Open Access

This thesis seeks to contribute to the standardization of characterization methods for Time-of-Flight (ToF) cameras, especially in the field of their suitability for facial biometric applications. Building on previous work, this work proposes methods to determine sharpness, resolution, distortion, influence of material remission and measurement angle on the measurement error. The methods are tested on three ToF cameras and one active stereo camera. Key findings include the applicability of the ISO 12233:2023 slanted edge method for 3D camera sharpness and enhancements to the Böhler-star method for 3D resolution. The study presents a first-time comprehensive analysis of material remission and angle impacts on measurement errors. The methods reliably characterize 3D camera suitability for biometrics, applicable to both ToF and active stereo cameras. Overall the 3D camera performance can be effectively summarized in 24 key metrics, providing robust evaluations for biometric applications.

Explosives detection dog (EDD) teams are deployed at mass events such as concerts, annual general meetings of large listed companies or in air cargo security. However, outside of EU-regulated air cargo, there is no common quality standard for commercial EDD in Germany and many neighboring countries. While law enforcement agencies have access to experienced chemists and can conduct dog training with homemade explosives, small commercial security services do not have comparable capabilities and face additional legal hurdles. The DIN SPEC 77201 was developed within the project to fulfil the need for a generally accepted quality standard. A training workshop was developed and transferred from the academic sector to commercial partners in order to improve training opportunities with home-made explosives, providing new insights for training EDD teams with TATP, HMTD or training aids.

Sensoren können verschiedene Aufgaben erfüllen, wie beispielsweise die Optimierung von Prozessen, die Interaktion zwischen Geräten oder die Verbesserung der zivilen Sicherheit. [1–3] Ihr Bedarf für die Industrie oder den Alltag wächst seit Jahren stetig. Besonders mobile Gassensoren sind von großem Interesse. Jedoch ist ihre Anwendung meist durch ihre integrierte Batterie begrenzt. Gassensoren ohne oder mit einem nur sehr geringen Energieverbrauch stehen daher im Interesse bei neuen Anwendungsgebieten, beispielsweise im Brandschutz oder in der Textilindustrie. [4,5] Die Sensoren könnten zum Beispiel in die Textilien einer persönlichen Schutzausrüstung eingearbeitet werden und durch einen Farbumschlag die Anwesenheit eines Gases oder die Überschreitung des Grenzwertes toxischer Substanzen anzeigen.

In this work, the surface reactions of the homemade explosive triacetone triperoxide on tungsten oxide (WO3) sensor surfaces are studied to obtain detailed information about the chemical reactions taking place. Semiconductor gas sensors based on WO3 nanopowders are therefore produced and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. To analyze the reaction mechanisms at the sensor surface, the sensor is monitored online under operation conditions using Raman spectroscopy, which allows to identify the temperature-dependent sensor reactions. By combining information from the Raman spectra with data on the changing resistivity of the underlying semiconductor, it is possible to establish a correlation between the adsorbed gas species and the physical properties of the WO3 layer. In the results, it is indicated that a Lewis acid–base reaction is the most likely mechanism for the increase in resistance observed at temperatures below 150 °C. In the results, at higher temperatures, the assumption of a radical mechanism that causes a decrease in resistance is supported.

The human gut microbiota harbors untapped potential for biotechnological applications. Within the phylum of Bacteroidota, Phocaeicola vulgatus stands out as a promising candidate for sustainable production of key platform chemicals like succinate. However, genetic engineering of Phocaeicola sp. remains challenging due to its intricate molecular landscape. This study lays the groundwork for manipulating the central carbon pathways in Phocaeicola vulgatus, offering insights into overcoming genetic hurdles for increased succinate yields.

Microorganisms not only contribute to the spoilage of food but can also cause illnesses through consumption. Consumer concerns and doubts about the shelf life of the products and the resulting enormous amounts of food waste have led to a demand for a rapid, robust, and non-destructive method for the detection of microorganisms, especially in the food sector. Therefore, a rapid and simple sampling method for the Raman- and infrared (IR)-microspectroscopic study of microorganisms associated with spoilage processes was developed. For subsequent evaluation pre-processing routines, as well as chemometric models for classification of spoilage microorganisms were developed. The microbiological samples are taken using a disinfectable sampling stamp and measured by microspectroscopy without the usual pre-treatments such as purification separation, washing, and centrifugation. The resulting complex multivariate data sets were pre-processed, reduced by principal component analysis, and classified by discriminant analysis. Classification of independent unlabeled test data showed that microorganisms could be classified at genus, species, and strain levels with an accuracy of 96.5 % (Raman) and 94.5 % (IR), respectively, despite large biological differences and novel sampling strategies. As bacteria are exposed to constantly changing conditions and their adaptation mechanisms may make them inaccessible to conventional measurement methods, the methods and models developed were investigated for their suitability for microorganisms exposed to stress. Compared to normal growth conditions, spectral changes in lipids, polysaccharides, nucleic acids, and proteins were observed in microorganisms exposed to stress. Models were developed to discriminate microorganisms, independent of the involvement of various stress factors and storage times. Classification of the investigated bacteria yielded accuracies of 97.6 % (Raman) and 96.6 % (IR), respectively, and a robust and meaningful model was developed to discriminate different microorganisms at the genus, species, and strain levels. The obtained results are very promising and show that the methods and models developed for the discrimination of microorganisms as well as the investigation of stress factors on microorganisms by means of Raman- and IR-microspectroscopy have the potential to be used, for example, in the food sector for the rapid determination of surface contamination.

Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Entwicklung von dünnen keramischen Fasern als halbleitendes Sensormaterial zum Nachweis von Wasserstoff, möglichst bei Zimmertemperatur. Die elektrische Leitfähigkeit halbleitender Metalloxide ändert sich durch die Einwirkung von oxidierenden und reduzierenden Gasen auf die Oberfläche des Metalloxids. Dieser Effekt kann zur Messung der Gaskonzentration genutzt werden. Die Reaktion von Zinn(IV)-oxid mit Wasserstoff basiert auf der Reduktion des Zinn(IV)-oxids zum Zinn, wobei die Elektronen des Zinn(IV)-oxids im metallischen Zinn verbleiben und dort im nicht gebundenen Zustand zu einer Leitfähigkeitserhöhung beitragen. Die Reaktion des Wasserstoffes kann sowohl mit den Sauerstoffatomen des Oxids als auch mit adsorbierten Sauerstoffatomen an der Oxidoberfläche stattfinden.[ 6] Da die Reaktionen an der Oberfläche des Oxids stattfinden, sollten Sensoren mit einer großen Oberfläche im Vergleich zu metalloxidischen Bulkmaterialien eine höhere Empfindlichkeit aufweisen. [3] Die Verwendung von Fasern anstelle von Dünn- oder Dickschichten führt dabei zu einer besseren Sensitivität gegenüber Gasen.

Despite the long history of fingerprint biometrics and its use to authenticate individuals, there are still some unsolved challenges with fingerprint acquisition and presentation attack detection (PAD). Currently available commercial fingerprint capture devices struggle with non-ideal skin conditions, including soft skin in infants. They are also susceptible to presentation attacks, which limits their applicability in unsupervised scenarios such as border control. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) could be a promising solution to these problems. In this work, we propose a digital signal processing chain for segmenting two complementary fingerprints from the same OCT fingertip scan: One fingerprint is captured as usual from the epidermis (“outer fingerprint”), whereas the other is taken from inside the skin, at the junction between the epidermis and the underlying dermis (“inner fingerprint”). The resulting 3D fingerprints are then converted to a conventional 2D grayscale representation from which minutiae points can be extracted using existing methods. Our approach is device-independent and has been proven to work with two different time domain OCT scanners. Using efficient GPGPU computing, it took less than a second to process an entire gigabyte of OCT data. To validate the results, we captured OCT fingerprints of 130 individual fingers and compared them with conventional 2D fingerprints of the same fingers. We found that both the outer and inner OCT fingerprints were backward compatible with conventional 2D fingerprints, with the inner fingerprint generally being less damaged and, therefore, more reliable.

Modern PCR-based analytical techniques have reached sensitivity levels that allow for obtaining complete forensic DNA profiles from even tiny traces containing genomic DNA amounts as small as 125 pg. Yet these techniques have reached their limits when it comes to the analysis of traces such as fingerprints or single cells. One suggestion to overcome these limits has been the usage of whole genome amplification (WGA) methods. These methods aim at increasing the copy number of genomic DNA and by this means generate more template DNA for subsequent analyses. Their application in forensic contexts has so far remained mostly an academic exercise, and results have not shown significant improvements and even have raised additional analytical problems. Until very recently, based on these disappointments, the forensic application of WGA seems to have largely been abandoned. In the meantime, however, novel improved methods are pointing towards a perspective for WGA in specific forensic applications. This review article tries to summarize current knowledge about WGA in forensics and suggests the forensic analysis of single-donor bioparticles and of single cells as promising applications.

With the increasing demand for ultrapure water in the pharmaceutical and semiconductor industry, the need for precise measuring instruments for those applications is also growing. One critical parameter of water quality is the amount of total organic carbon (TOC). This work presents a system that uses the advantage of the increased oxidation power achieved with UV/O3 advanced oxidation process (AOP) for TOC measurement in combination with a significant miniaturization compared to the state of the art. The miniaturization is achieved by using polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis cells for ozone generation in combination with UV-LEDs for irradiation of the measuring solution, as both components are significantly smaller than standard equipment. Conductivity measurement after oxidation is the measuring principle and measurements were carried out in the TOC range between 10 and 1000 ppb TOC. The suitability of the system for TOC measurement is demonstrated using the oxidation by ozonation combined with UV irradiation of defined concentrations of isopropyl alcohol (IPA).

A supramolecular approach for photonic materials based on hydrogen-bonded cholesteric liquid crystals is presented. The modular toolbox of low-molecular-weight hydrogen-bond donors and acceptors provides a simple route toward liquid crystalline materials with tailor-made thermal and photonic properties. Initial studies reveal broad application potential of the liquid crystalline thin films for chemo- and thermosensing. The chemosensing performance is based on the interruption of the intermolecular forces between the donor and acceptor moieties by interference with halogen-bond donors. Future studies will expand the scope of analytes and sensing in aqueous media. In addition, the implementation of the reported materials in additive manufacturing and printed photonic devices is planned.

Intimate swabs taken for examination in sexual assault cases typically yield mixtures of sperm and epithelial cell types. While powerful, differential extraction protocols to overcome such cell type mixtures by separate lysis of epithelial cells and spermatozoa can still prove ineffective, in particular if only few sperm cells are present or if swabs contain sperm from more than one individual leading to complex low level DNA mixtures. A means to avoid such mixtures consists in the analysis of single micromanipulated sperm cells. However, the quantity of DNA from single sperm cells is not sufficient for conventional STR analysis. Here, we describe a simple method for micromanipulating individual sperm cells from intimate swabs and show that whole genome amplification can generate sufficient amounts of DNA from single cells for subsequent DNA profiling. We recovered over 80% of alleles of haploid autosomal STR profiles from the majority of individual sperm cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in mixtures of sperm from two contributors, Y-STR and X-STR profiles of individual sperm cells can be used to sort the haploid autosomal profiles to develop the diploid consensus STR profiles of the individual donors. Finally, by analysing single sperm cells from mock sexual assault swabs with one or two sperm donors, we showed that our protocols enabled the identification of the unknown male contributors.

Because the robust and rapid determination of spoilage microorganisms is becoming increasingly important in industry, the use of IR microspectroscopy, and the establishment of robust and versatile chemometric models for data processing and classification, is gaining importance. To further improve the chemometric models, bacterial stress responses were induced, to study the effect on the IR spectra and to improve the chemometric model. Thus, in this work, nine important food-relevant microorganisms were subjected to eight stress conditions, besides the regular culturing as a reference. Spectral changes compared to normal growth conditions without stressors were found in the spectral regions of 900–1500 cm−1 and 1500–1700 cm−1. These differences might stem from changes in the protein secondary structure, exopolymer production, and concentration of nucleic acids, lipids, and polysaccharides. As a result, a model for the discrimination of the studied microorganisms at the genus, species and strain level was established, with an accuracy of 96.6%. This was achieved despite the inclusion of various stress conditions and times after incubation of the bacteria. In addition, a model was developed for each individual microorganism, to separate each stress condition or regular treatment with 100% accuracy.

A series of reactive binaphthyl‐diimine‐based dopants is prepared and investigated with respect to their potential for the chiral induction of structural coloration in nematic liquid crystal mixture E7 and the selective photonic sensing of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Studies of the helical twisting power (HTP) in 4‐cyano‐4′‐pentylbiphenyl (5CB) reveal HTP values as high as 375 µm‐1 and the tremendous impact of structural compatibility and changes of the dihedral binaphthyl angle on the efficiency of the chiral transfer. Detailed investigation of the sensing capabilities of the systems reveals an extraordinarily high selectivity for NO2 and a response to concentrations as low as 100 ppm. The systems show a direct response to the analyte gas leading to a concentration‐dependent shift of the reflectance wavelength of up to several hundred nanometers. Incorporation of copper ions remarkably improves the sensor's properties in terms of sensitivity and selectivity, enabling the tailored tweaking of the system's properties.

The simultaneous operation of multiple different semiconducting metal oxide (MOX) gas sensors is demanding for the readout circuitry. The challenge results from the strongly varying signal intensities of the various sensor types to the target gas. While some sensors change their resistance only slightly, other types can react with a resistive change over a range of several decades. Therefore, a suitable readout circuit has to be able to capture all these resistive variations, requiring it to have a very large dynamic range. This work presents a compact embedded system that provides a full, high range input interface (readout and heater management) for MOX sensor operation. The system is modular and consists of a central mainboard that holds up to eight sensor-modules, each capable of supporting up to two MOX sensors, therefore supporting a total maximum of 16 different sensors. Its wide input range is archived using the resistance-to-time measurement method. The system is solely built with commercial off-the-shelf components and tested over a range spanning from 100Ω to 5 GΩ (9.7 decades) with an average measurement error of 0.27% and a maximum error of 2.11%. The heater management uses a well-tested power-circuit and supports multiple modes of operation, hence enabling the system to be used in highly automated measurement applications. The experimental part of this work presents the results of an exemplary screening of 16 sensors, which was performed to evaluate the system’s performance.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with subsequent chemometric evaluation was performed for the rapid and non-destructive differentiation of seven important meat-associated microorganisms, namely Brochothrix thermosphacta DSM 20171, Pseudomonas fluorescens DSM 4358, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica sv. Enteritidis DSM 14221, Listeria monocytogenes DSM 19094, Micrococcus luteus DSM 20030, Escherichia coli HB101 and Bacillus thuringiensis sv. israelensis DSM 5724. A simple method for collecting spectra from commercial paper-based SERS substrates without any laborious pre-treatments was used. In order to prepare the spectroscopic data for classification at genera level with a subsequent chemometric evaluation consisting of principal component analysis and discriminant analysis, a pre-processing method with spike correction and sum normalisation was performed. Because of the spike correction rather than exclusion, and therefore the use of a balanced data set, the multivariate analysis of the data is significantly resilient and meaningful. The analysis showed that the differentiation of meat-associated microorganisms and thereby the detection of important meat-related pathogenic bacteria was successful on genera level and a cross-validation as well as a classification of ungrouped data showed promising results, with 99.5 % and 97.5 %, respectively.

Explorative experiments were done to figure out differences in the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of not infested trees and trees infested by Anoplophora glabripennis (Asian longhorn beetle, ALB), a quarantine pest. Therefore, VOCs from some native insect species, Anoplophora glabripennis infested Acer, stressed Acer, healthy Acer, Populus and Salix were obtained by enrichment on adsorbents. Qualitative analysis was done by thermal desorption gas chromatography coupled with a mass selective detector (TD-GC/MS). Altogether 169 substances were identified. 11 substances occur from ALB infested or mechanically damaged trees i.e. stressed trees, but not from healthy trees. (+)-Cyclosativene, (+)-α-longipinene, copaene and caryophyllene are detectable only from ALB-infested Acer not from mechanically damaged or healthy Acer. However, these substances are also emitted by healthy Salix. 2,4-Dimethyl-1-heptene is among all tree samples exclusively present in the ambience of ALB-infested trees. It´s rarely detectable from native insect species’ samples.