New-Tech Europe Magazine | April 2019

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to generate real-time alerts so operators can

they can be made to measure for many applications, sizes and shapes. Moreover, they can be processed directly to different substrates such as glass, print boards and foils – both individually and in massive arrays. However, for many applications, the light intensity of thin-film light sources is too low, namely

evaluate areas of concern during the planning and execution of a mission. The software also automatically adjusts to minimize bandwidth when communications are limited and unreliable to assist in mission continuity and completion. “New users have found DIRECT

300 times lower than that of III-V LEDs. The main objective the research project is to break through the barriers that limit the light intensity of thin-film light sources. And, to develop an electrically pumped laser, based on this breakthrough. The European Research Council (ERC) is a pan-European fund that stimulates forward-looking research and scientific excellence in Europe. The ERC Advanced Grants are specifically directed at researchers that achieved significant results during the last 10 years. That certainly applies to Paul Heremans, who has been at imec since 1990 and whose current positions include Program Director of Thin-Film Electronics. Incidentally, he already received an ERC Advanced Grant in 2012, for his research into crystalline organic semiconductors. Other factors that the ERC considers are, amongst others, the groundbreaking nature, potential impact and scientific approach of the research project. Clearly, Heremans’ submission also ranked high on these aspects. No wonder that imec-CSO Jo De Boeck is proud of this achievement: “This grant is a wonderful recognition of our sustained investment in high-quality and long-term research. Paul’s project will contribute to innovative applications in a host of domains, such as infotainment, mobility and healthcare – the economic and social impact of which we can hardly overstate.”

easy to learn, indicating we are well on our way to providing a software decision aid that will help planners adapt to plan changes, make real-time decisions faster, and more effectively execute their missions,” said Chris Eisenbies, product line director of the Autonomy, Controls, and Estimation group at BAE Systems. Created by the research and development team at BAE Systems, DIRECT is part of the company’s autonomy technology portfolio. Work for the RSPACE program is being performed at the company’s facilities in Burlington, Massachusetts, and Arlington, Virginia. The program also includes teammate Uncharted Software Inc. “If our efforts to increase the light intensity of flexible thin- film light sources succeed, we can look forward to a wealth of promising applications in numerous domains,” says Paul Heremans, “such as bright outdoor displays, augmented reality glasses, lidar sensors for example for autonomous cars, integrated spectrometry for disease detection, ultrafast optical data transfers in chips or datacenters, and so on. And all those with a lot less constraints when it comes to shapes, materials and budget.” There’s a bright future for thin-film light sources such as OLEDs. Because of their flexible manufacturing process,

Innovative water treatment at Audi saves up to 500,000 cubic meters of fresh water a year

Water is necessary in the entire manufacturing process of an automobile, for example in the paint shop. With the new service- water supply center, Audi is going new ways at the Ingolstadt site and making even more efficient use of water as a resource. “Thanks to this innovative wastewater treatment system, we are reducing the fresh-water requirements of production at the Ingolstadt plant by a third,” says Rüdiger Recknagel, Head of Environmental Protection at AUDI AG. “At the same time, we

are avoiding approximately 40 percent of wastewater.” This underscores the premium manufacturer’s commitment to the sustainable use of water: At its Mexican plant in San José Chiapa, Audi has been producing cars without wastewater since 2018, as certified by independent experts. With the new supply center, the plant in Ingolstadt has also reached a milestone along the way to zero liquid discharge (ZLD). Before the company returns the wastewater as fresh

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