Dependable Sensors

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the European Social Fund (ESF), and the European Union have awarded an EXIST Start-Up Grant for founding the company OndoSense. The engineers Dr. Mathias Klenner, Bernhard Schöne-Remmeau, and Dr. Axel Hülsmann from the University of Freiburg will receive €139,000 to develop and bring to market a sensor system for the detection and measurement of objects. The startup is also being coached by the Startup Office of the University of Freiburg.

Manufacturing companies need to be able to detect and measure objects and their exact position in the production process with the utmost precision. For this purpose, they currently rely on optical methods such as lasers, as well as ultrasounds and X-rays. These technologies are prone to producing false results however, especially in difficult environments, for example with lots of dust, steam, diffused light, or dirt, which is why reasonably priced sensors based on these technologies tend to fail in many areas of production. With X-rays, horrendous costs pose an additional problem. The equipment can only be operated by trained staff and in adherence with strict radiation protection regulations, often making the use of this technology not very cost-effective.

A real alternative could be radar measuring systems. This is because aerosols, dust, and dirt particles do not have a significant impact on the radar signal. The team at OndoSense is therefore working on developing a measuring system based on radar technology that will be able to measure distances, detect objects, and analyze materials. The core of the startup is a radar system developed by the Microelectronics Systems research lab at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF in Freiburg. This system allows measurements to be taken with a precision of up to 250 nanometers in laboratory conditions. Until now, only optical and radiometric measuring systems were able to achieve such a high level of accuracy.

The EXIST Start-Up Grant is a funding program for students, graduates and scientists at higher education institutions and non-academic research institutes. It provides support for up to one year for technology-driven and knowledge-based projects that showcase significant and unique ideas with great economic promise.

For more information about the EXIST Start-Up Grant, please visit:
www.exist.de/DE/Programm/Exist-Gruenderstipendium/inhalt.html

OndoSense website:
www.ondosense.com