Engineering

The main areas of research at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology are wireless communications, energy and environmental sciences, and nano- and microelectronics and materials.
Research Highlights
The Chair of Microwave and RF Technology (Professor Klaus Solbach) developed RF components for the transmitter control and Butler-Matrix networks for signal feed to the transmitter coils of a 7-Tesla-MRT. The components are used to improve imaging at the Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Essen, the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, the University of Magdeburg and at Massachusetts General Hospital in the USA.
The Chair of Communication Technologies (Professor Peter Jung) developed the first software-defined DVB-T2 receiver. Researchers here also designed a cognitive radio receiver for analog TV signals with a sensitivity of better than –114dBm. This receiver is currently being integrated in UMTS LTE/LTE advanced solutions.
Within the framework of the EU project “Plug and Play monitoring and control architecture for optimization of large scale production processes” (PAPYRUS), the Chair of Automatic Control and Complex Systems (Professor Steven Ding, Professor Uwe Maier) is working with six European partners to develop a global asset management system for industrial plants.
The results of the Institute of Optoelectronics (Professor Dieter Jäger) within the “IPHOBAC” project were published in an EU brochure “Major EU achievements in science and research 2004–2009” as one of the ten most important projects and the only project in communications. Together with France Telecom, the Institute raised its own data rate record on a radio link in the 60 GHz band to 27 Gbit/s.
The Institutes of Electrical Power Systems (Professor Paul Erlich, Professor Gerhard Krost) and Power Transmission and Storage (Professor Holger Hirsch, Professor Heinrich Brakelmann) are participating with other universities, utilities and system providers in the large-scale E-DeMa and MoMa pilot regions. The aim is to create a new type of energy market with higher grid efficiency and a higher share of regenerative energy sources. By integrating information and communication technologies, the electricity grids become smart grids.
The first x-ray system for technical use at the University went into operation in October 2010 in the technology lab of the Chair of Electronic Components and Circuits (Professor Anton Grabmaier, Professor Holger Vogt, Professor Rainer Kokozinski). The system (Cougar SMT) with its 160 kV nano focus tube allows high resolution real-time x-ray analysis of objects such as semiconductor components.
A new metal organic vapour phase epitaxy system has been installed at the Institute of Solid-State Electronics (Professor Tegude) for the NaSOL project (Solar Cells and LEDs based on Nanowires). This equipment complements the III/V epitaxy methods of the Institute with the Group III nitrides.
The Institute for Nano Structures and Technology (Professor Roland Schmechel, Professor Einar Kruis) is contributing three projects and two additional transfer projects to the SFB 445 “Nanoparticles from the Gasphase”. It is also leading two sub-projects on the subjects of “Thermoelectrics” and “Photovoltaics” within the NETZ project.  Two junior research groups headed by Dr. Gabi Schierning (“Air Stable Oxidic Thermoelectrics”) and Dr. Niels Benson (“Rollable Solar Cells”) have also been launched.
The Institute of Computer Engineering (Professor Axel Hunger) is concerned with methods of scientific cooperation and has conducted a study in Southeast Asia and Europe into the potential of 200 companies for global engineering. A particular focus of the study was on working groups with a multicultural composition.