Fraunhofer researchers have developed an intelligent coating for glass windows that darkens in the sun. This uses electrochromic and thermochromic materials that react to electricity and heat. In buildings with large glass façades, it stops the rooms from getting too hot because of solar radiation, thereby reducing the demand for energy-intensive air conditioning.

In the OmniConnect project, Fraunhofer researchers are working with other partners on networking objects in indoor areas. They are doing this using radar beams and passive tags that are attached to moving objects, but also to people. This technology effectively detects the positions of the tags and therefore of the objects as well. It can also be used in the care sector, to avert dangers to people who are prone to falling.

The disinfection robot BALTO — named after a sled dog who carried urgently needed vaccines to a highly inaccessible region of Alaska a hundred years ago — is capable of disinfecting door knobs and similar objects. It does this autonomously, reacting to human beings in the surrounding area at the same time. An interface with the Building Information Modeling (BIM) process makes this possible.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have developed a technology for the energy-efficient and economic separation of hydrogen from natural gas. This membrane technology makes it possible for the two substances to be routed through the national natural gas grid together and then isolated from one another at their final destination. A major step forward in the transportation and distribution of hydrogen as an energy source.

WLAN and Bluetooth have limited bandwidth, making conventional wireless communication problematic in the production environment. Nevertheless, numerous components such as sensors and robots need to be wirelessly connected. To overcome this challenge, a team of researchers at Fraunhofer IOSB-INA in Lemgo is working on solutions with help from the Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Soon, it is hoped that machines in factory buildings will communicate with one another using light pulses. This technology is not new, but now it needs to be adapted for use in industry.