Interviews

One time for all: Synchronising time in drone swarms

Wherever several clocks tick simultaneously, it is tricky to get them all to display precisely the same time. This can be a challenge for drone swarms that are airborne together. To tackle this problem, young scientist Agata Gniewek is developing new technologies. The difficulty is in the detail: When drone […]

Packages delivered by air: Drones as delivery service

What has travelled by road to reach us until now could be delivered by drones in the future. This has many advantages: Poor rural transport infrastructure or persistent congestion in large cities can be bypassed. In 2013, Amazon was among the first to announce the intention to deliver goods using […]

Power lines that transport data

Power Line Communication (PLC) uses electricity cables to transmit data. Andrea M. Tonello, professor at the Institute of Networked and Embedded Systems, was interviewed by Katharina Tischler-Banfield. He tells us whether PLC represents the future of the Internet and whether it will revolutionise the transmission of data. The greatest advantage […]

Interference prediction in wireless networks

If two musicians were to play at the same concert venue simultaneously, it would not only sound terrible, but it would also be impossible to understand the song lyrics. The same is true whenever huge volumes of data is exchanged between sensors nodes. Mahin Atiq is working to predict the […]

Machines that can feel, act, and work with one another

Industry 4.0. The Internet of Things. These are buzzwords for a development that is being championed by many national economies. Tasks that are today carried out by humans, such as operating industrial plants, driving a car or organising energy networks, will increasingly be done by machines in future. The first […]

In motion: Video transmission by mobile drones

The information technology specialist Raheeb Muzaffar has developed an application-layer framework that improves the transmission of videos between moving drones and mobile devices located at ground level. His work within the ICE doctoral programme will be completed soon. He explains what makes this technology innovative and talks about his plans […]

Samira Hayat with a minidrone in the lab.

“I never made plans”

Samira Hayat follows a single plan: She wants to be able to focus on the things she really cares about. The electrical engineer from Pakistan talked to ad astra about the research work that is currently most important to her. Samira Hayat is following her calling: She has been a […]