Projects

The transformation of the energy system towards renewable energies and decentralized structures leads to a higher load on the medium-voltage grids, which are becoming increasingly important for operation. Many of the power cables are outdated and monitoring their insulation condition is crucial to avoid failures. Partial discharge measurements are a proven method for the early detection of insulation faults. Despite its relevance, this technology is still little used due to a lack of cost-effective solutions. There is therefore a need for research into the development of economical sensors for effective online monitoring. The project "Partial discharge detection on power cables for online monitoring of their insulation condition", funded by the state of Saxony-Anhalt, is addressing this challenge. The aim of the research project is therefore to increase the technology readiness level (TRL) of the existing partial discharge sensor as far as possible and to fundamentally answer the necessary research questions. The aim is to create a greatly improved prototype that can meet the complex requirements of continuous online monitoring of electrical distribution grids.
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The main objective of the project is the development of an organ-on-chip system for precision medicine, including the optimization of its use in companion diagnostics to individualize the treatment of tumor patients (with a focus on intestinal tumors) and prevent their metastasis in the micro- and macroenvironment. Organ-on-chip research requires close cooperation and integration with various research teams with interdisciplinary expertise:
(1) Molecular biology and cell culture technology (represented by Prof. Ulf Kahlert)
(2) Metrology and micro/nanotechnology (represented by Prof. Ulrike Steinmann)
(3) Medical imaging techniques and pharmacokinetic process modeling (represented by Prof. Christoph Hoeschen and Dr.-Ing. Melanie Fachet)
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Elastic circuit carriers are revolutionizing electronic applications due to their adaptability, which cannot be achieved by traditionally rigid systems. Our focus is on the development of a skin-like tactile sensor ("patch") that uses a flexible, biocompatible carrier material (polymer) to record the forces acting at the human-technology interface in real time. The project pursues the following goals that go beyond the state of the art: 1) Production of extremely compliant electrical conductor paths on the polymer through microscopically optimized assembly and disassembly 2) Embedding of force-sensitive (piezoresistive) structures to record the pressure and shear forces acting on the human body, which have so far been insufficiently quantifiable, 3) Integration of wireless communication technology for data transmission, 4) Optimization of energy efficiency for self-sufficient use.
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Ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging is an advanced medical imaging technology and plays an important role in the study of brain function and neurobiology. It enables scientists to capture detailed images of the brain and track functional activity in real time. This can contribute to a better understanding of brain diseases, cognitive processes and neurological disorders. The technical goal of this project is to realize a universal integrated console for high-field MRI systems. The MRI console developed in this project surpasses all systems available commercially or as home-built systems to date and will enable OVGU and thus the state of Saxony-Anhalt to expand and secure its flagship activities in the field of MRI and neurosciences in the coming years. Furthermore, the project offers an excellent opportunity for integration into the
high-tech strategy of the state of Saxony-Anhalt with the establishment of semiconductor technology and microelectronics companies. With UIC4UHFMRI, the toolchain from design to system integration of modern semiconductor components is being established at OVGU.
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Virtual reality (VR) technologies are used in many different ways in our society. In sport and therapy, an increasing number of tool developments can be found to support sport and promote movement in patients. A major shortcoming is that VR mainly only allows visual perception (https://doi.org/10.3390/robotics10010029). Our aim is to develop virtual environments with a high level of immersion, with which the virtual objects can also be perceived haptically through human-centered, integrated actuators. The following goals are pursued: Development of VR tools with haptic feedback (1) to promote movement and (2) to test motor skills and abilities in healthy and cognitively / motor-impaired individuals.
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Scientific goals
The idea of co-evolution at the human-technology interface is based on the fact that both the biological side and the technical side of an interface are not only dynamic and adaptive, but also take account of the other side in their adaptivity. Investigating this mutual influence leads to a deeper understanding of the causes of undesired processes, such as the maladaptation of inflammatory responses to unwanted changes in implant surfaces. This understanding then opens up new strategies to support desired processes in the sense of co-evolution. These include the possibilities of adaptive technologies and sensor approaches that can adjust to individual dynamics in the biological system, or the development of process-aware technologies that can bring about desired dynamics in the biological system.

Intended strategic goals
The modules of the TACTIC graduate school are designed to enhance translational expertise in the fields of medical technology, sensor technology, and artificial intelligence (AI). The goal is to strengthen research, development, and innovation activities on site. The aim is to closely interlink life sciences and engineering across all modules in order to facilitate future collaborative projects in this area. In addition, the integration of AI is intended to strengthen the profile area of medical technology. By internationalizing the research focus areas, TACTIC enables networking with EU partners, which is an important prerequisite for the alignment of consortia in order to strengthen science in Saxony-Anhalt.

Work program
The graduate school comprises three modules with a total of 9 doctoral students. A thematic network is established through doctoral topics, where at least two thematic modules are assigned concurrently. Each of the three thematic modules - Interaction, AI and Interface - is endowed with three doctoral positions (100%). The aim is to qualify our doctoral students for both the academic and private sector job markets. Interdisciplinary skills are to be imparted through doctoral seminars. Annual thesis committee meetings and TACTIC symposia support the development of doctoral students. An international network is to be established through presentations at international conferences and self-organized symposia.

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In order to maintain mobility and independence, many people resort to aids such as rollators as they get older. Despite the rapidly advancing digitalization and mechanization of the everyday lives of older groups of people, there have only been a few further developments for mobile support in recent years that have proven to be suitable for everyday use by older people. We address this in the project and develop possible haptic assistance modalities for mobile use in a co-creative form together with the target group. Haptic feedback serves as an interface (human-technology interaction) for the intuitive, touch-based transfer of information from sensors that perceive the environment to the user. The design of dynamic, spatially and temporally defined haptic signals allows a high degree of flexibility (position, direction, intensity, frequency, pattern, etc.). This allows information of various kinds to be transported, e.g. direction, distance or speed or time specifications, which inform the user about obstacles in the environment and guide them safely to their destination. An important feature of the project is the flexibility and retrofittability of the system for a wide range of applications (e.g. bicycles and wheelchairs in addition to rollators). The potential user groups can therefore be extended in the future to include healthy (mobile) people, people with limited mobility, immobile people and people with various illnesses such as dementia and confusion. The digital solution approach is intended to establish itself as an everyday companion and make a significant contribution to
to maintain mobility, independence and social participation.
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This joint project between the faculties of the OVGU engineering campus (FEIT, FMB and FVST) with NTUU Kiev-KPI and NTU Kharkiv-KhPI (in cooperation with DonNTU) builds on many years of cooperation between OVGU and the Ukrainian universities in Kiev, Kharkiv and Donetsk. In 2023 and 2024, the cooperation between the German and Ukrainian partners was continued under difficult conditions and further developed in terms of content. This involved making the Ukrainian partners' German-language courses of study more compatible, but also the further linguistic qualification of lecturers and German teachers; for the former, the focus was on general language development, for the latter on specialist language development. To this end, specially prepared German lectures were offered for German teachers, internships (due to the war) were converted into online formats, courses were offered to improve German language skills, specialist lectures were held online for students and students in Magdeburg were able to take part in specialist lectures. Some of the students on the relevant Master's degree courses in Magdeburg completed Master's theses, which were successfully defended. This also made it possible to maintain some of the established research collaborations with Kiev and Kharkiv.
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This joint project between the faculties of the OVGU engineering campus (FEIT, FMB and FVST) with NTUU Kiev-KPI and NTU Kharkiv-KhPI (in cooperation with DonNTU) builds on many years of cooperation between OVGU and the Ukrainian universities in Kiev, Kharkiv and Donetsk. In 2023 and 2024, the cooperation between the German and Ukrainian partners was continued under difficult conditions and further developed in terms of content. This involved making the Ukrainian partners' German-language degree courses more compatible, as well as the further linguistic qualification of lecturers and German teachers; for the former, the focus was on general language development, for the latter on specialist language development. To this end, specially prepared German lectures were offered for German teachers, internships (due to the war) were converted into online formats, courses were offered to improve German language skills, specialist lectures were held online for students and students in Magdeburg were able to take part in specialist lectures. Some of the students on the relevant Master's degree courses in Magdeburg completed Master's theses, which were successfully defended. This also made it possible to maintain some of the established research collaborations with Kiev and Kharkiv.
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Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) is an analytical method for rapid on-site detection of toxic gases and warfare agents. An essential component is the sampling system, i.e. the transfer of the gaseous organic molecules into the spectrometer through a membrane. These special membrane inlet systems are to be investigated and improved in the project. In particular, their manufacture is to be facilitated and made process-capable. The primary goal is to develop a robust, industrially processable and cost-effective inlet system that meets the analytical and technical requirements of an IMS. The basis for this is a thin (lower µm range) membrane (polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)), which can be manufactured reproducibly and is connected to a solid support structure. New membrane inlet systems will be developed and evaluated for the described application.

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The overall aim of the project is to equip high-quality and complex dynamic mechanical seals in the price segment of several thousand EURO with sensor technology for self- and process diagnosis. The design of mechanical seals currently available on the market is not suitable for such diagnostic statements. The planned project addresses this R&D problem and aims at redesigning and realizing mechanical seals with functional expansion by implementing suitable, technological-application-related measuring technology.
The implementation is planned as a joint project with the partners KSD Köthener Spezialdichtungen GmbH and Otto-von-Guericke University (OvGU) Magdeburg, Chair of Measurement Technology
planned. OvGU will develop a sensor concept suitable for robust, technological operating conditions of the dynamic seal and will participate in its integration into the sealing concept. KSD will take over the design, implementation and iterative optimization of the sample seal suitable for the target applications, including embedded sensor technology.
At the end of the project, the performance of the developed diagnostic seal is to be demonstrated on a demonstrator in order to be able to move on to a phase of market introduction.

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With this project, OvGU aims at the utilization of polymer materials in terms of sensory and actuator applications, which are primarily found in the field of fluid - in this case liquid - media. The research question is motivated by processes from, for example, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals or chemistry. A bottleneck there are necessary but time-consuming process steps such as cleaning and sterilisation, which can sometimes be longer than the actual production and thus limit the time yield of the process plant. One trend towards increasing productivity is the use of disposable measuring systems. In order to meet this increasing demand for disposable process analytics, suitably integrated or non-invasive measuring techniques must be developed or the sensors must be designed as disposable systems. The project is dedicated to this R&D focus by working out appropriate approaches.

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Microtechnical products such as sensors and actuators are subject to a wide variety of external stresses. To protect these microcomponents from these function-impairing influences or contamination, they must be protected by encapsulation processes. The inert molding compound frequently used for this purpose, which consists of a combination of organic and inorganic compounds, is injected around the micro-component to be protected under pressure of several atmospheres in an injection molding process. In the event of component failure, the mold compound used must be removed again for failure analysis. This special demolding process involves a series of mechanical and chemical treatment processes and is carried out under special conditions in a chemical laboratory.
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The eMobility Competence Center project addresses the structural challenges and develops solutions in key areas as part of a newly established competence center, which will significantly strengthen cooperation between SMEs and university research and teaching. The knowledge can be transferred directly to the affected supplier industry, where it can help to successfully manage structural change and exploit new economic opportunities. In addition to the primary objective of building up and transferring core know-how, the long-term anchoring of the knowledge gained in economic structures that create jobs is of primary importance.

Various sensor signals must be evaluated for autonomous driving. An essential component of environment recognition is the evaluation of information from the vehicle radar. To test the functionality of the radar, objects must be mapped in a synthetically generated backscattered signal. This is done using a radar target simulation. The aim of the scientific work is to model the distance radar taking beamforming into account and to generate corresponding backscattered signals with synthetically generated environmental objects.
The reliable validation of autonomous driving requires extensive test sequences, both for the components used and for the entire vehicle. Test sequences for the entire vehicle, generating any number of scenarios, require the provision of an appropriate test environment.
In this sub-project, the initial foundations for the development of a test environment for autonomous vehicles are being created. The long-term goal is to demonstrate the functionality of the complete vehicle as hardware in the loop.
The necessary skills in the field of testing and inspection of components and systems for autonomous driving are being developed. This represents an important first step towards establishing and developing skills in autonomous driving itself and is initially closely focused on the topic of testing and inspection, which is being worked on jointly in terms of methodology and testing technology. The interlinking of the topics being worked on is illustrated in the diagram. The sub-areas are closely interlinked and will be developed into a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test in the long term.
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Microtechnical products such as sensors and actuators are subject to a wide variety of external stresses. To protect these microcomponents from these function-impairing influences or contamination, they must be protected by encapsulation processes. The inert molding compound frequently used for this purpose, which consists of a combination of organic and inorganic compounds, is injected around the micro-component to be protected under pressure of several atmospheres in an injection molding process. In the event of component failure, the mold compound used must be removed again for failure analysis. This special demolding process involves a series of mechanical and chemical treatment processes and is carried out under special conditions in a chemical laboratory.
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Polarizers are used to filter light of a certain orientation and are used in the telecommunications sector, among others. Depending on the application, polymer or glass-based polarizing filters can be used. Glass-based polarizers are characterized by their thermal and chemical resistance. For high-precision adaptation in the respective application area, it is possible to structure these glass-based polarizers with high precision and nanometre accuracy using wet chemical etching processes in order to create new and innovative microcomponents.
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The dispersion quality of polymer compounds is one of the key quality criteria in plastics processing. The offline analysis methods commonly used in practice are labor-intensive and time-consuming and do not allow complete process control. The project aims to investigate the extent to which it is possible to record the dispersion quality of fillers directly in the compounding process in real time by using ultrasonic sensors. The innovative approach of the project is the use of ultrasonic sensors in a reflection arrangement. This simplifies access to the compounding plant and the analysis can be carried out without the aid of a bypass. The project also aims to formulate a uniform, standardized and meaningful definition of dispersion quality, which has not existed in the field of plastics processing to date.

This project was carried out at the Institute for Automation and Communication (ifak) e.V. Magdeburg.
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The aim of the project is to create the basis for a future realization of haptic feedback on touch displays with the help of sound waves by analyzing technical requirements, taking into account user/device-specific requirements and economic aspects. Based on the evaluation of the diverse (non-)technical requirements, both theoretical assessments and metrological investigations will be carried out, which will ultimately lead to a system concept for the realization of feedback in the form of punctual vibro-tactile sensations.
The result should also be a vision paper that shows the next desirable steps as well as the development and application potential of the proposed subject area.

This project was carried out at the Institute for Automation and Communication (ifak) e.V. Magdeburg.
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The aim of the project is the complex, functional expansion of ultrasound-based clamp-on technology for level measurement. The partner OVGU is aiming for the following sub-goals in this context:
1. Model-based design of an optimized ultrasonic transducer array radiator,
2.algorithmic optimization of its radiation behavior,
3. reduction of the susceptibility of the measuring method to interference from solid bodies,
4. development of action strategies to intercept malfunctions.

This project was carried out at the Institute for Automation and Communication (ifak) e.V. Magdeburg.
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Inline-Messtechnik für die Prozessverfolgung an dispersen Stoffsystemen ist vor allem für hohe Feststoffgehalte kaum verfügbar - optische Systeme versagen oftmals, in Ultraschall-Transmissions-Anordnungen setzen sich die kleinen Messspalte häufig zu.
Das Projekt "Ultraschallstreuverfahren" greift diese Problematik auf und stellt sich die Analyse des an der Dispersion rückgestreuten (anstatt des transmittierten) Ultraschallsignals zum Ziel. Mit Hilfe des methodischen Ansatzes der Ultraschall-Rückstreuung will das Vorhaben die Entwicklung prozessfähiger, kostengünstiger Partikelmesstechnik vorantreiben und einen wichtigen Beitrag für die Inline-Prozessüberwachung vor allem in Anwendungsbereichen, die auf aufwändiger Offlineanalytik basieren, liefern. Insbesondere in kmU kann die so erzielbare Zeit- und Kostenersparnis zu Wettbewerbsvorteilen, Umsatzsteigerungen und damit einer Stärkung der Marktposition führen.

Diese Projekt wurde am Institut für Automation und Kommunikation (ifak) e.V. Magdeburg durchgeführt.

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Die Nutzung des Ultraschalls zur Bestimmung von Durchflussraten, Füllständen oder Stoff­konzentrationen in Rohrsystemen stellt eine etablierte Messmethode dar. Insbesondere durch Nutzung von Clamp-On-Konfigurationen kann das Anwendungsfeld auch auf Bereiche, die eine nicht-invasive, rückwirkungsfreie Prozessbeobachtung fordern, erweitert werden. Allerdings bedingt diese Technik oft die Nutzung anspruchsvoller Signalanalytik, um den Einfluss uner­wünsch­ter Störsignale, die beispielsweise durch die gleichzeitige Schallausbreitung in der Rohr­wand auftreten und sich dem Nutzsignal am Empfänger überlagern, zu reduzieren. 
Mit dem Projekt soll eine Methode entwickelt werden, die es erlaubt, die zeitlich und örtlich gekoppelten Effekte von Störschall-Ausbreitung im Rohr und die Nutz-Schallausbreitung in einer Flüssigkeit abzubilden. Dadurch kann Wissen über die Ausbreitungseigenschaften der Ultraschallsignale in einer konkreten Applikation bereits im Vorfeld der Anwendung erlangt und die Zuverlässigkeit des Messsystems verbessert werden.

Diese Projekt wurde am Institut für Automation und Kommunikation (ifak) e.V. Magdeburg durchgeführt.

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Ziel des Projekts ist es, eine disziplin-übergreifende Plattform in Form eines sensor-aktor-gestützten Frühwarnsystems zur Gefahrenabwehr bei Extremwetter zu realisieren. Dazu sollen auf der Sensor-Seite die bisherigen Möglichkeiten der lokalen Prognose von Extremwetter und dessen lokale Auswirkungen zum einen durch die Integration vorhandener, heterogener Mess­netze (z.B. private und öffentliche Wetterstationsnetze, Daten von Umweltämtern, Pegelnetze) und zum anderen durch den Einsatz neuer, kostengünstiger Messmethoden entscheidend verbessert werden. 
Auf der Aktor-Seite sollen neben der genauen und zielgerichteten Warnung von Betroffenen auch automatische Systeme (z.B. im Bereich der Anlagen- und Gebäude­technik) in die Gefahrenabwehr einbezogen werden.

Diese Projekt wurde am Institut für Automation und Kommunikation (ifak) e.V. Magdeburg durchgeführt.

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Ziel des Projekts ist die Konzeption und Entwicklung von Techniken und Komponenten zur Handhabung festphasiger biologischer Materialien sowie deren prototypische Erprobung in einem komplexen biotechnologischen System zur routinemäßigen Wirkstoffanalyse. 

Bereits bekannte Wägeverfahren werden hinsichtlich ihrer Integrierbarkeit in den zu konzipierenden Objektgreifer analysiert. Neben den Methoden der direkten Massenbestimmung (Quarzmikrobalance) werden dabei auch indirekte Verfahren, wie z.B. Kapazitäts-oder Volumenmessungen, einbezogen. Nach Auswahl einer bekannten oder Entwicklung einer neuen Messmethode wird ein massensensitiver Sensor entworfen, der ein elektrisches Ausgangssignal liefert.
Für die Universität bedeutet das Projekt eine weitere Profilierung ihrer Kernkompetenzen auf einem neuen Anwendungsgebiet. Die Ergebnisse, insbesondere das neu gewonnene Know-How soll in weitere ähnlich gelagerte Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekte einfließen und darüber hinaus die Erkenntnisse zu Zwecken der Lehre genutzt werden.

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