Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT

Tackling the coffee shortage with Fraunhofer technology and responsible behavior

Series: Innovation Driver Coffee / March 28, 2023

© Walter Welß

The effects of climate change are making life hard for the sensitive coffee plant. Experts warn that without appropriate countermeasures, more than half of the area currently used for growing coffee will no longer be suitable for that purpose. Katrin Simon from Erlangen Botanical Gardens, Julie Mildenberger from Weltladen Erlangen and Joelle Claußen from Fraunhofer IIS explain how phenotyping coffee plants, embracing experimentation and more conscious consumption can help ensure that coffee can remain a daily pleasure despite climate change and resource scarcity.

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eResourcing: Keeping an eye on a plant’s development

Development Center X-ray Technology / February 2, 2022

© Fraunhofer IIS

Analyzing plants with a CT scanner may seem like a curious idea, but the Fraunhofer Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT, a research division of the Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and Dutch company PhenoKey were confident it could work. Now, their joint development project has produced a robust CT scanner specifically designed for use in plant breeding. We talked to department head Dr. Stefan Gerth of the Fraunhofer Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT and PhenoKey managing director Bas van Eerdt to find out how CT data can make life easier for breeders – and why e-resourcing is such an important part of the puzzle.

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“Our systems help find the perfect plant”

Development Center X-ray Technology / October 25, 2021

© Fraunhofer IIS

The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS sees itself as one of the drivers of innovation within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s strategic research areas. At Fraunhofer IIS, we are conducting research in a wide variety of areas to support today’s agricultural industry, thus fostering the sustainable shaping of society, the economy and the environment. State-of-the-art cognitive sensor systems are no longer found only in high-tech factories. We asked Dr. Norman Uhlmann, division director of the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology EZRT, why such systems will also become the tools of the trade for farmers and cultivators.

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Is it possible to X-ray microscopic things?

Development Center X-Ray Technology EZRT / 17.12.2020

sub-micrometer computed tomography system
© Fraunhofer IIS/Michael Salamon

Dr. Simon Zabler and his team develop systems for high-resolution computed tomography in the micro- and nanometer range. This allows microscopically fine structures to be examined in three dimensions. His working group is located at the Würzburg location of the Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT.

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How can X-ray technology optimize recycling?

Development Center X-Ray Technology EZRT / 23.11.2020

Sortieranlage
© Fraunhofer IIS

Alexander Ennen heads the Application-Specific Methods and Systems department in the Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. He and his team are developing X-ray systems designed for use on conveyor belts in the fields of electronic waste recycling, mining and detecting foreign objects in food.

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Can computed tomography speed up automobile development?

Development Center X-Ray Technology EZRT / 16.11.2020

RoboCT
© Fraunhofer IIS/Paul Pulkert

At the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology (EZRT), Wolfgang Holub designs robotic systems able to perform CT scans of entire vehicles. The innovation earned Holub and his team this year’s User Prize awarded by the German Society for Non-Destructive Testing.

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At the heart of "X-ray fever"

Development Center X-Ray Technology EZRT / 16.11.2020

Hochenergie-Halle
© Fraunhofer IIS/Paul Pulkert

How the discovery of X-rays changed the Nuremberg metropolitan region and the world

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Year of the X-ray 2020: Can airplanes get X-rayed?

Cognitive Sensor Technologies / Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT / 7.9.2020

XXL-Computertomographie des Raketenjägers Me 163
© Fraunhofer MEVIS
Fraunhofer IIS examined the rocket fighter Me 163 Messerschmitt using XXL computer tomography.

Michael Salamon was instrumental in setting up the world’s only XXL computed tomography system at the Fraunhofer Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT in Fürth, a division of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. He and his team use it to scan large, often spectacular objects and are developing new applications for high-energy computed tomography.

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Year of the X-ray 2020: Can X-ray technology help plants withstand climate change?

Cognitive Sensor Technologies / Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT / 4.9.2020

Phänotypisierung von Pflanzen
© Fraunhofer MEVIS
How do you breed plant varieties that can adapt well to climatic changes? The researchers in Fürth are investigating this question.

Stefan Gerth is a researcher and group manager at the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-Ray Technology in Fürth. He oversees the development of CT systems to aid the selection of heat-tolerant crops. His group's research makes an important contribution to the efforts of plant breeders to respond to the threat of climate change.

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Digitalization in museums: how we solved the mystery of a Peruvian mummy

Cognitive Sensor Technologies / Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT / 08.10.2019

© Fraunhofer MEVIS
Visualization by Fraunhofer MEVIS, Bremen, applying physically based volume rendering to high-resolution CT-scans

One mummy, one research team, one film crew: An exciting day in December 2018 yielded plenty of new insights. As the film crew from Fraunhofer IIS, we had been eagerly awaiting this day, when we would be filming and documenting a fascinating contribution to digitalization in museums.

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Near-sensor AI: Generating sensor data of outstanding quality

Cognitive Sensor Technologies / Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT / 19.06.2019

Dr. Norman Uhlmann, deputy divisional director at Fraunhofer EZRT
© Fraunhofer IIS / Paul Pulkert
An interview with Dr. Norman Uhlmann about near-sensor AI.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role in research. Dr. Norman Uhlmann, Deputy Division Director at Fraunhofer EZRT, discusses the prospect of using AI at a level close to sensors.

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“It would be great if by using alternative examination options we could completely avoid damage caused by radiation.”

Cognitive Sensor Technologies / Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT / 30.01.2019

© Fraunhofer IIS

In collaboration with the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and the University of Bonn, Fraunhofer IIS researchers have succeeded in applying magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in orthodontics. This gentle method has the potential to replace the current common use of harmful X-ray radiation. We spoke with Dr. Daniel Haddad about this breakthrough that has also been honored by the European Federation of Orthodontics FEO.

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Smart surveying of the plant world

Cognitive Sensor Technologies / Development Center X-ray Technology / 4.12.2018

Phenotyping involves recording plants’ typing reactions to environmental influences. But what does nondestructive testing have to do with it? How do the cognitive sensor systems we are developing improve phenotyping processes? Dr. Stefan Garth, of the Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT at Fraunhofer IIS, has the answers.

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Managing CT data – anywhere, anytime in the cloud

Cognitive Sensor Technologies / Development Center X-ray Technology / 15.11.2018

© Fraunhofer IIS

Although computed tomography has greatly improved processes in industrial product development and production, conventional methods of managing various CT data remain highly inconvenient. But that’s changing now, because the researchers working alongside Thomas Miller tackled precisely this problem and developed the web-based CloudCT software solution. In the interview, Thomas Miller explains how the software makes operating the CT system and handling the data for companies easier.

X-ray develops into a cognitive sensor

Development Center X-ray Technology / Cognitive Sensor Technologies / 11.7.2018

© Fraunhofer IIS
Robot-based CT systems are able to inspect large components quickly and accurately.

Of the systems capable of monitoring large components such as whole car bodies, none have so far been suitable for an application for series production. Now, with RoboCT, we can inspect these components quickly and accurately. At the same time, this robot-based computed tomography (CT) system also represents the first step towards cognitive sensor systems in this field. In addition to applications in the automotive and aerospace industries, the system is to be used, for example, to inspect the condition and completeness of returned goods ordered online – without having to open them.

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