by as much as eighty percent and energy expenditures by as much as sixty percent.” Prof. Julia Arlinghaus ”“We cut carbon dioxide emissions

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 27 Your discarded smartphone is a goldmine Every smartphone and almost any other electronic device contains valuable, reusable materials. And rising commodity prices are increasing their value. By Mehmet Toprak One kilogram of gallium sells for 270 U.S. dollars. Tan- talum is worth 260 U.S. dollars per kilo, and cobalt 24 U.S. dollars. Recycling is not only growing in importance because of the scarcity of these raw materials, but also because it is an intrinsic part of many new business models. However, it is difficult to recover such secondary raw materials from smartphones and tablets. For example, the tantalum con- tained in capacitors is present in such small quantities that it is almost impossible to extract. For lack of other options, many electronic components are simply melted down, with the result that the precious metals and rare earth metals they contain are no longer recoverable. Reinhard Noll and Cord Fricke-Begemann want to change this situation. The two researchers and their colleagues at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT have developed an entirely new approach to recycling. Prof. Noll coordinates the EU-funded next-generation urban mining project ADIR, or “automated disassembly, separation and recovery of valuable materials from electronic equip- ment,” in which nine partners from four countries have been studying this question since 2015. Dr. Cord Fricke-Begemann, who heads up the Materials Analysis group at Fraunhofer ILT, is the lead scientist for the institute’s share of the ADIR project. The Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF in Magdeburg is responsible for the robotics components. Until now, the recycling process for electronic devices consisted of disassembling them and then attempt- ing to extract reusable materials. ADIR takes a different approach, in which the electronic components are analyzed prior to disassembly to locate the desired materials. The new approach astutely combines elements of existing, proven technologies: smart process control, agile robotics, high-resolution cameras and image process- ing, and no less than three different laser techniques. It is not without reason that Fraunhofer ILT is recognized as one of Europe’s leading addresses for laser technology research. The recycling plant consists of multiple workstations. At each one of them, the first step is to identify the product or component. Cellphones are sorted according to type and model, with the aid of a database. Then the cellphone casing is opened and removed. Special attention is paid to batteries, which are removed undamaged by a robot and recycled separately. The now exposed motherboard is photographed using a high-resolution camera and the images are processed by analysis software which compares them with data stored in the institute’s own database. In most cases, the software is capable of identifying the type of motherboard and pinpoint- ing components containing rare earth metals and other raw materials of value. This is where a technology in which the ILT possesses a great deal of expertise comes into play: the laser. It is used to perform three different tasks. The first is 3D sensing, which provides a topological profile of the circuit board, enabling further information to be gleaned about its structure and layout. The second is laser spectroscopy, which can penetrate below the surface of electronic components to locate materials worth recovering. Once these first two steps have been completed, a third laser is used to desolder or cut out individual components. By combining these methods, it is possible to extract tiny capacitors containing tantalum and transfer them to a fraction collection station. “We can enrich a tantalum fraction to a grade of over 30%, which is significantly higher than that of the tantalum concentrate used to produce the original product,” says project manager Fricke-Begemann. Sometimes, modules may be glued to the motherboard or smartphone casing, for example the vibration alarm, which basically consists of a miniature motor and a counter- weight. The latter is almost entirely composed of tungsten. To detach the motor from the casing, the Fraunhofer experts use an electromagnetic pulse wave. The combination of people, software and cameras together with various laser-based measurement, desoldering and cutting tools and articulated robot arms create the perfect recycling team. In this way, it is possible to separate the parts of even the most complex and highly integrated electronic devices and recover secondary raw materials of the highest purity. Fricke-Begemann has spent five years working on this basic concept. The project is now nearing its end. It has passed the proof-of-concept stage and the process can now be tested at higher throughput rates to prove its viability in an industrial context. Before then, Fraunhofer ILT and its partners intend to make a few improvements. A few minor adjustments still have to be made before it can be handed over to industrial users. People, software, lasers – the perfect recycling team

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 29 Gerd Unkelbach is the director of the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Bio- technological Processes CBP. His big passion is the organic material that holds trees upright: lignin. © Norman Konrad nin in its molecular form. For me, it is an exciting challenge to grapple with these difficulties and try to create a basis on which new products can be manufactured. Someone once commented wryly that you can make anything from lignin except money! Stubborn as I am, that motivated me even more to prove them wrong by redoubling my efforts to produce lignin-derived compounds that can be used in industry with profitable results. Fraunhofer CBP does a lot of research into renewable raw materials. In which areas do you see the most potential? Our aim is to develop sustainable products to substitute for those currently based on fossil resources. Or, preferably, new products with better properties than their fossil-based prede- cessors. Imagine, for example, a plastic film that is not only bio-based and biodegradable but also more tear-resistant. So, by combining a lower environmental impact with improved user benefits you enable manufacturers to earn higher profits? Yes. If a product offers more, then consumers will be willing to pay more for it. At first it will be sold in the high-end market, and later in the mass market. That way we can really make a difference – both for business and for the environ- ment. How do you go about drumming up young people’s interest in chemistry? With a very simple message: You can serve good causes with chemistry – and earn money while doing so. “We have to be able to earn money from the work that we do. Otherwise our ideas will never gain traction.” “Our aim is to develop new products with better properties than their fossil-based predecessors. That’s the challenge.” ” Gerd Unkelbach Judging by the number of people it employs, the chemicals industry is certainly still going strong. Indeed, it accounts for 460,000 jobs in Germany, which is the largest producer of chemicals in Europe. The sector is a huge contributor to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The chemicals industry is just as important to Germany as the automotive sector, except that it is less talked-about. Sadly, most people aren’t aware of that, or don’t want to know. Car owners and drivers rarely ask themselves where the nylon for the seat covers or the polyurethane for the dashboard comes from. What are you spending most time on at the moment? My favorite research subject is lignin, a renewable raw material. It is found in wood and straw or basically in any plant with woody stalks or stems, where it holds together the cellulose fibers and protects them from being broken down by bacteria. Lignin is the glue that stiffens plant stems and enables trees to grow upwards so that their leaves can capture the sunlight they need for photosynthesis. However, the lignin in every plant is structured differently. This makes things extremely difficult for chemists who want to use lig-

Huge potential: in Germany, passenger and freight trains consume 11 billion kilowatt hours of power a year The third factor that influences energy consumption is how the trains are driven. For example, do they always accelerate to maximum speed and only brake when they reach the station? Or do they travel at a slightly lower speed and then gradually coast to a stop over a longer stretch of track? The researchers at the ADA Lovelace Center calculated that, under optimum conditions, VAG could cut its energy consumption by up to ten percent by exploiting all these options. That would slash the company’s electricity bill by up to 500,000 euros a year. Passengers wouldn’t notice any significant difference, says Bärmann, noting that the slightly longer travel times between stations would only affect journey times by plus or minus 15 seconds. The ADA experts had already calculated the huge savings potential of rail timetable optimization in a previous project. With rail transport consuming more energy than any other sector in Germany, it’s clearly an important issue. Passenger and freight trains use 11 billion kilowatt hours of power a year, as much as the city of Berlin. One ADA Lovelace Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 31 study calculated that Deutsche Bahn could decrease its passenger train power consumption by 38 megawatts a year simply by optimizing timetables and peak loads in the rail power grid. That would reduce the company’s energy bill by five million euros a year while also benefiting the environment. Two years into the project Yet organizing a train timetable to maximize energy efficiency is a mammoth task, says Bärmann. For example, even running just 4 trains between 3 stops with a choice of 7 times for each departure, you end up with 14 billion possible timetables. Fortunately, mathematical optimization – Bärmann’s area of specialization – can be used to reduce the extremely large number of theoretical possibilities to the ones that actually make sense in practice. This required them to program a special algorithm, says Bärmann, which was something of a challenge. It took the Nuremberg-based team of researchers a total of two years to complete that task. The next step that Bärmann’s team and transit provider VAG are planning is to expand the areas in which the model can be applied. The idea is to develop algorithms for driver assistance systems in order to control train journeys in real time. “We need AI methods that are capable of responding to unexpected incidents and disruptions,” says Bärmann. This is far from easy, he adds – but it’s the only way to exploit potential savings in day-to-day operation. Nuremberg already has computer-controlled, driverless subway trains, which makes it ideal for their purposes. The algorithms developed at the ADA Lovelace Center could also be applied in other areas, says Professor Alexander Martin, director of Fraunhofer IIS and head of the ADA Lovelace Center. “Many companies don’t realize how much potentially useful data they already have. They are unable to assess its quality, and don’t know what type of data they need to solve a specific problem or, conversely, what applications they could optimize with their existing data.” The research work carried out by the ADA Lovelace Center could help them answer these questions. Truck platooning is one area where he believes this methods could be successfully applied. This involves linking two or more trucks in a convoy, all controlled by the first vehicle via radio – much like a train, but on the highway. Other areas that could potentially be improved with the help of AI include production processes and energy-efficient machine operation. This highlights what makes the ADA Lovelace Center so special, says Professor Martin: “We use real-world industry use cases as examples. They provide the basis for developing and enhancing our expertise, methods and processes.”

The researchers use bioethanol made of wheat straw for the new fuel. © Adobe Stock Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 33 A full-fledged fuel rather an additive, vehicles should be able to run on it alone. By contrast, just five to ten percent of the E10 fuel is bioethanol; the rest is of fossil origin. “We’re not going to feel much of a climate effect with that,” says Menne. “Electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles are not going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as this has to happen. We need a holistic approach and a diversity of solutions for tomorrow’s fuels.” The pressure to take action is mounting with the revised Renewable Energies Directive (RED II) calling for advanced fuels to account for a share of 3.5 percent by 2030. The UMSICHT researchers are producing up to 20 liters of the new biofuel a week in an experimental plant. Amid the pipes and tanks and insulation, a pair of weighing scales stands on the floor. A small metal drum containing ethanol sits on one side of the scale, balanced by a bulbous glass vessel into which the finished fuel is poured. This setup enables researchers to check at a glance how much ethanol is flowing into the plant and how much fuel is being produced from it. The feedstock is bioethanol sourced from wheat straw. “Actually, I could use any other alcohol,” says Menne. The straw alcohol initially retains its liquid form as it flows from the metal barrel through the pipes of the test plant into a vaporizer. When the temperature reaches 350 degrees Celsius at a pressure of 20 bar, the gaseous alcohol flows into the heart of the plant, a tubular reactor. The reactor is filled with pieces of activated carbon coated with a newly developed catalyst material. These catalysts accelerate the condensation reaction by which gas is converted into liquid by multiplying the number of carbon bonds. This produces gasoline, kerosene or diesel, depending on how many carbon molecules are combined. Alcohol to fuel Menne had discovered this reaction accelerator while work- ing on his doctorate in 2008. “A catalyst is often developed in the lab but may then turn out to be difficult to produce in large quantities. But we can buy the materials for this catalyst cheaply because it doesn’t consist of precious metals or rare earths. And most importantly, it remains stable over the long term,” says Menne, who submitted a patent application for it in 2012. The biofuel packs plenty of power, as researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal have confirmed. They put standard commercial engines on a test bench to run trials with the new fuel. Menne supplied a hundred liters for testing. The ICT researchers took precise measurements of engine perfor- mance and exhaust emissions in trial runs that are much like an ergometer stress test, where a person wired up with sensors pedals away to measure cardiac function. Readings were taken at different operating levels, during cold starts, under different loads and at varying engine speeds. Lots of power, low exhaust emissions This biofuel’s energy density was found to be slightly higher than that of conventional fuels. That means a vehicle with this new fuel in its tank would have a slight advantage in a real race. The synthetic fuel’s exhaust emissions were also a selling point with less carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons, and a lot less exhaust soot. This biofuel’s physical properties come close to those of fossil diesel, so it can be made to comply with prevailing standards. Venkat Aryan, a chemical engineer at Fraunhofer UMSICHT, has added up every molecule of the greenhouse gases in each process step to assess the ecological impact. A well-to- wheel analysis factors all greenhouse gases into the equa- tion, from the extraction or harvesting of the raw materials to the fuel’s conversion into kinetic energy. They include crude oil extraction from underground wells, the cultivation of plants for biofuel and the exhaust gases. He found that the CO2 equivalents for synthetic diesel made from wheat straw amounted to 64.3 to 91.6 grams per megajoule, depending on the ethanol source. The figure for petroleum-based diesel fuel is 94 grams, which biofuel beats by as much as 32 percent. Aryan already has some ideas that could easily achieve further savings. “Our fuel can be converted into gasoline, diesel or even jet fuel for airplanes. But the latter is the most complicated,” says Menne. Marine diesel is a much simpler matter. It does not have to be processed in a refinery. “You could simply set up our plant in a port. Our process is so straightforward that shipping companies could produce their own diesel. Then the age of the big stinkers would soon be over,” says Menne. Despite there being just the one test plant in Oberhausen, the technology is ready to go to market. Now these researchers are looking for partners to start production on an industrial scale. The Fraunhofer experts have already started talking to refineries. While the synthetic diesel is still more expensive than diesel made of petroleum, Menne is confident that this could soon change. As the new legislation takes effect, fossil fuels will no longer be as cheap to pro- duce. “Consumers’ expectations are also changing. They may not only want to truly enjoy a cruise; they may also want to know how climate-friendly the ships are that transport bananas from Colombia to Europe.” “Straw, leaves, saw- dust, waste wood – we can use almost anything as the raw material for bioethanol,” says Dr. Andreas Menne.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 35 Two “laws of nature” apply to the industrialization of a new technology says Peter Leibinger, executive board member at market-leading company TRUMPF. © dpa Dr. Peter Leibinger ... was born on April 23, 1967 in Stuttgart. He studied mechanical engineering in Aachen. ... is Vice Chairman of the Managing Board of the high-tech company TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG. With 14,490 employees, TRUMPF is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of machine tools and lasers for industrial applications. ... is the spokesman of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s fund- ing program for photonics and quantum systems. and quantum computers, as well as applications that harness the power of quantum computers. Each of these fields is distinct – and each has been developed to a differing degree. So where should Europe be directing its attention as it strives to maintain its position as an industrial leader? Experts believe that quantum sensors will be the first area of quantum technology to enter the mass market. They will soon provide the means to measure magnetic and gravitational fields far more accurately than ever before. Highly sensitive quan- tum-based magnetic field sensors could be available for 50 euros in hardware stores in just five years – or even sooner. This would give do-it-yourself enthusiasts a reliable means of detecting plastic water pipes in the wall. Looking even further ahead, this technology could be used to create highly sensitive non-contact sensors for measuring brain activity. As well as taking brain research to the next level, this might even enable us to control our smartphones with the power of thought. Our spin-off Q.ant shows just how close we are to opening up this initial field of quantum technology. Q.ant employs 15 people and is already generating revenue. It produces specially designed lasers for quantum sensing and is already working on complete sensor systems based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers. The start-up company is also working on sensors based on non-linear converters. In the future, these could be used for applications such as new microscopes that would do a far better job of analyzing cells for medical purposes. Our commitment to quantum technology is shared by many other key players in industry. This is especially true in sectors where Germany and Europe can build on their traditional strengths. Examples include taking automation solutions to a new level with the aid of quantum technology, running industrial processes in completely different ways using quantum technology, and using quantum technology to make major improvements to traditional industrial products such as cars. Europe could become a powerful force in these exciting technological developments. Quantum technology offers the potential to “re-invent” established technologies and methods. But we need to start by making academic research more application-ori- ented – and making industry more research-conscious. This will give rise to products that real customers need while reinforcing Europe’s position as an industrial powerhouse. Quantum technology offers us a new approach to tackling today’s challenges – and the time to start embracing it is now. “Making aca- demic research more applica- tion-oriented and industry more research- conscious will give rise to products that real customers need while reinforcing Europe’s position as an industrial powerhouse.”

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 37 thousand cubic meters of concrete waste at each plant. The goal of the Robdekon team is to automate a large part of this process. For example, a milling robot will soon be able to tackle the biggest concrete surfaces on its own, and humans will only have to lend a hand in more awkward spots. Meanwhile, surveying robots will be used to produce radiation maps showing areas that are still radioactive. Waste sorting is the third area in which researchers hope to deploy smart machines to minimize human involvement in potentially harmful activities. According to the country’s Fed- eral Statistical Office, each inhabitant of Germany produces around 220 kilograms of waste a year. That equates to an annual total of over 18.1 million metric tons of household waste, including bulky items and paper, some two thirds of which is recycled. Although German consumers are global leaders in separating their household waste, most refuse is still sorted by hand in waste management facilities. The research- ers hope that waste-sorting robots equipped with plentiful sensors could soon take over this conveyor-belt work. Focus on viable systems Led by the IOSB, the Robdekon competence center also includes the participation of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), the FZI Research Center for Information Technology and four SME industry partners. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, one of its tasks is to function as a national contact point and information hub for issues concerning robot decontamination systems. A series of specialized technology demonstrators have already been created in seven “living labs” run by individual project partners. “Practical relevance has top priority,” says Petereit. This is the key reason why robots have such different levels of automa- tion. “Right now, fully autonomous operation in such highly complex environments is often unnecessary in practice. Instead, people are looking for smart assistance systems that can take the strain off operators or provide helpful informa- tion, because ultimately they still want humans making the decisions and being able to intervene,” he explains. That’s the message the competence center has received at its annual participatory events that give the team a chance to meet with real-world users. These events allow people to try out the systems and give the researchers feedback that can be fed back into the development process. One of the key technologies of the Robdekon project is therefore human-machine interaction. The team is currently testing out three different telepresence concepts that are intended to work with all the demonstrators. One option is for the human operator to move freely in a virtual reality environment similar to a holodeck and interact through gesture recognition. Alternatively, they can opt to rely on exoskeleton assistance for certain activities, or interact using joysticks and digital interfaces in a control room. The question remains whether we will one day be forced to evacuate our planet and leave all the cleaning up to robots. If we do, scientists have yet to determine whether these kinds of telepresence methods would also work from space! Designed for challenging environments by the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and enhanced with the help of the Robdekon team, this robot with wheeled legs can drive and walk. © DFKI / Florian Cordes Germany produces 18.1 million metric tons of house- hold waste a year

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 39 you show an interest in,” says Steinebach. “The Tor network is becoming increasingly popular for online shopping. People are realizing that different prices pop up depending on the device, browser or IP address they’re using. Tor enables users to surf the internet anonymously. That makes it a powerful tool for preventing mass surveillance.” Dark web takes off More and more people are turning to the dark net as a cool digital lifestyle choice. All the key players now have a pres- ence on the dark web – even Facebook has a Tor address. Dark web sites have the ending “.onion”. They can either be found via search engines such as DuckDuckGo, which allows users to perform anonymous searches with no tracking of user behavior, or through “hidden wikis,” which list dark web pages under various keywords. Links to dark web pages can also be found on the ‘normal’ internet. Communication over the dark net used to be exclusively in English, but Russian is becoming increasingly prevalent. “The reasons are more complex than just Russian-speaking hackers offering their services,” says Steinebach, explaining that more and more Russians are using the dark net as a platform for political information. “For example, we found one website that offers independent legal advice and gives civil rights activists tips on how to defend themselves against govern- ment reprisals. They were forced to remove this information from the internet in Russia, so they simply migrated the whole thing to the dark net.” Many major newspapers – such as The New York Times and the British Guardian – have set up their own dark net domain to enable informants to contact them anonymously. The dark net is also home to a comprehensive selection of academic libraries seeking to make information available to everyone without censorship. “Our study revealed an extremely diverse range of dark web offerings. People are using both illegal and legal services to much the same extent,” says Steinebach. same with our list of the top ten dark web sites: none of them include child pornography.” There’s no doubt that the dark web is used by pedophiles, but the idea that they are a predominant force is clearly untrue. “Our analysis of 5,000 dark web sites showed that just four percent were based around child pornography,” says Steinebach, who keeps in regular touch with law enforcement agencies. In 2017, criminal investigators pulled off a major coup against the Elysium child pornography network, which had more than 111,000 users worldwide. Elysium demonstrated that the police were not as helpless as is often claimed – and there have been plenty of other successful investigations against cyber criminals, drug traffickers and arms dealers on the dark net. “All the major marketplaces get taken down by the police sooner or later. But rather than using sophisticated hacking techniques, investigators primarily rely on undercover agents and traditional detective work,” says Steinebach. The dark net only provides cover for so long – and the moment when a user orders something and enters a delivery address is often when police can strike. Expert hackers find vulnerabilities Steinebach and his team specifically search for flaws in the Tor network – a standard method used by IT experts to make systems more secure. “When we find a vulnerability, the first thing we do is notify the Tor developers. That gives them the opportunity to fix the flaw before we publish it.” But why publicize the vulnerability at all? “Smart hackers working for a dictatorship somewhere are bound to spot the coding error – it would be naive to think otherwise! So it’s better to inform the developer community so they can fix the bug and ensure that people who might otherwise be hacked are no longer in jeopardy.” For dictatorships like China, the dark net is a thorn in their side. By imposing a range of restrictive measures, China’s digital surveillance state has made it much harder to access the Tor network. “But civil rights activists there are still constantly finding new ways in,” says Steinebach. However, he and his team found no evidence to support the widely held belief that the dark web is teeming with child pornography: “It’s similar to what we saw with file-sharing sites in the 2000s. It was claimed that up to 80 percent of the shared content was child pornography. At the time, we were carrying out studies to find technical methods of detecting copyright infringement on behalf of the music and film industry. So we built systems to analyze huge quantities of files – and we didn’t find any child pornography. It’s the With so many issues involved, Steinebach feels it would be unrealistic to try and ban access to the dark web. “The internet simply isn’t a place where you can just ban things. The Tor network isn’t centralized. It currently uses more than 6,000 nodes worldwide. Even if you were to make the Tor Browser illegal in Germany, people there would still be able to download it from a French or American site. You can make it harder to use the dark net, but not switch it off entirely. Even if you could, I don’t see that as a desirable goal.” “It’s increas- ingly used by regular citizens who want to escape constant monitoring by Amazon, Google and the like.” Prof. Martin Steinebach Tor stands for “The Onion Router.” The word onion refers to the fact that the system uses a series of layered nodes, bouncing the request across multiple servers to keep the user’s IP address hidden.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 41 How will we eat in the future? In an EU-funded project, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI have investigated which trends will shape the European food industry over the coming 15 years. A selection of key developments: Reducing food wastage Globally, 1.3 billion metric tons of food are thrown away each year. In the main, the cost of this wastage – some 750 billion U.S. dollars – is borne by consumers and farmers. Researchers estimate that around two-thirds of all food wastage in industrialized countries could be eliminated by, for example, improvements in production and logistics. Growing public pressure and state regulation will encourage a shift towards better practices and help fight wastage. Alternative proteins On average, Europeans eat 65 kilograms of meat a year, U.S. Americans as much as 90 kilos. The negative consequences – for climate, environment and consumer health – are well known. To meet the world’s protein require- ments on a long-term basis, we will need to make changes to the food system. Innovative options here include plant-based meat substi- tutes, insect-based products and the in vitro cell culture of meat. Researchers at Fraunhofer ISI predict that in the future the meat and alterna- tive protein industries will coexist, side by side. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free With more and more people opting to cut meat from their diet – whether for health reasons, concerns about animal welfare, or a growing awareness of sustainability issues – vegetari- anism and the use of vegan and gluten-free ingredients is now a significant trend. In fact, only one percent or so of the world’s population actually suffer from celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disorder not to be confused with gluten intolerance, or non-celiac gluten sensi- tivity. Nonetheless, grains such as quinoa and amaranth are increasingly regarded as healthier alternatives to wheat flour. Researchers predict that the global market for gluten-free foods will rise to 13 million U.S. dollars by 2025. of seasonal fruit and vegetables. Such produce is not only fresher and eminently traceable; it also generates less packaging waste and has a lower carbon footprint on account of the shorter transportation distances. On the flip side, some products are not available all year round, either due to a limited growing season or on account of adverse weather conditions. Nonetheless, short food circuits could play a part in the predicted shift from a centralized to a decentralized and partially autonomous system of food production and distribution between now and 2035. Precision farming systems The advent of new production and cultivation methods in agriculture will help boost produc- tivity and sustainability. For example, sensor technology can be used to monitor and measure plant growth. This enables targeted and con- trolled application of nitrogen-based fertilizers, which in turn reduces their overall use. Likewise, on the basis of a simple photo taken using a smartphone, special software can identify and classify the incidence of crop disease, weeds and insects, as well as provide recommendations for action and other useful information. The precision farming market currently generates annual revenues of 4.07 billion U.S. dollars. This is forecast to rise to 10.23 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. Artificial intelligence and machine learning Artificial intelligence and machine learning are the basis of smart agriculture. Automated, self-learning machinery can assist with the sow- ing of crops (soil preparation, seed breeding, and water uptake monitoring), while harvesting robots automatically detect crop ripeness. In addition, artificial intelligence can help improve food quality and freshness as well as reduce wastage by adjusting harvesting dates to actual data on customer orders and customer demand. Short food circuits There’s a lot to be said for buying locally grown food directly from the producer, either via online stores or in the form of weekly boxes Sustainable food for all Sustainable foods have a low environmental impact and play their part in ensuring global food security and healthy lifestyles. Innovative approaches here can help bring about increased sustainability throughout the food industry. These include stimulating demand for regional and seasonal produce, campaigns to raise awareness of the benefits of healthy, sustainable food, and the use of artificial intelligence or other new technologies to make food produc- tion more sustainable. Nutrigenomics A person’s genetic makeup has an influence their personal health and nutrition (nutrig- enomics), and vice versa. Using this insight, it is possible to draw up individual dietary recommendations that help people reduce the risk of disease and improve their health. The nutrigenomics market was valued at 252 million U.S. dollars in 2017 and is projected to increase by 16 percent over the period to 2025. Greater transparency Eighty-five percent of German consumers would like full traceability for their food. Informative labeling plays a role here. Government agencies and private companies are now responding by introducing new labels and standardizing old ones such as Germany’s Tierschutzlabel, which documents animal welfare. Digitalization will provide enhanced product transparency and traceability, thereby increasing pressure on producers to respect consumer wishes. The growing market clout of food retailers Consolidation in the retail food market has never been greater, with a small number of companies now controlling the main distribu- tion channels and dominating the market. The result has been a shift of power away from food producers and in favor of retailers. In 2018, for example, a dispute over prices led to a European association of six retailers removing all of a major brand’s products from its shelves in order to force concessions from the company in question. There is a real worry that retailers will make increasing use of their power in order to maximize profits.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 43 component. To research this technology, Fraunhofer INT uses a test hall measuring 15 meters long, six meters wide and four meters high. High-energy pulses of microwave radiation are fired at a drone circling above a safety net. Initially, the drone continues to hover. All of a sudden, however, it sheers off to the left, and then to the right. It drops a meter, seems to regain control, but then falters and falls. While the safety net prevents any external damage to the drone, its control electronics are completely fried. “All drones are vulnerable to the influence of micro- waves,” Lanzrath explains. That’s their weak spot, one they share with practically all electronic devices. A metal housing will shield electronic components against microwave radiation. This, however, increases weight, which is not ideal in the case of drones. Besides, Lanzrath says it is impossible to fully protect a drone in this way: “Even if you shield the electronics with metal, the microwaves can still find a way in through the gaps where the rotors or antennas are mounted.” Rigorous testing: as many as ten drones a month are destroyed But does this method work outside of the test hall? To answer this question, the team from Fraunhofer INT is now trialing the system outdoors as well. However, before HPEM can be used to disable drones flying outside, authorization must be obtained from the appropriate authority. This is because the law in Germany forbids the use of powerful transmitters without official permission. Once outside the hall, the conditions are much more challenging: the drone is now several hundred meters away instead of eight, and powerful models fly at a speed of over 100 kilometers per hour. Here, you need an HPEM system with greater range and accuracy. Once again, Lanzrath is confident. “By using directional antennas to focus the microwaves and employing a more powerful transmitter, it’s perfectly possible to target and disable unidentified aerial systems (UAS).” A feasibility study is scheduled to run until mid-2021. At peak testing times, as many as ten drones a month are destroyed. It is also thanks to Angela Merkel that Lanzrath first took up the fight against the potential threat of drones. In 2013, during an election campaign event held by Merkel’s party, the CDU, in Dresden, a video drone suddenly appeared before the federal chancellor. It was piloted by a member of the Pirate Party, who wanted to draw attention to the problem of mass surveillance. Both pilot and drone were soon apprehended. But the incident set off alarm bells for the security officials. What if the drone had been carrying explosives instead of a video camera? Since then, the author- ities have been working with industry and various Fraunhofer Institutes (see box) to minimize such risks. Protecting ourselves against drones In addition to the HPEM project at Fraunhofer INT, there are a further five initiatives currently underway at Fraunhofer to detect and defend against drones. Four of these receive support from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research under its “Research for civil security” program. PROJECT AMBOS – Defense of unmanned aerial vehicles for security agencies | INSTITUTE Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE | PURPOSE A German-Austrian alliance project launched in February 2017 to develop systems to detect drones, analyze their threat and implement defense measures. PROJECT ArGUS – System for situationally aware defense against unmanned aerial systems | INSTITUTE Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB | PURPOSE The system is designed to detect unmanned aerial systems and respond with feasible countermeasures. PROJECT ORAS – Sensor-based monitoring and alerting system for the detection and tracking of unmanned aerial systems | INSTITUTE Fraunhofer Institute for High Fre- quency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR | PURPOSE The system is designed to detect unmanned aerial systems in urban environments. It uses radar networks to create a closely meshed monitoring network. It can be used in conjunction with defense systems to provide security at large-scale events such as festivals or at airports. PROJECT MIDRAS – Micro-drone defense system | INSTITUTE Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut HHI | PURPOSE Using massive MIMO antennas – a combination of many antennas in a single device to increase coverage – this system is designed to detect micro-drones and if necessary, provide targeted defense. PROJECT MODEAS – Modular drone detection and assistance system | INSTITUTE Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB | PURPOSE This system links a battery of sensor stations, which work with high-resolution 360-degree cameras, tracking units, directional microphones, radar, telephoto zoom cameras and laser range finders. This enables reliable detection of all kinds of flying objects. MODEAS is financed solely by Fraunhofer. “Even if you shield the electronics with metal, the micro- waves can still find a way in through the gaps where the rotors or the antennas are mounted.” Marian Lanzrath, Fraunhofer INT

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 45 Political stability is crucial What are the key site selection criteria for German small and medium-sized enter- prises (SMEs) looking to establish a presence in China? What do these companies need? Research- ers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO investigated these questions on behalf of the regional government of Pujiang. As it stands, the eastern coastal regions have had the edge in China’s domestic competition for jobs and foreign investments. The regional government of Pujiang county in central western China aims to change that. It wants to attract SMEs from Germany to the region with a German-Chinese cooperation center and a new industrial park. The Fraunhofer IAO researchers made a surpris- ing discovery. “We had expected that financial factors such as government subsidies would be crucial to companies. But political stability was most important to them – it is tantamount to investment security,” says Adrian Barwasser, a research fellow at the Digital Engineering department of Fraunhofer IAO, summarizing the study’s results. Companies also said they want support in legal matters and political issues. “The legal situation can change in just a few weeks in China. New laws are enacted much faster than in Germany. Companies then have to respond quickly and make the right decisions,” says Barwasser. China Israel Game over for herpes viruses Herpes viruses linger for a lifetime in the human body. Unrecognized by the immune system, they lie dormant in nerve cells and can trigger repeated infections from their hideaways. Treatments available today alleviate symptoms but cannot prevent renewed outbreaks. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart have teamed up with colleagues from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to change that. An encoded protein in the core of the infected host cell causes the herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) to multiply. This triggers an outbreak, for example, causing sores on the lips. Certain ribonucleic acids can block this protein. The team led by Hebrew University’s Gershon Golomb and Fraunhofer IGB’s Steffen Rupp is researching and developing a liposomal carrier system that stabilizes these blocking ribonucleic acids, targets the infected cells and delivers these RNAs to prevent the virus’s reactivation. The researchers succeeded in producing an optimized liposomal system called LipDOPE-siHSV. “Significant antiviral activity was achieved in cells infected with HSV,” says Steffen Rupp. Fraunhofer worldwide mounds of gravel and workers that populate construction sites. Fraunhofer Italia is also setting up the BIM Simulation Lab to provide digital support for decision-making in construction processes. BIM is short for building information modeling, a method to enable connected building planning, execution and management. This project’s participants are developing three software systems to this end.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 47 That layer of ice on a plane annoys passengers because it costs them time. And it costs airlines money. De-icing a single aircraft takes 400 to 600 liters of pricey chemicals. “We are always searching for a more ecofriendly anti-icing formula,” says Elmar Bonaccurso, senior scientist in the materials department at Airbus Central R&T. An environmentally sustainable solution has been tested by Airbus with researchers from the Fraunhofer Insti- tute for Material and Beam Technology IWS and TU Dresden. They joined forces in the EU Laser4Fun project to develop a process called direct laser interference patterning (DLIP). It can serve to produce complex surface structures in the micrometer and sub-micrometer range that effectively shrug off ice. “For one, this sharply reduces the adhesion of ice. For the other, de-icing takes less heating power,” says Dr. Tim Kunze, team leader Surface Functionalization at Fraunhofer IWS, commenting on the benefits of DLIP. Ice formation is a problem on the ground, but critical in the air. “Water on the surface freezes within milliseconds when the aircraft flies through the clouds at sub-zero temperatures. Ice protection systems using hot bleed-air from the engines prevent ice accretions from disrupting the airflow around aircraft control elements,” says Bonaccurso. It does not even have to be that cold for ice to complicate matters. Unlike dry ice, which forms at extremely low temperatures, sticky ice materializes at temperatures of around zero degrees Celsius. What sets this new solution apart is that the researchers combined DLIP technology with ultra-short-pulse lasers to create multilevel microstructures on 3D scaled airfoils in a single step. As a result, some of the ice simply loses its grip, depending the conditions under which it froze, so active de-icing requires up to 20 percent less heating power. The benefits of this method are many: It reduces the amount of environmentally harmful de-icing agents required to clear an aircraft for take-off, the time passengers spend waiting for the plane to be de-icedand the power and fuel consumed in flight.“ This combination of these two effects has yet to be achieved with conventional technologies,” says Kunze emphatically. Durability testing in a wind tunnel These tests showed that it took 70 seconds for the ice on an unstructured airfoil to disappear at 60 watts of applied heat. The ice on the patterned airfoil receded completely after just five seconds at the same amount of applied heat. “With our DLIP approach, we were able to produce multilevel, bio- mimetic surface effects on a component as complex as the NACA airfoil, with millimeter resolution, and demonstrate its concrete advantages over other laser processes", says Kunze. His colleague Sabri Alamri adds, “The water-repellent structure is an attempt to replace conventional technologies with ecofriendly, more cost- effective alternatives.” Flight tests are currently underway with an aircraft that carries small samples (12 x 30 cm) of DLIP-treated surfaces. “The water- repellent structure is an attempt to replace conventional technologies with eco- friendly, more cost- effective alternatives.” Sabri Alamri, Fraunhofer IWS The NACA airfoil with the water-repellent patterned surface © Airbus Direct laser interference patterning (DLIP) The principle behind the interference effect may be familiar from high-school physics classes: A light beam passing through a double slit produces alternating bright and dark bands caused by the superposition of overlapping light waves. This is called an interference pattern. Although Fraunhofer IWS experts create these patterns in different ways, this also requires the superposition of overlapping light waves, which they accomplish with direct laser interference patterning (DLIP). The researchers methodically developed the process and conducted many tests in the Airbus labs to achieve this combined effect. They tested the demonstrator – a complex three-dimensional NACA airfoil structured via DLIP – under realistic conditions at wind speeds ranging from 65 to 120 m/s, with air temperatures below minus ten degrees Celsius and at various humidity levels in the wind tunnel at the aircraft maker’s facilities in Ottobrunn near Munich. This method can produce nano- and micrometer-sized structures and create surface topographies tailored to many applications. DLIP involves splitting a coherent laser beam into two or more beams and superimposing them on the surface of a component in a controlled fashion. The interference effect caused by this superposition is a “periodic modulation of laser intensity” that can be used to apply 2D and 3D patterns to a component’s surface.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 49 Blinder Text Titelzeile 9 x 43 x 2 x Nine main loudspeakers Sound source no. 1 is a three- way, coaxial RL 901k enclosure made by Geithain. Founded in 1960, the company supplied studio monitors to the public radio broadcaster in former East Germany. 43 other loudspeakers Active Dynaudio BM6A mk II near-field monitors are spread around the top circular truss. Their frequency response ranges from 48 to 21,000 Hz. Two subwoofers The installed bass bins also sport the Geithain brand name. “Our lab doesn’t shake when they’re cranked at full blast, but trouser legs do flap,” says Dr. Scuda. The perfect living room? Sound in the round hits the sweet spot for discriminating music and movie lovers. The listening position is always equidistant to the source with all speakers flown on a circular truss. The engineer in the Strawinsky control room pictured below can configure speakers in any combination to meet every sound design need. 360° 3D tour of the Mozart audio lab https://s.fhg.de/iis360 At the console: head sound lab planner Dr. Andreas Silzle © Infographics: 2issue; source: Fraunhofer

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 51 Even in breast cancer patients with no visible metastases, there may be as many as 20,000 dissem- inated cancer cells in the bone marrow. removed during a tumor operation. The same method has been used for more than a hundred years now to examine lymph nodes to see whether a tumor has already dissem- inated. Ultra-thin slices of tissue are taken from multiple locations and a pathologist searches them for cancer cells. “Unfortunately, the tissue between the cutting planes is not examined,” Klein criticizes. “So any metastases located there are overlooked.” Together with Fraunhofer IPA and Fraunhofer IIS, Christoph Klein’s team has developed a method that makes it possible to analyze the entire lymph node. Samples are prepared using a tissue grinder, which carefully separates the cells. Afterwards, the sample is treated with a special dye that stains the disseminated tumor cells. Two million lymph node cells are scanned automatically and suspicious objects are then examined under the microscope. “Using our method, we detected tumor cells in half of the examined lymph nodes,” says Bernhard Polzer. “With the conventional method, in contrast, pathologists found cancer cells in just 15 to 20 percent of the samples.” A market-ready version of the new method is currently being developed. Disseminated tumor cells mutate Once Bernhard Polzer has isolated individual disseminated tumor cells under the microscope, he takes the sample to the next room, where the latest generation of DNA sequencers stand at the ready. But even for these modern machines, a single cell contains too little DNA to deliver reliable results, so Polzer has to multiply the cell’s DNA prior to analysis. To do this, he uses a method that Christoph Klein developed back in 1999 – important pioneering work that first made it possible to analyze individual cells and that is now estab- lished as the standard method worldwide. Genetic analysis reveals, for instance, whether the disseminated tumor cells have the same properties as the primary tumor and might therefore respond to the same treatment. Often, however, they do not. The disseminated cells mutate when they reside in a foreign tissue environment for a longer period. “When breast cancer cells reside in bone marrow, they can take on the properties of the hematopoi- etic cells that surround them,” says Christoph Klein. “The cells evidently adapt to their surroundings.” But the disseminated cells can also activate additional cancer genes in their new environment. Then they become more and more aggressive and dangerous. If the genetic analysis reveals that the disseminated tumor cells have mutated, fighting them requires different remedies than those used for the primary tumor. Polzer and Klein are currently researching how to find the right drug for each patient. Their starting point is a technology that already works for large numbers of cells and must now be adapted for single cells. It analyzes 450 cancer-specific mutations for which drugs are already available on the market or in clinical trials. Bernhard Polzer is clearly focused on the goal: “We want to isolate the disseminated tumor cells in lymph nodes or bone marrow and examine them for these 450 mutations. Then we could target them with the right drug to prevent them from metastasizing.” To this end, the researchers in Regensburg are working with a number of companies that want to transfer this innovative diagnostic approach to everyday clinical routine. The team also uses conventional methods to determine which drug is effective against a patient’s metastases. To do this, they propagate the tumor cells in a nutrient medium, where they grow into spherical structures known as organoids. These cells can then be used in the lab to test the various potential active agents. It is hoped that this will enable them, in collaboration with the clinic in Regensburg, to one day help many patients. What turns cells into killers? When Bernhard Polzer suctions up a blue-stained dissem- inated tumor cell, he often asks himself: Would this cell have had the potential to kill the patient? Or would it have remained dormant and not done any harm? After all, not all disseminated cells form metastases. Christoph Klein calculated that, in a breast cancer patient with no visible metastases, there may be 10,000 to 20,000 disseminated cancer cells in the bone marrow. Only a few of those have the potential to metastasize. But which properties enable them to do this? Do they trick the immune system? Do they activate aggressive cancer genes? What turns them into killer cells? To find an answer, Christoph Klein, in collaboration with several clinics, launched a study involving 200 breast cancer patients. His team examines these patients’ primary tumors, disseminated tumor cells and metastases. In each cell they examine, they analyze all the genes that cell activates. These data are then correlated with the patients’ clinical course – a vast amount of data to which the research group’s bioinfor- matics team gives structure. “We search the tumor cells for markers that are associated with a poor prognosis for the patient,” explains Christoph Klein. The full results of the study will be available by the end of the year – and will hopefully provide clues as to what turns cells into killers.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 53 requirements of the various consumers connected to the sys- tem,” explains scientific project manager Gregor Bussmann, deputy director of the department for Storage and Under- ground Systems at Fraunhofer IEG. “That amount of thermal energy is enough to heat around 1000 single-family homes.” It is by far the largest mine-water project of its kind in Germany, although the principle has already been trialed in a number of small pilot projects. In Bochum, for example, the municipal utility company is now using warm water from the flooded Robert Müser colliery to heat two schools and the city’s main fire station. Converting hundreds of surveyors’ maps into a digital 3D model For the purposes of planning, Bussmann and his team first had to analyze the conditions underground. They were able to fall back on the maps drawn up by successive generations of mine surveyors ever since the colliery first opened in 1859. These are stored in the archives of the mining authorities in Dortmund. “We studied hundreds of plans and maps and converted them into a digital 3D model,” Bussmann explains. This model showed Bussmann the precise location of all the vertical shafts and horizontal galleries that make up the mine workings. This underground network comprises eight levels. At the deepest of these, more than 800 meters below ground level, the scientists estimated the water temperature to be at least 35 degrees Celsius. But before they could pump this water up to the surface, they first had to find a suitable place to drill. There are 200 disused collieries, most of which could be used for thermal energy storage. It’s over 60 years since the Dannenbaum colliery was abandoned. The last shift left the mine in 1958. © Johann Schmidt / Fotoarchiv Ruhr Museum It’s over half a century since the Dannenbaum colliery was abandoned. In 1957, a year before it shut for good, the colliery was still churning out 239,500 metric tons of coal annually. But then the mine-shafts were filled in. Today, the underground tunnels and galleries are flooded with water. On the surface, some 800 meters above the lowest level of the mine, the world has moved on. Opel, the German automaker, arrived and built a huge factory on the former coal mining site, only to shut it down again. And now a new chapter is about to begin at the Dannenbaum site: the construction of an industry and technology campus, which will generate 6000 jobs as well as find a new role for the former mine workings. Responsible for rousing the colliery from its 60-year slumber is the utility company Stadtwerke Bochum and the newly established Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructure and Geothermal Energy (IEG). These two partners intend to use the flooded mine workings to cover the technology campus’ energy requirements: with heating in the winter, when mine water at a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius will be pumped up from a depth of 800 meters; and air conditioning in the summer, when mine water at 18 degrees will be pumped up from 300 meters. An ecological alternative for the entire region For Prof. Rolf Bracke, director of Fraunhofer IEG, this project could point the way forward for the Ruhr region as a whole: “There are mine workings from around 200 abandoned collieries across large areas of the Ruhr. In some cases, these workings extend over 50 square kilometers and descend to a depth of over 1000 meters. Most are them are flooded, so they could serve as heat stores for waste heat produced by industry or power companies.” In addition, thermal energy from the mine water could provide an environmentally friendly source of energy for district heating grids in the region. At present, most of these are supplied with waste heat from gas- and coal-fired power plants. The new technology campus is known as MARK 51°7, a name every bit as inventive as its proposed mode of energy supply. The designation is based on the map coordinates of the former Opel site: 51 degrees north and 7 degrees east. Around half of the 70-hectare site is to be occupied by tech companies and research institutes from the Max Planck Society and Ruhr-Universität Bochum. This area will be supplied with energy extracted from mine water. “According to our latest calculations, we predict that the natural energy potential of the mine water will be enough to cover up to 85 percent of the heating and air conditioning

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 55 Prof. Rolf Bracke (right) and Gregor Bussmann discuss the project in the powerhouse of the geo- thermal center. © Sascha Kreklau / Fraunhofer This proved a challenge, since it was vital to ensure that drilling would not damage the shoring holding up any of the galleries in above-lying levels. But, with planning complete, drilling work is now scheduled to get underway in early summer of 2021. In the summer, the process is reversed Before obtaining official authorization for the project, Fraunhofer IEG had to conduct extensive surveys to exclude the risk of environmental damage, including the possibility of ground heave or subsidence as a result of the water pumping operations. Nor is there any danger of an impact on water quality. “The water is pumped in a closed circuit, so it can’t be contaminated,” Bussmann explains. “Besides, we’re well away from any of the catchment areas for drinking water.” Once the system is up and running, as many as 70 cubic meters of mine water an hour can be pumped to the surface. The energy from this warm water is transferred, via plate heat exchangers and heat pumps, to the water in the heating circuit that feeds the district heating grid. In the process, the mine water cools to around 18 degrees Celsius, whereupon it is returned, via a second well, to the fourth level of the mine, at a depth of 300 meters. Meanwhile, heat pumps raise the temperature of the water in the heating circuit to an inflow temperature of 48 degrees Celsius. In the summer, this process is reversed. Cooler water drawn from the fourth level is refrigerated until it has reached a temperature of 10 degrees Celsius. The heat liberated during the refrigeration process is transferred to mine water at the eighth level, thereby helping to replenish the heat reservoir at a depth of 800 meters – in preparation for the coming winter. In the long term, Bracke sees even greater potential for the abandoned mine workings right across the coalfields of North Rhine-Westphalia, from Aachen to Hamm. His plan is to use them to store thermal energy. As part of the EU HeatStore project, Bracke is to trial the principle in a pilot scheme, using a small abandoned coal mine located directly beneath the Fraunhofer IEG campus: “The plan is to use a highly efficient solar system to heat the mine water to between 60 and 70 degrees Celsius in the summer. In the winter, we will use this mine water as the source for a high-temperature water-to-water heat pump to supply water at a temperature of between 100 and 110 degrees Celsius to the district heating grid of the Bochum-South area. At present, this grid is powered by energy from fossil fuels. In other words, the use of abandoned mine workings in former coalfields can help smooth the transition to a carbon-neutral future for district heating systems.” Energy from as many as 70 cubic meters of mine water per hour.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 57 Professors Heidemarie Schmidt and Stefan E. Schulz have great expectations for miniscule memristors. © Cornelia Schubert Little things, big opportunities Memristors can mimic the behavior of synapses in the human brain. This could be a boon to AI applications. By Mehmet Toprak A portmanteau of memory and resistor, a memristor is an electronic component that can both process and store binary and analog data. Remarkably compact, fast and energy-efficient, it promises to be useful piece of hardware in the engineering toolbox. It may not look like a big deal, but appearances deceive. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems ENAS certainly think highly of this diminutive compo- nent. Prof. Heidemarie Schmidt heads up an ATTRACT project that goes by the name of BFO4ICT, the objective of which is to develop an overall technology for the modular integration of novel electronic components in microelectronic CMOS hybrids. She and her five-member team have been develop- ing technology to manufacture memristors based on bismuth ferrite (BFO) on an industrial scale since 2016. And this ENAS team has succeeded in producing these components under conditions much like those in a real-world fab. But that is not the only reason why Schmidt believes the future looks bright for memristors and is already talking about applications such as artificial intelligence and cryptography. A component unlike any other A quick recap of a few electrical engineering fundamentals should help explain why this looks like the next big thing in little components. As it stands, there are three basic passive components, the capacitor, inductor and resistor. A capacitor stores an electrical charge, an inductor induces voltage, and a resistor limits or splits the current. A transistor is an active component, so it belongs to a different branch of the family tree. In 1971, Leon Ong Chua, a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, postulated the existence of a fourth com- ponent alongside the capacitor, inductor and resistor. Putting forth the theory that this fourth component could incorporate the functions of all three others, he called it a memristor. Soon the search was on for a material of which this memristor could be made. It was not until 2007 that researchers at the Hewlett-Packard lab managed to build the first memristor based on titanium oxide. Proof of concept was established with this early prototype. The property that sets this unique component apart is its non-volatile variable resistance. The current, or more pre- cisely, the electrical charge that flows through the component when voltage is applied determines this resistance. When the voltage is switched off, the resistance remains as it was up to this moment. These components can serve to store data and execute computations because their resistance is variable – it can be modulated by varying the electrical charge and voltage – and is retained even when switched off. “The memristor has what it takes to impel AI develop- ment across Europe.” Prof. Stefan E. Schulz

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 59 “It can serve to certify AI applications – a key prerequisite for putting AI into practice.” Prof. Heidemarie Schmidt This would make memristors the perfect device for hard- ware encryption where keys are generated right there in the electronic component. collaborating with researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and TU Chemnitz to this end. Manufacturing is an imperfect science. Production-related variances – experts call them physically unclonable functions – leave each component with a unique variable resistance; a fingerprint that can serve to generate a unique key. For example, memristors installed in a cell phone could encrypt voice messages just downstream from the microphone input. Artificial intelligence built into the circuit Heidemarie Schmidt has even more important applications of memristors based on BFO in mind – neuromorphic computing, where data processing and storage functions are co-located. A memristor’s resistance is infinitely variable between zero and one – in other words, the control range is analog. With this and its other special properties, it can mimic the behavior of synapses in the human brain. What is more, a BFO memristor can implement any of the 16 possible bivalent logic functions, whereby their output signals are also variable between zero and one. On top of that, this BFO memristor may be reconfigured into any of the 16 logic functions at any time. “The logic functions are defined and reconfigurable with memristors, so the algorithms for training AI circuits are also controllable and transparent,” says Schmidt, pointing out a decisive advantage. And that is indeed a pivotal point: “It can serve to certify AI applications. This is a key prerequisite for putting AI into practice in sensitive security scenarios and autonomous cars,” says Schmidt. Memristors for next-generation computing Prof. Stefan Schulz heads up Nano Device Technologies, the department at Fraunhofer ENAS tasked to pursue BFO4ICT. The work conducted as part of the ATTRACT project will help advance the Next Generation Computing initiative, one of several ventures to be deemed strategically important and designated a priority at Fraunhofer. Schulz says, “Memristors are a disruptive technology with enormous advantages. We have to keep at it and have the staying power to wait out the years it could take until the technology is truly ready for the market.” Despite the difficulties, Schmidt and her team have risen to these challenges. These researchers have presented the first prototypes and demonstrators. But that was just the first step – they are now able to produce memristors on wafers. Less than a millimeter thick, these silicon discs serve as a substrate for the fabrication of microelectronic components. The larger a wafer, the more components it can accommo- date. The Fraunhofer ENAS cleanroom uses wafers with a diameter of 200 millimeters. “This was risky move, techno- logically speaking, because you never know beforehand if manufacturing processes on a nanometer scale are actually going to work,” notes Schulz. The men and women in the Fraunhofer team have since established that they do indeed work. These wafers have proven their merits on machines that could be found in a real-world fab. Smart choice of material The researchers’ choice of materials for the memristor and electrode marked a milestone on the road to success. Titanium dioxide has been used frequently as the material for the memristor and precious metals such as platinum or silver as the electrode material. The Fraunhofer team explored a different avenue with bismuth ferrite (BFO), a ternary oxide consisting of three elements. The researchers modified its chemical composition to serve their purposes. How exactly they accomplished this remains their secret. But the effect is there for all to see: BFO memristors can be switched at speeds measured in nanoseconds rather than milliseconds and enable analog data processing and storage in one place. The odds look good that these memristors are going to drive advances in AI applications and hardware encryption a few years from now. A credible case can also be made for applications in healthcare. For example, a memristor-driven AI module could enable a physician with a tablet in hand to analyze and assess blood counts right there at the bedside. Memristors could also encrypt diagnostic and patient data as the tablet sends it on to hospital servers via Wi-Fi. Consumers could also benefit. Today, the speech recog- nition and translation applications that run on a smartphone have to connect to a cloud server to process data. Tomorrow, memristors in the device could process and store data locally. But the most important advance will come when they serve to verify and validate complex AI scenarios such as autono- mous vehicles and industrial production lines. Heidemarie Schmidt has been keeping at it for 13 years. This is no easy task. It requires ultra-advanced thin-film technologies, suitable clean rooms and reproducible recipes for manufacturing BFO memristors. Fraunhofer ENAS is Europe’s economic development is very much on Stefan Schulz’s mind: “The memristor has what it takes to impel AI development across Europe.”

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 61 Solving the antibiotics crisis Bacteriophages infect bacteria and kill them. They were used to aid in curing severe infections as long as a century ago. Now phage therapy is enjoying a renaissance – in the battle against multiresistant bacteria. By Christine Broll Antibiotic-resistant pathogens claim around 2400 lives in Germany each year. Fraunhofer ITEM is investigating antidotes. © Fraunhofer ITEM Phage therapy has captivated Holger Ziehr ever since he saw a BBC documentary on the subject more than twenty years ago. Since then, he has been working to harness phages in the battle against antibiotic-resistant pathogens, but for a long time, few were willing to join him in this effort. Research proposals were derided and rejected. Companies declined when asked to manufacture investigational drugs for clinical studies. Only as more and more bacteria became resistant to antibiotics and pharmaceutical companies gave up searching for new antibacterial agents did his perseverance pay off. Today, Prof. Holger Ziehr is an extremely sought-after expert on phage therapy. A division director at the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in Braunschweig, he is developing platform technology for the production of phages for use in pharmaceuticals. In parallel, he is working with regulatory authorities to establish a model process by which phages can be approved as a therapeutic agent in Germany. He sees phages as an important new component of treatment: “We do not want to replace antibiotics. Phages should be used where antibiotics come up against their limits.” Phage therapy was discovered before antibiotics were. It was in 1917, when French-Canadian microbiologist Félix d’Hérelle was working with shigellosis pathogens he had isolated in infected soldiers. While cultivating lawn cultures in lab dishes, he kept discovering small holes that spread over time. Further experiments showed that these holes were home to tiny microbes that ate the bacteria. He called these as yet unknown microbes bacteriophages – literally, bacteria eaters. In Germany, 30,000 to 35,000 people are infected with multi- resistant pathogens each year.

© Electron microscope image of a coliphage, Leibniz Institute DSMZ 1 Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 63 Phages Bacteriophages are viruses that infect only bacte- ria. They are not capable of replicating in animal or human cells, so they pose no danger to humans. There are more phages on Earth than all other organisms combined. Phages are found every- where bacteria live, so also in the human intestinal flora and on the skin. From a global standpoint, they contribute significantly to regulating the incidence of bacteria. The head of a phage is shaped like an icosahe- dron, a sort of die with 20 faces and 12 vertices. It contains the genetic material and is perched on a long tail. The phage uses the tail fibers, which are shaped like spiders’ legs, to attach itself to its host cell. Bacteriophages cannot self-replicate – they use bacterial cells for this. Every phage species is specific to a certain bacterial strain. Phages recognize suitable hosts based on special receptors on the host’s surface. In order for a phage to infect a bacterium, the bacterial recep- tors and the phage tail fibers must fit together like a lock and key. After the phage attaches to the bacterium (1), it injects the genetic material from its head into the cell (2). The bacterium then begins to produce phage components (3). The phages are subsequently assembled and released (4). Some 50 to 100 new phages can be created from one bacterium. 2 4 3 Graphic © Vierthaler und Braun Félix d’Hérelle successfully treated the first shigellosis patients with a phage solution as early as 1919. In 1936, together with his friend Georgi Eliava, he founded the Eliava Institute of Bacteriophages, Microbiology and Virology in Tbilisi, Georgia, which seeded the spread of phage therapy in the Soviet Union. In World War II, Red Army soldiers were successfully treated with phages. Soviet researchers later continuously refined those methods, but after the Soviet Union collapsed, the old knowledge about phage therapy was forgotten. Help for cystic fibrosis patients Exactly one hundred years after bacteriophages were dis- covered, Holger Ziehr, together with two partners, launched Phage4Cure. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, this project is aimed at developing a phage-based drug for cystic fibrosis patients. People with this genetic disorder have a viscous mucus in their lungs that is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria. One such bacterium is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is now resistant to most antibiotics. The phages used in the project stem from the DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures in Braun- schweig. This collection also includes many phages that are specific to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They were isolated from such sources as wastewater from clinics and municipal wastewater treatment plants. Using more than 130 clinical samples from patients, the Fraunhofer ITEM researchers test which phages are most effective against the Pseudomonas bacteria. “There is no broad-spectrum phage that covers all Pseudomonas strains,” explains Holger Ziehr. “So we created a cocktail of three different phages.” Phage therapy was a success as far back as 1919 – then it was forgotten again.

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 65 The phages can be filled into vials in a sterile filling unit directly on the Fraunhofer ITEM premises and then shipped. © Fraunhofer ITEM The phages are manufactured on the second floor of the institute. This is the realm of Dr. Sarah Wienecke, who is responsible for phage production. When she starts a new batch, she places a flexible disposable plastic container on a heated shaking table, fills it with ten liters of clear nutrient solution and adds Pseudomonas bacteria from a safe production strain. The gentle rocking and pleasant warmth cause the bacteria to grow. When the nutrient solution has reached a certain turbidity due to the bacterial growth, Sarah Wienecke puts the phages in. After just a few hours, the turbidity disappears and the nutrient solution becomes clear again. The phages have done an excellent job. They infected the bacteria, then replicated inside them and caused them to burst. Now the entire nutrient solution is full of phages. The biotechnologist then filters out the coarse components and uses other standard biotechnology methods to wash the phages. To produce the phages as investigational drugs, there are already clean rooms at Fraunhofer ITEM equipped with appropriate facil- ities that allow for production in compliance with stringent regulatory requirements. Clinical studies begin in 2021 At Fraunhofer ITEM’s headquarters in Hannover, Dr. Sabine Wronski then uses the phages to develop an aerosol that cys- tic fibrosis patients can inhale. Additional preclinical testing is underway at Berlin’s Charité hospital, where the phages are tested on living lung tissue samples taken from portions of human lungs, for example following a tumor operation. Berlin is also where the first clinical studies are set to take place in 2021, at the Charité Research Organisation – initially on healthy study participants, then on patients. The Phage4Cure team is also charting new regulatory terri- tory, working closely with the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) in the approval process. After all, there are as yet no specific rules for therapeutics that, like phages, can self-replicate. The process is guided by the requirements for biologic drugs, such as therapeutic antibodies. The quality parameters developed in this project can then serve as a template for approving additional phage therapeutics for clinical trials. “Phage therapy is on its way to patients in Germany – at last!” Prof. Holger Ziehr Phage therapy as a covered benefit? The PhagoFlow project, which involves treating wounds infected with antibiotic-resistant germs, demonstrates just how important phage therapy has become. The project is funded by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), the body that makes legally binding decisions as to which benefits anyone insured under Germany’s statutory health insurance scheme is entitled to. “Prof. Josef Hecken, Chairman of the Federal Joint Committee, personally advocated for PhagoFlow,” says Holger Ziehr. The project is expected to provide indications as to whether and how phage therapy could be included in the service catalog of the statutory health insurance organizations. Many patients with gunshot wounds that have not healed despite treatment with antibiotics are treated at the German Armed Forces hospital (BwK) in Berlin. For Phago- Flow, Fraunhofer ITEM is collaborating with the military doc- tors. Once again, the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures is responsible for choosing suitable phages. Fraunhofer ITEM produces the phages on a large scale and provides them to the BwK pharmacy. The pharmacists then select the appropriate phages for each patient based on a microbiological analysis of their wound secretions. Treatment entails simply putting the phage cocktail into the non-healing wound – just as was done for the Red Army soldiers more than 70 years ago, except that the quality standards for the cocktail are different today. The initial successes in these publicly funded projects have awakened industry interest, too. Fraunhofer ITEM has already signed and sealed the first major contract with a pharmaceu- tical company. Holger Ziehr is very pleased with the resulting momentum: “Phage therapy is on its way to patients in Germany – at last.”

Putting safety to the test Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 67 Self-driving cars from Tesla, Waymo and Uber have already covered millions of kilometers. But there are still risks. Now Fraunhofer is offering new solutions in the race to create intelligent systems for autonomous driving. By Eva Rathgeber Driving scenario on the OCTANE simulation platform. © Fraunhofer IOSB According to a study by the Capgemini Research Institute, half of drivers say they would like to buy a self-driv- ing car over the next five years – yet the study also revealed that almost two-thirds of drivers are unsure whether they can really trust them. Safety concerns are the biggest problem in autonomous driving – yet they might be the best oppor- tunity German companies have to claw back the lead from high-tech companies in the U.S. and China. That’s because people all over the world associate German engineering with outstanding reliability. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is currently working on a series of solutions aimed at improving the safety of self-driving cars. The great race to complete the last 20 percent of this technological journey has only just begun, according to Professor Mario Trapp: “We may be lagging behind the U.S. and China in traditional AI, but Germany leads the way in making AI safe,” says the director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Cognitive Systems IKS in Munich, which was created just last December on the foundations of the former Fraunhofer ESK. Automakers are determined to protect their vehicles against cyber attacks and ensure failsafe operation of onboard electronics through redundancy and other methods. But they also understand the critical importance of ensuring that autonomous vehicles do not cause accidents. Typical error rates accepted by industry for traditional vehicle systems is generally of the order 10-8, which means only one critical error is permitted per 100 million operating hours. A standard car is driven for around 200 to 300 hours a year, so it generally takes a long time for an error to occur. Autonomous vehicles are still a long way off reaching this level of reliability, however: “Today’s self-driving cars perform fantastically well in good weather and traffic conditions. But we still face huge challenges when it comes to translating these experiences to the real world of rain, storms, snow and difficult, unpredictable traffic situations,” says Trapp. Many experts therefore argue it will take until at least 2035 before the first fully autonomous cars are approved for general road use. Another complication is the fact that the we expect far more from the AI of an intelligent car than we do from a human driver or other AI systems such as voice assistants. That’s understandable, because if a voice assistant fails to understand us several times in a row, it’s annoying – but if a car fails to correctly identify a cyclist, it could be deadly. There is even consensus that an autonomous vehicle’s AI should be safer than the average human driver by at least a factor of ten. Considering that 90 percent of all traffic accidents are caused by human error, this shows how much potential AI has to make our streets safer. Five components of all-round safety In the “Safe Intelligence” project, Fraunhofer IKS is working on ways of ensuring and validating the safety of AI in autonomous vehicles. Its software engineers are faced with the challenge of unifying two contradictory worlds: the creative design freedom of smart software development and the restrictive realm of safety. “Germany leads the way in making AI safe.” Professor Mario Trapp

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 69 Their starting point is to look at a safe system and ask how much AI it can realistically encompass. Three key aspects underpin their development work: First, no harm may come to humans. Second, a car stuck in the garage is no use to anyone – meaning that a car needs to work reliably while also being safe. And third, this all has to come at a reason- able cost. “It’s easier to use AI for functions we can monitor, such as fixed routes taken by local public transport or specific situa- tions such as freeway traffic or transporting goods by truck. But as soon as you introduce challenges such as detecting pedestrians, nobody can currently offer the reliability we need,” says Trapp. Scientists train artificial intelligence to recognize what people look like, but it’s difficult to fully understand what exactly the AI is learning. Attributes such as short or long skirts and trousers or yellow raincoats might play a role, but there are clearly all sorts of other yellow objects that don’t contain a person – and there are people the AI will simply fail to identify as such. Add factors such as obstacles that limit visibility, and things get even more complicated. “Obviously you could design the system to be more cautious so that it always drives very slowly or even performs an emergency stop in those kinds of cases. But then it ends up being too cautious, so your safety figures are good but the reliability and cost are not where you want them to be,” says Trapp. To tackle these uncertainties, Fraunhofer IKS engineers have developed a safety architecture they call four-plus-one, which works on five different levels. The first level focuses on continuing to improve AI methods with the goal of teaching the AI to understand what it knows and what it doesn’t – in other words to correctly assess its level of uncertainty. “You can’t rely on the current confidence values of the AI – it generally rates itself far too highly,” says Maximilian Henne, a research fellow at Fraunhofer IKS. One of these methods is known as out-of-distribution detection. This involves teaching the AI to identify new exam- ples that are conceptually very different from the training data and to use specific methods to quantify the degree of deviation. The second level focuses on observing AI software as a “black box” and carrying out specialist error analyses. The third component is adaptive safety management. This involves improving the AI’s ability not only to assess the current safety risk but also to adapt itself to this risk so that it can achieve the best possible results without endangering safety. The fourth component – continuous safety manage- ment – is about learning systematically from field trials, not only to improve the product rapidly, but also to systematically expand the knowledge required to make cognitive systems more reliable and thus to improve safety processes. Proof of safety through virtual testing To prove that their self-driving cars are ready for market, U.S. companies in particular – such as Waymo, Tesla and Uber – have already tested their vehicles over millions of kilometers of American roads. According to unanimous expert opinion, however, this high number of worldwide test drives is nowhere near sufficient to guarantee the safety of autonomous vehicles. What’s more, test drives are both time-consuming and logistically complex; even small adjustments to the parameters can have hard-to-predict consequences in complex systems, making new test drives necessary. Various Fraunhofer Institutes are therefore working on methods of furnishing proof of safety on the basis of virtual simulations. “AI generally rates itself far too highly. You can’t rely on the current confidence values.” Maximilian Henne Using a neural network to identify and classify other road users. © Fraunhofer IKS

Fraunhofer magazine 1.20 - 71 Germany reported 2.7 million traffic acci- dents in 2019: “Our approach allows us to create virtual simulations of real-life accident situations.” Dr. Christian Erbsmehl ally tailored to the needs of each user in terms of computing time, usability and the quality of the results. Unsupervised driving is possible – but only in certain situations There is still no official definition of the safety criteria for autonomous driving, even though this is a necessary condition for approving the sale of autonomous vehicles. “From our perspective, the worst-case scenario would be the IT giants setting the standards,” says Trapp. “We’re all familiar with their method of launching new software and then gradually finding errors that they rectify on a step-by-step basis. But that approach is no good for cars. This is an area where legislators need to be laying down the law.” Many automakers see their biggest business oppor- tunity at level 5 of autonomous driving, in other words full automation. So far, however, the industry has only reached levels 2 to 3, with approval only granted for partially or highly automated vehicles in which drivers continue to supervise the autonomous system and/or perform certain driving functions themselves. Experts therefore consider that the most likely first steps will be to use our existing experience to build even better assistance systems and gradually introduce more and more automation into vehicles. Many other areas in which AI is used, such as medicine, are still very much under the control of humans. But in the case of self-driving cars, experts are aware that, in the event of an emergency, people would be unable to simply take over steering within seconds because they would struggle to grasp the context after such a long break from driving. AI-based fully autonomous driving can already be achieved in certain specialist driving situations and carefully chosen cases, says Professor Trapp: “In contexts that involve limited functionalities, the error rates are already where we need them to be.” Display screen in one of the VERTEX test vehicles run by Fraunhofer IOSB: For as long as humans have to continue supervising automated driving, clear human-machine communication will continue to be a safety-rele- vant system function. © Fraunhofer IOSB For example, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI are working with project partners from TU Dresden and companies in Saxony on the SePIA project, which aims to develop a complex validation platform for highly automated driving with a focus on electronic subsystems and the overall vehicle. This will be achieved by using real-life driving scenarios with extensive accident data and information from police accident reconstruction reports, as well as vehicle data and video recordings. “In 2019, there were more than 2.7 million traffic accidents in Germany. The most serious ones tended to involve cyclists, pedestrians and motorized two-wheelers such as motorbikes and mopeds,” says Dr. Christian Erbsmehl, group manager of Vehicle and Road Safety at Fraunhofer IVI in Dresden. “Our approach allows us to create virtual reproductions of real-life accident situations and test the ability of different vehicle safety systems – either in isolation or in combination – to execute the collision at a lower speed or avoid the accident altogether,” he adds. To assess these systems, the scientists use a virtual simulation based on a catalogue of scenarios. They also use a sample hardware/ software application environment to test and validate the developed platform. The Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB has also spent several years collaborating with industrial companies to conduct research in areas ranging from driver assistance to fully automated driving. “Our common goal is to reach a point where we can make a definitive statement on the level of safety,” says Miriam Ruf, who heads up the automotive research group at Fraunhofer IOSB. She sees particular difficulty in the fact that the vehicle environment is dynamic and constantly subject to new conditions, from a new brand of electric scooter to a new paint scheme or a new raincoat collection. “And we also can’t be sure how people will behave in the future as we see more and more vehicles controlled by AI,” Ruf adds. The AI software used in autonomous vehicles must therefore be designed in such a way that it can continue to develop and adapt to a constant stream of new situations once it is on the road. Fraunhofer IOSB has two test vehicles which its researchers are teaching to drive autonomously. Since 2018, companies have been able to test their autonomous vehicles in real-life traffic situations at the Testfeld Autonomes Fahren Baden-Württemberg in Karlsruhe, a test site for autonomous driving. The Fraunhofer IOSB is responsible for anonymizing the sensor data and also acts as a contact point for businesses and members of the public. One of their latest projects is the OCTANE simulation platform, which is currently being developed through cross-institute collabora- tion. The platform allows users to simulate and test critical driving situations in a virtual environment and execute them faster or slower than real time. What makes the OCTANE concept so special, says Ruf, is the idea of creating an open source platform with simulation models that can be individu-