Tag Archives: fraunhofer
Algae can survive nearly a year and a half in outer space
Algae from the Arctic Circle are used to tough weather, and it turns out they're also able to survive the extreme conditions of outer space. Two specimens recently spent 16 months on the exterior of the International Space Station and became the firs...
Audio software can make phone calls more intelligible
It can be tough hearing each other on the phone no matter how much you shout if you're in a noisy environment. Fraunhofer believes its new audio software can solve that problem, though, and make even garbled loudspeaker announcements at train station...
Fraunhofer iPad app guides liver surgery through augmented reality
Liver surgery is more than a little dangerous -- with so many blood vessels, one wrong cut can lead to disaster. Fraunhofer MEVIS has just tested a new generation of augmented reality iPad app that could minimize those risks. The tool puts a 3D vessel map on top of live video of a patient, telling the surgeon where it's safe to make incisions. Doctors who do need to cut vessels can predict the level of blood loss and remove affected vessels from the map. The trial was successful enough that Fraunhofer MEVIS sees the new technology applying to surgery elsewhere in the body. If all goes well, there should be fewer accidents during tricky operations of many kinds -- a big relief for those of us going under the knife.
[Thanks, Urban]
Source: Fraunhofer MEVIS
Researchers achieve world record in wireless data transmission, seek to provide rural broadband
Speed. It's a movie. It's a drug. And it's also something that throngs of internet users the world over cannot get enough of. Thankfully, the wizards at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics and the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology have figured out a way to satisfy the unsatisfiable, announcing this week a world record in the area of wireless data transmission. Researchers were able to achieve 40Gbit/sec at 240GHz over a distance of one kilometer, essentially matching the capacity of optical fiber... but, you know, without the actual tether.
The goal here, of course, isn't to lower your ping times beyond where they are already; it's to give rural communities across the globe a decent shot at enjoying broadband. Distances of over one kilometer have already been covered by using a long range demonstrator, which the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology set up between two skyscrapers as part of the project "Millilink". There's no clear word on when the findings will be ported over to the commercial realm, but given the traction we're seeing in the white spaces arena, we doubt you'll have to wait long.
Filed under: Science, Internet
Via: Physorg
Source: Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics
Fraunhofer releases its ‘CD-like’ audio codecs to developers, lends a little HiFi to VoIP apps
For those who relish high fidelity but not high data consumption (and bills), Fraunhofer introduced its IIs Full-HD codec for Android and iOS earlier in the year, which is currently being used in apps like Facetime. Now you can bring some of that "CD-like" audio quality to your own VoIP app development with the release of the Fraunhofer FDK Codec Library for Android 4.1 and up, iOS 4.0 or higher and OSX. That'll let you build less tinny VoIP apps across platforms with "direct, native access" to all the IIs codecs, according to Fraunhofer. Grab it from the coverage below, or check the PR after the break.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Fraunhofer releases its 'CD-like' audio codecs to developers, lends a little HiFi to VoIP apps originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsFraunhofer develops extra-small 1Gbps infrared transceiver, recalls our PDA glory days
Our 1997-era selves would die with envy right about now. Fraunhofer has developed a new generation of infrared transceiver that can transfer data at 1Gbps, or well above anything that our vintage PDAs could manage. While the speed is nothing new by itself -- we saw such rates in 2010 Penn State experiments -- it's the size that makes the difference. The laser diode and processing are efficient enough to fit into a small module whose transceiver is as large as a "child's fingernail." In theory, the advancement makes infrared once more viable for mobile device syncing, with room to grow: even the current technology can scale to 3Gbps, lead researcher Frank Deicke says, and it might jump to 10Gbps with enough work. Along with the usual refinements, most of the challenge in getting production hardware rests in persuading the Infrared Data Association to adopt Deicke's work as a standard. If that ever comes to pass, we may just break out our PalmPilot's infrared adapter to try it for old time's sake.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Mobile
Fraunhofer develops extra-small 1Gbps infrared transceiver, recalls our PDA glory days originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Fraunhofer | Email this | Comments Fraunhofer black silicon could catch more energy from infrared light, go green with sulfur
Generating solar power from the infrared spectrum, or even nearby frequencies, has proven difficult in spite of a quarter of the Sun's energy passing through those wavelengths. The Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications may have jumped that hurdle to efficiency through sulfur -- one of the very materials that solar energy often helps eliminate. By irradiating ordinary silicon through femtosecond-level laser pulses within a sulfuric atmosphere, the technique melds sulfur with silicon and makes it easier for infrared light electrons to build into the frenzy needed for conducting electricity. The black-tinted silicon that results from the process is still in the early stages and needs improvements to automation and refinement to become a real product, but there's every intention of making that happen: Fraunhofer plans a spinoff to market finished laser systems for solar cell builders who want their own black silicon. If all goes well, the darker shade of solar panels could lead to a brighter future for clean energy.
Fraunhofer black silicon could catch more energy from infrared light, go green with sulfur originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 05:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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