Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • ELECTRONICS • ELECTRICAL
    • Fastening • joining
    • FLUID POWER
    • LINEAR MOTION
    • MOTION CONTROL
    • SENSORS
    • TEST & MEASUREMENT
    • Factory automation
    • Warehouse automation
    • DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
  • Learn
    • Tech Toolboxes
    • Learning center
    • eBooks • Tech Tips
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars • general engineering
    • Webinars • Automated warehousing
    • Voices
  • LEAP Awards
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guides
  • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Educational Assets
    • Engineering diversity
    • Trends
  • Supplier Listings
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Sensor Cable Monitors Fences, Detects Drones

By atesmeh | March 25, 2015

A number of fences on the Saarbrücken campus are presently undergoing long-term monitoring to determine how the system is affected by such factors as wind. from left: Professor Uwe Hartmann, Dr. Uwe Schmitt und Dr. Haibin Gao. Image credit: Oliver DietzeFenced-in areas, such as airports, nuclear power stations, industrial sites, or private plots of land, can now be monitored thanks to novel sensor technology that has been developed by a team of experimental physicists, led by Professor Uwe Hartmann at Saarland University.

The sensors respond immediately as soon as someone tries to climb over or cut through the fence, providing information on the precise location of the security breach. They are even able to detect a low-flying drone passing overhead. The thin cable containing the magnetic field sensors can be easily installed on perimeter fences of all kinds.

The research team is currently working on developing the system so that it can recognize the cause of a disturbance and can automatically identify false alarms triggered by wind or animals. The team is collaborating with industrial partners to produce a cable suitable for mass production. The technology will be shown at HANNOVER MESSE from April 13th to April 17th.

If someone tries to tamper with a fence, or if they try to climb over it or cut the links with bolt cutters, they will, unavoidably, cause a vibrational disturbance. The movement of the metal fence as it swings back and forth, the motion of the metal cutters or even the trespasser’s belt will all influence the Earth’s magnetic field.

These changes are being exploited by a team of experimental physicists at Saarland University for a new type of surveillance technology. “Our magnetometers (magnetic field sensors) are highly sensitive and can reliably measure even the smallest of changes in the ambient magnetic field,” explains Professor Uwe Hartmann.

The sensors are even able to detect when a drone flies close by overhead — provided, of course, that the drone contains metal. “The sensors can detect disturbances in the surrounding magnetic field, including the magnetic field above them, with a range extending several meters,” adds research assistant Haibin Gao who is working on the sensor technology as part of Hartmann’s team.

The cable, which contains the linearly arranged sensors, has a diameter comparable to a standard electrical cable and enables the remote monitoring of miles of perimeter fencing. “The cable can be attached to the fence, built into it or even buried beneath it. We are currently working with a number of companies to reduce the size of the system and, most importantly, to lower the cost of producing the sensors to a level where large-volume production becomes feasible,” says Uwe Hartmann. The contactless sensors are not subject to wear and have a low power consumption. They are unaffected by rain or fog.

“The sensors function independently of the weather and this gives them a significant advantage over other surveillance techniques, such as cameras, where moisture is often a problem. And the measurements are unproblematic from the point of view of privacy. The sensors simply report that a vibrational disturbance was caused by a human agent at a specific location. No other information is gathered,” explains Professor Hartmann. A number of different types of sensor systems developed by his research group have already been deployed in traffic management systems, for example in airports.

The miniature sensors in the cable are networked and any change that they register is immediately transmitted to the analyzer unit. The location of the disturbance can be specified with high precision, which is of particular value when monitoring very large areas. Scientists in Hartmann’s team are currently working on refining the technology so that the sensors are able to unambiguously assign a particular type of vibration or a particular change in the measured magnetic field to a specific type of disturbance.

“The aim is to develop a system that can automatically identify false alarms triggered by wind, animals or some other harmless cause,” explains Hartmann. To do this the researchers are currently simulating different types of disturbances. A number of fences on the Saarbrücken campus are presently undergoing long-term monitoring to determine how the system is affected by such factors as wind.

This field data is used by the physicists to model typical disturbance scenarios and to train the system with the aid of complex mathematical methods. The results are then used to program the sensors and the analyzer unit. The new information enables the analyzer to automatically attribute a disturbance to a particular cause. If the cause is identified as human, an alarm is triggered; if the disturbance was due to animal rubbing up against the fence, no alarm is set off.

You Might Also Like


Filed Under: Aerospace + defense, Cables + cable management

 

LEARNING CENTER

Design World Learning Center
“dw
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, tools and strategies for Design Engineering Professionals.
Motor University

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Widening the scope for machine tool designers with FORTiS™ enclosed encoder
  • Sustainability, Innovation and Safety, Central to Our Approach
  • Why off-highway is the sweet spot for AC electrification technology
  • Looking to 2025: Past Success Guides Future Achievements
  • North American Companies Seek Stronger Ties with Italian OEMs
  • Adapt and Evolve
View More >>
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Control Engineering
  • Consulting-Specifying Engineer
  • Plant Engineering
  • Engineering White Papers
  • Leap Awards

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • ELECTRONICS • ELECTRICAL
    • Fastening • joining
    • FLUID POWER
    • LINEAR MOTION
    • MOTION CONTROL
    • SENSORS
    • TEST & MEASUREMENT
    • Factory automation
    • Warehouse automation
    • DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
  • Learn
    • Tech Toolboxes
    • Learning center
    • eBooks • Tech Tips
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars • general engineering
    • Webinars • Automated warehousing
    • Voices
  • LEAP Awards
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guides
  • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Educational Assets
    • Engineering diversity
    • Trends
  • Supplier Listings
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features, and to analyze our traffic. We share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners who may combine it with other information you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use this website.