Pictures of the Future Fall 2006
In Brief
Happy Anniversary
Siemens’ Roke Manor Research (Roke) celebrated its 50th anniversary with a high-tech exhibition in May 2006. Roke, which has approximately 400 staff members in the County of Hampshire in southeast England, is a leader in the development of communication technologies, acoustic systems, image processing systems and sensor technology. Roke also played a major role in enabling Siemens to become the first company to offer the HSDPA high-speed data system for its UMTS base stations. HSDPA accelerates the transfer of data in UMTS networks by a factor of between eight and 16, thus enabling mobile Internet and TV features. Siemens has already received several orders for the installation of HSDPA—for example, from T-Mobile and Vodafone. Roke Manor scientists have also developed the Universal Microphone, an acoustic system that precisely localizes the source of noises. The Universal Microphone can therefore filter out and record voices while suppressing background noise. One conceivable application for the system would be sports broadcasts, which means that some athletes would have to watch their language. The Universal Microphone could also be used for recording orchestras or opera singers. The system, which works with a series of microphones that record in parallel, can also be linked to a camera for the automatic tracking of fast-moving objects. Roke Manor, whose administrative offices are housed in an old English country estate of the same name, has been part of Siemens for 16 years. Revenues generated by the research center rose 18 % in 2005, to 52.4 mill. €. In addition to Siemens, Roke’s customers include Cable & Wireless, Eurocontrol, and the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation.
Roke Manor scientists have developed a license plate recognition device (right) and an optical system that can detect hidden individuals (left)
Rail Record
The Taurus electric locomotive attained a record-breaking 357 km/h
In September 2006, Taurus, an electric locomotive and a member of Siemens’ Eurosprinter family, met the challenge. The locomotive raced along the Ingolstadt-Nuremberg route in Germany at 357 km/h to set a new rail-speed world record. The previous record of 331 km/h was set by a French locomotive in 1955. The record-setting locomotive is a production model built for the Austrian Federal Railroad (ÖBB). The only alterations made to it involved equipping the pantograph and two wheel sets with special measuring devices for monitoring the trip. "The new world record underscores the power, speed and reliability of this locomotive,"says Herwig Wiltberger, managing director of ÖBB-Traktion GmbH.
Steam Power
An integrated motor offers the benefits of a steam generator in a normal clothing iron
Siemens has introduced a new iron outfitted with an integrated steam generator. The appliance has all the advantages of a larger and more expensive steam ironing station, which would typically have a separate water tank. The innovation in the slider steam generator, as the system is known, is a motor inside the water tank that operates a pump. The five-watt motor, which isn’t much larger than a postage stamp, moves a small piston up and down to produce the steam. Although the water has to be refilled more often than in steam ironing stations, the steam is ready as soon as the iron heats up. Steam ironing stations, on the other hand, can take up to eight minutes to generate the necessary pressure of around 2 bar.
Airbags with Ears
A new sensor triggers airbags based on chassis-borne sound waves
A new sensor from Siemens that can recognize vehicle impacts through sound will enable airbags to trigger nearly twice as fast. The Crash Impact Sound Sensor (CISS) uses the structure-borne sound waves created when the body of a vehicle deforms on impact and, based on their characteristics, determines the severity of the crash and whether the airbags should be deployed. The sensor should be ready for mass production in 2007. Until now, different sensors have been used for detecting crashes and deploying airbags—pressure sensors and acceleration sensors that determine the severity of an impact on the basis of vibrations measuring up to 400 Hz. However, the new sensor also processes frequencies as high as 16 kHz along with vibrations in the lower range. This allows it to detect inaudible oscillations as well, which propagate more quickly than deeper vibrations. It does this by taking into account the characteristics of plastic deformation. When metal bends, structure-borne sound is generated as a result of a displacement in its atomic structure. This sound varies according to the intensity and speed of the deformation. In just 15 ms the sensor effectively "hears"the intensity of the accident, determines its precise nature with the aid of acquired acceleration signals, and activates airbags and safety belt tensioners.
Sensor Sees Everything
Museum surveillance. Eyetec stores data on specific areas, and sounds an alarm if they are violated
Motion detectors have now been given the power to see. Eyetec from Siemens is the world’s only motion detector that combines a body heat recognition system with image sensor technology. As a result, false alarms are practically impossible. The optical detection system uses a CMOS image sensor and fuzzy logic to determine the size, direction of motion, and speed of an object. Sophisticated algorithms are then used to evaluate movement patterns and assess them for plausibility. If an alarm is triggered, the detector archives all images so that they can later be used to determine the cause of the incident. The user can also freely define specific surveillance zones. By marking areas on a live image of a monitored room, for example, users can allow people to enter these zones without triggering an alarm. This makes it possible to let museum visitors move among exhibits while keeping them from getting too close to any of them.
Proud Publication
Pictures of the Future has been awarded the top prize in an international competition held by the Society for Technical Communication (STC). The publication received the society’s Distinguished Award in the magazine category. With more than 23,000 members, the STC is the world’s largest association of technical writers. Only ten magazines from all 50 U.S. states, Europe and Israel made it to the final round this year.