The Magazine For Reseach and Innofation (Spring 2003

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Spring 2003
Pictures of the Future

T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R R E S E A R C H A N D I N N O VAT I O N
SECURITY M AT E R I A L S HEALTHC ARE
A Question of Identity Invisible Revolutions Before Illness Strikes
PICTURES OF THE FUTURE
EDITORIAL
CONTENTS
Innovations Are Always in Demand
ven or especially in a difficult market environment, an old saying among savvy entrepreneurs remains valid: Innovations are always in demand, whether as a tool for reducing costs or a means of increasing sales and achieving higher returns. Today, those who fail to launch the right new product at the right time will be punished on the market more severely than ever before. There are also additional challenges to be met, such as achieving a global presence while retaining the capacity to respond to local market demands or responding to the pressures generated by up-and-coming firms from countries such as China, which not only operate with cost advantages, but also have highly educated and qualified workforces. iemens is in an excellent position to meet such challenges. Innovations have always been one of the foundations of our success and are therefore a core element of our corporate culture. Siemens invested 5.8 billion euros in research and development in business year 2002. Altogether, 53,100 men and women work directly on enhancing our innovative power, putting us at the top of the patent rankings in Germany, Europe and the U.S.
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Scenario 2015: Hidden Wonders Intelligent Materials: Invisible Revolutions Adaptronics: New Materials Take Shape Bioengineering: Surprising Symbiosis Nanotechnology: Great Oaks from Little Acorns Facts and Forecasts: Nano 101 The Economics of the 21st Century Interview with U.S. Nobel Prize Laureate Prof. Richard E. Smalley Interview with British Nobel Prize Laureate Prof. Harry Kroto Combinatorial Chemistry: In Search of Substance
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Prof. Dr. Klaus Wucherer is a Member of the Corporate Executive Committee of Siemens AG and is, among other things, responsible for the top+ Business Excellence Program.
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evertheless, promoting innovation in a strategic manner and turning it into business success requires continual effort at all levels. This involves repeatedly asking oneself the following questions: Are we taking the right approaches to ensure that we not only recognize trends but also establish them? Are we sufficiently exploiting the synergies available to such a broadbased company? Are we using our resources efficiently? Is our project management organization effective enough from the initial idea all the way to marketing? And, finally, are we developing a sufficient number of innovationfocused managers?
Scenario 2015: How to Catch a Thief Biometric Applications: A Question of Identity Biometric Technologies: Body Language Interview with Prof. Christoph von der Malsburg: Face Recognition Facts and Forecasts: The Next Mega-Market Smart Cameras: Getting the Picture Sensor Networks: Sensors That Organize Themselves Data Networks: Viruses, Worms and Hackers Interview with Marc Rotenberg: Privacy or Security?
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iemens developed the Pictures of the Future method as a means of addressing such questions as described in the October 2001 issue of this magazine. But thats not all. As part of our top+ Business Excellence Program, we are making use of a number of tested instruments for strengthening our innovative power, including top+ Trendsetting and top+ Innovation Benchmarking. The latter enables us to see how our own innovative ability measures up to that of our strongest competitors. With the help of innovation radar, we can identify the potential for improvement and develop new approaches to solutions for example, in cross-Group cooperation, knowledge management, idea development and evaluation, as well as employee motivation and development.
Scenario 2010: An Ounce of Prevention... Imaging Trends: Before Illness Strikes Interview with Prof. Jrg Debatin: A Picture of Health Software Solutions: A Uniform Imaging Interface Telemedicine: Getting Well with the Web The Sooner the Better with Molecular Diagnostics Facts and Forecasts: Tapping Markets for Tiny Labs Interview with John Clymer: Does Preventive Medicine Pay? Interview with Dr. Sue Barter: Why Screening Saves Lives
n addition, we have extensive experience in establishing international networks, as illustrated by our partnership with Tsinghua University in Beijing (see p. 30). Finally, the articles in the Materials, Security and Healthcare segments of this issue clearly demonstrate that the measures described above have succeeded in ensuring that Siemens remains one of the worlds leading innovators.
Cover (top right): When color strips are projected onto a face, the resulting pattern can be used to determine the faces 3D structure - and thus confirm the persons identity. Bottom left: A photo detector consisting of fullerenes nanometersized soccer balls made of carbon.
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Innovation News: Mars Lander, PDA Navigation, New Cell Phone Ideas Research Partnerships: How to Mail a Smile Transrapid: Only Flying is Faster Patent Researchers: Ultrasound Diagnostics, Fuel Injection Technology Interview with Guido Grtler: Committed to International Standards Feedback / Preview
Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003
I N N OVAT I O N N E W S
A few billionths of a liter is all it takes to analyze the contents of a liquid such as beer.
Your Own Personal Guide

Museums, airports, factories, universities. Our society is full of huge groups of buildings that can seem almost as complicated to sort out as the mythical Labyrinth at Cnossus. Yet quickly finding your way through modern mazes may soon become child's play thanks to a system called Enterprise on Air now being tested at Siemens. Like a personal guide, the system directs users equipped with a wireless, mobile Windows CE terminal such as a PDA, smart phone, or webpad to a desired destination. It accomplishes this feat by using broadband technologies such as The European Space Agencys Beagle 2 is expected to touch down on the Red Planet on December 23.
Lab on a Chip
Experts at Siemens Automation and Drives Group have developed a miniature laboratory that continuously monitors fluid processes. Potential beneficiaries include brewers, who, until now, have had to withdraw samples manually in order to monitor the status of fermentation. Furthermore, sample analysis has relied on the use of expensive equipment in a laboratory setting. By providing continuously updated information every few minutes, the new "lab on a chip will vastly simplify process control. At the heart of the mini lab is a process based on capillary electrophoresis in which liquids are decomposed into their component parts in electric fields. This process takes place in a system of minute tubules that analyze only a few billionths of a liter. The entire system is small enough to fit on a credit card. NA
Cars that Show Where to Go

In a few years, your car may be able to actually show you how to get to where you want to go. A navigation concept developed by researchers at Siemens VDO Automotive uses augmented reality the fusion of real and computer-generated pictures to take the guesswork out of driving. The system uses a tiny video camera located behind the rear view-mirror to continuously monitor the view ahead. The camera's output, which appears on a navigation monitor, is augmented by a graphic processor that uses data regarding the vehicle's position and route to highlight the section of road
Ready to Roll
Siemens engineers have invented a space-saving roll-up display for cellular phones. The display is about 0.3 mm thin and contains electrochromatic molecules that can change from colorless to blue when a voltage is applied. At CeBIT 2003 in Hanover, Germany, researchers also demonstrated a screen that can display several pictures in a sequence. NA
Landing on Mars with a Gentle Bounce

Here's a date to mark in your calendar: December 23, 2003. That's when the Beagle 2, the lander of the European Space Agency's Mars Express Mission, will separate from Mars Express, parachute through the thin atmosphere, and touch down on the Red Planet. Expected to be launched in May, the 34-kg lander will carry a highly integrated package of environmental sensors, cameras, microphones, spectrometers, sample collection systems and communications gear. The key instruments will analyze soil samples, rock and the atmosphere to seek signs of past or present life. To ensure the success of the mission, these extremely sensitive instruments will have to reach their target an area in the northern hemisphere with only a gentle impact. To accomplish this, the lander must deploy gas-filled bags at exactly the right altitude to cushion its contact with the surface. The gas bags, which will wrap themselves around the lander, will be fired by a device called a Radar Altimeter Trigger developed by Roke Manor Research (RMR), a UK-based business owned by Siemens. This 400-gram sensor can measure distances to within less than 13 centimeters at an altitude of up to 100 meters above the surface. Whats more, it functions even under the planets most adverse atmospheric conditions. RMRs radar sensor was selected for this mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) because of the Siemens researchers expertise and experience in the field of sensor technology. AFP Enterprise on Air uses wireless technologies to guide visitors to their destinations. wireless LAN or Bluetooth. GPS is used for positioning outside buildings, whereas infrared signals are used inside. Unlike GPRS/UMTS services, the emphasis here is on access to the local broadband network, combined with much greater precision in positioning than is possible in mobile phone networks. Regardless of whether the user is a maintenance engineer trying to track down a defective pump or a visitor searching for an out-of-the-way conference room, users share the same spontaneous access to locally available data. AFP
Demonstration of a flexible display. Electrochromatic molecules change color when voltage is applied. An augmented reality image of where the car needs to go is superimposed on images of the vehicles actual location. the vehicle will need to follow. The display could also incorporate features such as three-dimensional arrows. Naturally, it will be supported by corresponding audio instructions. Impractical map representations will be a thing of the past. Researchers caution, however, that, because of the huge number of calculations required to superimpose real-time directions on video images, as well as the need to develop a flawless man-machine interface, a great deal of additional work will be needed before augmented reality can hit the road. AFP
Cell Phone Is a Virtual Mouse

At CeBIT 2003, Siemens engineers presented a cell phone that doubles as a virtual mouse. A camera built into the back of the phone tracks the motions of a stylus held behind the phone, interpreting the image of the stylus tip as a mouse pointer, which appears as a red dot on the phones large-format color display. The red dot moves synchronously with any movement of the stylus. The pointer can be used to select numbers or to input graphic symbols. The virtual mouse can also be used to play games that could not be implemented on cell phones until now. NA
A built-in camera converts a moving stylus behind the cell phone into a pointer on the display.
MATERIAL
New Materials Take Shape
SCENARIO
2015
HIGHLIGHTS
Future materials will be capable of adapting to their environment and counteracting unwanted vibrations. Page 12
Surprising Symbiosis Magnetic layers for smaller memory chips New notebook displays use nanotubes LEDs compete with incandescent light bulbs
Hidden Wonders
May 2015. Michel Louis is a professor of bio-organic nanomaterials science who lives in Paris. Since he retired, hes had more time for his favorite hobby telling people in the local caf about the wonders of materials.
The marriage of biology and technology will give rise to nerve cells on silicon and gasdetecting proteins. Page 15
Great Oaks from Little Acorns
Piezomats counteract annoying vibrations
was involved in materials research for more than 40 years. It started back in the 1990s with the discovery of fullerenes. Mon Dieu, that was a new kind of material sort of like soccer balls made of pure carbon, but a hundred million times smaller. The stuff fascinated an entire generation of chemists. And after some German astrophysicist, who was actually trying to make artificial interstellar dust succeeded in producing a large number of fullerene molecules, well, just about
Nanotechnology is coming of age. Particles one-millionth of a millimeter in size will help researchers improve surface properties and develop vest-pocketsized supercomputers. Page 18
Small Worlds Quantum Harvests
Hip joints of biocompatible materials
Interview with Nobel Laureate Richard Smalley on the opportunities and risks associated with nanotechnology. Page 23
In Search of Substance Foamed magnesium is light and stable
Thanks to automatic analyses and computer simulations at the atomic level, it will be possible to discover new materials much faster than in the past. Page 26
Dateline Paris, 2015: The cafes and boulevards havent changed much. However, new invisible materials are now integrated in many everyday objects. Applications include foamed magnesium in lightweight bicycle frames, biocompatible materials in artificial hip joints, nanotechnology for mini fuel cells, notebooks and brightly illuminated displays, and piezofoils that actively control car roof vibrations.
2015
Fuel cells provide power for cell phones
SCENARIO
2015
I N T E L L I G E N T M AT E R I A L S
every research institute and university went crazy. We did too. It was really exciting research. And it was only the beginning, because right after that a Japanese scientist invented nanotubes tiny cylinders that are also made of carbon, sort of like rolled up graphite. Nanotubes soon replaced fullerenes because you could do a lot more interesting things with them much more easily. Garon, would you bring me a glass of pastis, please? You see the man with the notebook at the next table? That ultraflat display hes got is based on nanotubes that are laid out like blades of grass in a field. Each of the tubes is about a nanometer thick and emits an electron beam that excites one pixel on the screen. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter how about that? But nanotubes arent the only new material that have been discovered over the last 20 years. Remember how you used to have to wait for minutes for your computer to boot up? No, youre too young for that. But thats how it was. Man, did that take long! Today you just press a fingertip on an identification sensor that checks to make sure its really you, and all the programs are on nest-ce pas? Its the magnetic permanent storage chips that do it. The computer knows exactly what state it was in when the power was turned off. As a result, you dont have to shut down the computer anymore either and that was an operation that sometimes took even longer than booting it up. The really fantastic thing about these new materials is that theyre all over the place, but you cant see them because theyre hidden. You see that lady over there talking on her cell phone? The phones powered by a mini fuel cell, and its got plenty of nanotechnology in it too. Young people dont think about these things anymore they just stick a methanol cartridge into the phone once every couple of weeks. When I was young, we used to have to drag a battery charger around. Basically, everythings gotten a lot easier. Look at the bicycle that courier over there has. Just about all the parts are made of nanostructured metal magnesia foam. The
stuff weighs practically nothing. But you cant see that when you look at it. Its all on the inside. This nanostructuring concept really did catch on amazingly quickly. I was one of the people who played a role in its development back then. The thing is that a materials ability to withstand stress doesnt change even if you get rid of about half the atoms but its got to be the right half, mon Dieu! We learned a lot from nature. A bone, for example, is very light but nevertheless stable. And speaking of bones, take a look at that fellow with the cane over there. Ill bet you a pastis hes got an artificial hip. But thats not a problem today. The things last forever with the new materials theyve got, and theyre absolutely biocompatible. Ill have one of them myself, if I ever need it. The best thing about the new implants is that they adapt to the way theyre used over time. Now thats intelligent material! Cars have got that kind of material too. Dont believe me? Well, did you ever wonder why the really expensive cars are so quiet inside? Oh, youve got a cheap car? Well, Ill tell you anyway. Theyre quiet because the roof contains an adaptive mat made of piezo fibers, which are actually ceramic and stretch out or contract when you apply voltage to them. That makes it possible to dampen vibrations. Theres a sensor that measures the interior noise level and an electronic control system that stimulates the fibers in a way that neutralizes undesired frequencies. Naturally, the system still lets you listen to the radio or your favorite CD. Amazing, nest-ce pas? You want to see a new material thats really visible? Just turn around and look at that billboard outside and the lighting here in the caf. Its all LEDs. Just ten years ago it would have been unbelievably expensive to light up an entire room with them. I tell you, the good old light bulbs days are numbered. These LEDs are fantastic they last forever, can take on all different colors and get by with hardly any electricity. Now thats what I call a real technological revolution! Oh, Ive got to go now. It was nice talking to you. Take care of yourself. Au revoir. Norbert Aschenbrenner
Invisible Revolutions
Wood, stone, ceramics for thousands of years people have made use of all kinds of naturally available materials. But things are changing in a big way. Researchers are now customizing materials for a variety of purposes, and theyre even doing it at the atomic level. The future belongs to intelligent materials.
found that although researchers in the past refined known materials for use with new applications, todays materials scientists, chemists, physicists and even biologists and computer scientists create customized new materials. And the future will bring further advances. Were on the verge of a new era an age of intelligent materials, says Nies. The buzzwords of the future will be nanotechnology, bioengineering and adaptronics. Researchers in the latter field are attempting to create materials that can adapt to various environmental conditions for example, construction support materials that can dampen oscillations by themselves (see p. 12). Biomaterials include biopolymers, artificial spider-silk fibers, biomorphic ceramics made from materials such as cardboard that maintain the source materials basic structures, and materials for medical applications, such as artificial tissue elements (see p. 15).
Rainer Nies of Siemens Corporate Technology uses ropes to demonstrate advances in materials research. Each one can hold three tons. Yet their cross sections vary from 22 millimeters in the case of the hemp rope to six millimeters for the high-performance polymer cord.
or thousands of years people had to make do with the materials that nature provided them with things like wood and stone, and metals such as gold, lead and copper. Even after the advent of iron forging, clay furnaces and glass-making, it was nearly two thousand years before any great leap in materials science occurred. Materials research as an independent discipline didnt even exist 50 years ago, says Dr. Peter Paul
Schepp, Managing Director of the German Society for Materials Research (DGM). Development scientists basically used the materials they could find in a catalog, he adds. This situation has changed dramatically. Our knowledge of materials has exploded over the last two decades, says Rainer Nies from Strategic Marketing at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT). Nies, a physicist, headed a study of new materials. The study
Hard drive vs. organic molecules: A layer of organic molecules can store 1,000 times more data per square centimeter than a hard drive.
I N T E L L I G E N T M AT E R I A L S
LED LUMINOSITY HAS INCREASED BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS

Luminous flux in lumen at a current of 20 mA
pensive and difficult to processes. For instance, machine. But when such DGMs Schepp points to implants are produced superplastic forming, a on a large scale, subprocess that makes it stantial savings can be possible to significantly achieved because reduce the cost of manumilling-related waste facturing components. can be significantly reThe final contours are duced. created in virtually one Light bulbs vs. LEDs: Experts agree that step casting is the Red LEDs are three times successful materials deonly conventional techmore efficient velopment today denique that can accomthan conventional pends on achieving a plish anything similar to incandescent light bulbs. new dimension in interthis, says Schepp. Turndisciplinary approaches. ing and milling are necNot only do researchers essary only for fine detail Foamed Metal. Even without nanotechnolfrom various fields have work. Definitely reogy, however, the ability to combine known to work closely together quired, however, is materials with new production methods during every stage of thermo-mechanical premeans that the amount of materials used in development; but the treatment of the material industry will continue to increase. Foamed individual components of a part must interin a manner thats precisely tailored to its lightweight metals, for example, could be act in an optimized manner as well. It is also properties. This treatment refines the grain transformed into especially light, yet stable very important that future users be intestructure of the material to such a degree components for aerospace or automotive apgrated into the process early on. that the grains flow like sand into the form, plications. Such materials are very rigid while which they then completely fill, requiring weighing relatively little. Similar properties Ceramics Under Stress. A good example of only a maximum of ten percent of the presare exhibited by composite materials containthe successes that have been achieved in sure needed with conventional methods. Suing fibers made of high-strength or very rigid modern materials research is a diesel injecperplastic forming is a particularly suitable materials, such as glass or carbon, which are tion system from Siemens that is controlled technique for manufacturing medical imincorporated into plastics. by piezo crystals (bottom right). In piezoelecplants. An artificial thigh bone, for example, The variety of materials can also be intric applications, a ceramic expands when a consists of titanium alloys, which are very excreased through improved manufacturing voltage is applied. The injector exploits this effect to open and close a valve, explains Dr. Karl Lubitz from Siemens Corporate Technologys Materials Research department. Lubitz developed the key component for the piezo injector for automotive supplier Siemens VDO. More than ten years of research went into the piezo injector, which can pump a cubic millimeter of diesel fuel at a pressure of 1,600 bars into an engine combustion chamber in less than a millisecond. Such targeted injection not only causes the engine to run more smoothly and quietly; it also cuts fuel consumption and emissions. The injection component, which is coated with a plastic, is extremely complex it has 360 ceramic layers. Nevertheless, it is only a small part of a system in which each LEDs (left) and piezo injectors for diesel vehicles (right) are two shining examples of component is critically important for the successful materials development at Siemens. But its not just better materials that proper functioning of the whole. count improved processing also plays a vital role. Nanotechnology ultimately focuses on individual atoms that are maneuvered piece by piece in a completely controlled manner to create a material (see p. 18). Richard Smalley, an American Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, is convinced that nanotechnology in particular will dramatically change the world we live in (see interview on p. 23). German experts share Smalleys view. According to a study conducted by the Electronic Technology Association (VDE), microsystems technology and nanotechnology have the greatest innovation potential, ahead of even information technology and biotechnology.
When we started this project, hardly anyone believed we would be able to control fuel injection using piezo ceramics, says Dr. Andreas Kappel from Corporate Technologys Microsystems department. But Kappel gradually succeeded in convincing everyone that the technology would work. And its a good thing he did. Siemens VDO is going to post billions of euros in sales in the next few years with this development, he adds proudly. The technologys potential isnt even close to having been exhausted. Kappel and his team are now able not only to simulate a functioning injector all the way down to its microstructure, but can also observe it in operation. This enables them to run numerous tests to improve injection in a very short period of time, without having to install the actual component in an engine.
10 InGaN InGaAIP 1 GaAIAs GaP:N 0,1 Material composition GaAsP:N 0,01 GaAsP 0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Ga: Gallium, As:Arsenic, P: Phosphorous, N: Nitrogen, Al: Aluminum, In: Indium
InGaN InGaN InGaAIP InGaN GaN
GaAIAs
SiC
Scientists have boosted the efficiency of LEDs by a factor of 30 every decade since 1970. The graph shows the amount of light emitted by LEDs at a specified current consumption, the colors that could be achieved at the time, and the range of materials used. Source: Osram.
From Simulations to Promising Mixtures. Such computer simulations have become an important tool in all areas of materials reabout, since his team of researchers is mainly search. They make it possible to predict how responsible for the increases that have been materials will behave at various temperaachieved in the efficiency of light-emitting tures, under load, and at different times diodes (LEDs). LEDs offer significant advanthroughout their life cycles on the atomic tages in converting electric current into light level and as a complete component. Further(see graphic). Depending on the conditions more, when it comes to finding the best main which they are used, they can run for up to terial for a particular application, mathemati100,000 hours. If left on ten hours a day, cal models are rapidly replacing they will continue to operate for nearly 30 trial-and-error techniques. Researchers can years. They are also extremely robust, and use combination methods to study in one their efficiency rating is many times higher process step a variety of mixtures of than that of a normal light bulb. LEDs have chemical elements with regard to their suitalready replaced conventional technologies ability, and they can then extract the most in certain areas, such as promising mixture from interior lighting for autothe vast amounts of remobiles, and are set to sulting data (see p. 26). take over vehicle tailBut even the best lights as well. supercomputer cannot LEDs, which have a replace the experience chip-edge length of less of a scientist. To be sucthan half a millimeter, cessful, you need a team have benefitted not only that has a commitment Copper vs. nanotubes: from dramatic improveto continuity in its reInch for inch, a wire made ments in materials, but search, says Dr. Bernof nanotubes conducts also from special surface hard Stapp, Head of Reelectricity one thousand structures. LED producsearch at Osram Opto times better. tion involves depositing Semiconductors. And he several crystalline layers knows what hes talking
onto semiconductor disks at temperatures of between 600 and 1,000 degrees Celsius. Every single parameter whether temperature, pressure, wafer rotation speed, or gas composition is critical for achieving an optimal product that can also be profitably mass produced. A big problem with the materials used in LEDs (gallium-indium-aluminum-phosphide or gallium-indium-nitride) is their extremely high refractive index. That is, most of the light produced is reflected inward at the edge where the crystal meets the air. Researchers have gotten around this total internal reflection problem by producing a surface with specially shaped profiles that significantly improve the degree of light emitted. Improvements of this sort, along with constant material refinement, have increased efficiency by a factor of 30 each decade since 1970. We have to do more than just find the best phosphor, says Stapp. We also have to be able to recognize and control the complex relationships between materials, processes and applications. Adds Karl Lubitz: This is a team effort. A researcher working in isolation would have no chance of succeeding with new materials. Norbert Aschenbrenner
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ADAPTRONICS
From fibers that register mechanical stress in airplane rudders to automobile roofs and magnetic resonance tomographs that counteract vibrations and cut noise a quieter, safer world is taking shape thanks to developments in adaptronic materials.
New Materials Take Shape

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he thin, slightly bent metallic thread that Dr. Stefan Kautz is holding between his fingers looks like a piece of ordinary florists wire. But you only have to touch it to realize that this wire is made of a very special material. The metal feels soft and warm, like a blend between a fishing line and a copper wire. Kautz holds the thread over a flame. Within seconds, the bent wire curls itself into a perfect paper clip. Kautz, a specialist in memory metals at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) in Erlangen, Germany, is working on materials that can remember the shape into which they were originally formed. These substances are evolving into a promising production material that could open a new field known as adaptronics the marriage of adaptation and electronics. Adaptronics engineers are after something new. They want to develop materials or components that are so smart they can automatically adapt to their surroundings. Under ideal circumstances, these materials combine sensors, regulators and actuators in a highly compact space. According to experts such as Siemens Kautz, such materials are multifunctional. That is, they can register alterations in their surroundings for example, changes of temperature and respond immediately. The first prototype components of this sort have already been produced. Memory metals are excellent examples of adaptronics, says Kautz, who explains that If they are heated or subjected to a voltage, they change shape. They do this by means of a simple, temperature-dependent alteration of their atomic lattice structure no complex electronic manipulation is required.
says. According to Hanselka, lightweight materials are the wave of the future in fields such as automobile and airplane production. However, due to their low mass, such materials tend to vibrate, thus generating noise and other problems. Adaptive materials can help here, as they can register when a material starts to vibrate. The sensors signal is processed by a regulator, which then causes
time hardened into a gel by means of chemical reactions or changes in temperature. This creates long threads which then gently coagulate into crystalline piezofibers without breaking. These fibers are so fine that they can be easily integrated in lightweight composite materials, says Dr. Dieter Sporn of the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research (ISC) in Wrzburg, Germany, which played a
transmits an electrical pulse back to the fiber, which then bends in a particular direction. The fiber generates a kind of counter-pull that blocks the vibration in its early stages. Combined with the appropriate software, this kind of closed-loop control can cushion even large components. Piezofibers and Quiet Cars. To find out what kinds of future developments may be possible in adaptronics, scientists representing over 20 companies and research institutes have been involved in the Adaptronics Pilot Project. The goal of this initiative, which was supported by the German Ministry of Research and concluded in late 2002, was to develop components that could be used to create adaptronic products. One of the products developed in the project was an adaptive car roof made of lightweight materials that could effectively dampen vibrations using piezofoils and piezofibers. According to Hanselka, this technology is ready for the next generation of vehicles. He expects, however, that this kind of car roof will initially be installed only in a small number of premium-segment vehicles. Dieter Sporn believes that the fibers also have a future in the aerospace industry. For example, the rudder units of todays Airbus jets consist of composite materials. Inspec-
Metal with a memory. A deformed paper clip returns to its original shape when exposed to flame.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have succeeded in spinning ceramic piezofibers into long, thin threads that are ideal for adaptronic materials.
Memory Metal in the Dishwasher. Only recently, a memory metal actuator a wire made of nitinol (a nickel-titanium alloy) produced in Kautzs laboratory went into production. The wire is part of an optical sensor in the latest range of dishwashers produced by Bosch and Siemens. This optosensor measures the calcium content of the water up to ten times during the dishwashing program and uses this data to regulate the release of a special salt. The memory wire, which is activated by a small jolt of electric current, is designed to open a small valve that expels water from the sensor. In the process, the wire, which is ten centimeters long, contracts by five millimeters and develops astonishing strength in spite of being just 0.25 millimeters thick. Because the wire au-
tomatically reacts to voltage changes, complicated control technology is unnecessary, says Kautz. All in all, the optosensor and its entire mechanism is no larger than the smallest pocket calculator. Meanwhile, Siemens CT researchers are working on integrating a sensor, an actuator and a regulator into a single tiny component. That would open up a new range of potential applications, says Holger Hanselka, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability (LBF) in Darmstadt, Germany. Hanselka, who works at the University of Darmstadt, is one of a handful of people around the world who teaches adaptronics. These compact and lightweight adaptive materials are ideally suited for integration into lightweight production materials, he
an actuator to dampen the vibrations through countermovements. In view of this, Hanselka and others are placing high hopes in a new generation of piezomaterials, which are true masters of versatility. The materials can transform electrical energy into mechanical energy and vice versa. Some cigarette lighters, for example, generate the energy that sparks the flame from a piezocrystal that is put under mechanical pressure. A joint project carried out by a number of Fraunhofer Institutes has succeeded in spinning piezomaterials into long fibers that are only 20 to 30 micrometers in diameter. In this process, the fibers are produced using the so-called sol-gel process. The sol is a solution of molecules that is pressed through tiny nozzles and at the same
Piezofibers in airplane rudders could detect cracks and significantly simplify safety checks.
key role in the development of this process. In the past, piezo components were generally so big that they interfered with the structure of lightweight materials. Both the new fibers and the piezo foils that have long been in use can simultaneously fulfill the functions of a sensor and an actuator. For example, if a piezomaterial is activated by undesirable vibrations, it generates an electrical signal that can be interpreted by a controller. The controller, in turn, tion of these units for hairline cracks and hidden damage is a time-consuming process, as the rudder unit must be scrutinized with ultrasound. Adaptive materials would make this process unnecessary. A mesh of piezofibers integrated into the material could detect cracks that subject the fibers to mechanical tension and directly transmit this information to analytical software, says Sporn, adding that piezofibers could significantly simplify safety checks.
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ADAPTRONICS
BIOENGINEERING
Adaptive piezotechnology can also help to make driving safer. Prof. Hans Meixner, head of the Sensor and Actuator Systems Competence Center at Siemens Corporate Technology Center in Munich, is developing a new automotive sensor designed to ensure that tomorrows airbags inflate correctly. To this end, stretch measurement strips made of piezofibers will be integrated into vehicle seats. As the degree of stretching depends on the occupants weight, passengers will be better protected in the event of a crash. At present, airbags inflate with the same degree of force, regardless of whether a small child or a heavy adult is sitting in the seat. Thanks
to the information provided by stretch measurement strips, future airbags will inflate with an intensity that will softly cushion each passenger. Quieter MR Scanners. Another promising application area is medical electronics. For instance, Dr. Hans-Georg von Garen and his colleagues at CT in Munich and Erlangen are working on piezofibers that can dampen vibrations in magnetic resonance (MR) tomographs. Because the magnetic field generated by these machines must constantly change its direction as it moves along a patients body, forces are generated that cause
the funnel of the patient entry tube to vibrate. At 120 decibels, the resulting noise can be as loud as a jet plane taking off. The worst problems are caused by low frequencies, which disturb not only the patient inside the MR machine, but also medical personnel. Garen and his team hope to dampen these vibrations by using numerous strips of piezofoil the size of small bandages. When glued to the funnel, the strips of fiber act as sensors and actuators simultaneously. The challenge is to determine exactly how the funnel is vibrating at a given time, and how the vibration dampers can be precisely controlled. Tim Schrder
A DA P T R O N I C A P P L I C AT I O N S
Technology Piezofibers, polymers, patches How it Works Mechanical stress is converted into an electrical voltage and vice versa
T O DAY A N D T O M O R R O W
Existing Applications Actuators for injection pumps and valves, compact electric motors Market Potential Very high; many applications in the near future
Possible Applications Damping vibrations in components (car bodies, MR equipment, etc.); active changes in sections of rotor blades and wings to cut noise and save energy; increase in component strength (active prevention of deformation); monitoring of component status when used as a sensor
Electron micrograph of a snail nerve cell. The cell is held in place on a microchip by means of plastic studs, each of which is a mere 20 micrometers in size.
Memory metals
Electric current or an increase Actuators for valves or interlocks; damping in temperature give rise to a change in shape vibrations; components: memory metal conleased by a change in temperature
Interlocks and valves made of memory-metal wires, strips or medical instruments for microsurgical procedures
Increased degree of integration in complex electrical and electronic systems in the next few years; further use in surgery few years
tact pads as microchip mounts that can be re- springs (e.g. dishwasher sensor);
Surprising Symbiosis
Ceramics with the microstructure of trees, nanocatalysts in bacterial proteins, nerve cells on microchips bioengineering is set to create a surpising symbiosis of nature and technology.
t is a remarkably delicate architecture. Three elastic strands of collagen wind around each other in loops, forming neatly stacked and networked spiral columns that incorporate hollow spaces at regular intervals. Tiny crystals of hydroxyapatite, a mineral containing calcium phosphate, are directed to the correct locations in these spaces, where they grow and fill the gaps. The result is a living ceramic substance incorporating pores and channels where cells are anchored in essence, a bone. The structure of the substance, a combination of soft proteins and hard minerals, lends it characteristics that at first seem contradictory. Bone
Electrorheological and magnetorheological materials Magnetostrictive materials Photo/ thermo/electrochromic materials Glass fiber sensors
An electrical voltage or magnetic field causes the reversible solidification of liquids by making microscopic particles in the liquid link up Reacts with an increase in length even at weak magnetic fields (similar to piezo) Materials that change their color or transparency accordor electric fields External influences change fiber
Exact adjustment of shock absorbers to road joysticks (force feedback); movement control of knee and joint prostheses Use as actuators, sensors, vibration dampers
Introduction of the first products in Growing potential in the next
surfaces; hydraulic valves; control using tactile the next months
Sensor for shop security
Mass-produced articles in a few areas
Climate-controlling windows that control the sunlight coming into a building or a car; photovoltaic facilities mechanical stresses, vibrations, accelerations, magnetic fields tools; plastics that heal themselves by releasing liquid adhesive in hairline cracks
Prototype climate-controlling windows and photovoltaic glass
Increasing importance, especially in the area of energy optimization for buildings
ing to the effect of light, heat, changing the light-absorbing properties of Various prototypes
First applications in coming years
the propagation of light in the Detection of temperature variations, pressure, Self-healing materials; capsules with emergency lubricants; waxfilled capsules with a heat-insulating effect; corrosion prevention
Hollow fibers Hollow fibers or capsules in a and microcapsules gredients when they are destroyed
Established mass-produced item; a large number of new products and applications in the next few years.
material release fluid/active in- Emergency lubricants in cutting or grinding
is hard but not brittle, rigid but flexible. It is lightweight and porous, yet can bear considerable mechanical loads. Stable and yet constantly changing, bone can even heal itself. It is truly a wonder of nature. In recent years, researchers have been studying the principles supporting such perfectly adapted biological structures, and materials developers are now trying to put that research to practical use. Inspired by natures capabilities, these experts are using cells, biomolecules and biological concepts to create new materials. Nature has optimized its matter over millions of years were trying to profit from that, says Rainer Nies, who is
working on potential applications in the field of bioengineering at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) in Erlangen, Germany. Researchers would like to duplicate organic materials precise structuring, which can be measured in nanometers (one billionth of a meter). Similarly precise synthetic materials would make it possible to further miniaturize electronic and optical components and enhance their properties. For instance, Prof. Peter Greil and his team at the University of Erlangen are using biomaterials as templates for industrial materials. In one process, Greils team decomposes a piece of wood in a nitrogen atmosphere at about
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BIOENGINEERING
1,800 C, leaving behind a skeleton of pure carbon. Liquid or gaseous silicon is then pumped into the chamber, bonding with the carbon to form silicon carbide, an extremely hard compound (see image below). The key point is that the woods cellular structure is preserved in a kind of petrified image; its almost impossible to produce a comparably porous ceramic material using conventional methods. Such biomorphic ceramics could someday be used as catalyst carriers, filters, high-temperature insulation or construction materials. Bacterial Cages for Precious Metals. Wolfgang Pompe and his team at the Technical University of Dresden are taking a different approach. They are using bacterial proteins to generate densely packed nanoclusters of precious metals for use in catalysts and sensors. Many types of bacteria, such as Bacillus sphaericus, have numerous uniformly sized pores in their protein coverings, allowing materials to freely move in and out of the cell. Its like a molecular strainer, explains Michael Mertig, a member of Pompes team. The researchers isolate protein molecules and then exploit their capacity for self-organization. If chemical conditions are right, the proteins will reorganize themselves into two-
dimensional layers with perfect pore structures, even in an artificial environment. These surfaces can have a much larger area than that of a single bacterium, says Mertig. They can also be mounted on solid substrates such as the semiconductors and metals used in microelectronics. In effect, they act as nano-scaled egg cartons, whose cavities can be used selectively to deposit metals that are effective catalysts, such as platinum and palladium. The metal complexes in the cavities can not outgrow their biomolecular cages the bacterial pores. A regular pattern of particles is thus created in which the particles have a diameter of just two nanometers. This pattern simultaneously emerges at millions of locations, a key requirement for future mass production of nanostructures. The preciousmetal particles are also situated at intervals of just a few nanometers, meaning that their specific surface area is vast. The larger a catalysts surface, the more reactive it becomes. Siemens plans to exploit this catalytic potential to develop devices such as highly sensitive gas sensors. Here, the protein membrane, metal particles and all, will be mounted on a pyrosensor, where the minicatalysts can then accelerate a chemical reaction such as the oxidation of carbon monox-
ide. Since these clusters are more than one order of magnitude smaller than those conventionally used, chemical reactions can be initiated even at relatively low temperatures. The pyrosensor measures the reaction heat that is generated and transforms it into an electrical signal that indicates the concentration of the toxic gas. This project is still in its infancy. The key components the pyrosensor and the protein layers on technical carriers have been developed, but they still need to be combined. One thing that wont be a problem is the lifetime of the biological structure involved. There are indications that the proteins remain stable for over a year. In any case, they are not indispensible for the sensors proper functioning. They are only a means to an end in the production process, says project manager Dr. Reinhard Gabl of Siemens CT. He estimates that a finished product will be ready in about three years. At first glance, the growth of catalysts in proteins doesnt seem to have much to do with natural processes. However, this procedure is based on the same principle of biomineralization that applies to bone formation. In both cases, the biological template the bacterial protein or collagen framework guides the germ formation and the growth of a solid inorganic mass. The difference is that in the case of the bone the inorganic material is hydroxyapatite, while the surface layers contain metal particles. A Liver Grows in a Reactor. If artificial materials can be created by means of biological processes, why not create new materials identical to natural ones? Man-made biomaterials are, for instance, in great demand in prosthetic devices. But this application requires living cells preferably taken from the patients themselves. Tissue engineering in bioreactors can be used to transform the cells into customized replacement parts (e.g. bones, cartilage, liver tissue). These receive all the nutrients they need to grow, and, if necessary, a framework to attach themselves to. The cells then grow into the desired tissue in accordance with their respective genetic programs.
However, such growth can take place only if the physical and chemical conditions in the reactor resemble those in the human body. This in turn requires the presence of numerous sensors and sophisticated controls. If you want to grow a bone implant, for example, the cells must be put under pressure, just as they are under natural conditions in an organism. Only then will they be stimulated to grow in the desired direction. Pompes group is trying to generate this pressure with the help of tiny piezo actuators that vibrate at high frequencies. These actuators are very similar to the structural components that Siemens produces for direct fuel injection in diesel engines (see p. 9). The rapidly increasing demand for tissue produced by biotechnological means is in any case a strong incentive to overcome any difficulties that still remain, according to Pompe. Nerve Cells on Microchips. Even more sophisticated approaches are being pursued in an attempt to unite living cells and technical components for example by combining nerve cells and semiconductor electronics. The long-term goal is a hybrid neurochip that could be used to build neuroprostheses such as those that would enable blind people to see again. Another possibility would be a
Prof. Peter Fromherz is studying how nerve cells talk with silicon transistors.
In other words, the nerve cell and the chip communicate with each other, and they do so in a manner that does no harm to either of them. When connected to a pond snails nerve cells, a silicon chip of this kind will function for weeks or even months. But thats only the beginning. As soon as you have a network of roughly 100 neurons, in which each individual neuron can be monitored or selectively stimulated, it will be possible to experimentally test the basic concepts of brain research for the first time ever. A number of theories today attempt to explain how living neural networks function,
A chip with real nerve cells could not only help us to understand the brain it could also help us to reproduce it in miniature.
neurocomputer that combines the capacities of biological and electronic intelligence. Prof. Peter Fromherz at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany have already succeeded in making two or three neurons grow on a silicon chip according to a preset pattern. The chip is now being used to stimulate a nerve cell. The cell conducts an electrical impulse via biological contact points called synapses to another neuron, whose activity, in turn, leads to a change in the voltage at the transistor lying under it. and some computers also operate according to this model. But only a neurochip will enable researchers to observe the behavior of an actual nerve network cell by cell. Non-biological applications are also conceivable. For example, the human brain easily performs many tasks that are difficult or impossible for a computer. But a future minibrain on a chip might be able to connect items stored in a memory bank by means of associations. However, the process of developing such a chip may be long and difficult.
The cell structure of pine wood exactly reproduced in a silicon carbide ceramic.
Fromherz doubts whether researchers will be able to connect more than ten neurons in the next five years. Fromherzs team is therefore pursuing a parallel strategy that promises faster results. They are using naturally grown neural networks consisting of sections of rat brains connected with microchips. One problem is that the rat neurons cannot be triggered individually, only in groups. The scientists are focusing on the hippocampus, the area of the brain that plays a key role in learning. Infineon has built a semiconductor chip containing 10,000 transistors to meet the special needs of these experiments. The researchers can use the chip to investigate the activities of nerve cells at previously impossible resolutions. Fromherz has high expectations for their research. Id like to use the brain sections as a learning network controlled by a microchip, he says. Such basic research, he believes, will make it possible to find out how nerve tissue communicates with microchips. The results of such research could, for example, help speed up the development of an artificial human retina. Although the creation of an electronic eye may still lie far in the future, bioengineering is already making tremendous strides. Whether its nanocatalysts in bacterial proteins, artificial bones or artificial organs bioengineers are creating materials with previously undreamed-of properties. These materials are well on their way to creating a new symbiosis of nature and technology. Carola Hanisch
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NANOTECHNOLOGY
Great Oaks from Little Acorns
Materials with completely new properties, quantum dots, nanotubes, microchips that rewire themselves in short, nanotechnology is likely to be the most promising innovation of the decade.
Siemens researcher Dr. Wolfgang von Gentzkow with a high-strength transparent polymer full of nanoparticles. The polymer could eventually serve as a lens for light-emitting diodes.
Market hype aside, Gentzkows particles are relatively simple. Their layered silicates have a structure similar to that of puff pastry and are, for example, used in such mundane products and processes as cat litter and paper production. The layers can be separated with sodium or calcium ions, and when treated with organic ions can also be expanded in such a manner that they detach from one another when incorporated into plastics. This results in individual, tiny silicate plates. If they are added to a polymer at a ratio of up to five percent, the mixture inherits the properties of both substances. In other words, it becomes transparent and strong. It is also inexpensive to produce and can be manufactured in large quantities. Experts predict that in about two years the amazing material will be mass produced and used as a plastic-coated lens for very bright and temperature-stable light-emitting diodes. But the plastic from Erlangen has one big drawback: it looks utterly unexceptional. When you hear the word nano, which means dwarf in Greek, you are more apt to think of miniature submarines that prowl through the bloodstream and annihilate cancer cells, or of miniature robots made of a handful of atoms that cooperate and reproduce themselves as described in Michael Crichtons new novel Prey, for example. But thats pure science fiction, and its very doubtful whether there will ever be applications of that sort, says Rainer Nies, who wrote a study titled Impact of Materials at Siemens CT in Erlangen (see p. 9). Pioneering innovations? They will probably be the absolute exception, says Nies, who studied physics. Instead, many small innovations will gradually appear in completely ordinary products but the net result will probably be just as revolutionary. Chip Structure at the Limit. The manufacturers of microchips are depending on nanotechnology for their very survival. Moores Law, which predicts that the number of transistors per unit area of chip will double every 18 months, will hold true until approximately 2010. But what happens when chip structures supposedly drop below 100 nanome-
2 mm
100 m
2 m
Infineon researchers have deliberately grown nanotubes on a silicon wafer (sequence on left). The enlargement in the bottom left image shows an individual nanotube. The cube (top right) consists of several hundred thousand nanotubes, which are seen in close-up (bottom).
12 nm
mm = millimeter, m = micrometer, nm = nanometer
ts as hard as glass and transparent. But it isnt what it appears to be, says Dr. Wolfgang von Gentzkow, who heads the Center for Functional Polymers at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) in Erlangen, Germany. In fact, the object is actually a type of plastic. If you were to look at it with an electron microscope, you would be able to see small particles silicate plates that make the polymer
very hard and heat-resistant. Measuring less than 100 nanometers across, the plates are narrower than the wavelength of light which makes them virtually invisible. Welcome to the world of nanotechnology, a place where small things, namely nanometer-sized particles, can have a big impact. A nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter. Thats approximately one fifty-thou-
sandth the diameter of a hair. Too small to bother with? Not according to Berndt Samsinger of Capital-Stage, a Hamburg, Germany-based investment company that specializes in nanotechnology. Says Samsinger: The impact of this new field in coming years will be greater than that of biotechnology and the Internet combined during the last decade.
ters? Thats the question that is occupying Dr. Lothar Risch, who conducts research on nanoelectronics at Infineon in Munich. Rischs projects reach far into the future. He estimates that components now being manufactured in his lab as individual pieces will not be used to produce marketable products for at least ten years. Risch builds field-effect transistors, which are the smallest units of any chip. Rischs FETs have a gate length of a mere ten nanometers. The gate acts like a valve that controls the electric current in a silicon channel that is only two nanometers thick. However, when the layers are that thin, the electrons begin to tunnel through the gate as if it were not even there. Rischs team therefore manufactured the prototype of a dou-
ble-gate transistor tilted 90 degrees, in which two gate electrodes sandwich the silicon channel, thereby making it possible for them to control the current much more effectively. The next step is a quantum-dot memory module in which an insulator with an edge length of 20 nanometers is placed between the gate and the silicon channel. Less power is needed here for saving and deleting a quantum-dot memory of this kind is so sensitive that even a single additional electron in the quantum dot shifts the characteristic curve of the transistor noticeably. Quantum dots have made quite an impression on the research community and scientists hope to use them in supercomputers or in lasers for ultra-fast fiber-optic links.
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NANOTECHNOLOGY
Two offices down from Risch is his fiercest competitor, Dr. Wolfgang Hnlein, who is working with carbon nanotubes. These tubules of pure carbon have diameters of between one and 30 nanometers and lengths of up to one millimeter. They are credited with possessing truly marvelous properties. Depending on their structure, they are either semiconducting like silicon,
or are capable of conducting electrical current a thousand times better than copper. The tubes transport heat twice as well as diamonds the best thermal conductor known. On top of that, they have 20 times the tensile strength of steel, but are nevertheless flexible. Everything thats possible with silicon is also possible with nanotubes, says Hnlein.
T H E S O OT T H AT C H A N G E D T H E WO R L D
His team can deliberately grow clusters of the tubes on silicon which enables connections to be created between the layers of a microchip. In the future, the conductors could also consist of nanotubes, as could diodes and transistors. And theres more: If you place one nanotube directly on top of another one and apply an electric field, they bend and stick to each other until a voltage pulse separates them again a tiny switch that could also be used as a data storage device. Individual samples already exist in research labs, but a reproducible manufacturing method is still a long way off. Nanotubes on Display. Nanotubes are expensive as much as 500 euros per gram. But theyre likely to drop to just a few euros if, as announced, Japanese companies begin mass production this year. Koreas Samsung has announced its intention to market its first nanotube displays in 2003. Electrons can be shot at a phosphor from the ends of the tubes by applying an electric field as is the case with conventional cathode ray tubes. The difference is that the surface is totally flat and there is no wear and tear. A nine-inch diagonal prototype that displays images in all their glorious color already exists. If transistors made of nanotubes one day became as good as those made of silicon, my work would be superfluous, Risch admits. But since no one can say for sure whether nanotubes will make it possible to squeeze 100 million transistors onto a chip, he is likely to have work for years to come. Nanotubes hold similarly untapped but uncertain potential in other fields of research. For instance, they might be used as an admixture for particularly hard materials, or as a hydrogen storage medium for fuel cells. However, all such potential fields are already dominated by established technologies. Whether nanotubes will be able to offer viable alternatives is anyones guess. At Siemens in Erlangen, Dr. Joachim Wecker and his team are investigating magnetic multilayers that are only a few atomic layers thick for use in future memory chips. Such components are expected to hit the market in 2004. Data bits in these MRAMs, are
Nevertheless, some fundamental questions remain unanswered. For instance, Weckers team is still trying to determine if there is a lower limit to the size of magnetic structures. Calculations indicate that structures below 25 nanometers are not possible because at that point ambient heat can nullify the magnetization of the mini-magnets and make stored data unreadable. Nevertheless, Wecker is optimistic that he will be able to lower this value by a few nanometers. Weckers goal is to develop components that can be used in Siemens products. At the Photodetector with buckyballs. Siemens researchers use the nanoscale soccer balls to convert light into electricity. They are also working on an organic solar cell.
circuits to accommodate new tasks. Many products would profit if you could change the hardware later on, says Wecker. An audio processor could become a video processor, for example. Processor and memory could be combined on one chip whose resources would adjust to fit each job. Power for such frugal chips could be supplied by the new organic solar cells that Dr. Jens Hauch is developing at Siemens CT in Erlangen. In these cells, light is converted to electricity by a polymer semiconductor. This synthetic is full of buckyballs nanoscale
A magnetic memory a few atomic layers thick could change the world of computers.
top of the wish list, therefore, are tiny magnetic-field sensors for imaging processes in medicine or for use as sensors in automobiles. Another project deals with reconfigurable logic chips in which tiny sandwich magnets can be linked to form arbitrary logic gates through alteration of the magnetization direction. The millions of transistors in todays microprocessors are hard-wired, which means its not possible to change the soccer balls made of 60 or 70 carbon atoms. The cells energy yield is still a meager 3.5 percent, but Hauch is optimistic that his team will be able to manage ten percent. Such nanoscale power plants would not only be flexible but also much less expensive than todays silicon solar cells, which cost between five and ten euros per watt of output. Were counting on less than one euro per watt, says Hauch. Bernd Mller
Prof. Alex Zettl has gotten his fingers dirty. Although it looks like normal soot, the substance in his lab at the University of California at Berkeley could change the world, as its actually composed of tiny tubes and balls of pure carbon. Zettls team has already used nanotubes (atomic model left) to make ball bearings and electronic components.
Nano or Not? A chain of five to ten atoms amounts to approximately one nanometer a millionth of a millimeter. There is no standard definition of nanotechnology, but the most important criterion is scale. Nanostructures are smaller than 100 nanometers. This includes thin layers that are only a few nanometers thick and take on new functions as a result. Nanotechnology is particularly applicable to microsystems and microchips. Many properties of microsystems are made possible by etching a silicon block (top-down approach), but in nanotechnology theres also the bottom-up approach, whereby small building blocks (atoms, molecules, powders) are used to manufacture larger systems, through self-organization if possible. Many properties of nanocomponents are based on quantum effects that appear only at these tiny scales, where the boundaries between physics, chemistry and biology become blurred. Nanoparticles are especially reactive because they have large surfaces relative to their mass. In a cube with edges ten atoms long, almost half of the atoms are exposed to the area outside the cube. If the edges of the cube are 1,000 atoms long, however, this is true of only 0.6 percent of the atoms.
not stored in capacitors but in miniature magnets. Their polarity is reversed by a weak electrical pulse, and their memory content is read out electrically. The big benefit here is that once stored, data bits can be retained for any length of time. The PC memory modules used today must be refreshed many times per second and therefore need more power. A type of storage that retained its memory would also dramatically shorten the boot-up process.
TINY PARTICLES WITH DIVERSE PROPERTIES

Technology Nanopowder Applications Conglomerations of a few hundred atoms or molecules that give known materials new properties Nanoscale surfaces Thin films made of a few atomic layers or nanostructured surfaces have new properties not seen in todays thicker layer structures (can be used in membranes or catalysts) Nanotubes Single- or multi-wall carbon tubes with a thickness of 1 to 30 nanometers, and with extremely high tensile strength and electrical and thermal conductivity Nanostructured chips Evolution of microelectronics into nanoelectronics. Long-term goal is single-electron components Nanoanalytics Measuring and structuring surfaces with atomic resolution Circuit conductors, transistors and diodes for memory (NRAM), electron guns for flat-panel displays, reinforcement of ceramics, metals, plastics, hydrogen storage, nanotweezers, nanoactuators Smaller memory modules and processors, magnetic data storage, quantum dots for diodes, lasers, optoelectronics and illuminated displays Scanning probe technology (laid the basis for nanotechnology 20 years ago), mechanical data storage (nano-record player) Possible Uses Pigments for paints, cosmetics, medicines, transparent ceramics with low sintering temperatures, scratch-resistant surfaces, filled nanocapsules for self-repairing materials Self-cleaning surfaces (Lotus Effect), anti-reflection coatings, long-lasting implants, scratch-resistant surfaces
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FACTS AND FOREC ASTS
INTERVIEW
Nano 101: The Economics of the 21st Century

aw materials are about as exciting as yesterdays newspaper. As most investors know, the real economic action is in refining new and existing materials. Take the CD, for example. Its base material, a polycarbonate, is worth a mere one cent. But production is worth 100 times that, and the cost of the final product can easily exceed 15 euros. The economic relationship between raw materials and final products is even more dramatic when it comes to nanotechnology, Experts agree that the targeted manipulation of materials on the atomic level will lead to the creation of scratch-free lacquers and glasses that repel water. It will revolutionize computer technology, lasers and displays, and open up new opportunities in medical technology (see p. 18). Nanotechnology will become a normal part of nearly all industrial sectors, says Dr. Andreas Leson, a nanotech expert at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology in Dresden, Germany. But how big is the current nano market and how much will it grow in the immediate future? According to Deutsche Bank, pure nanotech products such as nanopowders or nanostructured materials currently generate
revenues of approximately $22 billion worldwide. The biggest benefactors of this business are chemical companies. However, because nanotechnology does not represent an independent industry, it makes more sense to look at the final products that are impacted by it rather than at the nanoproducts themselves, says Dr. Matthias Werner, head of the Deutsche Bank Innovation Team. Werner calculates that the world market for products that contain nanocomponents, such as computer hard disks and displays amounts to more than $116 billion. The German Association of Engineers, on the other hand, pegs the figure at only 50 billion euros, with the market growing at an annual rate of 1517 percent. This figure includes products whose functionality is to a large extent determined by nanotechnology, such as read heads in computer hard disks, which alone account for revenues of some 34 billion euros. The Sal. Oppenheim investment bank estimates that the revenue potential of nanotech products could be 200 billion euros in 2005. And the U.S. National Science Foundation predicts that revenues from all products based on nanotechniques could reach $700 billion by 2008.
Despite the huge differences between these forecasts, corporations and governments are betting on the future of nano and the new materials that are likely to be spawned by its molecular construction kit. Companies from the electronics, chemical and pharmaceutical industries will profit from this technology, says Tim Harper, CEO of CMP Cientfica, which specializes in monitoring global nanotech trends. The race to develop nanotechnologies is leading to fierce competition among the industrialized nations. Worldwide, governments and companies spent some $4 billion on nanotech research in 2002. The highest levels of government subsidies for such research were recorded in Japan ($650 million), followed by the U.S. ($604 million) and the EU (just under $325 million). However, the figure for the EU does not include what individual countries invested. In 2001, for instance, Germany spent $153 million on nanotechnology subsidies more than all other EU countries combined. Says Germanys Minister of Research, Edelgard Bulmahn: Were serious about making nanotechnology a major priority. Anette Freise
Small Worlds Quantum Harvests

Richard E. Smalley, 59, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 for the discovery of fullerenes. A professor of chemistry at Rice University in Houston, Texas, Smalley is dedicated to the study of carbon nano-particles.
N A N OT E C H N O L O G Y D E V E L O P M E N T T R E N D S A N D F I E L D S O F A P P L I C AT I O N
Functional coatings Chemistry / materials Nanoparticles/colloides Colored solar cells Nanomembranes Lab-on-a-chip systems, biochip arrays Magnetic fluids Carbon nanotubes (CNT) Nanostructured hydrogen storage units Targeted transport of active ingredients Quantum-point solar cells
Source: VDI German Association of Engineers (2002)
CNT composites
Energy / environmental technology
Considering all the hype that typically goes hand in hand with new technologies, do you think the same could soon happen to nanotechnology? Smalley: I dont think that nanotechnology is as seductive an idea as the Internet. One of the great seductive aspects about the dotcom era was that you could make money without building a big infrastructure. Nanotechnology has never been sold that way. For me it is the art and science of making stuff that does something on a nanometer scale. The verb does is very important. And you have to have stuff first. Weve been making stuff for thousands of years. Now its new stuff and sexier stuff but its still stuff and you have to make it. I dont think it reaches a level of excitement for investors and start-up companies to the same extent that dotcom did during the two years of its hype. But it will be with us for a lot longer. Nevertheless, this is a technology with plenty of economic potential. Smalley: Yes, but there arent many people who have put big money in nanotechnology. There is quite a bit of awareness at least with venture capitalists and investors in the U.S. that this is a place where you have to be extremely careful about investing. I dont think there has been a great flood of money. And the $600 million the U.S. government invested in this area is almost entirely in basic research. I dont think it is a large
amount at all. In fact, I think it has to be increased dramatically from that level.
Whats a good example of what nanotechnology can do for us? Smalley: One of my favorite examples is a special continuous carbon nanotube that is a metallic quantum wire. This material would have the ability to transport electrical power more efficiently than copper at one-sixth the weight and in a vastly stronger fiber. With that one thing if we could make it cheaply we could implement a worldwide electrical grid. I think this will happen and this will transform the world. Is that part of your research? Smalley: Very much. For over a decade now, my group has been devoted entirely to carbon nanotubes. We have been making them, studying them and trying to learn how we can use them practically. For most of this time my students have been obsessed with a particular kind of carbon nanotube that has just a single layer of carbon like a tiny soda straw. We are increasingly focusing on the challenge of spinning continuous fibers of this kind, growing them very much like a single crystal. How long is the longest single wall nanotube your group has produced? Smalley: Around a tenth of a millimeter. But we can spin these into continuous fibers that are many meters in length very much as
you can spin a cotton fiber. To produce a quantum wire from these nanotubes, each nanotube need not be longer than a couple of microns. The electrons hop effortlessly from tube to tube. If you were to build the coil of an electric motor out of such a wire, its efficiency would be much higher. That material would have a huge impact. We're working on that. And I think it will probably be feasible within five years.
In your opinion, what areas in materials science will probably experience the most significant breakthroughs? Smalley: Its very likely that within a couple of decades there will be very little metal in automobiles and airplanes. We will replace not only the body panels, but most of the structural components with crafted new materials that are precise down to the last atom and are largely made out of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and some ceramics. What about other fields? Smalley: Im convinced that in a couple of decades the combustion engine will disappear. Instead, there will be fuel cells, which will be much cheaper. Nanotechnology will be critical for enabling this achievement. Fuel cells will burn hydrogen that is stored in a medium that we still dont know how to make. Thats definitely going to happen and it will have a huge impact on humanity. Another example is computers, and all kinds of electrical devices. Moores law will almost
Tissue engineering Molecular early detection of cancer Switchable lacquer paints
Medicine / life science
Nanoparticles for tires Automobile manufacturing
Interference lacquer Nanoscalable composites
Antireflection coatings New sensors (GMR) Electronics / information technology OLED (organic light emitting diodes) Nanotube displays Millipede hard disks Molecular electronics Spintronics
MRAM/FRAM-memory Prototypes
Market readiness in 5 10 years
Market development
Market readiness already achieved Market readiness in 0 5 years
Basic research
Market readiness in 10 15 years
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INTERVIEW
certainly continue if not accelerate. We will have computers with incredible power. They will even be woven into our clothes, and that will be enabled by nanoelectronics.
ridiculous fraction of the worlds energy needs. We need a dramatic improvement in harvesting solar energy. Research like this is right in the critical path.
When do you expect the first nanotech applications to hit the market? Smalley: There are already circuits that are made of thin plastic films that could be fabricated for a penny a copy. They will be cheap enough to stick on packages. When you roll products with these tags through a checkout counter, an electric field activates them and they tell the system they are leaving the store. Then your credit card is charged. These circuits are being made now, and this
Michael Crichton has a new book that describes a really dark picture of nanotechnology where microrobots turn against their creators and attack them. Could such a thing ever happen? Smalley: No (laughing). Im a little reluctant to comment on the books content because I havent read it. I think it is science fiction. Of course, any time a researcher works on something that is able to self replicate, extreme caution must be taken. But frankly,
Nanotechnology will change the world in terms of energy generation, information technology and transportation systems.
application will probably be out on a large scale within a decade. were not even remotely close to anything thats alive, so this is a silly question.
But it points in that direction. Smalley: Yes, but imagine what happens inside a living cell. And now imagine trying to do that with some sort of manipulator arm. The more you get into it, the more you will see how incredibly challenging that is. And at the end you come to the point where you see that you dont have the finesse with your manipulators to do what you need to do. In the biological world these manipulators are called enzymes. But they are not capable of making and breaking bonds in an unlimited way. They are capable of making specifically the one structure you want to and excluding all others. The whole fantasy you have here is that you have a general computer programmable assembly tool that can make anything. And if you could do that you could make a gadget that could make a copy of itself. It would, in fact, be alive. Thats why it works in living cells but not in artificial surroundings? Smalley: Right. I do believe that we will eventually make tiny machines that can do incredible things. But I dont believe that we will ever be able to make something that is really tiny that can also make a copy of itself. Just forget the nanoworld. Look at the regular world we live in. We have never made a robot that can build another robot from earth, air, fire and water. No robot has ever been made that can build all of its component parts and then put them together. I do believe that will be possible. The interesting question is: How small could that be? In my opinion, not at the micron scale. Ive been involved for decades in making this nanometer stuff and I do have a pretty good idea that self-duplicating nanobots are not ever going to happen. So on the whole you are optimistic? Smalley: Absolutely. Nanotechnology will change our world. It will change energy generation . It will change information technology. It will change transportation. And I am pretty sure it will not kill us. Norbert Aschenbrenner
Molecules that Do Things

Dr. Harry Kroto, 63, was awarded one of three Nobel Prizes in chemistry in 1996 for the discovery of fullerenes. He conducts nanotube research at the University of Sussex, England, and presents technology subjects for television audiences.
What s your definition of nanotechnology? Kroto: Molecules that do things. Thats it? Kroto: Well, Im thinking of molecules with functions. You see, the real advances are in neuroscience and the application of nanotechnology to produce molecules that have interesting properties. Key molecules such as haemoglobin illustrate the sorts of things we might be able to make in the future.
What excites you most about nanotechnology? Kroto: It has the possibility for greening our technology. If we can produce nanotubes, which are incredibly strong, light materials, we could produce cars and perhaps aeroplanes that would require far less power.
that was trivial by comparison with what will be required to develop some of these new concepts. So a lot of work has to be done.
as field emission sources or ultra-thin TV displays.
Siemens has developed smart tags. Can you explain how they work? Smalley: They are enabled by conducting polymers that are fabricated in minute patterns. Every one of those polymers works because the atoms within them are organized in a very special way. They were engineered on a nanometer scale. Every memory device in a computer contains a lot of nanotechnology. For example, in hard discs, storage density is increasing rapidly while costs are dropping with nanometer scale layers of magnetic materials. This is a billion dollar business and I think its unquestionably nanotechnology. A team of Siemens researchers has managed to make solar cells from fullerenes. Do you think this is a promising field? Smalley: Yes, very much so. This gets me back to the energy issue. Of all the primary energy sources, only solar has the abundance we need. At present it supplies only a
Shouldn't it be possible to produce nanoscale machines that build anything you want atom by atom? For example, in scanning tunneling microscopes it is possible to move atoms one by one and place them where you want. Isnt that contradictory? Smalley: No. The focus of the discussion is on self-replicating nanobots. The problem is to build a nanobot that is not only able to manipulate atoms with such generality that it can make what you tell it to do, but that it can make a copy of itself. That means that you have to be able to control atoms in three dimensions to make all sorts of structures and you have to be able to do it with perfection. And very fast. Smalley: Right. So taking an atom with a scanning tunneling microscope off a molecule and sticking it on to another one is not very far down that road.
When will revolutionary nanotechnology applications come to market? Kroto: It might take between 20 and 40 years for the truly revolutionary ones. But I dont know. It is very hard to foresee whats going to happen. People didnt foresee the Internet, people didnt foresee the application of the laser for eye surgery. In this respect, youre talking to the wrong guy. I conduct fundamental research. I discovered C60 with my colleagues not by looking for it, but by doing a little experiment on chemistry in stars and interstellar space. In my science Im not looking for applications. What are you working on now? Kroto: We have made significant progress in efficiently generating nanostructures of many kinds, including nanotubes out of carbon and other inorganic materials, by pyrolyzing selected precursors. We are now able to gen-erate aligned nanotube bundles of uniform length and diameter, as well as metal nanowires using benzene-based aerosols in conjunction with metallocenes like ferrocene, an iron-containing organic molecule. These novel materials have extraordinary physical and chemical properties. They may be useful, for example, in manufacturing super-strong composite materials and novel electronic or optical devices such
Would you say that nanotechnology is the most promising area of materials science? Kroto: Frankly, yes. Self-replicating nanobots could that ever be a possibility? Kroto: I would not say that that could not happen. Self-replicating organisms have developed accidentally in the biosphere. I suspect one day we will be able to emulate some of the smallest organisms or at least modify them in some way. Should steps be taken to keep this from happening? Kroto: Of course. But nanotechnology is not the only technology involved. All powerful technologies have tremendous potential to be of benefit to society or to cause harm. Nanotechnology per se may or may not have the capacity to do more harm than other technologies such as nuclear weapons. But if people say they dont want technology, then we will go back to the time when a quarter of children died at the age of five and people worked in the fields 12 hours a day just to survive. The technologies are here and society has to decide how it wants to use them. The problem is that although our technologies have developed rapidly, our social behaviour has remained pretty much the same since the Stone Age. Norbert Aschenbrenner
Are there other areas where you see promising rewards for research? Kroto: Yes. For instance, molecular computing with nanotechnology. This would open the door to supercomputers that would run on tiny batteries and microchips a million times smaller than the ones we have now. That would put all the knowledge of the world in your pocket. These materials exist, but we are still a long way off from being able to exploit them. How long do you think that will take? Kroto: It took sixty years for James Watt to put a condenser on the steam engine. And
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CO M B I N ATO R I A L C H E M I S T R Y
In Search of Substance
High-performance computers and robots are accelerating the search for new industrial materials. Researchers can create any combination of chemical elements in the lab and quickly analyze their properties. In addition, simulations can be used to demonstrate the behavior of materials from the atomic level all the way to finished components.
based Symyx Technologies is already creating 10,000 combinations a month. And when it comes to checking initial hits under real-life conditions, some 3,000 new tests are conducted each month. Thus, combinatorial chemistry dramatically helps to accelerate the search for new materials. In fact, according to Maier, it makes the search process move ten to 100 times faster compared with conventional methods. Dividing and Mixing. The company hte AG (hte stands for high throughput experimentation) specializes in catalyst research. We create metal oxide mixtures, which we then test for their suitability as catalysts for chemical reactions, explains Dirk Demuth, managing director of the Heidelberg-based company. One of the methods used by the companys scientists in their research is the so-called split-and-pool technique. This involves dividing a group of 5,000 aluminum oxide pellets, each of which has a diameter of one millimeter, into five more or less equal portions. The scientists rinse each portion in a different metal salt solution for example cobalt, molybdenum, iron, manganese or vanadium. They then bring all of the pellets back together and divide and rinse them again. This process is repeated five times. Once the solutions have transferred various mixtures of metals to the oxide pellets, the pellets are distributed on plates containing 384 holes and checked to see if they exhibit any catalytic activity. The researchers only analyze the metallic composition of promising pellets. In another project, we discovered a catalyst for a particular reaction, says Demuth. Like other catalysts, it had a yield of over 90 percent. However, it was up to ten times more durable and far less expensive in terms of the material used. In addition to conducting research commissioned by customers such as BASF, Degussa, and ChevronTexaco, hte develops catalysts for hydrogen carriers and extracting nitrogen oxides from automobile emissions. As such, it is creating an important collection of data that can be exploited in future simulation-based materials research. Among other things, scientists at Siemens Corporate
Siemens researcher Dr. Wolfgang Rossner analyzes new kinds of fluorescent phosphors, and optimizes their composition with the help of combinatorial chemistry.
limited to modifying and improving existing substances. If, however, a particularly industrious researcher wanted to test as many combinations of elements as possible to create a new catalyst, he or she would face a Herculean task. After all, elements from the entire periodic table could theoretically be selected. But thanks to combinatorial chemistry a technology that allows researchers to generate extensive libraries of chemical compounds quickly there is now a way out of this dilemma. The process involves pipette robots or other machines that mix predefined amounts of basic materials into tiny depressions on solid substrates, thereby creating up to ten thousand different combinations. State-of-the-art high-throughput screening methods are used to test these combinations for specific properties, while computers and mathematical processes help evaluate the results. Although the origins of combinatorial chemistry are to be found in medical research, material researchers are increasingly using this process as well, particularly when searching for new catalysts for chemical reactions. For the first time ever, we now have a tool that supports the process of making discoveries, says catalyst researcher Wilhelm Maier, a professor at the University of Saarbrcken, Germany. Maier is particularly interested in developing efficient strategies for discovering and optimizing materials. In a single experiment, he can test and characterize more than 200 materials, including very exotic ones that would not normally be analyzed. Using an optimized process, USA-
he search for new materials is usually
Pipette robots in the lab. The very high throughput rates possible with combinatorial chemistry can be attained only with the help of intelligently controlled automation.
Technology (CT) are conducting research on ferromagnetic materials, new dielectrics for extremely high frequency (gigahertz) transceiver modules in cell phones, piezoelectric materials and LED phosphors. For example, the researchers apply mixtures of the oxides of elements such as strontium, barium, titanium and niobium to a substrate in specific ratios, creating over 100 mixtures. The mixtures are then analyzed by an automated sys-
duced by the new phosphors in LEDs are more natural than those generated by other products. The phosphors are therefore being prepared for market launch. Unlimited Parameters. For Rossner, the combinatorial method is much more than just a way of combining materials as desired. The fact that we can now analyze the technical parameters in much greater detail is
Combinatorial chemistry vastly accelerates the search for new materials.

tem. Working closely with Symyx, the Siemens researchers have tested about 150,000 combinations over the last two years. In the past, this would probably have taken two decades, says Dr. Wolfgang Rossner. We discovered complex combinations of phosphors that generate a white light when applied to a blue LED as a thin film. That wouldnt have been possible without combinatorial chemistry. The colors proprobably even more important, he says. Thats because the properties of a phosphor are not only dependent on the materials chemical composition, but also on the way it has been processed. It is crucial to know, for instance, during which production stages the material was heated. Another important factor influencing the outcome is the surrounding atmosphere. For example, oxygen has an oxidizing effect, which creates a red form of a phosphor from the metal eu-
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CO M B I N ATO R I A L C H E M I S T R Y
In Brief
pretty accurately on the basis of the mechanical stress. In this case the results were so accurate that the real-life values only deviated from them by one percent, says Mock. Because the products production engineers required very specific properties, Mock only improved the shape of the spring, not the material it was made of. Following a different approach, a group of Siemens researchers headed by Dr. Wolfmeter cube that contained around a billion atoms and had the ideal lattice structure of a metal. A crack was formed in the cube by virtually removing several atoms. The researchers then generated tensile forces that simulated strain-hardening a process that causes flexible metals such as copper to become as brittle and fragile as glass. Monster Calculations. Materials research can be extraordinarily data intensive. Consider a program that calculates the position of each atom in a material over a period of several billionths of a second. In fact, it took ten days for the ASCI-White IBM computer in California to make such a calculation, even though it is one of the fastest super computers in the world and is capable of handling up to ten teraflops (ten trillion calculations per second). While the computer simulated the spread of cracks, it was noticed that secondary cracks, which spread even more quickly than the original crack, begin to form at the ends. In practice, this finding could be used to develop materials that steer fatigue cracks into non-critical areas of a component. It still takes an extremely long time to make such calculations. Nevertheless, methods that involve the simulation of materials and components on computers are becoming increasingly important as materials research in the nanotechnology and biotechnology sectors becomes more and more expensive. Whats more, researchers expect growing computung power to result in a new era in materials development. They will then be able to not only forecast a materials exact mechanical properties, but also its optical, magnetic and electrical ones. In doing so, they will be using simulations that smoothly combine quantum mechanical, atomistic and finite element methods. But according to Gao, it will take another five to ten years before this kind of multiscale modeling finds its way into industry. It is almost certain, however, that super computer atomism will eventually play a key role in the development of bio-nanotechnologies. It could become one of the most important engineering tools of the 21st century, says Gao. Norbert Aschenbrenner Materials research has developed by leaps and bounds over the past 20 years. Up until now, the focus has been on optimizing and customizing known materials. In the future, the emphasis will be on developing smart materials. (p. 9) Future developments will require an even greater amount of interdisciplinary work. Researchers from widely different fields will not only have to cooperate, they will also have to incorporate users in the process at an early stage. In addition, all the parts of a component will have to fit together perfectly. (p. 9) Nanotechnology is of key importance. By integrating tiny particles, it becomes possible to give materials completely new properties. The longterm goal is to produce miniature components one atom at a time. However, most experts believe it is very unlikely that there will ever be selfproducing nanorobots. (p.18, 23) Nanotechnolgy and biotechnology the tools of technology and nature are being combined to create a new unity. One of the first successful results of this symbiosis is the growth of nerve cells on silicon chips. By imitating naturally grown structures, scientists can create particularly light and stable components. (p.15) Adaptronics helps with the creation of materials that adapt to their surroundings. Here, sensors, controls and actuators are combined in tiny areas. Siemens, for example, uses a memory metal to control a valve in a dishwasher. (p. 12) Combinatorial chemistry and automated mixing and analysis systems help scientists find new materials by enabling them to evaluate substances up to 100 times faster. (p. 26) Faster computers allow researchers to fully simulate materials. In the future, this will enable them to forecast not only a substances mechanical properties, but also its optical, magnetic and electrical ones. This multiscale modeling combines quantum effects with the interaction of atomic clusters and the finite elements method. (p. 26) CONTACTS Impact of Materials: Rainer Nies, CT SM EDM rainer.nies@siemens.com Piezo injector: Dr. Andreas Kappel, CT MS 2 andreas.kappel@siemens.com LEDs: Dr. Bernhard Stapp, Osram Opto Semiconductors bernhard.stapp@osram-os.de Memory metals: Dr. Stefan Kautz, CT MM 3 stefan.kautz@siemens.com Dr. Heinz Zeininger, CT MM 3 heinz.zeininger@siemens.com Piezo vibration damper: Hans-Georg von Garen, CT MS 2 hans-georg.garssen@siemens.com Protein gas sensor: Dr. Reinhard Gabl, CT MM 2 reinhard.gabl@siemens.com Nano materials: Dr. Wolfgang von Gentzkow,CTMM3 wolfgang.gentzkow@siemens.com Combinatorial chemistry: Dr. Wolfgang Rossner, CT MM 1 wolfgang.rossner@siemens.com Simulations: Dr. Randolf Mock, CT MS 2 randolf.mock@siemens.com LINKS Adaptronics pilot project: www.lp-adaptronik.de Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Prof. Peter Fromherz: www.biochem.mpg.de/mnphys Nanotechnology at the VDI: www.nanonet.de/indexe.php3 Online magazine for nanotechnology: www.smalltimes.com Prof. Richard Smalleys homepage: www.ruf.rice.edu/~smalleyg Prof Harry Krotos homepage: www.cpes.sussex.ac.uk/chemistry/staff /hwk.html Symyx: www.symyx.com hte AG: www.hte-company.de Max Planck Institute of Metals Research http://shasta.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de LITERATURE Roukes, Michael L., Understanding Nanotechnology, Scientific American (editor) Warner Books, 2002 Mulhall, Douglas, Our Molecular Future, Prometheus Books, 2002
ropium. On the other hand, the reducing effect of hydrogen creates a blue form. There are an almost unlimited number of influencing parameters and resulting combinations, says Rossner, and combinatorial chemistry helps us to discover better materials more quickly and cheaply. Dr. Randolf Mock has decided to take another path to create better materials. Mock is a computer simulation specialist in the Sensor and Actuator System Group at Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich. His work has made it possible to develop a production version of a piezoactuator for diesel direct injection (see p. 9). The cylindrical, piezoce-
short for a crucial component meant to last the life of an automobile. To remedy this situation, we developed our own spring on a computer in just six weeks, says Mock. The teams solution was to use the metal case surrounding the component as the spring itself. We put slits into the virtual tube and even tried out some very bizarre shapes, explains Mock. To conduct the simulation, Mock used the finite element
The long-term goal is to simulate materials at the atomic level.

gang von Gentzkow in Erlangen, Germany used computer simulations to improve a composite material. The groups goal was to create iron that could be processed like plastic, but that would have the lowest possible plastic content. To this end, they simulated iron particles of various sizes as well as the particles distribution in plastic. In addition, the researchers calculated the strength of the adhesive bonds between the plastic molecules and the surface of the particles so that they could optimize the materials mechanical stability. A great advantage of these simulations is that they allowed the researchers quickly to predict the results of changes to the materials without having to analyze a single particle in the lab. Fast Cracks. Researchers specializing in development of computer-assisted materials hope to be able to fully simulate materials and components all the way down to their atomic structures and their quantum mechanical effects. A pioneer in this area is Prof. Huajian Gao, director at the Max Planck Institute of Metals Research in Stuttgart. His team is studying how cracks and crystalline dislocations originate and spread. Although these phenomena are of crucial importance for understanding materials, the physics behind them still cannot be fully explained. Cracks spread at an incredible rate of several kilometers per second. In order to make this process visible, Gaos team simulated a one-micro-
A virtual spring a component for a piezo-electric diesel injector is created out of over 10,000 elements on a computer at Siemens Corporate Technology. Researchers are using finite elements to calculate possible component shapes.
ramic component, which controls the injection of fuel into the combustion chamber by means of voltage pulses, is supported by a Bourdon spring. Stressed with a force of 85 kilograms, the spring prevents the buildup of tensile forces on the sensitive ceramics, thereby protecting the component. No manufacturer worldwide was able to offer springs that would have lasted longer than a hundred hours, says Mock. This was far too
method. Its like using a bunch of Lego blocks to create the component on a computer. The blocks are kept as small as possible so that we dont need an excessive amount of computing, he says. In total, the virtual spring consists of 10,000 individual elements. A computer program calculates how strong the forces are within the spring when it is subjected to various loads. The service life of the spring can then be estimated
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RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS
For Liu Yanghua and Thomas Riegel, avatar faces characterized by happiness or sadness are just a few clicks away.
Sending images over a cell phone is the latest trend in mobile communications. In cooperation with Tsinghua University in Beijing, Siemens
How to Mail a Smile
researchers have developed a simple procedure
that enables mobile phone users to transform an image of a person into an animated graphic icon an avatar.
ushing a button is all it takes to make German Chancellor Gerhard Schrder laugh. Thomas Riegel from Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich makes a couple of adjustments with a mouse, and Schrder suddenly scowls from the flatscreen monitor, just as if the real Chancellor had suddenly received some more bad news about the economy. We used Schrder because his is a face that everyone recognizes here in Germany, explains Riegel with a smile. But we could have taken a picture of anyone . The image of Schrders face is stored on the computers hard disk. It takes Riegel and his Chinese colleague Liu Yanghua only a couple of minutes and a few mouse clicks to transform the rigid still into a two-dimensional animated icon. All I need to do is select 20 points on the photo and then make a few adjustments, says Liu, a 24-year-old doctoral student from Tsinghua University in Beijing. Siemens has been collaborating with the renowned Chinese university for around five years now. During that period, a number of scientists from Tsinghua have worked alongside multimedia specialists at Siemens Corporate Technology. Making the German Chancellor laugh on a computer screen might not be everyones idea of a good joke. Yet its a development with big potential for mobile phone applications. Using the procedure devised by Siemens researchers, cell phone users will be able to take a picture with an integrated digital camera, convert it directly into an animated avatar on the phones display, and then send it in the form of an MMS. Were not quite that far yet, admits Riegel. At present, the researchers still have to process the images on a PC. But theres no real reason why you shouldnt be able to generate an avatar on a mobile phone as well, he adds. Indeed, it would also be perfectly possible to use an animated face to read out e-mails or Website texts on a mobile phone or minicomputer. The procedure used by Riegel and his Chinese colleagues employs MPEG-4, an international standard developed with Siemens participation. MPEG-4 should enable the highly efficient transmission of multi-
Making faces on cell phones is a development that holds plenty of potential.

media data such as video and audio files, photos and 3D images using todays networks. The use of this standard has the advantage that the technology would be able to circulate relatively quickly among cell phone users. Other companies have their own developments in this field, but these require special software and are therefore not directly compatible with different network operators and mobile phone models. Although we use a standard, its still very complex to write a program that will display a model of a human face, says Liu. To guarantee a realistic image, the computer must be able to extrapolate on the basis of the 20 points selected a lattice of 200 to 300 points that cover the face like a grid. To make the face laugh, for example, specific points in the lattice must be made to move. Initially, Riegel, Liu and their colleagues worked on 3D avatars. But these turned out to be unsuitable for cell phone displays because of the large amount of processing required to generate such images. With this in mind, Liu wrote a program capable of generating facial expressions such as pleasure, anger, surprise and sadness in two dimensions. Compared to 3D avatars, the new program requires only one-fifth of the computing capacity, she explains. All in all, Liu spent one year at Siemens before returning to China at the end of 2002. Her successor, Zhang Jun, has already arrived in Munich. Back at Tsinghua University, Liu is now completing her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Professor Xu Guang-You from the Institute of Human-Computer Interaction at the Faculty of Computer Sciences. Alongside avatars, other areas of interest for Xus team include face-recognition and voiceidentification technology. For example, his researchers have developed a program that can locate the position of human faces on
video images in less than 100 milliseconds without having to identify them individually. What the software does is search for a set of clues featuring a face such as bars of dark color above lighter strips a sure sign of a pair of eyes with eyebrows above them. Another program then identifies the person by means of face and speaker recognition. Using this technology, Xu has created an advanced lecture hall equipped with cameras and microphones that first identify the professor giving the lecture and then grant him or her exclusive access to the halls multimedia systems. For example, when the lecturer gives instructions with voice and gestures, the program dims the lighting for a slide show. At the same time, the corresponding material is automatically loaded onto the students PCs. Finally, the system records the lecture, so that students can access the material over the Internet at any time. Thanks to multimedia streaming technology, the system automatically adjusts the content to the available bandwidth and, if necessary, transmits color images in black and white, which naturally reduces data flow. Although Xus work with Siemens is limited to the avatar project, he exercises an indirect influence on other projects. In the past, we were too academic, he admits. Siemens helped us become more realistic. For example, the company told us that if we wanted to find a broad application for our avatars, the MPEG-4 standard would be crucial. Similarly, the company provides the researchers with a lot of feedback. Siemens, on the other hand, benefits from close contact to one of Chinas most important universities. For Xu, there are two major advantages to the exchange program: his students gain experience with Western culture, and they also learn about industry. This knowledge gets handed on to students back in Beijing. In the end, many more people profit than just the exchange students themselves, says Xu. Adds Liu Yanghua: I learned a lot about programming, including how to write algorithms. And it was also quite an experience to put a smile on the German Chancellors face. Norbert Aschenbrenner
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SECURITY
HIGHLIGHTS
Biometrics: A Question of Identity
SCENARIO
2015
In the future, card-based biometrics could be compared with on-the-spot data to certify who we are. Page 35
Biometric Technology: Body Language
Siemens researchers are developing methods that enable biometric characteristics to be converted into data keys. Page 38
Smart Cameras: Getting the Picture
What used to be a trickle of video images is turning into a torrent. Zeroing in on whats important will require cameras that can extract information from what they see. Page 44
Netwoks: Viruses, Worms & Hackers
As voice and data merge, networks are becoming increasingly vulnerable. A look at what Siemens is doing. Page 49
Interview with Marc Rotenberg
Are we building a surveillance society? The head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center comments on security, privacy and convenience. Page 53
How to Catch a Thief

N
Catching a thief in a crowded shopping mall can be devilishly difficult. But smart cameras that translate image content into words will make it possible to search vast video databases for a particular person. Heres one possible scenario.
ever a dull moment. Thats what I like about this job. None of that oldfashioned security stuff. You know with the banks of monitors and the sleepy-looking guys peering at pictures of delivery bays or rear entrances over cups of steaming black tea. Things have changed. Now were on the move. But theres more. Here in the SkyMall in Singapore a giant commercial complex that opened a couple of years ago theyve got security systems like you wouldnt believe. Sure, everyones got cameras. But these guys are different. Theyre smart. They watch for certain kinds of situations: a
A security man helps a victim to identify the person who robbed him. Feeding descriptors of a possible suspect into the databases of nearby cameras, he narrows the search. Images of people who fit the descriptors appear on a PDA. Once a likely suspect has been identified, real-time tracking sets the stage for an arrest. The entire process is based on the use of cameras that describe what they see.
2015
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SCENARIO
2015
B I O M E T R I C A P P L I C AT I O N S
package left in an aisle, someone walking from car to car in the underground parking lots, faces, license plates, even certain tones of voice. Any of these things can trigger what we call an event. Most events are insignificant, but theyre routinely routed to the nearest security person. After all, hows a camera supposed to know that a slap on the back is harmless? The thing is that just about everyone these days has biometric templates coded but incomplete versions of their voice, fingertip and face scans in government databases and on their PDAs and smart cards. Its convenient and private since using the system is just a question of verification not identification. You can access and update your government benefits from home or from kiosks in places like SkyMall. When customers enter a parking lot or leave a store with some merchandise, all they have to do is touch a reader with a finger. The reader creates a digital template of the fingerprints geometry and compares it wirelessly to the information on the customers PDA. If the templates match, the transaction takes place. Getting personalized information is also a breeze. Just take a look at that lady over there at the kiosk. Shes probably checking to see if any of her favorite products are on sale. When she places her hand on the scanner, the information is downloaded to her PDA complete with aisle and shelf numbers. Still, crime is hard to stamp out. A couple of days ago, for instance, a Japanese tourists shopping bag disappeared from the SkyBar and the only clue was that the man could vaguely remember that a middle-aged woman with a beige jacket had been nearby. Not much to go on. Most people around here wear beige all the time. But he also remembered that she had worn a pair of pink sneakers. Bingo. Only a few minutes after the theft had been reported, I was drawing a triangle and a square visual shorthand for a person with a bag or briefcase in my PDAs data entry window. I told the system to search the databases of the cameras around the SkyBar for the last hour. But if I had left it at that, the system would have come up with hundreds
of images of people with briefcases or shopping bags. Adding beige top to the search list wouldnt have narrowed the results by much. But pink lower section was a winner. A few seconds after I hit the search button, images started popping up on the PDA. Do any of these look like the person you remember? I asked. The man Mr. Tanagucci looked carefully. There had been several women and even a couple of men who had worn pink shoes. But there was one woman who looked familiar to him. I asked the system to search for all images matching her description for the last hour. Bingo again. An image taken only 40 minutes earlier showed her in a shoe store without a shopping bag. But the latest images showed her with two shopping bags, and Tanagucci said that it appeared that one of the bags was the right size and color. She was definitely our girl pink sneakers and all. Scrolling forwards in her video archive, I could see that the woman had gone for the elevators and was already in the parking lots, which, by the way, are outfitted with plenty of cameras. Now the pictures coming in were real-time. I saw her in a car. The vehicles electronic license plate ID automatically transmitted to the nearest camera each time a cars ignition is started appeared on my screen along with exactly the notice I had expected to see: Driver and vehicle do not match, it said. Now things were getting serious. But clearly, SkyMalls investment in high-resolution cameras with face recognition capability was paying off. Using the fingerprint reader on my PDA to confirm my command, I put one of our newest security systems into effect: I requested cameras at all exit gates to search for the suspects car and to deny release of exit barriers if it tried to leave. Five minutes later Tanagucci and I found the stolen vehicle. Two security men were already on the scene. Where is she? I asked, looking around. The two looked annoyed. I checked my PDA. No more images. Then I looked in the car and knew why the trail had suddenly gone cold. There they were on the front seat: a pair of bright pink sneakers. Arthur F. Pease
A Question of Identity
Whether activating a cell phone or making an online purchase, the ability to identify ourselves is essential. In the near future, card-based biometrics could be compared with on-the-spot data to certify who we are.
A guest at the Hotel Palafitte near Lausanne, Switzerland touches a reader that notes key geometric features of her fingerprint patterns.The resulting fingerprint templates are then transferred to the hotels database, which authorizes access to the users room when a corresponding reader is touched.
rom the anatomy of our vocal cords to the swirling patterns of our fingerprints and the webs of capillaries that furnish our irises with oxygen, each of us is unique. Human beings have used the uniqueness of their appearance to recognize each other ever since the visual cortex began outperforming its olfactory counterpart. But today, the places we wish to enter are as likely to be populated by machines as by people, and the people we meet are more than likely to
be strangers. Whether accessing a cell phone or checking into a hotel, the process hinges on a single element: identity. Confirming who we are may require a substantial wait in the lobby or remembering a personal identification number (PIN), or, in the simplest of cases, fishing a key out of a pocket or purse and inserting it in the front door. Fingerprint Checkins. Soon, all of this may be behind us. To get a feel for the future, just
walk into the Hotel Palafitte near Lausanne, Switzerland. If youve reserved a room and been there before, all youll have to do to get in is go to your door and touch a sensor. First-time guests are met by an employee with a laptop and a Siemens mobile FingerTip Reader. Two fingers are scanned (just in case one is hurt, theres always a back-up). Outfitted with an Infineon fingerprint sensor chip, the Reader produces a digital picture of the surface of each finger. But no one ever
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actually sees the fingerprint, says Raphael Henrich who invented the device and is responsible for biometrics at Siemens Building Securitys Product Creation Center in Karlsruhe, Germany. Instead, he explains, the image is transmitted to a Siemens TopSec ID module in the Reader. The module digitizes the information, reduces it to about 15 minutia key geometric features and encrypts it. The resulting fingerprint template basically a unique code is then transferred to the hotels database. Before the guest goes to his room, the template is downloaded (still in encrypted form) to a Reader at the guest's door using the hotel's intranet. When the guest touches the FingerTip Reader at the door, the Reader compares the biometric data generated on the spot with the recorded template, and, if the two match, generates an ID number for the transaction. The ID number is relayed to the door controller, which then releases the lock. Once on file, the template can be used
again any time the guest returns to the hotel. But the technology could go much further. In the future, says Henrich, the FingerTip system could be put to use in hotel chains. Then, if you flew to Paris from Lausanne, for instance, you could avoid checking in at the hotel, and go directly to your room because your fingerprint template would have been sent over the hotel chains intranet. Hotels are a natural place for fingerprint biometrics to get started because, on average, lost cards and keys cost them about $2 per day per room. But the technology can just as easily be applied to the home, vehicle and office markets, as well as an adjunct to existing security systems. Fingerprint bio-
researched at Siemens, voice holds a particularly promising position (see p. 38). Biometrics will come to market from two directions, explains Dr. Stephan Grashey, chief developer for speaker recognition technology at Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich. The first is through the highend sector, where security is at a premium. The second is the low-end sector, which is oriented toward comfort. And in that connection, voice is a shoe-in for the vast mobile phone and call center markets. Capitalizing on the fact that the latest cell phones are already outfitted with voicerecognition technology (for example, you call your husband by simply saying his
BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGIES: WHERE THEY ARE, WHERE THEYRE HEADED

Technology Finger scan Examples of Existing Applications FingerTip-Sensor (Infineon), computer mouse (Siemens), access control (hotels), multifunctional identification (Macao), passports, (Sultanate of Brunei ) Face scan Access control Berlin Airport, face comparison with police data (example; Phantomas System ZN Vision Technologies AG, see page 41) Voice scan Access to bank services Mass market applications emphasizing convenience: cell phones, call centers, bank account access, telephone purchasing Iris scan Airline ticket purchasing (Virgin Atlantic), access to government buildings (Australia), traveler ID check (Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport), border security (Malaysia) Signature scan Financial services Technology from IR Recognition Systems: airport security (San Francisco, Ben Gurion, Tel Aviv, Israel), banks (Italy), prisons (UK) Combined biometrics (face, voice and finger, for example) Building access (Siemens, Indian Ministry of Defense) Smart Card IDs (drivers license, insurance, passport) and online access to services Contracts, credit card payments Multimedia kiosks High-security applications Examples of Future Applications Inexpensive implementation is leading to mass market applications: online purchasing, electronic currency exchanges, supermarket check-out, car keys, electronic ID Access control, security areas, identification
A newly patented technology allows users to teach their phones what they sound like by repeating a few key numbers.
metrics, says Henrich, is potentially applicable to a vast consumer market. (see p. 38). Another area in which fingerprint biometrics is sure to save money and time is government services. In Macao, for instance, all 460,000 residents are scheduled to receive forgery-proof fingerprint ID cards over the next four years. When a citizen uses a card to obtain or update a government service, he or she will have to press a finger on a reader and the resulting data will be compared with data on the card and in a trust center. The ID cards, which will also display the users signature and picture, may eventually take the place of a drivers license, health insurance card, and even be used as an electronic purse. Phones That Know You. Accounting for nearly fifty percent of biometric technology sales, finger scans are far and away the leading access technology (see p. 42). But an important future growth area could be a technology that now holds a mere 4.3 percent market share: voice scanning. Among the many biometric technologies being name), Grashey and his colleagues have developed a technology to generate random two-digit numbers that must be repeated by an authorized user in order to activate a cell phone. A patented technology permits the user to teach the phone what he or she sounds like (enrollment phase) by pronouncing only the numbers one through nine as well as the multiples of ten up to ninety. These speech components are later used as references against which the users rendition of double-digit numbers is compared. Voice Scans for Phone Banking. Speaker recognition technology is already sufficiently advanced that broker Charles Schwab uses voice authentication to allow investors to perform trades by phone, and some banks have considered using it as an access system for phone banking. Our technology is ready for the German language and is being adapted to English and other languages, says Grashey, who has also developed a voice-activated screensaver for accessing PCs.
Hand scan
Biometric identification can be based on finger, voice or face recognition. Other major categories include iris and hand.
Voice scan technology has many other applications. For example, if youve ever experienced the frustration of having your online bank account shut down on a weekend after several fruitless attempts at remembering a password, consider this: Voice scan technology would allow you to reopen the account by calling the banks call center and repeating random numbers. As with cell phones, the system would compare your voice to a previously recorded voice print. It would then send a new password to you by e-mail. Since it costs, on average, about $20 for human operators to respond to customer requests for new passwords, the automated voice-activated system offers plenty of potential for saving money. And Grashey concedes that it might be possible to use the same technology to access the worldwide telephone network. If you had a voice print with AT&T or MCI, why not pick up the phone anywhere in the world, state your name, and then repeat a couple of randomly generated numbers? The call would be billed just as if you had used a credit card, but without all the usual trouble.
Its an absolutely realistic scenario that can apply to calling, banking or shopping. Biometric Desk. As individual biometric technologies evolve, the potential for combining them, and thus further improving convenience and security, will grow. Working at a Siemens subsidiary in Pune, India and in Munich, Germany, Dr. Vinay Vaidya, Arun Nair and their team have developed a device called the Intelligent Digital Passport (IDP). The device records a users voice, takes a digital image of his face, and registers his fingerprint. The data is then compressed, encrypted and transferred to a special smart ID card. Later, to enter a secure area, the same identification process takes place, except that the user also inserts his biometric card into a reader. The reader then compares the currently acquired and card-based biometric data. Since the data transfer is limited to the reader and card, it is exceptionally secure. Says Nair, With the IDP, the possibility of incorrect identification or identity theft is virtually zero. The system is already in use at Indias Department of Defense.
Apart from security considerations, biometric technologies can open up entirely new forms of human-machine interactions. Just ask Stephan Grashey, who, in addition to performing speaker-recognition research, is in charge of Siemens biometric contributions to Smartkom, a project sponsored by Germanys Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The consortium is developing a multimedia phone booth and a personalized desktop. In addition to voice scanning, both use technology from the SiViT (Siemens Virtual Touchscreen) overhead projection system to recognize the user by the shape of a hand. Outfitted with a camera, the multimedia phone booth and its desktop equivalent would allow users to employ gestures as well as speech to download or send e-mail. The project holds the potential of transforming the common phone booth and the hotel room desk into a personalized multimedia office, says Grashey. All youll have to do is provide the biometric key. Then again, the next time you check into a hotel with a fingerprint, your room may already know who you are. Arthur F. Pease
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Modern art? Not by a long shot. A new biometric technique projects colored lines onto a subject to determine the three-dimensional contours of her face.
Body Language
No two people are the same. With this in mind, researchers are developing methods that enable the unique characteristics of eyes, faces and voices to be converted into data keys that enhance security and convenience.
hen Henri-Lon Scheffer killed a dental assistant in Paris in 1902 he made a mistake that no criminal before him had ever had to worry about: he left fingerprints on a pane of glass at the scene of the crime. Chief of police Alphonse Bertillon used dactyloscopy a relatively new fingerprinting method at the time to arrest Scheffer. This was one of the first triumphs of biometrics the science of statistically analyzing living organisms. A hundred years later, fingerprinting is not only a tool used for tracking down crimi-
nals, but also a key for gaining access to any number of systems. Biometrics offers an alternative to the ever-growing list of passwords and PIN codes that can be stolen, misused or simply forgotten. With biometrics, the users body itself serves as an open sesame function. An example of this is the fingerprint sensor attached to the Siemens ID Mouse. The sensor is used as a means of granting access to the users PC. About the size of a fingernail, the silicon sensor measures the direct current capacity and thus the exact distance between the surface of the chip and the finger at some 65,000 points. This generates a digital grayscale picture. Associated software determines the characteristic features of the finger lines (minutia) and compares them with the authorized users previously stored data. Over the past few years, biometric researchers have taken a very close look at human beings and have developed a series of recognition techniques. These techniques measure not only the physiological features of faces, irises or hands, for example, but also behavior-related characteristics such as handwriting or voice dynamics. Siemens may not be active to the same extent in all fields, but as an integrator it can incorporate all biometries into applications, explains Dr. Wolfgang Kpper, head of Biometrics at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) in Munich. The technique for fingerprint recognition described above was developed a few years ago at CT and is now being marketed by Infineon Technologies as a sensor solution. More recently, biometric experts at CT have turned their attention to speaker recognition (see p. 35). The technology is ideal for telephone applications, says Kpper. It eliminates the need for a biometric sensor and cuts costs. But problems such as loud background noises can still pose problems. In this area, we are benefiting from the latest developments in noise suppression, say Kpper. He points out that, for instance, Microphone arrays and adaptive filtering techniques are being tested. Another key point is that we will be able to identify speakers definitively only when we know what theyre actually saying. Speaker recognition thus has a lot in
Tomorrows cell phones will recognize their users voices.
common with automatic speech recognition, as the latter deals with things such as recognizing names from a cell phones number directory. Here, two approaches are being pursued. One has the user choosing an expression that is long enough for authentication to take place. The other is to have a system that can ask the user to repeat certain words or random numbers, which makes the
Different Strokes. While voice is the ideal tool for accessing cell phones, contracts and other written documents demand a very different vehicle. Here, the ideal biometric is the users signature. But until recently, the only way to varify a signature was to take a close look at it which doesnt exactly amount to much of a challenge for experienced forgers. Biometric processes, on the other hand, also take into account dynamic factors such as speed, acceleration, pressure and the places at which the pen is pressed down or lifted up. Graphic trays and displays can serve as sensors and in the future we will even see special pens with contact sensors. But the sensor is not the only decisive factor. The recognition algorithm is just as important, says Kpper. Siemens has developed a stroke-based process for this. Here, stroke refers to a continuous signature produced without lifting the pen. The characteristics of the individual lines, such as their direction and the speed at which theyre written, form an overall pattern that can be compared with that of the original signature, which can be securely stored on a chip card. Siemens researchers have also been taking a hard look at face recognition. In the context of a European research project
Speaker recognition is ideal for telephone applications, while signature recognition is perfect for documents.
recognition procedure even more secure. The users unique characteristics are then identified from the acoustic signal. Kpper prefers to use non-linear template matching as a means of comparing these characteristics with previously stored information. This procedure requires less memory and computing capacity than other processing models, making it particularly suitable for cell phones. Nevertheless, for the first generation of cell phones equipped with such a feature, the voice recognizer will be used more for fun and convenience than as a security device. known as HISCORE, they have developed a camera system that can register faces threedimensionally. The system projects a colorful pattern of lines onto the users face. The forehead, eye sockets, nose and chin deform the color strips and produce a distinct characteristic pattern for each person. Three-dimensional information is contained in the deflections of the color pattern in a manner similar to the contours of a map. A video camera records the pattern and a computer then uses the color data to ascertain the features of the person in question and compare them
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BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGIES
INTERVIEW
with reference data. In doing so, standard procedures for 2D face recognition are linked with depth information. The advantage of 3D data is that it is not affected by variables such as light and the position of the head. This makes it a more robust method than its 2D counterpart, which is based on color or blackand-white images. Pilot projects that will demonstrate these advantages are being prepared. Hands-on Experience. Compared to face recognition, recognizing hands is a piece of cake. A simple video camera with grayscale values is all thats needed to record characteristic features. Information such as contours and the length and thickness of fingers is
then filtered out. Siemens CT has integrated such a process into a system for gesture recognition. This system identifies the user by means of a simple gesture. In the future, it may be possible to combine 3D face recognition with 3D hand-gesture recognition, resulting in systems with extremely high levels of reliability. Today, iris scanning is seen as the most accurate method of biometric identification. Developed by New Jersey-based Iridian Technologies, iris scanning has been extensively tested by Siemens Australia as a means of access control for e-business activities. Before PC users can log onto their computers, they have to look into a small video camera. A light source in the near-infrared range fully il-
HOW BIOMETRIC SECURITY WORKS

All biometric systems have three elements in common: a sensor, recognition software and secure integration into an application. The first stage is enrollment. Here, the users biometric features are recorded and measured for the first time. Characteristic features are then collected and stored in a reference data record. When a user requests access, the system compares the biometric data it acquires on the spot with previously stored information. If the two correspond, the check is considered a success. In principle, a distinction is made between two types of security checks: verification and identification. A verification system examines the claimed identity of the user by comparing the information it records at that moment with previously stored reference data (which the user can carry on a chip card, for example). With identification systems, on the other hand, the biometric data acquired in a security check is compared with the reference data (usually stored centrally) of all previously registered users, and the best match is then determined. Regardless of the method, however, the more secure a system is designed to be, the more likely it is that an authorized user will be rejected. This is referred to as the false rejection rate (FRR). Conversely, the more fault-tolerant a system is, the more likely it is that an unauthorized user will be accepted. This means that the false acceptance rate (FAR) is higher. Such fault rates cannot be calculated in theory, but instead need to be determined in the context of specific scenarios. FARs and FRRs are thus important parameters for measuring the performance of a biometric system. It is very hard to carry out a genuine comparison of how different biometric systems perform, as there is no test standard at present. However, according to the German Parliaments Office of Technology Assessment, several national and international committees are in the process of defining criteria for the evaluation of biometric systems in the future. Reliable evaluations based on reliable criteria are indispensable for those who use biometrics. Siemens considers itself to be well equipped in this regard, as biometrics expert Dr. Wolfgang Kpper explains: Our experience in evaluating the most diverse biometries in various application scenarios means our customers can avoid costly investments in the wrong systems.
luminates the eye without the user noticing anything. The camera analyzes the pattern of blood vessels in the iris the ring-shaped area surrounding the pupil. The resulting image is then examined for specific features in hundreds of different steps. But iris scanning systems are not cheap or particularly easy to use. Either the system hardware that automatically focuses the camera on the iris is costly, or, in the case of less expensive versions, the system is not very comfortable for users, as they have to position their eyes correctly in front of the camera lens. One way of further increasing security is to combine different methods. As part of SmartKom, a pilot project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, Siemens is demonstrating how this can be done. SmartKom has two application scenarios using various biometric features such as voice, signature and hand geometry. Working along similar lines, Siemens Business Services has introduced a multiple biometrics technique whereby three patterns for biometic recognition speech, face and fingerprint are stored on a smart card. Biometric methods may not have captured the mass market yet, but they are not far off (see p. 42). Security considerations are just as much a driving force here as is the desire for greater convenience. After all, remembering dozens of PINs and codes is much less convenient than simply placing a finger on a chip or looking into a camera. If sensor and hardware costs continue to decline, while systems continue to improve in terms of reliability and number of applications, there will be nothing to stand in the way of a large-scale market introduction. The security of each process is seldom the decisive factor; after all, security can always be enhanced through increased investment. Convenience is often more important. Users will more readily accept biometric systems when they can handle them without any problems. As Kpper points out, We are more likely to gain peoples confidence in this new technology if we apply it in areas where theyll enjoy using it. Cell phone-based speaker verification is a case in point. Rolf Sterbak
Face Recognition Systems: Almost Ready For Prime Time

How does Phantomas, your automatic face recognition system, assist in police investigations? Malsburg: Phantomas automatically sorts pictures of wanted people in a database according to similarities, and then displays them on a monitor for a viewer. The recognition software examines about 1,700 points on a face at a speed of up to 10,000 data records per second. This process has allowed police in the city of Dortmund, Germany to triple their recognition rate. Can the system be used to detect criminals by using cameras at airports or other public places? Malsburg: No. That wouldnt be possible at the moment because the processes that are in use today are still too rigid. In other words, they are not able to cope with people turning toward the camera or any changes in lighting. We need to achieve another technological leap before theyll be able to manage that. What sort of technological leap? Malsburg: Photos extracted from video are by nature different from a picture in a database. To overcome this obstacle and be able to recognize a face, it must be possible to display the photo in 3D form. Whats more, the light in the photo must also be changed to make it identical to the lighting in the picture stored in the database. I think we will reach this point in a year or two. How will things develop after that? Malsburg: Automatic recognition will not be limited to facial features; it will include other factors, just as the human brain does in real life. Humans dont just take in faces when they recognize a person; they also notice things like body size, clothing, movement or gestures. Developments would seem to indicate that these factors will be included in biometric processes in the future. Biometric processes are expected to be convenient for the user, guarantee a high level of security, and be inexpensive. Is all that possible? Malsburg: Currently these three requirements cannot be met simultaneously. On the technical side, I dont see any great difficulties in making biometric processes comfortable, convenient and secure. However, the costs for some processes including face recognition will have to fall considerably. But I think thats possible. In my opinion, it depends on whether or not cameras with integrated computing units are mass produced. As soon as about a million are sold, the price per unit could fall to about 10 euros. That would open the floodgates for use of face recognition systems in all sorts of applications. Rolf Sterbak
Prof. Christoph von der Malsburg, 60, heads the Institute for Neuroinformatics at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany and the Laboratory for Computational and Biological Vision at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. He developed one of the worlds leading face recognition systems and set up ZN Vision Technologies to market it. His process is now used for access control at airports in Berlin and by police forces throughout Europe.
Phantomas can automatically compare 10,000 faces per second.
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The Next Mega-Market

Biometric systems are breaking into the mainstream. Heightened security concerns are behind some of the growth. But its increased demand for convenience that will make biometrics a mega-market.
MARKET SHARE BY TECHNOLOGY
(2001)
Facial scan 15.4 % Middleware 11.9 % Hand scan 10.4 %
Investing in Safety at U.S. Airports
iometric technologies are poised to hit about $1 billion in revenues this year roughly a 25 percent jump over 2002. According to Raj Nanavati, a partner at International Biometric Group (IBG), a biometrics research, consulting and integration company based in New York, new laws passed since the September 11 attacks that require airports, trucking firms and other businesses to monitor employees more closely are fueling much of the growth. Security and efficiency are clearly driving the biometrics market, he notes. Interest in equipment for securing buildings, particularly airports, has risen dramatically. Also in greater demand are screening services, which fingerprint individuals and run the results against a database. Against this backdrop, IBG estimates law enforcement and public sector identification pilot projects accounted for 65 percent of biometric revenues in 2002. A raft of new rules and regulations in the U.S., including the Visa Reform Act, which requires all foreign visitors to provide data to a biometric database, are certain to boost the number of government deployments to a record high. But pilot programs in other countries are also taking center stage. In Yemen, for example, the government is betting on biometric cards to help eliminate ghost workers and double dippers. In Malaysia, authorities are using iris-scan technology to secure the border to Singapore. In the UK, the government is looking to include fingerprints on new national entitlement cards. In Spain, a new healthcare benefits card will include biometric data. And in Nigeria, the Election Commission is gearing up to implement a nationwide fingerprint identification system to register the countrys 60
million voters in a manner that will prevent fraudulent multiple registrations. Cash, Check, Charge or Finger? Struggling against a stormy economy, many retailers are boosting their expenditures on biometrics. The reason? Biometrics can help them improve convenience, increase efficiency and drive results, says James Crawford, a retail analyst with Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Despite having a lot of data, most retailers still dont know their customers. Biometrics can help close this gap. Indeed, biometric access is fast becoming the new business mantra in the retail sector. By speeding up the front-end operation, stores can process customers faster and save money, Crawford observes. More important, biometric technology can help retailers optimize marketing and merchandising to key segments. Already, major supermarkets and department stores in the U.S., including Kroger, Thriftway and Wal-Mart, are paving the way, putting in payment systems that let consumers pay for products with a fingerprint. Tesco in the UK and Metro in Germany are also in the fast lane. Generally, the customer places a fingerprint on a scanner device that is built onto the credit card machines found at most checkouts. The machine sends the encrypted data to a data center where the fingerprint is matched against the one volunteered when the customer enrolled in the program. After authentication, the transaction is routed through conventional financial networks like any other credit card or debit card transaction.
In the next 2-3 years, Crawford envisions smart stores where biometric systems will enable retailers to recognize customers and immediately cater to their individual needs. People shop at Amazon because it tracks everything and can give recommendations based on past purchases. Why should a bricks-and-mortar store be any different? he observes. Stores might be equipped with kiosks where consumers can use a fingerprint to access a list of products they buy regularly as well as special offers and coupons. Rule of Thumb. Despite progress in biometric technologies such as facial recognition and iris scanning, fingerprint identification remains the mainstay of the biometrics industry, representing nearly half of the total commercial biometrics market. Nevertheless, experts agree that each biometric technology has unique advantages. For instance, in the UK, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways recently announced a joint trial of a self-service iris-recognition system at Heathrow Airport. There is very definitely a market for these kinds of convenience applications and biometrics is a perfect fit, notes John Chang, an analyst with Allied Business Intelligence, a biometrics research company based in Oyster Bay, New York. But there is a catch. Biometric technologies are proprietary and lack standards. The biometrics industry is also well aware of this, which is why vendors are joining up to ease installation and lower equipment costs. Sure, it will be another year before were relly there, Chang says. Interest in improving biometrics wont translate into sales this year, but 2004 could certainly be a big year for biometrics. Peggy Salz
Voice scan 4.3 % Signature scan 2.7 % Keystroke scan 0.4 %
Finger scanning now accounts for nearly half of the worldwide biometric technology market. While other technologies hold much smaller market positions, each offers unique advantages.
REVENUE FORECAST BY TECHNOLOGY
Revenue in Millions of U.S. $ 1000
500
400
Source: The Biometric Industry Report, Elsevier Advanced Technology
300
200
2000 2001 2002 2003
100
0 Fingerprint Hand Face Voice Signature Iris Other
Revenues are increasing rapidly in virtually all major biometric technology areas. Fingerprint, hand, face, voice, signature and iris are leading the way.
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Source: International Biometric Group
Finger scan 48.8 %
Iris scan 6.1 %
ast June, the United States Department of Transportation awarded The Boeing Company and Siemens USA a $1.37 billion contract to equip all 438 commercial airports in the U.S. and its territories with explosives detectors by the end of 2002. The two companies took on the responsibility for the delivery, start-up, subsequent testing and maintenance of Explosives Detection Systems (EDS) and Explosive Trace Detection Systems (ETD). By the end of 2002, almost 1,100 EDS machines and approximately 5,000 ETD devices had been installed to check the baggage passing through the airports. The EDS equipment was manufactured by L3 Communications and InVision. With roughly two million passengers taking off in the U.S. every day, some one billion pieces of luggage must be scrutinized each year. To prepare for the installation, teams of experts from Boeing and Siemens visited each airport, where they were able to determine on-site requirements and come up with individual designs. Many check-in areas, for instance, do not have enough room for additional equipment. The explosives detectors were initially tested at five airports, including Dallas, Texas, and Norfolk, Virginia. By November, one hundred airports had been equipped with the detection machines, and by the middle of the month, that figure had risen to 200. The Boeing-Siemens team trained more than 20,000 baggage-check employees to use the new equipment. In addition, the two partners are responsible for the continual improvement of existing EDS technologies. Siemens, for example, is working on increasing the reliability and precision of the explosives detectors as well as the speed with which pieces of luggage are examined. Said Klaus Kleinfeld, President and CEO of Siemens USA, Siemens aims to make an appropriate contribution toward making travel in the United States safer and simpler. Sylvia Trage
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SMART CAMERAS
Getting the Picture

Cameras are turning up everywhere from subway stations to company parking lots. What used to be a trickle of video images is turning into a torrent. Zeroing in on whats important will require cameras that can extract information from what they see.
Vision systems using software developed at Siemens Corporate Research in New Jersey can detect slow or stopped cars in tunnels (left). Software from Siemens Roke Manor Research center in the UK detects anomalies such as a car involved in an illegal U-turn (right).
or unusual occurs. Smart camera applications range from watching windows and doors for intruders to recognizing events such as a passenger falling onto a track or a robbery in progress. Specialized systems have been developed to recognize faces, license plates and anything with a bar code or other form of identification. One system tracks and even predicts the location of balls during sporting events (see insert). Others may soon be able to pick out minute defects as products race by on production lines. What all these systems have in common is the potential to filter out routine events and zero in on whats important, says Dr. Visvanathan Ramesh, who heads the RealTime Vision and Modeling Department at Siemens Corporate Research (SCR) in Princeton, New Jersey. And with the number of cameras growing by leaps and bounds many subway systems, airports and military bases already have thousands the ability to allow a limited number of human observers to concentrate on significant events will become increasingly important. Researcher Anthony Dixon trains a camera to recognize and track different types of motion. Cameras that Tell Stories. Recognizing that users are being confronted with a growing torrent of visual information, researchers are developing strategies for reducing the flow of images while nevertheless providing an overview of what cameras are seeing. In the process, they are also developing tools for rapidly searching archived video data. At Siemens vast Perlach research campus on the southern outskirts of Munich, researchers Jrg Heuer and Dr. Andreas Hutter are testing a prototype program that allows smart cameras to generate descriptors of the
content of each image. In a demonstration of a video sequence showing a street as seen by a roof-mounted camera, the camera begins generating data whenever an object enters its field of vision. To do so, it uses sophisticated video processing (a major focus of work at SCR) to segment the object, track it, and characterize its motion. But rather than classifying the object as, say, a man or a truck, it describes it in terms of its visual components. We dont want the camera to decide what an object is. Thats up to the user. Instead, it should assemble as much raw information as possible in order to allow a human operator to access the data in a dynamic way, says Hutter. The results may sound cryptic, but are full of information: Triangle with rectangle (read person with a briefcase) entered at coordinates xy 10:57.28, height x, top blue checked, lower section gray, surface (read hair) brown, left field at coordinates xz, 10:57:41. Known as meta data, this information
have access to both or only the meta data. Later, if an event is reported say a theft and an eyewitness describes a suspect, the database can be interrogated. Lets say were looking for a woman with a briefcase, brown hair and a checked jacket, says Heuer. Using the image database software, we would draw a triangle with a small square to indicate the geometry of the target object, and pick out descriptors to search for. We would narrow the search by requesting the system to look at the databases of the cameras covering the exits of the building in which the theft occurred. The system would then display a group of images that fit the descriptors, each of which would be associated with a video clip. He explains that, although the cameras would not be tracking or handingoff people or vehicles from one camera to the next, they would all be using the same descriptors. Thus, once the investigation had been narrowed to one or two people, a search of the facilitys entire database would
Prototype vision systems describe what they see. Coming soon: word-based searches of image databases.
can be transmitted with, or apart from, the cameras video stream. As long as nothing unusual is observed, the camera will not flag the attention of security personnel. But the images and the meta data are linked and can be stored in a common database. Depending on the application, security personnel may indicate all the locations that the suspects had visited. The system is capable of finding out the trajectory of any person on any particular day as long as the user has some idea of what that person looked like or was wearing. We believe this is a unique technology in terms of its ability to produce compa-
ts dusk in a vast parking lot. One of several cameras on the roof of a shopping mall zooms in on a man who is walking from car to car. Is he planning on stealing a vehicle? In a tunnel, a camera springs to life as it notes a momentary flash of light and slowing traffic. Has there been an accident? At an airport
checkin counter, a camera zeros in on a passengers face and notifies personnel that there is a 90 percent probability that the passenger is wanted by the police. Should he be stopped? Welcome to the world of cameras with built-in brains. A far cry from their conven-
tional closed circuit counterparts, these devices some entering trial service, most still in various phases of development are equipped with microchips and programs that allow them to search for specific classes of events, such as stopped cars in tunnels, and notify personnel only if something suspicious
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SMART CAMERAS
risons, says Hutter. And thats not all. The technology, which, depending on the resolution of cameras, could be adapted to recognize license plates and even faces, could be used in conjunction with mobile units such as cell phones and PDAs. For instance, a security man in a department store might receive a message from a camera such as unauthorized entry in delivery zone C. By pressing an icon, he would see an image of a vehicle or a person, and thus know exactly what to look for before reaching the scene. Since Hutter and Heuers descriptorbased system uses the MPEG-7 standard, the researchers are bullish about its commercial prospects. Our open approach means that other companies will be able to develop leading edge technology components for our system. We expect our system to benefit directly from this, says Hutter. Better than Burglar Alarms While Hutter and Heuers prototype is a complex system designed for industrial and commercial users, other researchers at Siemens have their sights set on much simpler vision-based technologies that could hit the consumer market in the immediate future. Setrix, Inc., a
Munich, Germany-based spin-off of Siemens Corporate Research, sees a huge potential market for inexpensive vision sensors in private homes. A GSM-equipped smart minicam equipped with a person detection program can watch a window or a door 24 hours a day. If someone enters a room, it can send an SMS message to the homeowner, who can then decide whether to look at an image on his cell phone or PDA. The user also has the option of scrolling through a series of images that could cover minutes, hours or days, says Dr. Uwe Albrecht, investment partner for Siemens Venture Capital, which funds Setrix. Unlike motion detectors, which often cause false alarms, vision sensors can tell the difference between a person and an animal. Albrecht points out that a number of trends suggest that smart cameras will soon be showing up in private homes. The hardware is getting smaller and cheaper, the pro-
cessing power is growing, the communications technology is off-the-shelf, and the output is far more informative than anything you get from a typical motion-based burglar alarm system, he says. The camera, which could soon be offered by major phone companies, would come equipped with software for recognizing simple events, such as a person entering its field of view, or a window being opened. More advanced models would be capable of receiving software updates, and even trading information. Cameras that See Shopping Patterns. To get an idea of the potential behind this technology, just talk to SCRs Ramesh. His team has developed a system that can separate heads from background information, which could allow future wireless videophones or surveillance cameras to sharply reduce transmission requirements. But theres much more to it than that. The
C A M E R A S T H AT C ATC H T H E AC T I O N
studying how different substances, such as grass and concrete, look when wet or hot. We are building statistical models that are consistent with physics in order to improve the accuracy of automated image interpretation systems, explains Ramesh. Recognizing Anomalies. Meanwhile, at RMR, researchers have developed a technology called Video Motion Anomaly Detection (VMAD), which can actually learn what is normal and what is not in terms of the motions in a given scene. The system alerts an operator or triggers an event recording when an unusual activity occurs, says Anthony Dixon, RMRs manager of security applications. VMAD is so flexible that it will detect anomalies ranging from animals on a road to intruders climbing a fence. The system uses a patented feature extractor that was originally developed for 3D vision and robotic applications, explains Dixon. The learning algorithms reduce or eliminate the need for special programming for individual applications. Recognizing that something anomalous has happened is, of course, miles away from identifying what has happened. But thats not the point. Developers of smart cameras agree that humans will continue to hold the intellectual high ground for years to come. On the other hand, cameras excel in many areas compared to humans. For one thing, they have an unlimited attention span; for another, they can detect things that we cant: a defect in a hearing aid on a production line, a license plate that doesnt match in a long list of authorized users. And even in an area where humans are extraordinarily adept face recognition smart cameras, benefiting from biometric information and recent developments in 3D scanning, are likely to surpass human capabilities soon. So ten or twenty years from now, the camera on the shopping mall roof probably still wont have a clue as to why a man is walking from car to car in the parking lot, but it will most certainly be smart enough to ask a camera perched on the nearest lamp post to take a look, identify the potential culprit and check whether the license plate of the car he gets into is his. Arthur F. Pease
Imagine watching your favorite sport from the point of view of the player of your choice or
Vision sensors can tell the difference between a person and an animal and notify the owner via SMS.
current system can also track multiple people as they enter a room, focus on their heads or faces and log information to generate statistics, says Ramesh. It accomplishes this by using algorithms that detect people from visual information generated by omnidirectional, 360-field-of-view sensors. It also uses auxiliary pan-tilt cameras to focus and zoom in on faces. We see this as a step toward a new generation of intelligent sensors that perform autonomous vision tasks and report data such as shopping patterns in department stores or usage patterns in subway stations to a remote base station, explains Ramesh, who emphasizes that the technology is also applicable to automation and machine vision/inspection. Of course, when it comes to interpreting the contents of real-time images, life is a lot easier indoors. Outside its a different story.
from the umpires location. Its possible with Hawk-Eye, a new technology that processes the video images from dedicated cameras around a field to produce three-dimensional tracks of the ball and players with 5 mm accuracy. Whats more, Hawk-Eye can even predict the future flight path of the ball. Even as cameras are zooming or panning to follow the action, HawkEye takes 3-D measurements in real-time using field markings. Developed by Roke Manor Research, a UK-based business owned by Siemens, Hawk-Eye is already being used by the BBC, Sky Sports, and Britains Channel 4. Since the system essentially digitizes the entire game, fans can use Hawk-Eye to recreate scenes from different points of view over the Internet. Such representations can be displayed on a computer, television, or in the near future on a UMTS phone. Working in partnership with Sunset+Vine, a UK company, Roke Manor Research established Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd., a company that specializes in applying the new technology to different sports, including cricket, snooker, soccer, tennis and billiards. For further information, visit: www.roke.co.uk/sensors/imaging/tracking_ prediction.asp
Intelligent cameras can tell the difference between normal and unusual behavior. A person going from car to car, for example, would cause such a camera to transmit images to security personnel.
Nevertheless, researchers at SCR and Roke Manor Research (RMR), a UK-based business owned by Siemens, have developed programs that accurately monitor city street and highway situations under a full range of weather conditions. In both cases, researchers are concentrating on developing programs that help cameras detect anomalies such as stopped, slow or wrongway vehicles. Indeed, such a solution is already operating successfully in a tunnel in
Switzerland. But the program runs on PCs equipped with special-purpose hardware from Siemens Building Technologies not inside the cameras. However, says Ramesh, we believe that as cameras become cheaper, we will be able to implement highperformance algorithms inside cameras. Furthermore, SCR researchers are working with a number of universities to fine tune these systems. For instance, scientists at Columbia University in Manhattan are
46
47
SENSOR NETWORKS
DATA N E T W O R K S
Sensors That Organize Themselves

Tomorrows smart sensors will communicate with each other and provide early warning of hazards such as forest fires, floods and avalanches.
ts 2020, and the devastating bush fires that used to plague Australia are history. Drones have dropped thousands of miniature sensors over high-risk areas. Some of these sensors are equipped with a tiny GPS (Global Positioning System) module, allowing them to know their own locations, both in absolute terms and in relation to the other sensors. The sensors use minuscule antennas to communicate with one another. Integrated heat sensors measure changes in temperature, and this information is, in turn, communi-
cated from sensor to sensor and finally transmitted via a data line to a control center in Sydney. If the control center registers a sudden spike in temperature, or if several sensors break down entirely, a fire alarm is triggered (see picture below). In other parts of the world, similar sensors issue warnings about avalanches in mountainous areas, floods in low-lying river valleys, or toxic leaks in chemical factories. A visionary scenario? Not by a long shot. Prototypes of the components of such self-organizing sensor networks are already available. All thats missing Sydney is the evidence that the monitoring system Danger! components can work Forest fire! together effectively, says Michael Bahr, an information and communication expert at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) in Munich. Several pilot projects have yielded initial results. For example, in 2001 the University of California at Berkeley and the Intel Berkeley Research Lab tested a network consisting of 800 radio sensors that measured the light intensity from a stage. Drawing their How a network of sensors detects a forest fire.
power from solar cells or batteries, the sensors in such networks are autonomous. But their key feature is the way they route their messages. The system works like this: A sensor transmits a message via its antenna and waits for another sensor to respond. When it receives an answer, it notes which sensor has responded. Because each sensors range is only a few meters, the data must be passed on from sensor to sensor until it reaches a central fusion point. According to Dr. Wendelin Feiten, an expert in intelligent systems at Siemens CT, the measurements registered by the sensors must be fused at a central point before they can be evaluated. Thats because each sensor can see only a small segment of its environment. It transmits this information to its neighbor, which adds its own information before passing the data package to the next sensor. If the number of sensors reporting on an event is larger than necessary, the data received is often redundant or contradictory. Statistical processes are then used to create an overall picture and evaluate its credibility. Many types of sensors could operate in such a network: simple sensors for measuring temperature, humidity or pressure, gas sensors and tiny video, infrared or 3-D cameras. Larger sensors connected by cables are already being used to monitor production lines and to maintain secure data networks. But tomorrows self-organizing radio sensor networks will be based on radio modules and other components that are not only small and cheap, but also power stingy, says Feitens colleague Dr. Gerd Vlksen. If a sensor is to sell for five euros, then the individual components, such as the battery, antenna, positioning system, chip configuration and other parts have to cost far less than one euro, he says. Obviously, developments in sensor research are heading in exactly this direction. However, it will take some time before the scenario depicted by Michael Crichton in his novel Prey becomes a reality. In Crichtons story, flying cameras made up of self-organizing nanoelements communicate with one another via radio and actually evolve into something new. I Sylvia Trage
Viruses, Worms & Hackers

The convergence of telephony and the Internet is creating major new security challenges. Ultimately, the only protection against attacks by hackers is a comprehensive security architecture and a high level of employee awareness.
einer Schmidt* could hardly believe his eyes: I would therefore like to thank you for your commitment and outstanding work, the e-mail said. The signature at the bottom: Heinrich v. Pierer. Schmidt was all smiles, happy to know that his work was finally being really appreciated and from the Siemens CEO in person. Schmidt therefore sent a thank-you e-mail to the Siemens CEO in reply. However, nobody at v, Pierers office knew what Schmidts e-mail was referring to, as no such expression of gratitude had ever been sent to him by the CEO. Today, Dr. Johann Fichtner can only chuckle about this incident, as his Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) managed to quickly find out who was responsible for the joke. The culprit one of Schmidts colleagues was given a warning. In most cases, however, Fichtners team has to deal with far more serious incidents. Siemens CERT has been protecting the companys networks around the clock for the past five years. Its a tough job, as the company has 300,000 computers, which are subject to thousands of largely automated hacker attacks each day. Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an independent CERT Coordination Center that collects information on all attacks worldwide, has registered a dramatic increase in cyber assaults in recent years. Unfortunately, however, only large companies such as Siemens can afford to have their own CERTs. Security experts and hackers are now involved in a feverish arms race. On occasion,
one of the wrongdoers repents and switches sides. That was the case, for example, with world-famous hacker Kevin Mitnick, who spent nearly five years in American prisons for his attacks. In his book The Art of Deception, Mitnick explains that you dont have to be a computer wiz to gain access to confidential information. In fact, it is often just a simple
case of tricking gullible workers with clever lies. Security experts call this approach social engineering. If you call up 100 people at a company and claim to be an employee at the computer center, youll always find somebody who will give you his password, says Fichtner. His main job is therefore instructing the com-
N U M B E R O F H AC K E R AT TAC K S R E P O R T E D T O T H E I N D E P E N D E N T C E R T CO O R D I N AT I O N C E N T E R
Number of incidents reported 80,000 Total (19882002): 182,463 70,000
50,000
20,000
9,8 59
132 252 406 773 90 91 92
1,3 34 2,3 40 2,4 12 2,5 73 2,1 34 3,7 34
10,000
1988 89
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
21 ,76 5
30,000
00
01
02
* Name altered
48
49
Source: CERT Coordination Center, Pittsburgh, PA
40,000
52 ,65 8
60,000
82 ,09 4
THE WAR ON MOBILE NET WORKS
A map of downtown Munich shows many black dots concentrated around the citys biggest park. They signify
panys employees. Awareness helps ensure greater security, says Fichtner in describing his philosophy of making all Siemens employees aware of security risks and encouraging them to protect their e-mails with a public-key encryption system. In addition, the CERT staff uses special algorithms to check the quality of passwords and internally developed software that launches attacks against the companys
network in the search for weak points. Information that at first glance might appear inconsequential, such as the type of computer or operating system used, often provides hackers with invaluable clues on how to circumvent security systems. If everything goes as it should, intrusion detection systems at the interfaces between the Internet and a companys intranet set off
AT TAC K S O N U . S . CO M PA N I E S
I 1997 I 1998 I 1999 I 2000 I 2001
&
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Percentage of replies (suspected or known sources) 100
80
60
40
20
Foreign governments
Foreign companies
Freelance hackers
Competitors from the U.S.
Angry employees
QUANTIFIABLE LOSSES IN 2001

Unauthorized insider access
Source: Computer Crime and Security Survey, Computer Security Institute / FBI 2001
(U.S.)
$6,064,000 $92,935,500 $904,100 $151,230,100 $45,288,150 $8,849,000 $35,001,650 $4,283,600 $5,183,100 $19,066,601
an alarm when an attack occurs and temporarily block all data exchanges. One of the tasks of these automated watchdogs is to monitor the server log files that register which data was accessed by whom at what times. If these files show a sudden increase in size, it could indicate an attack. Kevin Mitnicks legendary trick of simply cutting the logging files back down to size would no longer be possible today, as modern intrusion detection systems would immediately notice it. The same system also helps to prevent so-called denial-of-service attacks, which hackers launch by manipulating thousands of computers via the Internet to send millions of data packets to a specific address at the same time, thus causing the recipients server to collapse. Hartmut Pohl, professor for information security at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg College knows of a company that lost a contract worth billions because it was unable to submit its bid in time due to computer failure. As it later turned out, the breakdown was caused by sabotage. We have viruses well under control at Siemens, says Fichtner. The multi-level virus protection system, which also protects against self-replicating programs known as worms, can be upgraded several times a day if need be. In addition, the computer fire brigade prevents Website defacements, in which hackers attempt to replace official websites with alternate ones containing offensive remarks. Squeaky Clean Spin-Off. Keep your Web clean is the philosophy followed by webwasher.com AG of Paderborn, Germany. Established as a Siemens spin-off three years ago, webwasher offers an integrated security solution for all business processes. The system blocks all virus attacks, prevents employees from accessing sites with pornographic or extremist content, and monitors e-mail correspondence in accordance with legal provisions. Such content security management is a major business segment, and IDC market researchers estimate that global sales of such products will reach $4.2 billion in 2005. In spite of such security precautions, hackers are hardly a disappearing species. The ex-
open W-LAN access points, says Johann Fichtner from the Siemens Computer Emergency Response Team. At each of these entry points to the increasingly popular wireless local area networks (W-LANs), hackers can access the Internet by simply clicking a mouse. They dont even need to crack a password. It is something so-called WarDrivers and WarChalkers do regularly for fun. In London and other major cities, WarChalkers search for unprotected wireless ac-
dent on the data packets arriving without delay and in the right order. E-mail transmission times, on the other hand, are not noticeably affected by encryption delays, Safe Internet Telephony. To help solve this problem, Dr. Wolfgang Klasen and his team from Siemens Security competence center in Munich are working on comprehensive security architectures that meet the real-time demands of multimedia applications. As a result, Siemens is currently the only manufacturer to make the logs in all of the components in its VoIP products intrusion-proof. Corresponding standards have now been drawn up and other manufacturers are planning to follow suit. Although hackers will be looking for opportunities to have fun in the future as well, says Klasen, we will be able to make life difficult for them. But security solutions that provide perfect protection today offer no insurance against tomorrows hackers. A case in point is asymmetrical data encryption, which Klasen describes with the help of some sketches on a piece of paper. In his example, Alice and Bob want to send each other confidential information with the help of a private and public key. But what happens when there are many Alices and Bobs for example, during a videoconference or in a knowledge management workflow? In such cases, all authorized users have to possess the corresponding key, which results in more work and poses additional risks. According to Klasen, security must be integrated in as user-friendly a manner as possible, so that operation and data access are not interfered with. With the help of so-called DirX solutions products, Siemens has created directory services that assign access authorization for all systems in a simple manner. This allows hundreds of millions of entries to be managed, which is of crucial importance for providing all kinds of personalized Internet services, regardless of whether the provider is a mobile communications network operator, a bank, a power utility or an insurance company. E-government creates additional challenges, as contracts and documents have to be archived in encrypted form. In addition,
A WarChalker marks cess points and mark these locations on house exteriors or open W-LAN access points. sidewalks with chalk so that other hackers can go online at
the expense of network owners. At Siemens, the job of ensuring wireless network security is shouldered by mathematician Dirk Krselberg at Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich. The focus of Krselbergs work is the future UMTS mobile communications standard. According to Krselberg, the symbiosis of UMTS and W-LAN poses a particular security risk, as both of the standards will probably exist in parallel in the future (see Pictures of the Future, Spring 2002, p. 9). UMTS users who are accustomed to very high security standards might, for example, want to call up their e-mails riskfree via a W-LAN hotspot at a hotel or an airport or take advantage of the services provided by their UMTS network operators without having to log on more than once. Its quite a serious issue, says Krselberg. And a complicated one as well, due to a tremendous need for teamwork. The trend toward also using Internet protocols in mobile communications is creating new security problems. Many hacker attacks which today are launched against PCs will soon be directed at cell phones as well, says Krselberg. Siemens is therefore involved in the Liberty Alliance, an association of several different providers. Their solution to the problem is to have users get an access code from the provider of their choice, which they can then also use to log on to any other network or service provider. Unlike Microsofts universal electronic ID system Passport, the Liberty Alliances solution would not require personal data to be centrally stored at a single company. A particular challenge is posed by mobile ad-hoc network users that do not use a fixed network infrastructure, but can instead access the Internet from the neighbors laptop on a bus, for example, or from a car that happens to drive by. A third party is therefore needed to administer the key and ensure that every user knows who he or she is interacting with. This problem is usually solved by introducing various certification levels. Each level certifies the one below it, thus verifying the authenticity of the user. A new approach, which is currently being discussed for UMTS mobile communications networks, involves so-called subscriber certificates. In this system, the network operator issues certificates that can be used to digitally sign sales contracts by verifying the authenticity of the signature. These certificates are only generated via the Internet when needed and expire after one or two days. Such ad-hoc certificates are cheaper than ones that are valid for many years and that are mostly not even needed, explains Krselberg.
Financial fraud Telephone fraud Information theft Viruses Computer theft Network misuse by insiders Denial of service Sabotage External penetration of a system Eavesdropping Total losses: $377,828,700
$866,000
pansion of Internet telephony (Voice over IP, see Pictures of the Future, Fall 2002, p. 35) will provide them with new opportunities for attacking networks. In conventional telephone networks it is almost impossible to paralyze the infrastructure or deceive service providers by manipulating switching processors via the Internet. In the Internet, however, many ser-
vices use the same transmission channels. Voice over IP (VoIP) data is, for example, transmitted across network boundaries along with e-mail data packets and router control data. Conventional firewalls, which are supposed to block suspicious data from entering company networks, are useless in this context because the sound quality of VoIP is depen-
50
51
INTERVIEW
they will still have to be readable in 30 years even though it is unlikely that anyone will be using the original system by then. Mathematical Proofs. According to Volkmar Lotz, a security officer at Siemens CT in Munich, even if an algorithm is considered to be secure, things can still go wrong. As an example, Lotz points to the Needham-Schrder public-key protocol for verifying the identity of correspondents. Seventeen years went by before a mathematical technique helped uncover a security gap in the system. The gap was so well hidden that even hackers had failed to discover it. Lotz uses mathematical
systems to check algorithms and their application before software is introduced to the market in a new product. His three-member team is one of not more than 20 such groups worldwide that use mathematical models to evaluate the capabilities of encryption systems and the effects of hacker attacks.
Lotzs field is still in its infancy, however, and increasingly complex Internet protocols are still unmanageable with formal proofs. To help change this, Lotz and his team are now working with a number of European research institutes. His work is not only making the companys networks more secure, it also provides Siemens with a competitive edge.
Will We Pay for Security with Our Privacy?

As technology makes it increasingly possible to identify people by their distinctive biological traits, the question of how to apply these biometrics to help maintain security, while preserving privacy and civil liberties becomes ever more pressing.
In addition to computers, cell phones, automobiles and electricity meters will also need security solutions in the future.
(IN
31
T Y P E S O F AT TAC K S O R M I S U S E
0
PERCENT)
s 1997 s 1998 s 1999 s 2000 s 2001
69 60 64
Denial of service
24 27 36 58 64
Notebook theft
3 1 2 1 2 27 16 17 11 10 40 44
Wiretapping
Telephone fraud
Unauthorized access by insiders
55 71 49 82 83 90 85 94 12 14 14 11 12 68 77 97 79 91 20 23 30 25 40 11 9 14 7 10 14 14 13 17 18 20 18 25 20 26
Viruses
Insider abuse of network access
System penetration
Financial fraud
Eavesdropping
Sabotage
Information theft 0 20
40
60
80
Percentage of replies 100
His team participated, for example, in checking the security of a smartcard processor for Infineon Technologies. The processor was the first piece of hardware to meet the requirements of the initial version of the German Signature Law, which regulates the basic principles of electronic signatures. Although the requirements of the Signature Law have meanwhile been somewhat eased, Infineon is still applying the older, more stringent criteria on a voluntary basis. Customers are aware of the increase in quality and have great faith in the products, says Lotz. As a result, Infineon is the market leader in high-security certified smartcard processors. Mathematical systems are particularly difficult to develop for applications that have to get by with little computing power and inexpensive hardware. Examples of such systems are the security algorithms that Lotzs team is developing for the remote checking of electricity meters and for vehicle applications. Electronic keys are increasingly being used to open car doors and start engines. Some of the computing done to authenticate a user takes place in the key, which nevertheless has to be small and inexpensive. The same applies to electronic trip recorders in trucks, for which Lotz is also developing secure algorithms. All of these applications require special solutions. Says Lotz: Its always a challenge to maintain high security standards despite the limitations of the hardware. s Bernd Mller
Marc Rotenberg, 42, is Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), in Washington, D.C. The organization was founded in 1994 to counter the Clipper Encryption Standard, which had been proposed by the U.S. National Security Agency. Clipper was designed to intercept private, encoded messages. Rotenberg teaches information privacy law at Georgetown University Law Center and has testified before Congress on many issues, including access to information, encryption policy, computer security, and communications privacy. He currently chairs the American Bar Association Committee on Privacy and Information Protection. He is editor of The Privacy Law Sourcebook and co-editor of the recently published Information Privacy Law.
When did biometric identification first become a significant issue? Rotenberg: It captured the publics attention when the FBI created a fingerprint database in the early 1970s. If your fingerprints were taken in the U.S. through most of the 20th century, it was because you were a crime suspect. That changed toward the end of the 20th century when fingerprints were more routinely used for licensing and background investigations. And that raised a few eyebrows among civil libertarians? Rotenberg: Yes. Thats when we first started to realize that one of the privacy issues relating to biometric technologies is that they tend to chase applications. The easier it becomes to identify people, the more likely identification will occur. Today, we are looking beyond fingerprints at a range of biometric technologies, such as facial topology, iris scanning, retina scanning and voice imaging. Even how a person walks can become a form of identification. Comfort and security are usually behind the introduction of biometric systems. Whats wrong with that? Rotenberg: These technologies are raising a new set of privacy issues because they allow information to be captured and used without the consent of the subject. Biometric techniques also enable profile and computer matching, which has always been subject to privacy regulation.
Are any of these new technologies already in use? Rotenberg: Yes. A person can use a voice password with a desktop computer or a cell phone, and some personal computers have cards for capturing fingerprints, so instead of typing in a password you put your thumb down on a reader to establish identity. Face recognition has not been particularly effective because of an inability to obtain images with a great deal of control and clarity. Iris recognition is used today at military installations and some airports. Drivers licenses have become the focus of debate over new systems of biometric identification, and since September 11th, 2001, the United States has been pushing aggressively to incorporate biometric identifiers into passports and visas. What is your position on this subject? Isnt it in everyones best interest to have biometric information in drivers licenses and passports? Rotenberg: Not necessarily. If a biometric identifier is corrupted, you have a real problem. A credit card number can be reissued, but what are we going to do when a persons fingerprint produces a data stream that has been used by others improperly? And there is also the risk that as narrow-purpose identity documents such as drivers licenses and passports are used for more applications, identity theft will increase. Privacy has largely been protected to date by the distributed and decentralized nature of identification systems. In your opinion, is there a risk that biometric systems could make many of our activities transparent? Rotenberg: Yes. Although in the context of an established relationship, such as with your health club or your video rental store,
52
53
INTERVIEW
In Brief
ing the difference between disclosing credentials and disclosing identity. The movie tickets are credentials that grant access to the theater. But no disclosure of actual identity occurs. That is the approach we should pursue.
there may be a legitimate need for identification, the resulting information should be limited to that relationship. But the risk is that as profiling and identification systems become more prevalent, we will lose control over that information. We must consider the impact this could have on our freedom to move about, to communicate, to seek information, and to meet with others in privacy.
Does the potential for misuse of biometric information worry you? Rotenberg: I've tried to avoid using the words worried or concerned. We need to find appropriate solutions that enable the use of new technologies while safeguarding privacy. Thats not so much about being worried or concerned. Its about design and policy decisions that affect how new techniques are deployed. Arent there plenty of scenarios in which consumers will demand biometric systems because of their convenience? Rotenberg: Im skeptical. Consumers may provide a fingerprint if required to do so, but all the research indicates that they resist disclosing their actual identity as much as possible. And this is understandable. We value our ability to be anonymous in groups while revealing ourselves only to our friends and our families. What can governments do to ensure that consumers benefit from the convenience of biometrics while safeguarding their privacy? Rotenberg: Governments can impose obligations on companies that collect and use personal information. The goal is not to prevent the collection of personal information, or limit the use of new technologies, but to ensure that the information is not misused, that its not disclosed to others improperly, and that people have the right to access it and correct it if necessary. I believe that the establishment of these rights should be a precondition for the adoption of any biometric identification system.
What is the appropriate balance between the need for security and the protection of civil liberties? Rotenberg: Its often said that there is a balance, but it is not at all obvious that that is the case. The thought that simply by sacrificing privacy you gain security may be fundamentally mistaken. I recently testified before the Washington, D.C. City Council on
There is a difference between disclosing identity and disclosing credentials. The latter is the direction we should pursue.
How can technology help to protect our privacy? Rotenberg: Consider how authentication works in movie theaters. You buy tickets and then you show the tickets to an usher to gain access to a particular film, but your identity is not linked to that transaction. Thats the type of authentication without identification that we need to build into new systems precisely because it enables commerce and communications while safeguarding the collection and use of personal data. Biometric information could, for example, generate a string of digits that provides an organization with sufficient information to know that a person is properly affiliated with the organization, without knowing who the person actually is. In cryptography we describe this as a oneway function. It sounds as though youre saying we can enjoy the convenience and security of biometric systems without sacrificing privacy. Is that right? Rotenberg: Yes. But it requires understanda proposal to install a video surveillance system in the nations capital as a means to combat terrorism. I said I didnt see what the benefit was. Evem if cameras had been up all around Washington on September 11th, 2001 we would have had the same outcome.
David Brin, author of The Transparent Society, has suggested that since there is no way to ban surveillance cameras, the best thing for everyone is to allow their output to become publicly accessible. Rotenberg: David is wrong in many respects. Of course, we can limit the use of surveillance cameras if we wish. Look at the fact that Washington has not gone the way of London. This is because many people in the United States do not want to create a similar system of public surveillance. And even the means of oversight are not as David described. Is surveillance less intrusive because more people are able to observe? That doesnt make sense. What we need is effective oversight of how the cameras are used by the police. What do you see as the single greatest threat to privacy in coming years? Rotenberg: The willingness of the public to accept a loss of privacy. Ultimately, the protection of privacy, like other social and political values, depends very much on popular will. If many people become accustomed to the idea that they dont need privacy, then the future of privacy could be at risk. Could terrorism make people too willing to compromise their civil liberties? Rotenberg: Its possible, but I remain optimistic. A national ID card has been debated, but the proposal has been beaten back. Also, in polls, people have expressed concern that many of the governments activities have reached too far in the area of privacy and civil liberties. People understand that privacy is a very important part of modern society, and there is a sense that if you lose it, you never get it back. Do you see this attitude internationally? Rotenberg: Yes. We spend a great deal of time working with experts in law and technology and public policy all around the world, and one thing Ive learned in this field in the last 20 years is that there is a high level of agreement about the need to protect privacy. I Victor Chase
I Todays major biometric technologies are finger, hand, face, voice, signature and iris scanning. Although all are experiencing growth, finger scanning, with about 1 billion euros in sales in 2003, is the fastest growing. In all, the biometric systems market is expected to grow from roughly $1.4 billion (2003) to $1.9 billion by 2005. (p. 42) I Voice scanning is particularly promising as a cell phone authorization technology. The technology is also applicable to call centers, banks, insurance companies and airlines. Once users have a voice print on file, they can contact automated voice-activated systems to access and update their files or to order tickets. (p. 36 & 39) I Biometric technologies will gradually be combined to further increase security. Siemens Intelligent Digital Passport (IDP) device already combines voice, face and fingerprint biometrics. (p. 37) I During the next few years, cameras that simply transmit whatever they see will be replaced by "smart cameras. The new devices will have the ability to filter out routine events and draw the attention of a human when an important event occurs. Applications include road and tunnel security, license plate identification, and home and building intruder protection systems that can, for instance, distinguish between a person and an animal. (p. 44) I A prototype image analysis system produces descriptions of what it sees, essentially translating visual information into words. The descriptions can be used to search for particular persons or objects throughout huge image databases by simply using key words. (p. 45) I Data security is becoming increasingly important. With this in mind, Siemens has developed smart security systems that protect rapidly growing areas such as Internet telephony, mobile networks and remote control systems. (p. 49)
CONTACTS Biometrics: Dr. Wolfgang Kpper, CT IC 5 wolfgang.kuepper@siemens.com Voice recognition: Dr. Stephan Grashey, CT IC 5 stephan.grashey@siemens.com Fingerprint readers: Raphael Henrich, SGS S R&D raphael.henrich@siemens.com Intelligent digital passport : Dr. Vinay Vaidya, SISL, India vinay.vaidya@siemens.com Intelligent cameras at Roke Manor Research, UK: Anthony Dixon, anthony.dixon@roke.co.uk Intelligent cameras at Siemens Corporate Research, USA: Dr. Ramesh Visvanathan, visvanathan.ramesh @scr.siemens.com Image-based meta data Dr. Andreas Hutter, CT IC 2 andreas.hutter@siemens.com Data security, Siemens Computer Energency Response Team: Dr. Johann Fichtner, CT IC CERT johann.fichtner@siemens.com Self-organizing sensor networks: Dr. Gerd Vlksen, CT IC 6 gerd.voelksen@siemens.com Wireless network security: Dirk Krselberg, CT IC 3 dirk.kroeselberg@siemens.com Internet-telefony security: Dr. Wolfgang Klasen, CT IC 3 wolfgang.klasen@siemens.com Prof. Christoph von der Malsburg malsburg@neuroinformatik. ruhr-uni-bochum.de Prof. Marc Rotenberg rotenberg@epic.org LINKS Roke Manor Research: www.roke.co.uk Siemens Corporate Research: www.scr.siemens.com International Biometric Group: www.biometricgroup.com The Biometric Consortium: www.biometrics.org Computer Crime and Security Survey: www.gocsi.com Electronic Privacy Information Center: www.epic.org LITERATURE Lyon, David, Surveillance Society, Open University Press (2001)
When it comes to visual surveillance, cameras are becoming smarter and smaller. Where is this taking us as a society? Rotenberg: This is an area where the law is clearly behind technology and some regulation would be appropriate. Consider the evolution of the telephone network. I dont think many would argue today that simply because it may be easier to intercept communications in a modern communications network, we should intercept communications more often. In fact, new laws were developed to limit interception and new techniques, such as encryption, were deployed to address the threat of interception. We need a similar approach to visual surveillance. Technological capability should not dictate public policy.
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Pictures of the Future | Frhjahr 2003
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TRANSRAPID
the Transrapid magnetic levitation train has been confined to a test track in Emsland, Germany. Furthermore, the high-tech, highspeed train wont really be able to show its stuff until 2004, when the worlds first commercial route will enter service. Gerhard Wahl, the special representative from Siemens Transportation Systems Group Executive Management who is responsible for all Transrapid projects, draws the following conclusion. The history of the Transrapid teaches us that companies really need to have staying power when theyre developing large-scale technical systems. The point Wahl is trying to make is clear. As projects progress, political and economic conditions can evolve, as can transportation policies and the publics perception of individual projects.
ts been a long wait. For fourteen years
lished in Erlangen, Germany to test competing concepts. The electromagnetic EET 01 train developed by MAN was tested in 1974. EDS, on the other hand, was a much more complex technology because it was based on superconduction, which had not yet been fully developed. So it wasnt surprising, recalls Wahl, that the EMS system was given the nod in 1977 for further research and development, which was conducted jointly. 1978: Heading for Commercialization. Transrapids first runs caused a sensation at the 1979 International Transportation Exhibition in Hamburg. There, a special track was set up that eventually transported 50,000 passengers. But the train still lacked a large-
after the successes experienced by highspeed conventional trains, such as the German ICE, Frances TGV and the Shinkansen in Japan. Nevertheless, by 1991 Transrapid had reached what engineers call technical readiness, meaning that the systems reliability could be demonstrated in normal service. Fifty potential lines for maglev rail were soon identified worldwide, both long-distance routes providing fast and economical connections between major cities, and local rail lines with heavy transport requirements, such as airport connections. Transrapids day finally arrived on December 31, 2002. Chinas Prime Minister and the German Chancellor were on hand for its
Only Flying Is Faster

The Transrapid celebrated its maiden run on New Years Eve 2002 in Shanghai some 70 years after the first patent registration and over 30 years after development began. The maglev train thus offers proof of why innovative companies need to have staying power.
18501939: From Concept to Patent. From the beginning, a desire for higher speeds and reduced travel times drove the search for new transportation systems, Wahl explains. Engineers have been working on alternatives to wheel-and-track system since the mid19th century because no one believed that conventional systems would ever overcome their friction losses and risk of derailment at high speeds. Concepts that involved the elimination of contact between a train and its track generated tremendous interest. Flying at zero altitude became the motto of the day. Hermann Kemper, a German electrical engineer, is considered to be the father of maglev rail. In 1922, Kemper began a research project that culminated in a 1934 patent for a levitation train without wheels, propelled along iron tracks by a magnetic field. World War II interrupted further development, though, and Kemper did not resume his research until the 1950s. 1965-1977: Prototypes and Competing Technologies. In 1965, Kemper joined forces with Munich-based Krauss Maffei and Messerschmitt-Blkow-Blohm (MBB) and within only a few years the companies had used advances in control technologies to build the first maglev prototypes. In 1970 and 1971 they presented the worlds first levitation train: the Transrapid 01. A number of socio-economic conditions favored this rapid development. The 1960s were marked by tremendous enthusiasm for high-speed rail, as a dramatic increase in private automobile use had begun to generate the first major traffic jams on streets and highways. The technically outmoded and underfinanced conventional rail systems seemed an unlikely solution to the problem. Moreover, travellers were prepared to pay higher prices for higher speeds. In 1969, the German Ministry of Transportation responded to this demand by commissioning a comprehensive study of rapid-rail systems. By 1972 the consensus was clear: A new high-speed transportation system was urgently needed to close the speed gap between air travel and conventional rail. A publicly financed research program was then launched to simultaneously explore various possible solutions. Krauss Maffei and MBB focused on an electromagnetic levitation system (EMS), while AEG-Telefunken, BBC and Siemens explored electrodynamic levitation (EDS). A special facility was estabscale test facility. Furthermore, political and financial difficulties, along with design problems, sidelined the trains for 17 years between the initial announcement of a largescale test facility and completion of the test site in Emsland. It wasnt until 1988 that the Transrapid was able to set a new world speed record of 412.6 kilometers per hour in Emsland. That didnt surprise Hans Georg Raschbichler, managing director of Transrapid International (currently known as the Siemens and ThyssenKrupp consortium). Transrapid was always a political project, and support for its development fluctuated a great deal with changing governments, he recalls. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the original public enthusiasm for the maglev train also diminished considerably, especially
Contact-free levitation at high speeds. The EET 01 on Siemens Erlangen Test Circuit 30 years ago (small picture left) and todays Transrapid in Shanghai (far left).
maiden journey, a 33-kilometer route connecting Shanghai with Pudong airport. The route was officially opened at a speed of 431 km/h less than two years after the contracts had been signed. Wahl recalls how it felt to travel in the worlds fastest train on its first trip. I was very happy and proud that the first run was so successful, he says. Regularly scheduled service will begin in Shanghai in 2004, with 10 million passengers expected to be transported that year, and 20 million projected for 2010. Furthermore, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji has announced plans to extend the high-speed line to Hangzhou and Nanjing. Both Zhu Rongji and Siemens CEO Heinrich v. Pierer are confident that the Transrapid has a promising future in China. Germany is also pushing ahead toward realization of planned lines in Bavaria (the Munich airport connection) and North RheinWestphalia (the Dortmund-Dsseldorf Metrorapid). Additional private venture capital from the companies involved in developing and building Transrapid will ensure that the future of the train without wheels will no longer be up in the air. Luitgard Marschall
A TECHNOLOGY TOUR DE FORCE
Operating speeds of 400500 km/h (the fastest land-based transportation system) High acceleration potential (from 0430 km/h in 4 minutes over a distance of 16 km), resulting in very short travel times Low specific-energy consumption (at a constant speed of 300 km/h, the Transrapid consumes 2530 percent less energy than conventional high-speed trains) Low noise levels through non-contact locomotion (only wind noise no noise from motors or wheel-track contact; conventional high-speed trains are twice as loud as the Transrapid at the same speed) No electrosmog (electrical shielding of the insulated drive coils) No pollutant emissions along the route Conforms to local topology (flexible track routing thanks to excellent grade-climbing performance and low curve radius; costly tunnel and bridge projects can often be completely avoided fewer surfaces thus need to be covered and sealed) High collision safety (the direction of the magnetic field determines the direction the trains move no head-on collisions possible) Low risk of derailment (magnetic frames enclose the guideway) Low maintenance costs (a benefit of non-contact technology) High travel comfort (virtually free of jarring movements and centrifugal-force effects)
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HEALTHCARE HIGHLIGHTS
Before Illness Strikes
New imaging methods enable early diagnosis of illnesses without any need for endoscopy or catheters. Page 61
A Picture of Health
Prof. Jrg Debatin can perform a complete check of the vascular and nervous systems and all internal organs in just 60 minutes. An interview with the pioneer of fullbody preventive checkups. Page 66
Getting Well with the Web
Telemedicine opens up new opportunities to care for patients at home and recognize health risks before they become dangerous. Page 69
The Sooner the Better
Biochips and molecular diagnoses enable doctors to detect diseases years earlier than was previously possible. Treatment can thus begin before the patient actually becomes ill. Page 72
Does Preventive Medicine Pay?
Interviews: Preventive medicine and national screening programs are helping to save lives in the United States and Great Britain.
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SCENARIO
2010
H E A L T H C A R E
A medical checkup in 2010. Doctor and patient examine high-resolution images of the patients body on a flat screen. The images are obtained non-invasively using a multipurpose tomograph (left). Intelligent software notifies the doctor of suspicious areas. Biochips can be used to rapidly analyze blood samples (table, left). Infrared light illuminates finger joints from the inside, enabling the doctor to detect rheumatism at a very early stage (table, right).
2010
An Ounce of Prevention...
Preventive medicine in 2010. Imaging methods and biochips will detect the earliest signs of illness at the cellular level. A manager tells his story.
ts that time again. Time to go to the health center for a full checkup. To be honest, Im not exactly looking forward to it. At my last checkup six years ago, I got a big scare. The pictures of my brain showed small white spots that the doctor diagnosed as mini-strokes. At the time, I had high blood pressure and wasnt taking my medication regularly. But since then Ive adjusted my eating habits, lost weight and gotten more exercise. And those arent easy things to do
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2010
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H E A L T H C A R E
when youve got a high-stress management job like mine. At least the examination doesnt take long, and lying in the magnetic resonance machine is much more comfortable than it used to be when you heard all those loud noises. Thanks to the new piezo vibration dampeners which, incidentally, are produced by my company, you can hardly hear anything now. And the diagnosis afterwards is also much faster. The software automatically marks any suspicious areas. Please come over here, Mr. Markus, and well take a look at the results, says the young doctor. Uh-oh, now things are getting serious. I take a look at the large flat screen and can see a life-size image of my body, or, more precisely, the inside of my body. The doctor compares the new images of my brain with those from 2004, which have been stored in my electronic patient file and can be called up from anywhere but only by someone with authorization, of course. Thank God! No new mini-strokes. It seems my change of lifestyle has paid off. But then, look at those coronary arteries. Theyve been slightly constricted for years and also have plaque. Not good. So, just be-
fore the exam, the doctor injected me with a contrast medium that causes plaque-covered areas to light up if, and only if, theyre infected and fragile indicating the risk of a heart attack. Thank goodness again! The images are dark! Just to be sure, Im going to let a cardiologist take a look at the pictures, says the doctor. She presses a button, automatically forwarding the images of my circulatory system along with my risk profile to a specialist. A short time later, the doctor gets a call from the cardiologist. The risk of heart attack is low, he says. And what about the blood tests, which analyze proteins and genetic material? The doctor puts a couple of drops of my blood onto something resembling a credit card, which she inserts into a reading device. Tiny biochips on the card then do the work of a complete lab in just a few seconds, while an infrared sensor illuminates the joints on my fingers. Clear fluid, no rheumatism, reports the doctor. Then the mini-lab comes back with its results: everythings okay, but cholesterol is a little high. I guess I can live with that! Ulrike Zechbauer
Before Illness Strikes

Sophisticated imaging technologies are making it possible to detect ever more illnesses at an early stage. Virtual flights through the body are making some exploratory procedures unnecessary.
H E A LT H A S T H E E N G I N E O F G R OW T H FO R T H E F U T U R E
2nd Kondratieff 1st Kondratieff 1800 1850 4th Kondratieff 6th Kondratieff
3rd Kondratieff 1900 1950
5th Kondratieff 1990 20XX
Basic innovations Needs
Steam engine, textile industry Clothing
Railroads, steel Transport
Electrotechnical, Automotive, petrochemicals chemistry Mass production Individual mobility
Information technology Globalized communications
Biotechnology, ecology Holistic health
Time axis
In the 1920s, Russian economist Nikolai Kondratieff discovered that economic cycles take the form of long waves stretching over 40 or 50 years. First, basic innovations lead to increased prosperity before we progress into a consolidation phase and then culminate in stagnation. We are now in the fifth cycle, although futurist Leo Nefiodov claims the sixth is now beginning with a focus on biotechnology and ecology. In other words, its all about health in the broadest sense of the word.
When it comes to early detection of many illnesses, imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance and computer tomography have become indispensable. The new Somatom Sensation 16 CT scanner generates a whole body 3D image of the arteries (left) in only 20 seconds. This patients arteries are heavily calcified.
he 21st century is set to usher in a new era in which medicine will be characterized by prevention and early recognition of a rapidly growing list of illnesses. Doctors and surgeons are already making use of imaging methods to gain a fascinating insight into the workings of the human body without even having to touch the patient. With magnetic resonance and computer tomography, they can analyze the condition of internal organs, bones or even blood vessels, while ultrasonic waves provide three-dimensional im-
ages of fetuses in the womb. Furthermore, as these imaging systems become even faster and more precise, illnesses are being detected earlier and more reliably. Dr. Bernd Ohnesorge and his team at Siemens Medical Solutions Group in Forchheim, Germany, recently demonstrated the degree of quality that can be attained with todays imaging devices. The team has developed a new computer tomography program known as Heart View CT that produces incredibly sharp 3D images of a beating heart
(see page 62). The program allows physicians to spot plaque and dangerous narrowings in the coronary vessels. Up to now, examinations of the heart have generally been conducted through insertion of a catheter. Although unpleasant for the patient, this procedure must be carried out in order to inject a contrast medium into the coronary arteries so that x-ray images can be taken at the same time. Thanks to the new method developed by Siemens, however, this process will no longer be necessary.
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A computer tomograph (CT) scanner usually consists of a ring-shaped system known as a gantry, which has a diameter of around one-and-a-half meters. An x-ray tube and an x-ray detector are mounted on opposite sides of the gantry. The patient to be examined lies down on a table that slides into the scanner. Once inside, the gantry quickly revolves around the table, taking images of the body with focused x-rays. Within a few seconds, a series of cross-sectional views are produced, which the computer then reconstructs and combines to create a real-life three-dimensional view of the imaged area. Until a few years ago, computer tomography scanners were equipped with only one detector, which meant that only one crosssection was generated per revolution of the gantry. But a new generation of equipment known as multilayer devices has since been introduced. These scanners generally have four detectors placed next to each other, allowing several cross-sectional images to be made per revolution. That means more of the body can be imaged in the same period of time.
In developing Heart View CT, Ohnesorge and his team made use of the latest CT generation the Siemens Somatom Sensation 16, which, as the name suggests, features a total of 16 detectors. The ring in this model orbits the patients body in only 400 milliseconds, making it possible to create a sharp image of the heart. Since the heart is constantly in motion, the only way to capture it photographically is by having an extremely short exposure time. Ohnesorges team managed to accomplish this by coupling the CTs image processing software with an electrocardiograph. The ECG monitors heart movements and essentially tells the scanner when to capture an image. Only image data captured in the 150 milliseconds between heartbeats is taken into account.
3D Images in Seconds. Our technological developments have put us about a year ahead of the competition, says Ohnesorge. The Siemens system makes it possible to produce a completely three-dimensional volume study of the heart in only 20 seconds. Whats more, the images have a resolution of half a millimeter. The final study contains around one gigabyte of data, which is about enough to fill two CD-ROMs. A major advantage of Heart View CT is that it does not entail catheterization an uncomfortable and time-consuming procedure. Instead, patients with heart problems serious enough to require a CT scan can be examined quickly, and need not necessarily stay in the hospital overnight. That translates into tremendous savings potential. But the new method can also play an
Siemens newest CT scanners can obviate many cardiac catheterizations, while helping to prevent heart attacks.
important role when it comes to prevention, says Ohnesorge. Even though doctors can achieve a resolution of one-fourth of a millimeter with a cardiac catheter, the catheter isnt very good at recognizing small deposits in blood vessels. Thats where CT comes in. Deposits on arterial walls known as plaque can be especially dangerous if they detach, because they can lead to life-threatening obstructions. Heart View CT detects the plaque at an early stage, as it can look straight into the vascular wall. Around half a million cardiac catheterization examinations are performed in Germany every year, says Ohnesorge. About half are purely for diagnostic purposes, and the CT represents a sensible alternative in many of these cases. The members of the jury for the German Future Prize, which is awarded by the German President, were so impressed by the potential of the technology that they nominated the developers of Heart View CT for the final round of the competition in 2002. An important potential area of application for the new technology is preventive screening of high-risk patients. Of course, not everyone has to be examined by CT that would be far too expensive, says Dr. Thomas Flohr, who co-developed the system with Ohnesorge and his colleague Dr. Richard Hausmann. Flohr says its better to start by establishing who is at the greatest risk of having a heart attack or stroke. This can be done by taking blood tests and finding out about the individuals diet and alcohol and tobacco consumption, for example. The highest-risk patients can then be examined relatively quickly with Heart View CT, says Flohr. Mammography with Minimal Exposure. Cardiovascular disease is the most frequent cause of death among men in much of the Western world. Women aged 35 to 55, on the other hand, are more likely to die of breast cancer. Thats why a program was launched several years ago in Germany to encourage women in their mid-thirties and upward to have regular, low x-ray-dose mammograms. To obtain a clear image of all the tissue in a breast, the breast is pressed gently
Patient-friendly. A computer-animated journey through the intestine.
Probing the heart without a catheter. The Heart View CT computer tomography program developed by Richard Hausmann (left), Thomas Flohr and Bernd Ohnesorge freezes heart motion between beats (above) and generates images with a resolution of half a millimeter. Using this method, doctors can spot plaque and dangerous narrowings in coronary arteries both of which can lead to heart attacks.
between two metal plates (see box on p.78). Approximately 3.5 million mammograms are taken in Germany each year, most of which still make use of the traditional x-ray method. Here, the machine exposes an x-ray film that has to be developed before a diagnosis can be made. A few years ago, however, digital technology was introduced that can replace this technique. Siemens, for example, offers Digiscan M a system that uses phosphor storage plates instead of x-ray films to capture the images taken. These plates can be reused up to 4,000 times. After the scan is made, a reading device converts the plates content into a digital image. This obviates the use of film and associated chemicals, and results in faster and more efficient processes in radiology departments. Furthermore, it solves the age-old probem of lost or unavailable files by producing a digital archive. The future of radiology and of mam-
mography in particular is digital, says Rdiger Schulz-Wendtland, Professor of Gynecological Radiology at the FriedrichAlexander University of Erlangen. In addition to the advantages already mentioned, he points out that digital technology makes it unnecessary to take additional x-ray scans: If a suspicious structure is detected using the traditional method, it is often x-rayed a second time at a higher resolution. Not only does that subject the patient to even more xrays; it also doubles the amount of work that has to be done, says Schulz-Wendtland. But these second mammograms can often be dispensed with if digital technology is used, as contrasts can be set and suspect areas enlarged accordingly on screen. This fall, Siemens is set to take another major step toward a digital future when it launches the digital flatscreen Mammomat NovationDR detector. The device doesn't need storage film and is equipped with a re-
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ceiver system of amorphous selenium. Conventional selenium-based detectors convert x-rays directly into electrical signals. In other words, into digital images. In order to do so, the phosphorous coatings of their storage films first have to be activated by laser light in a reading device. But this intermediate
step causes data to be lost. The Mammomat NovationDR, on the other hand, works much more efficiently, which leads to higher-quality images. Non-Contact Colonoscopy. But however effective the available technology is, preventive
U LT R A S O U N D E N T E R S T H E FO U R T H D I M E N S I O N
A 3D image of a fetus at 23 weeks.

Siemens researchers have come up with 4D imaging, a technology that is taking medical ultrasound into a new dimension. Most ultrasound systems produce twodimensional images. Some even produce static 3D images. But 4D ultrasound displays continuous motion as a rapid sequence of 3D images. This is expected to make the new technology ideal for obstetric, abdominal and vascular imaging. Patients will be able to see a baby moving in the womb and physicians will have an advanced tool for determining the age of a fetus, detecting spina bifida or even seeing a cleft palate. To develop the capability to process the huge amount of information needed to display the real-time, moving, 3D ultrasound information from Siemens newest ultrasound transducers, the researchers developed a patent-pending algorithm that reconstructs 3D volume images at a blinding 30 volumes per second. After demonstrating the feasibility of the algorithm, the team began product development. In record time a mere five months they created a modular software component that is being integrated into Siemens Sonoline Antares ultrasound system. This will allow many customers to upgrade existing systems with a simple software/ hardware update and by attaching the latest 4D probe. Known as fourSight , the new technology was demonstrated at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in December 2002. It is expected to be available by 2004. AFP
TM TM
and early-recognition medicine can only be put to good use if patients are prepared to take the initiative. Thats not always the case, however, as demonstrated by a recent campaign to highlight the benefits of colon cancer prevention procedures to the German public. Celebrities were called upon to encourage people to undergo colonoscopy an unpopular and sometimes painful procedure, but one that can save lives. Colon cancer if it reaches an advanced stage is almost impossible to cure. A patient may have it for years before serious symptoms start to appear. And yet many people dont visit a doctor until its too late. After lung cancer, colon cancer is the second most frequent kind of tumor found among German patients, with 50,000 new cases annually. And although 90 percent of patients could be cured if treatment were to begin early enough, 30,000 die of colon cancer each year. To make the idea of having an examination less unpleasant, researchers at Siemens Corporate Research in Princeton, New Jersey, developed virtual colonoscopy a noncontact procedure that generates images of the entire intestine in only a matter of seconds. With its help, doctors can embark on a computer-animated journey along the intestine, without having to insert an endoscopic camera. Instead, the images are captured by either a magnetic resonance tomograph or a computer tomograph. Unlike computer tomography, magnetic resonance does not involve use of any ionizing radiation. It takes ten seconds to record the necessary data, after which an image-processing computer highlights the contrasting areas, revealing any polyps. Polyps in the intestinal mucus membrane are often the first signs of cancer, as they can turn into malignant carcinomas. Compared to the method used thus far, virtual colonoscopies are much more popular, explains Dr. Christoph Zindel, a physician and marketing manager at Siemens Medical Solutions in Erlangen. And thats crucial when it comes to encouraging patients to have a colo-rectal examination. There is, however, still disagreement as to which procedure is better for the early de-
A new method of diagnosing rheumatism with infrared light. Fluid in the cavities of arthritic joints (above left) is cloudy, which diffuses laser light (bright area). A healthy joint (below left) causes little or no diffusion because the fluid is clear.
tection of cancerous growths. Zindel believes that magnetic resonance tomography is preferable because no x-rays are involved, but computer tomographs generate images more rapidly and thats a significant advantage in view of the fact that the intestines are constantly moving.
procedure that could monitor the spread of polyarthritis in its earliest stages. Thats why Siemens, in cooperation with the Free University of Berlin, the Charit Hospital and the University of Gttingen, Germany, has developed a prototype infrared scanner that can detect rheumatic problems
A virtual journey through the intestine makes patients less anxious of colonoscopy, which can help save lives.
Rheumatism Recognition. While experts in some areas are busy debating which method is best, doctors in other areas would be glad to have just one procedure for quickly collecting reliable data about their patients condition. For example, it is hoped that a process will soon be available to help medical professionals detect chronic polyarthritis as early as possible. Seventy percent of patients suffer irreversible changes to the joints in their hands and feet within the first two years after polyarthritis strikes but its virtually impossible to diagnose the condition at that stage of the illness with conventional methods. It would therefore be a tremendous boost to have a early on and in a simple way. With this new system, the patients finger joints are penetrated by infrared light, which is captured by a detector on the other side of the finger to create an image of the fluid in the joint cavity. In healthy people, this fluid is clear, but as polyarthritis develops, deposits of protein and tissue form in the cavity. The fluid therefore becomes cloudy, which means that the laser light diffuses, allowing the detector to register the change as quantitative data. Bioinformatics expert Dr. Volker Tresp and his team at Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich took on the challenge of linking the various measurement parameters. Neural networks compare parameters such
as clarity and the degree of light scattering, making it possible to determine whether the patients condition has improved or deteriorated. The resulting values are automatically entered into the data processing program, which simplifies the overall diagnostic process. In this way, the program can automatically provide a weekly overview or a graphic depiction of the progress of the illness. This makes it easier to determine whether a particular medication or course of treatment is working. The German Rheumatism League estimates that around 500,000 people of all ages are currently affected by chronic polyarthritis in Germany. Rheumatism scanners, computer and magnetic resonance tomography, mammography, colonoscopy theres no doubt that thanks to preventive medicine, many diseaserelated changes within the body can now be detected and treated at a very early stage. Millions of people are therefore being spared from some of the most serious consequences of many illnesses. Whats more, the latest developments show that with the help of digital technology, doctors will be able to conquer a variety of other ailments and illnesses over the coming years. Perhaps we really will be able to relieve the sick and elderly of much suffering in the future. Tim Schrder
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INTERVIEW
A Picture of Health
Professor Debatin, the focus of your attention is early diagnosis and prevention. But do people really want to know about whats wrong with them? Debatin: Most people do. It never ceases to amaze me how interested people are in learning about health issues. They want to know how they can stay healthy for as long as possible, and how illnesses can be identified and treated at the earliest possible stage. Imaging processes such as magnet resonance (MR) and computer tomography (CT) are not only useful for early diagnosis, but can also help a patient change the way he or she lives. Let me give you an example. An estimated two-thirds of all people with high blood pressure dont take their medication. The reason for this is that they feel fine and are lulled by a false sense of security. But then I show them the MR images of their head and say, You see those little bright points in your head? Those are tiny little clots that have built up because you havent been taking your medication. And this has a decisive effect on a patients willingness to take active therapeutic measures. Dont images of this sort also scare many people? Debatin: No, not automatically. In my opinion, these kinds of images make an impression on people and thats not the same thing as scaring them. Fear develops only if you leave people alone with a diagnosis. But what I do is offer them treatment and help them improve their quality of life in the future. When I show 45-year-old smokers the extent of the sclerosis in their main arteries, they tend to think twice about reaching for the next pack of cigarettes. That sounds a lot like wagging a finger at a child. Dont many people find such an approach shocking? Debatin: Yes they do. In fact, we actually call such an approach image shock therapy. And
let me tell you, it is incredibly effective. Now, you might say to me that I take all the fun out of peoples lives. I dont see it that way. The worst thing is that many people dont even know that they have a choice either to live a short life full of fun and risk or to enjoy a long life with maybe a little less fun. I believe that people should definitely have the opportunity to decide for themselves which type of life they want to lead. I dont think theres anyone lying in a bed in this clinic who would claim to want to have a shorter life.
Whole-body magnetic resonance angiography allows all the arteries in the body to be visualized in 3D. The examination requires only 72 seconds.
other hand, early diagnosis and prevention can be worthwhile because healthy employees dont call in sick very often. In addition, they continue working longer, thereby paying taxes and pension contributions for a longer period of time.
Essen to the general public for a comprehensive, early-diagnosis examination that includes a whole-body magnetic resonance tomograph.
Prof. Jrg F. Debatin, 41, has been the director of the Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at the University Clinic in Essen, Germany, since August 1999. More than 150 employees at the institute conduct between 400 and 500 radiological tests every day. Debatin was instrumental in the development of the Essen concept for imageassisted early diagnosis. In only 60 minutes, magnetic resonance tomography can be used to display the central nervous system, entire vascular system, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and large intestine and identify early signs of disease.
In the U.S., people can have their whole bodies examined using computer tomography. Does this method really allow physicians to identify all illnesses? Debatin: No. In the U.S., the whole-body CT is conducted without an intravenous contrast medium. I consider such examinations to be nothing more than medical nonsense because the diagnostic benefits are very small indeed. Without a contrast medium, radiologists can hardly identify damage in areas such as the head, kidneys and liver. Furthermore, the radiation levels are very high. Whats worse is that it gives people a false sense of security. They think theyve been given a clean bill of health because the doctors didnt identify anything suspicious in the images. However, neither blood nor urine are examined in this process. Are you saying that the procedure is actually counterproductive? Debatin: What is being offered in the U.S. at the moment is certainly not something that will establish itself on the market. Generally speaking, I dont consider it worthwhile to limit early diagnosis to the display of the entire body in images. As far as Im concerned, a holistic approach should not only include magnetic resonance tomography, which involves no radiation and has no side effects, but also a general examination and a consultation with a physician, an exercise ECG and comprehensive laboratory analysis of blood and urine. We have developed just such a preventive program here in Essen. In April of this year, Praeventicum opened its doors in
At what age should people seriously consider having such a checkup? Debatin: Those over 45 should certainly consider it, and those over 50 should definitely get a comprehensive check-up. How much does such a checkup cost, and do health insurance companies reimburse for it? Debatin: A Praeventicum customer pays approximately 1,500 euros for the entire program. Because this is something that patients do voluntarily, the insurance companies are basically not obliged to refund anything. Why? Aside from the obvious benefits, wouldnt such an examination cut health care costs? Debatin: Most insured people assume that insurance companies have a vested interest in early diagnosis and preventive measures. Thats not the case, however, because every approach that extends a persons life ends up costing the insurance companies even more money, since it means that people die at a later age and therefore suffer more illnesses. The idea that prevention helps save money in the health care system is a fairy tale, at least in my view. For the economy, on the
Are privately insured people in a better position than those in the public insurance system? Debatin: I think people in Germany should get away from the mentality that insurance companies have to be involved when they want to do something for their health. Just compare this with car insurance. Vehicle owners have liability insurance, collision coverage, or third-party, fire and theft insurance (with or without a deductible). But who would ever think of taking out insurance for a car inspection? Automobile owners are not required to get their cars checked on a regular basis but, as we all know, it is wise to do so. I think that everyone should start taking more responsibility for their health. Its not about whether a person is privately or publicly insured its about whether they are willing to spend money on getting their own bodies checked, as is the case with car inspections. Of course, not everyone has money for preventive care. Debatin: Thats where the politicians specializing in health care issues come in. They need to develop models for people in lowincome brackets. One possibility would be to offer tax incentives for health check-ups. My hope is that Germans will realize in the coming years that they are responsible for their own health. Health insurance should only come into play when someone actually gets sick. Ulrike Zechbauer
WHAT DOES
PRAEVENTICUM
LOOK FOR ?
Early signs of stroke, arteriosclerosis, heart attacks, intestinal cancer, lung cancer, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, liver diseases, prostate cancer, kidney diseases, lipometabolic disorders, thyroid diseases
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SOFT WARE SOLUTIONS
TELEMEDICINE
H E A L T H C A R E
A Uniform Imaging Interface

n addition to optimum image quality, a medical diagnostic system needs to have the right software to be user-friendly. To achieve this goal, Siemens Medical Solutions
and the user interface design experts from Siemens Corporate Technology developed syngo, an award-winning software platform. syngo serves as a uniform basis for all imag-
ing processes, including MR, CT and ultrasound systems as well as nuclear medicine and patient monitoring systems. It not only controls the image recording process, but also allows the images to be viewed, postprocessed and archived. Thanks to syngo, doctors are no longer faced with having to call up various programs, and can instead quickly switch back and forth between process steps or patients as easily as if they were flipping through a file of index cards. Instead of giving a confusing list of parameters, syngo guides doctors through the examination and evaluation processes intuitively with the help of easily understandable symbols. Nevertheless, processes in hospitals could be optimized even further for example, by using Soarian, a newly developed workflow system. Soarian processes and networks a hospitals entire data flow including all syngo workstations. By also monitoring all diagnostic, therapeutic and treatment steps, Soarian helps ensure continued improvement in the quality of medical care. TS
Getting Well with the Web

More and more people are discovering the convenience of Internet shopping and online banking. Just turn on your home computer and youll find thousands of Web stores waiting for you. And for those who would like to do something for their health, there will soon be a range of telemedicine services available on the Web as well.
he world of telemedicine health care over the Web is still the domain of the medical community. Physicians wanting to confirm a diagnosis, for example, can use a telephone or data link to send recorded images, lab results, or other information to colleagues. Soon, however, ordinary citizens will also be able to use this technology from the comfort of their own homes. Diabetics, for example, will be able to send their own blood-sugar readings via the Internet to a system that will immediately inform their family doctor if a predetermined value has been exceeded. Without such a system, the doctor wouldnt discover any deterioration in the readings until the next routine check. At the heart of this system is a Web-
based information and telecommunications platform known as MedStage. Developed by Siemens Medical Solutions, MedStage receives medical data from various sources, which it stores as electronic health files on a server. The platform is now being tested in a number of European pilot projects, where it forms the backbone for a range of telemedicine applications for preventive medicine, early diagnosis and patient monitoring. Giving Doctors a Break. In Germany, MedStage servers are located at the Siemens Business Services high-security computer center in Frth. There, data is stored for DIADEM, an EU project , which is designed to stem a projected explosion in costs due to
syngos easy-to-use graphical user interface is tailored to the needs of physicians and healthcare workers.
Help for Harried Radiologists
A close look at the fundus of the eye can detect the first signs of damage to the optic nerve, and thus help to prevent visual impairment.
ntil now, radiologists were heading for a colossal case of information overload. A single CT or MR scan of a patients lungs or colon can produce up to 500 high resolution images, say Dr. Ming Fang, head of the Intelligent Vision and Reasoning Department at Siemens Corporate Research (SCR) in Princeton, New Jersey. With this in mind, SCR researchers have pioneered a new technology called Interactive ComputerAided Diagnostics (ICAD), a system that helps radiologists make accurate and consistent diagnostic decisions. Recently
A lung nodule as detected by ICAD. The system provides measurements that support diagnostic decision-making.
introduced to the market by Siemens Medical Solutions as Lung CARE, the software helps radiologists detect abnormal and potentially cancerous lung nodules. The technology is especially useful in helping physicians detect small lung nodules that are often overlooked by radiologists. ICADs automatic detection component (pending FDA approval) accomplishes this by sifting through hundreds of images and highlighting regions that look suspicious. Radiologists can then use the software to isolate potential nodules, measure their volumes and track them during follow-up exams. More advanced medical applications for colon and prostate cancer diagnosis are currently under development. AFP
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TELEMEDICINE
T H E E L E C T R O N I C H E A LT H A DV I S O R
In an age of dwindling healthcare budgets, politicians are call-
the increasingly widespread occurrence of diabetes. Studies show that a diabetic patient generally costs the health care system one and a half times as much as a healthy person. And things can get really expensive if patients start neglecting their treatment, since thats when secondary complications set in. Such complications can raise costs by a factor of 20 or 30. In Great Britain, for example, the number of diabetes cases resulting from people not taking proper care of themselves is set to triple over the period from 1995 to 2012. Thats where the DIADEM project comes in. The project, which was launched at the beginning of 2002 and will run until June 2003, is conducting a telemedicine study in Cardiff, Wales. Diabetic patients are measuring their blood-sugar values in the conventional manner, but are then transmitting the data to a MedStage server either by phone or via the Internet. If the server determines that any of the data seems suspicious, or that data is missing, it automatically informs a call-center employee who then contacts the patient and reminds him to regularly check his blood-sugar levels and stick to his diet. The result is that diabetic patients only visit
their doctors when its really necessary, says Dr. Eva Rumpel, head of the DIADEM project at Siemens Medical Solutions. It is hoped that DIADEM can help reduce the long waiting lists for general practitioners that plague the UKs centralized health care system. Early detection of illness or disease pays off in particular in countries that have a tax-funded health care system, like Great Britain, explains Dr. Volker Schmidt, who is responsible for MedStage Disease Management and Screening at Siemens Medical Solutions. Thats why well be stepping up our involvement in the UK and our telemedicine activities there in the future. Keeping an Eye on Blindness. As part of the EUs TOSCA project, a screening method was developed and tested last year to help medical professionals recognize pathological changes to the retina early enough to pre-
vent blindness. Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness in industrialized countries. This condition, which initially results in a severely reduced field of vision, is caused by an increase of pressure within the eyeball, which damages the optic nerve. Diabetics, on the other hand, are prone to diabetic retinopathy, the abnormal growth of retinal blood vessels that can lead to blindness. TOSCA involves 20 partners, says project coordinator Dr. Gudrun Zahlmann from Siemens Medical Solutions. Its a very successful alliance of clinics, research institutes, and companies. We have succeeded in bringing together the exposures of the fundus of the eye, patient information and image management systems on the same telemedical platform MedStage. In two subprojects, individuals insured by Siemens health insurance provider SBK in Munich were screened for glaucoma, while
ing on people to take on more responsibility for their own health. A useful technical aid in this context could well be the personal fitness trainer devised by Dr. Markus Jger from Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) in Munich. The concept features a chest strap with a pulse gauge and an ECG pad that can be stuck onto the skin above the heart, and which is fitted with a reusable radio transmitter. A range of sensors including, conceivably, a GPS-based positioning transmitter continually transmit their readings or signals to a receiver, which might be integrated into a cell phone, for example. The latter transmits the data to an Internet server, which draws up an individual training plan on the basis of the values supplied. Jger is also planning to use intelligent software agents that will automatically establish contact between the training server and other Web servers. In this way, a special nutrition server could be used to devise a personal diet plan on the basis of the readings supplied, he explains, adding, Other agents could check the persons smart refrigerator to determine if it already contains the right foods. Jger is currently looking for a partner willing to bring the fitness trainer onto the market. The concept could be up and running within just a few months, he explains. Indeed, its probably only a matter of time before we begin conducting a whole host of health checks in the comfort of our own homes. The sensors required for this could also be integrated into smart clothing, perhaps even in pyjamas. The sensors would then monitor our state of health while we sleep and automatically transmit the readings to an Internet server. Targeted Queries. Another project group at Siemens Corporate Technology is focusing on the topic of artificial intelligence and, in particular, self-learning causal networks. Our first project based on causal networks was `HealthMan, explains
Telemedicine supports doctors and even makes it possible to care for patients in their own homes.
2,200 diabetics in Cardiff were checked for diabetic retinopathy. The images were then sent to the MedStage server via the Internet and assessed by experts using image software. Ten percent of the cases required further medical clarification, says Zahlmann. Whats more, abnormalities were observed in the group of 30 to 40-year-olds, although glaucoma is typically regarded as a condition affecting people over the age of 55. To reduce the burden on medical professionals, the plan is to have MedStage software automatically evaluate the images in the future. Doctors would then only see the suspicious cases. Experts hope that in Britain TOSCA will lead to a major reduction in the number of cases of blindness due to diabetic retinopathy. Moreover, todays technology already enables those particularly at risk from glaucoma to use a tonometer to measure eyeball pressure and send the readings to a doctor via
project coordinator Dr. Joachim Horn. Once fed with patient information by the doctor, this software program autonomously conducts a dialog-query regarding the patients previous medical history. Just as in an authentic physician-patient consultation, the choice of each subsequent question depends on the answer previously supplied. The HealthMan program runs on a notebook and is currently being used to help families deal with very young children who are ill. A further development, known as HeartMan, is now being tested by Hamburg, Germany-based Pro Consilio. The program is designed to help people suffering from cardiac insufficiency. Once a week, a counselor calls the patient to see whether an appointment with a doctor is required. Before the advent of the HeartMan, counselors would merely run through a fixed list of questions, such as whether the patient had an urge to urinate at night or was suffering from shortness of breath. Today, the selflearning software guides the dialog and helps the counselor formulate targeted questions as to the patients precise condition. The system decides for itself which information is relevant to an analysis of the patients state of health, explains Dr. Volker Tresp, head of an associated center of expertise at CT. If, for example, it is known that a patient suffering from cardiac insufficiency is also asthmatic, HeartMan will assign a completely different significance to the symptom of shortness of breath. HeartMan can thus concentrate on the essentials rather than wasting time asking for information that is already known.
Retinal blood vessels can give an early warning of the state of the vascular system. The goal of this telemedical application is to prevent strokes and heart attacks.
the Internet. Another example of the trend toward increased automation of medical screening is a pilot project called t@lkingeyes. SBK conducted a program in the Erlangen region of Germany that involved photographing the retinas of over 7,000 people with a special camera. By examining the state of the blood vessels, specialists from the University Hospital in Erlangen were able to determine the probability of the person suffering a stroke. The project generated enormous interest, says Dr. York Dhein, a specialist in contract and health care management at SBK. The procedure lasted ten minutes. Each patient was required to complete an extensive questionnaire to determine his or her personal risk profiles. The data was then sent to Erlangen via the Internet and evaluated using special software. On the basis of an analysis of the images, plus the responses in the questionnaire, the program automatically calculated each persons risk of suffering a stroke. The program determined a very high risk among 11.2 percent of those examined, while 9.2 percent had an increased risk of which they were formerly unaware. Those identified as being at risk were asked to contact their family physicians. Given the huge positive response, SBK will be running t@lkingeyes in four more cities with Siemens locations beginning in April 2003. Certain aspects of telemedicine, such as tests that can be performed at home, could make it possible to reach people who dont get regular checkups because they are reluctant to go to the doctor. Moreover, the new technology will benefit medical professionals, since telemedicine will simplify many procedures in the area of routine and preventive diagnosis, as well as in the preventive care area. The Internet is also a highly useful tool for identifying target groups and arranging appointments for screening tests. Finally, telemedicine applications will help experts analyze results and make diagnoses. Such software will not entirely relieve doctors of many routine tasks in the foreseeable future, however, since a number of legal issues still remain to be resolved. Michael Lang
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MOLECUL AR DIAGNOSTICS
The sooner an illness is recognized, the better the chance of recovery. New imaging techniques and biochips from Siemens are helping detect the very first signs of illness on a molecular level.
heres no such thing as a perfectly healthy person. That said, theres a world of difference between the minor ailments that most of us have and life-threatening conditions such as cancer or a stroke. And yet, many serious illnesses can be healed or avoided if they are recognized in time. While imaging technology (see p. 61) and
ceives an injection of a sugar solution tagged with a radioactive isotope, which is absorbed by cells throughout the patients body. Because of their uncontrolled growth, cancerous cells consume an enormous amount of nutrients. As a result, they accumulate up to ten times as much tagged sugar as normal tissue does, which produces a bright spot on
at the earliest. Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have successfully tested the new contrast agents on mice, says Gareus. For the imaging itself, they use a prototype we developed. Because infrared light penetrates only to a maximum of five centimeters beneath the skin, medical applications would be restricted to conditions such as skin can-
areas of plaque that appear on arterial walls long before blood vessels actually become constricted and the chances of a heart attack increase. Molecular imaging will also play an increasingly important role in the planning and monitoring of therapy. In this way, it will help physicians determine the extent to which a tumor has responded to therapy.
The Sooner, the Better

laboratory diagnostics already play an important role in the early detection of illness, such methods are generally only applied once a patient has developed symptoms such as constricted arteries or abnormal blood readings. In the future, however, diagnostic procedures will be able to detect a disease much earlier. For example, doctors armed with the ability to determine metabolic changes at the molecular level will be able to diagnose cancer much sooner than they can today. Molecular diagnostics includes both in vitro procedures, which are conducted outside the body using DNA and protein chips, and in vivo imaging, which takes place within the body. Siemens is involved in both areas, explains biochemist Dr. Ralph Gareus, project manager at the department of New Business Development at Siemens Medical Solutions in Erlangen, Germany. I believe molecular imaging represents one of the most promising technologies of the future. This combines conventional imaging techniques with special contrast agents so as to make metabolic changes visible, Gareus says. That means diseases can be diagnosed long before the patient begins to manifest any anatomical changes or abnormal blood readings. Reasearch and development engineers at Siemens have already achieved spectacular results with molecular imaging, including the development of the Biograph, the worlds first combined positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) scanner. Before examination, the patient re-
with Molecular Diagnostics

PET images. But the images produced by stand-alone PET scanners are tough to place because anatomical detail is missing. Thats where CT comes in. Once the PET data is combined with the data generated by the CT, physicians not only see the cancer, but can tell where its located. The Biograph is not the only molecular imaging system developed by Siemens. Researchers in Erlangen are also working on an optical imaging technique based on fluorescent contrast agents that use light from the near-infrared region. This works without xrays, and offers a highly selective and sensicer or lymph node abnormalities in the neck area. Thats why were also working on a special fluorescent-optical imaging camera for use inside the human body, explains Gareus, who adds. That will take the surgeon right up to a tumor so that it can be closely examined. According to Gareus, molecular imaging holds enormous potential. By 2007, it will be a key tool in the early detection of cancer, arthritis, neurological conditions such as Alzheimers, and, in particular, coronary artery disease, he say. For instance, molecular imaging will help diagnose the minuscule Furthermore, molecular imaging could provide an alternative to biopsies in gene and stem cell therapy, where it would be possible to test, in vivo, whether genes introduced into the body produced the desired proteins and whether stem cells colonize the body as expected. One Card Does It All. Siemens has also come up with a number of highly promising innovations for in vitro diagnosis. In cooperation with biotech startup pes Diagnosesysteme GmbH, Siemens has developed a sensor with an integrated chip that can analyze a blood sample much faster than a fully equipped laboratory, yet do so with exactly the same degree of accuracy. (see Pictures of the Future, Spring 2002, p. 46). Many DNA and protein tests still have to be performed by research laboratories at considerable expense. Until now, the com-
It should be possible to detect diseases such as cancer much earlier thanks to the application of molecular diagnostics.
tive technique for imaging cancer cells. Its therefore a very attractive option for human applications, says Gareus. The secret behind the new technology is the use of so-called smart contrast agents. On their own, these are inactive and only fluoresce under radiation after they have come into contact with particular target molecules such as tumorspecific enzymes. At present, smart contrast agents are being tested on animals (see p. 74 and Pictures of the Future, October 2001, p. 20). Licensing for human use is not expected until 2007
TOMORROWS MINI LAB
Diagnostics in 2005: A drop of blood placed in the cartridge is initially separated into its components in the first chamber (1). The genetic material to be detected (either bacterial DNA or where the human genome is the issue the patients own) is extracted and transported to the second chamber (2), where it is amplified. The third chamber (3) contains a biochip to detect DNA sequences. Finally, the cartridge is inserted into a small Siemens device that automatically analyzes the data. 3 2 1
Siemens Biograph uses a combination of two imaging processes PET and CT to reveal pathological metabolic changes. The result is improved diagnostics.
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MOLECUL AR DIAGNOSTICS
H E A L T H C A R E
D E T E C T I N G C A N C E R AT T H E C E L L U L A R L E V E L
740 nm laser diode
Infrared fiber CCD camera
Image processing
Fiber coupler
Lens Narrow-band interference filter wheel (750 nm) Interference filter wheel (770870 nm)
Fluorescent contrast agent
Quenched fluorophors
Peptide linker Tumor specific enzyme
Optical imaging with fluorescent contrast agents uses light from the near-infrared wavelength band. The so-called smart contrast agents used in the process are currently being tested on animals. While inactive on their own, these agents fluoresce under illumination as soon as they come into contact with tumor-specific enzymes. Licensing for human use is not expected until 2007 at the earliest. How aggressive are tumors? Molecular imaging can tell researchers how invasively how quickly and to what extent cancer cells are spreading into neighboring tissues. Here, two human breast tumors with different levels of tissue invasiveness were implanted in a mouse. The mouse was injected with a fluorescent contrast agent that is activated by a tumor-specific enzyme that facilitates tumor growth through the breakdown of surrounding, healthy tissue. The tumor on the right fluoresces much more strongly and is therefore considerably more invasive than the one on the left.
This image was made available by Prof. Ralph Weissleder, Massachusetts General Hospital.
Is the cancer treatment working? Smart contrast agents are also used to monitor therapy. The image on the left shows the tumor before treatment with a specific protease inhibitor, which prevents the tulow high
mor from spreading. The impact of this
specific inhibitor is clearly recognizable after two days as indicated by the substantially weaker signal (right).
This image was made available by Prof. Ralph Weissleder, Massachusetts General Hospital.
plexity of genetic information and its interpretation has required both specialized personnel and sensitive and expensive optical detection equipment. Thanks to new developments in biotechnology, however, it is now possible to miniaturize the technology to such an extent that it will all fit on a single microchip, says Dr. Emil Wirsz, director of New Business Development at Siemens Medical Solutions in Erlangen. The lab-on-a-chip not only controls entire laboratory processes, but also comes with all the requisite substances and reagents. Well see a breakthrough in molecular diagnostics at the beginning of 2005, predicts Wirsz. Its then that were likely to see the market launch of a DNA cartridge the size of a credit card. Developed by Siemens and biotech company november AG, the cartridge will have many applications, including the diagnosis of infections, tumors, and hereditary diseases; tests on the tolerance to, and efficacy of, medication; and the detection of a genetic predisposition to certain conditions. At the heart of this mini lab will be a DNA chip produced by november that contains around 100 electrodes. A single chip can simultaneously distinguish between 12 different target molecules on the basis of their DNA. Analysis of this data is conducted fully automatically by a unit developed by Siemens. We have already successfully tested the first prototypes, says Wirsz, a specialist in IT and electrical engineering. Acute and life-threatening infections require immediate treatment. Bacterial or viral pathogens can be specifically identified using the catridge. The revolutionary and to date unique feature of the cartridge is that it unites three different procedures in a highly compact format: sample preparation, amplification of the pathogens DNA necessary to ensure a sufficiently strong and measurable signal and DNA identification. Lab-based diagnostics are still relatively expensive. For example, the polymerase chain reaction required to amplify the DNA costs at least 80 euros, says Wirsz. Thats more than the cost of our complete mini laboratory. Ulrike Zechbauer
The biochip share of the IVD market is expected to increase sharply. The world market for biochips totaled about $90 million in 1999, not including reagents, materials, biochip analysis devices and software. In its World Biochip Market Summary 2001, consulting company Frost & Sullivan estimated that this market will grow by 1,000 percent by 2004. Of course, optimistic forecasts have to be taken with a pinch of salt. For instance, the new chips will have to be competitively priced and of high quality. And, last but not least, medical personnel will have to accept and trust them. Wolfgang Geiger, Ulrike Zechbauer
Tapping Markets for Tiny Labs
IVD REVENUE FORECAST

Billions of dollars
aboratory diagnostic procedures are very valuable in detecting illnesses at an early stage. Because the samples involved, e.g. blood, urine, saliva and hair, are analyzed outside the body, this process is called in vitro diagnostics, or IVD. The IVD market, which includes laboratory equipment, instruments, sample containers, reagents and selftest kits, experienced a difficult period in the 1990s. Government regulations, relentless competition and declining sales led to a consolidation of the market through a large number of mergers. At the same time, the newly merged companies attempted to cut costs by automating processes and by developing technologies that would allow parallel analyses of samples. Today, world IVD market volume stands at approximately 23 billion euros. Experts believe that the sector will experience a dramatic boom between now and 2010 (see chart, above right). This rapid growth will be brought about by molecular diagnostic processes and an increasing trend toward decentralized and miniaturized diagnostic procedures (lab-on-a-chip). The strongest growth is expected to be registered in the fields of infectious diseases, oncology and cardiovascular diseases. The use of chipbased diagnostics in particular (biochips) will provide the market with additional momentum. Biochip diagnostics make it possible
to analyze nucleic acid markers (genes) associated with certain diseases and protein markers such as troponine (a heart attack marker). With the help of biochip technology, these molecular gene and protein markers could be isolated in a more decentralized manner in the future. Doctors would receive test results quickly, as there would be no need to transport samples over long distances or subject them to time-consuming examination in large labs. The goal of biochip diagnostics is to enable doctors to make a molecular diagnosis at the point of care and thus accelerate decisions on proper, and potentially life-saving, treatment.
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Source: S.G. Cowen analyst report
30 25 20 15 10 5 Year 2000 01 02 03 04 10
The world market for in vitro diagnostics is expected to increase by around $14 billion by 2010.
WORLD MARKET FOR IN VITRO DIAGNOSTICS
(IN
EUROS)
Rest of world 3 billion Japan 3.5 billion 16 %
13 % 43 %
North America 9.7 billion
28 % Europe 6.3 billion
The world market for in vitro diagnostics amounts to about 23 billion euros. North America accounts for lions share.
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Source: German Diagnostic Industry Association, Frankfurt
H E A L T H C A R E
INTERVIEW
Does Preventive Medicine Pay?

How important a role does preventive medicine play in the current U.S. healthcare system? Clymer: The U.S. has done a good job in terms of incorporating knowledge about preventing disease and injury into its healthcare practices. Immunizations are a shining example. We have dramatically increased childhood immunization rates in this country and have expanded the range of diseases covered by vaccinations. We have reduced the incidence of deadly and debilitating vaccine-preventable diseases to almost nil. Measles still kills over 800,000 people a year worldwide, yet in the U.S. theres hardly a case, much less a death. On the other hand, I think its morally outrageous that about 20,000 Americans will die of influenza and its complications this year when we have a perfectly good and safe way to prevent it. How available to the average person are preventive services in the U.S.? Clymer: Preventive services are widely available to almost all Americans. But there needs to be a joint effort by patients and their healthcare providers to improve the usage rate of preventive services. Keep in mind that our healthcare system, and I would use that in quotes, is comprised of a variety of delivery and payment modalities that have widely divergent policies and practices when it comes to prevention and when it comes to all services. Preventive services are held to a different standard in the U.S. than are medical treatments. If a patient needs a bypass, neither the patient nor the insurer will suggest stopping and considering its costeffectiveness. On the other hand, if someone says we should vaccinate all kids against pneumococcal disease, somebody will ask whether thats cost effective. Isnt prevention cost effective in the long run? Clymer: Theres a common misperception that prevention should or does always save money. Sometimes it doesnt. But theres a difference between cost saving and cost effective. There are many times when we as a society decide that in order to preserve a high quality of life and keep somebody active and productive and contributing to society, its worth a certain cost. So we can deem something to be cost effective even if it isnt cost saving. Who pays when there is a lack of preventive medicine? Clymer: Everybody does, through the payroll taxes that support the Medicare system. Everybody who pays into the managed care or health insurance system pays. The law of the land is that no one can be denied access to emergency medical treatment in this country, so if you have someone who cant get routine preventive treatment and whose only recourse is to wait until it becomes so bad that they go to the emergency room, those costs are simply going to be shifted and spread across all the people who do pay for services. Will preventive medicine be a higher priority in the future? Clymer: The President and his administration launched an initiative called Healthier U.S. with great fanfare and stressed the importance of prevention and health promotion. Now it remains to be seen whether they will back that up with policies that put a higher priority on prevention. I hope they will be true to their word and will do so. Karen Rafinski
Why Screening Saves Lives

What is Great Britain doing in the preventive medicine area? Barter: There are a number of government targets with regard to heart disease, smoking cessation, cervical cancer and others. The breast-screening program is nationally funded and screens all women between the ages of 50 and 65, and its being extended nationally to those up to 70. The reason for that is pure health economics in that its not as cost effective in terms of number of lives saved to screen older age groups. Breast cancer gets more prevalent with age. On the other hand, the older they get, the less likely women are to die of it. So if youre looking at it in health economics
terms, the most benefit gained is for the women in the age group I mentioned.
Age (years)
75-79
70-74 70-74
65-69 65-69
60-64 60-64
55-59 55-59
50-54 50-54
Age (years)modelled 75-79 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 1970 Mortality per 100 000
Source: National Statistics United Kingdom, Cancer Trends in England and Wales 1950 - 1999, Studies on Medical and Population Subjects No. 66
John Clymer, 42, is President of the Washington, D.C.-based Partnership for Prevention, a national organization that advocates effective disease prevention and health promotion. Its members include businesses, non-profit policy and research organizations, health plans and others in the healthcare industry. More information is available at www.prevent.org.
Dr. Sue Barter, 47, is a consulting radiologist with Britains National Health Service and is Secretary of the Royal College of Radiologists Breast Group.
B R E A S T C A N C E R S C R E E N I N G A N D M O R TA L I T Y
How does the UKs breast cancer screening program work? Barter: Women are automatically sent an invitation every three years. There has been a lot of controversy about that. But trials have shown that in terms of detecting the greatest number of cancers, that is a good interval. The mammograms are processed centrally because the program has been set up with very strict quality assurance criteria. Furthermore, the mammograms are usually read by two professionals. Our target is to screen more than 75 percent of the women who are invited. The reason for women failing to come in is either that they are having their screens in the private sector or they just dont want to know. How successful has the program been? Barter: The program was rolled out in 1990. Figures show that there has been about a 25 percent reduction in mortality after ten years as a result of the breast screening program. There are very high professional standards required in the program and to be accredited you have to do more than 5,000 mammograms a year. Mammography has some disadvantages, such as the slight risk of getting cancer from radiation and the risk of false positive results that could lead to emotional upset or even an unnecessary biopsy. How do you communicate these risks to patients? Barter: The risk of contracting cancer from radiation is extremely small since the exposure is roughly equivalent to taking a round-trip flight from Britain to Australia.
Screening introduced
Year of death 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Breast cancer mortality by year of death for selected age groups, England and Wales, 1971-99. Since the introduction of its breast cancer screening program in 1988 (solid line), Britains NHS has registered a significant reduction in associated mortality rates. The broken lines indicate expected mortality rates per 100,000 women if screening had not been implemented
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H E A L T H C A R E
INTERVIEW
In Brief
subsequent rounds. Quite a small percentage are called back and very few have to go on to a biopsy. Only one in ten women who are called back for assessment will actually have breast cancer.
All the women who enter the program get a leaflet informing them that some cancers may not show up and pointing out the risks. Theyre fully informed. Very, very few fail to go through with it. Usually by the time they come theyve made up their minds. Of the total number of screens, the percentage of women called back for assessment is less than seven percent in the first round and less than five percent in
Figures show that in the UK, breast cancer screening has resulted in a 25% drop in breast cancer mortality.
B R E A S T C A N C E R S C R E E N I N G : S TAT I S T I C S S H OW I T S WO R K I N G
In the European Union (EU), a breast cancer diagnosis is made every 2.5 minutes, and a woman dies of the disease every 6.5 minutes. Breast cancer accounts for the largest number of deaths among women aged 35 to 55 in industrialized countries. On average, one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. In view of this, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the U.S. operate extensive mammography screening programs. Many of the programs have been running for over ten years, and more than 70 percent of women aged 50 to 69 take part. The success of these programs speaks for itself. According to the WHO, mammography screening has led to a drop in the breast cancer mortality rate of up to 35 percent. This figure is based on long-term data from the abovementioned countries. (Source: International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC, pr138a) The European Parliament, which is currently preparing a report on breast cancer prevention in the EU, is calling on all member states to introduce mammography screening programs in accordance with EU guidelines. These guidelines establish high quality standards not only for equipment, but also in terms of medical training and second examinations by independent doctors. Karl-Jrgen Schmitt
How cost effective has the program been? Barter: If you take the cost to the National Health Service of treatment and all the rest of it for later-stage breast cancer, it is definitely cost effective. The tumors we catch are smaller, so that in terms of ongoing care, there are savings. The government wouldnt do it if it werent cost effective. Will the breast cancer screening program be expanded? Barter: Screening women aged 40-49 is controversial. A trial study is now being conducted to determine the effectiveness of screening for women at age 40. This is being done as part of a national coordinated investigation of the risks and benefits of the screening program. There are no national guidelines at the moment for women with a family history of breast cancer. Do other preventive programs work on a similar model? Barter: The UKs other major screening program is for cervical cancer. It works in a similar way. Swabs are sent to a centralized lab. Its all tracked by computer in a central database. Other preventive programs, such as promoting lifestyle changes to prevent cardiac diseases, are driven by the department of health. There are also targets for childhood immunizations and theres a centrally driven strategy for heart disease. Will the emphasis on preventive medicine increase in the future? Barter: Yes. I think that the public and the government have come to realize that this is where resources should be focused to improve the health of the nation. Its been a priority for the last four or five years. It all comes down to educating people. Karen Rafinski
Imaging methods are indispensable for early detection of illnesses. The latest Siemens CT scanners enable doctors to recognize the initial signs of heart attacks without using a catheter and thus take therapeutic measures in time to prevent serious consequences. Because this method does not involve discomfort or risk it could be used to screen high-risk patients before the onset of symptoms. (p. 61) Digital technology is increasingly being used in radiology. In the future, smart software will accelerate the diagnostic process by quickly evaluating hundreds of images and highlighting suspicious areas. Digital images can be processed on screen, and make further x-ray scans unnecessary. (p. 63) Virtual colonoscopy, a procedure that takes the place of uncomfortable endoscopic exams, allows doctors to take a computer-animated journey through the colon. Because virtual colonoscopy is painless and risk-free, it is likely to result in more screening thus helping to catch many cancers early. Advanced image processing may also soon make it possible to avoid flushing the intestine. (p. 64) A new imaging method uses infrared light. Initial developments in this area, such as Siemens prototype rheumatism scanner, are very promising. (p. 65) In 2004 Siemens will introduce a 4D ultrasound system that will display moving 3D images of many areas within the body. (p. 64) Physicians and other medical personnel already use telemedicine e.g. to exchange information on diagnostic findings via the Internet. Several pilot projects are being conducted in Europe to improve telemedical applications for preventing or detecting diseases early on and for monitoring patients. Telemedicine might soon allow patients to be reliably cared for at home. (p. 69) Future molecular diagnostic systems might allow diseases to be detected several years earlier than is now the case. Siemens is developing new imaging methods and biochip systems for detecting DNA and proteins. (p. 72)
CONTACTS Heart View CT: Dr. Bernd Ohnesorge, Med bernd.ohnesorge@siemens.com Digital mammography: Karl-Jrgen Schmitt, Med karl-juergen.schmitt@siemens.com Virtual coloscopy: Dr. Christoph Zindel, Med christoph.zindel@siemens.com Rheumatism scanner: Helmut Rost, Med helmut.rost@siemens.com 4D ultrasound system: Guy Pierce, SCR, Princeton guy.pierce@scr.siemens.com Telemedicine, MedStage: Michael Mankopf, Med michael.mankopf@siemens.com Telemedicine, DIADEM: Dr. Eva Rumpel, Med eva.rumpel@siemens.com Telemedicine, TOSCA: Dr. Gudrun Zahlmann, Med gudrun.zahlmann@siemens.com Personal fitness coach: Dr. Markus Jger, CT IC 6 mjaeger@siemens.com HeartMan: Dr. Joachim Horn, CT IC 4 joachim.p.horn@siemens.com Dr. Volker Tresp, CT IC 4 volker.tresp@siemens.com Molecular imaging: Dr. Ralph Gareus, Med ralph.gareus@siemens.com Biochips, cartridge: Dr. Emil Wirsz, Med emil.wirsz@siemens.com LINKS German Future Prize, Heart View CT: www.deutscher-zukunftspreis.de/ aktuell/index-eng.htm syngo: www.syngo.com MedStage: www.medstage.de/medroot/en EU project DIADEM: www.medstage.com/diadem EU project TOSCA: http://tosca.gsf.de NHS breast screening program: www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk National Cancer Institute: http://cancer.gov LITERATURE Hengerer, A., Mertelmeier, T., Molecular Biology for Medical Imaging, Siemens electromedica 69, 1/2001, p.44-49
Thanks to digital mammography, physicians can evaluate images immediately after an examination has been completed. In addition, digital images can be processed on screen, often avoiding the need for a second scan. The images can be forwarded electronically to obtain a second opinion or sent to a specialized database.
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79
PAT E N T R E S E A R C H E R S
INTERVIEW
Siemens applied for patents on approximately 7,000 inventions in fiscal 2002, an increase of seven percent on the preceding year. One out of every four inventions is now made outside Germany, as demonstrated by the regional distribution of the 12 winners of the Inventor of the Year award. Nine of them work in Germany, one in Mountain View, California, one in Milan and one in Beijing. Pictures of the Future profiles three exemplary inventors whose work involves two of the sections in this issue: materials and healthcare.
Ultrasound: Getting More Information with Contrast Medium
Committed to International Standards

Some 1,800 employees represent Siemens in over 2,500 committees worldwide.
PATENTS
New Injector Technology for Better Diesel Engines
he next time you see an ultrasound image, think of Ismayil Gracar. Gracar, who is with Acuson, a Siemens company located in Mountain View, California, developed a technology that allows doctors to obtain more and better information from ultrasound images in which a contrast agent has been employed. Since the health of organs such as the liver, kidney and heart can be determined by the speed at which a contrast agent flows through them, the ability to separate contrast agent signals from those of surrounding tissues is of decisive importance. Gracars Automatic Gain Compensation for Ultrasound Agent imaging invention uses sophisticated statistical analysis to optimize system gain settings. If agent material is not yet present, the system establishes gains for maximum sensitivity to contrast agent with minimal noise and appropriate tissue image brightness. On the other hand, if agent is determined to be present, the system adjusts gain to optimize image uniformity for the agent. The invention is already Ismayil Gracar part of the 7.0 release for Siemens Sehas come up with patents on 37 quoia ultrasound system. ultrasound inventions.
Guido Grtler, 59, Head of Corporate Standardization & Regulation

Why are standards important? Grtler: Urban civilization begins with standards. Hunters and gatherers didnt need them, but when humans became settled and started engaging in trade, people needed unified weights and measures. The meaning of standards has also changed a great deal. They used to be simply a written record of the state of technology; today theyre an instrument of global competition. How do standards take GSM, for example, which makes it possible to phone about 150 countries come into being? Grtler: Back around 1980, manufacturers and the major phone companies, which were monopolies at the time, signed a memorandum of understanding designed more or less to ensure against the risk of the expensive developmental work required to develop GSM products. This ultimately led to the establishment of the standard. Does it really take as long to create standards as one often hears? Grtler: International organizations such as ISO, IEC and ITU have reduced standardization times somewhat, but it still takes about three years on average. Nevertheless, its worthwhile because a consensus emerges that is shared by everyone. The application of the standards then becomes less risky. Can companies incorporate their patents into emerging standards? Grtler: Yes, the standardization organizations have drawn up rules for that. Generally, you have to make your patent known very early on in other words, when a new standardization project is proposed. You also have to indicate your readiness to include your patent in the project and make it available at fair terms.
The German Institute for Standardization (DIN) estimates that the German economy saved more than 16 billion euros through standardization in 2000 alone.
wo innovators have made a major contribution to the development of diesel-injector technology by using so-called piezo injectors, which went into mass production for the first time two years ago at Siemens. Several million injectors have since been manufactured. At the heart of the devices is a multilayered electroceramic component that changes its length when an electric charge is applied. This movement enables the device to inject one cubic millimeter of fuel into the combustion chamber within a few ten-thousandths of a second at a pressure of 1,600 bars and it can even do this multiple times for every power stroke. Conventional electro-
magnetic-controlled systems are too slow for such performance. The new technology also reduces fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. Now, Andreas Kappel of Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich plans to apply this process to gasoline engines in order to bring their fuel consumption levels down to those of diesels. Kappel is also working on improving the performance of Formula 1 engines. Meanwhile, Achim Przymusinski, who is with Siemens VDO in Regensburg, Germany, has created production-engine control software that makes possible energy-saving multiple injection in coordination with the engines electronic systems.
What other advantages are there for a company that plays a role in the creation of standards? Grtler: That depends on the market position one occupies. Market leaders have no interest in standardization the leader sets the standards. The second-ranked company usually enjoys the greatest benefits from participating in standardization committees. But theres another important point. If you leave the setting of standards to others, you cant develop your products until you know what the standards will be. But those who play an active role in standardization learn the content of the standards in time to develop their products in parallel to the standardization process. That often pays off. In Europe, there are standards for the curvature of bananas but not for the uniformity of electric plugs. Why? Grtler: Plugs and electrical outlets are primarily produced by medium-sized, regionally focused companies in Italy alone there are three different outlet systems. The reason why theres no real uniformity of outlets is simple. The firms involved didnt want uniformity because it would have jeopardized established jobs and industry structures.
Whats Siemens position on standards? Grtler: Siemens has dedicated itself to international standardization because we want to be able to conduct business worldwide. It would be too expensive to comply with thousands of local standards. We are therefore committed to the development of international standards standards based on the best technologies. Thats the most logical, most cost-effective path to global markets and their associated advantages for people everywhere. In your opinion, are protectionist policies doomed to failure? Grtler: Well, let me put it this way. Those who attempt to promulgate their local standards in other parts of the world soon learn that this tends to fragment markets a process that leads to disadvantages for all. I might add that many companies are also increasingly attempting to promote standards covering corporate culture and internal processes. Siemens is skeptical of such moves since they can significantly affect a companys image and competitive position. Is a declaration of conformity sufficient? Certainly. We are responsible for our own culture, processes and quality. Furthermore, we are in a good position to implement and conform to our own corporate policies. Everything else is a question of customer trust. We are more than happy to let the market determine the value of our products and services. Claudia Voss and Hartmut Runge
Formula 1, diesel and gasoline engines. Andreas Kappel (top) and Achim Przymusinski are making them faster and cleaner.
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FEEDBACK AND SERVICE
PREVIEW FALL
2003
Would you like to know more about Siemens and our latest developments?
We would be delighted to send you further information. Please check the box alongside the publication(s) you would like to receive and fax this sheet to +49 (0) 911-978-3321 or mail it to Siemens Business Services, Infoservice CS/Z0217, Postfach 2348, 90713 Frth, Germany, or karin.hum@siemens.com. Please enter CS/Z0217 in the subject field if you are sending an e-mail. Pictures of the Future, October 2001 (English, German) Pictures of the Future, Spring 2002 (English, German) Pictures of the Future, Fall 2002 (English, German) Annual Report 2002 Corporate Responsibility Report 2002 Researchers are performing miracles with new Further information on Siemens innovations can be found on the Internet at: www.siemens.com/newsdesk (weekly media service) www.siemens.com/innovationnews (international R&D) www.siemens.com/pof (Pictures of the Future on the Internet) www.research-innovation.com (reports on Siemens R&D projects) www.ct.siemens.com (Siemens Corporate Technology Website) I would like a free sample issue of Pictures of the Future I would like to cancel my Pictures of the Future subscription My address is incorrect / see new address below Please also send the magazine to... materials and manufacturing processes. Among their creations: sources of light that are many times more efficient, durable and environmentally friendly than those used today; flexible, rollable displays and colored surfaces as large as a buildings walls; LEDs made of organic materials; nanotube displays; and displays that generate three-dimensional images or free-floating holographs. Taken together, these developments will open up completely new worlds of communication and multimedia applications.
To an ever-increasing extent, products will be tailored to the production and scheduling needs of individual customers. Meeting such demands will require the networking of all processes from Internet order to delivery. Logistics experts will thus face major challenges, as processes will have to be adapted to e-business requirements, the needs of automated warehouses, optimized routing, and comprehensive simulation.
LIGHT AND DISPL AYS
USER-FRIENDLINESS
First name, last name
Whether its a cell phone, a system for shopping

Company
on the Web, or computer tomography devices and applications can be successful only if they are easy to use. The more complex the technology, the greater the importance of user-friendliness, especially when senior citizens or handicapped people are the users. Intuitive interfaces, speech and gesture control, computer-animated figures that talk to users all of these features will lower the barriers between humans and machines.
Street, number
ZIP, city
State / postal code /country
Telephone number, fax or e-mail
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Publisher: Siemens AG Corporate Communications (CC) and Corporate Technology (CT) Wittelsbacherplatz 2, 80333 Munich, Germany For the publisher: Dr. Ulrich Eberl (CC), Dr. Dietmar Theis (CT) ulrich.eberl@siemens.com, dietmar.theis@siemens.com Editorial Office: Arthur F. Pease (Editor-in-Chief) Dr. Ulrich Eberl (Editor-in-Chief German Edition) Dr. Norbert Aschenbrenner Ulrike Zechbauer Additional Authors in this Issue: Victor Chase, Anette Freise, Dr. Wolfgang Geiger, Carola Hanisch, Dr. Michael Lang, Dr. Luitgard Marschall, Bernd Mller, Karen Rafinski, Dr. Hartmut Runge, Peggy Salz, Dr. Karl-Jrgen Schmitt, Tim Schrder, Rolf Sterbak, Dr. Sylvia Trage, Claudia Voss Picture Editing: Judith Egelhof, Julia Berg Photography: Kurt Bauer, Bernd Mller, Volker Steger Layout / Lithography: Rigobert Ratschke, Bro Seufferle, Stuttgart Illustrations: Natascha Rmer, Stuttgart Graphics: Jochen Haller, Bro Seufferle Translation: TransForm GmbH, Cologne Printing: BechtleDruckZentrum, Esslingen Printed in Germany. Reproduction of the articles in whole or in part requires the permission of the editorial office. This also applies to storage in electronic databases, on the Internet and reproduction on CD-ROM.
Further Information: www.siemens.com/pof Picture credits: Fraunhofer ISC / Bernd Mller (13), Volker Steger (15, 17, 20), Universitt Erlangen / Lehrstuhl fr Werkstoffwissenschaften (16), Infineon Technologies AG (19, 49 top left, 75), Rice University (23), Fujitsu Siemens Computers GmbH (25), Ruhr Universitt Bochum / Institut fr Neuroinformatik (41 top), ZN Vision Technologies AG (41 bottom), Deutsche PresseAgentur (54), Marc Darchinger (56), Bro Deutscher Zukunftspreis (62 m.), Universitt Essen (66), Preventicum / Prof. Jrg F. Debatin (67), privat (53, 76, 77), NHS Cancer Screening Program (78 bottom left). Copyright of all other images is held by Siemens AG. The content of the reports in Pictures of the Future does not always reflect the opinions of the publisher. This magazine contains forward-looking statements, the accuracy of which Siemens is not able to guarantee in any way.
2003, Siemens AG. All rights reserved. Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Order number: A19100-F-P93-X-7600 ISSN 1618-5498

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Pictures of the Future

SECURITY M AT E R I A L S HEALTHC ARE

A Question of Identity Invisible Revolutions Before Illness Strikes

PICTURES OF THE FUTURE

PICTURES OF THE FUTURE

Innovations Are Always in Demand

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

PICTURES OF THE FUTURE

Your Own Personal Guide

Cars that Show Where to Go

Landing on Mars with a Gentle Bounce

Cell Phone Is a Virtual Mouse

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Piezomats counteract annoying vibrations

Hip joints of biocompatible materials

Fuel cells provide power for cell phones

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

LED LUMINOSITY HAS INCREASED BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS

InGaN InGaN InGaAIP InGaN GaN

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

New Materials Take Shape

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Introduction of the first products in Growing potential in the next

surfaces; hydraulic valves; control using tactile the next months

Sensor for shop security

Mass-produced articles in a few areas

Prototype climate-controlling windows and photovoltaic glass

Increasing importance, especially in the area of energy optimization for buildings

First applications in coming years

material release fluid/active in- Emergency lubricants in cutting or grinding

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Great Oaks from Little Acorns

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

TINY PARTICLES WITH DIVERSE PROPERTIES

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

FACTS AND FOREC ASTS

Nano 101: The Economics of the 21st Century

Small Worlds Quantum Harvests

Energy / environmental technology

Tissue engineering Molecular early detection of cancer Switchable lacquer paints

Medicine / life science

Nanoparticles for tires Automobile manufacturing

Interference lacquer Nanoscalable composites

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Molecules that Do Things

as field emission sources or ultra-thin TV displays.

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

Pictures of the Future | Spring 2003

he search for new materials is usually