The Mexican magic mushroom or Teotlnanácatl mushroom is believed to be one or a mixture of these two psilocybin mushrooms of Mexico: Psilocybe aztecorum and | or Psilocybe mexicana.		Source: alexander_volkov / Adobe Stock

Teotlnanácatl: In Search of the Aztec 'God's Flesh' Psychedelic Mushroom

Magic mushrooms, Shrooms, and the ever-famous Liberty Cap are all familiar terms for the same groovy fungus. Popularized in the western world in the late 50s, psychedelic mushrooms have been used for centuries in a number of different cultures and religions. Psychedelic mushroom use can be traced back to over 6000 years ago, to rock art found near Villar del Humo in Spain. Selva Pascuala is a rock cave in eastern Spain that archaeologists have discovered contains several rock paintings of psychoactive mushrooms. Mushroom experts say that the paintings appear to illustrate a specific species of psychoactive mushroom: Psilocybe hispanica , the only psilocybin mushroom native to Spain.

An even more interesting mushroom in this family, however, is Psilocybe aztecorum . P. aztecorum can be found across the western US as well as in Central and South America. Their name stems from their assumed roots in Aztec history, which describes them as a key part of Aztec religious and cultural rituals. They called these varieties “teotlnanáctl” mushrooms, which translates into “God’s Flesh Mushrooms.” However, it was not always clear exactly what type the teotlnanáctl mushrooms were, or if the “God’s Flesh” mushroom still exists. So, what’s so special about these mushrooms, and why was their discovery so important to understanding Aztec spiritual perspectives?

Illustrated card with psychedelic mushrooms. (Stellar Bones / Adobe Stock)

The Magic of Teotlnanáctl Mushrooms Lies In Psilocybin

All forms of psychedelic mushrooms are a part of the Psilocybe family, a family of mushrooms known for their high psilocybin content. Psilocybin is a psychedelic compound that turns into psilocin once ingested by an individual. Psilocin is ultimately the substance that then causes the variety of hallucinogenic symptoms and effects seen in those brave enough to consume a psilocybin mushroom.

It is thought that psilocin is able to cause these psychedelic effects due to its structural similarity to serotonin. When psilocin is present in the body, it is physically capable of latching onto serotonin receptors in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for cognitive behavior and executive function. The binding of psilocin to a specific type of serotonin receptor there (called 5-HT2A) ultimately causes the psychedelic symptoms experienced by those who have taken psilocybin mushrooms.

Those who have tried psilocybin mushrooms have reported physical symptoms including drowsiness, muscle weakness, euphoria, nausea, and vomiting. Other experiences include changes in visual, auditory, and tactile senses. Individuals may experience heightened senses or incorrect perceptions of their surroundings including changing colors, moving surfaces, and the warping or “melting” of objects.

Psilocybin mushrooms can also heighten an individual’s emotions at the time of taking them - if an individual takes them while anxious, they may find themselves more anxious than before. This also applies to happiness, relaxation, and paranoia. Panic may set in in individuals who have ingested too much of the mushroom(s) at one time.

These heightened emotions may be the cause of so many cultures using them in religious or spiritual rituals. A study from Johns Hopkins University revealed that when combined with positive behaviors such as meditation and spiritual practice, a small dose of psilocybin caused long-term changes in the traits and behaviors of those in the study. Participants reported feeling more altruistic, grateful, and forgiving after their experiences using psilocybin. They also reported feeling closer interpersonal connections and a greater ability to cope with everyday stress. Interestingly, research also suggests that psilocybin or psilocin are not known to cause dependency ( addiction) like other recreational drugs.

Xochipilli, Aztec god of flowers, from book Hallucinogenic Plants by Richard Evans Schultes, with Teotlnanáctl mushrooms motifs on his knees and ears. (U.S. Forest Service)

The Aztec Culture Used Lots of Hallucinogenic Substances

The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican culture that formed in mid-Mexico around the year 1300 AD. The Aztecs are considered the ancestors of modern-day Nahuas, Mexico’s largest recognized indigenous group. The Aztec culture was highly interwoven with their religion, which focused on the worship of multiple deities including Tlaloc, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Xochipilli, and several more. And they are especially well-known for their extensive usage of hallucinogenic substances such as Teotlnanáctl mushrooms.

The Aztecs believed that these deities were responsible for creating the universe and keeping it functioning. If the gods were not pleased, they may cease to keep the Sun burning or prevent the Earth from receiving resources. To placate the gods, they frequently engaged in blood sacrifices of both animals and their own people. A sacrifice would ultimately thank the Earth for her fruitfulness and encourage the gods to continually revive the Sun. Their religious life also revolved around calendars, a ritual calendar that was 260 days long, and a solar calendar that was 365 days long.

The use of entheogens is a common theme amongst Aztec artifacts recovered from Mesoamerica. Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior in sacred contexts. Sculptures, statues, paintings, writings, and even fossilized remains of various entheogens (such as the Bufo toad ) all point to the regular consumption of hallucinogenic substances within Aztec civilization. The Florentine Codex, a research study performed by Bernardino de Sahahun in the 16th century, actually identifies at least five specific entheogens used by the Aztecs.

Research suggests that outside of regular use by citizens during festivals and times of celebration, these hallucinogenic plants were predominantly used by officials, including priests and nobility. They would also be shared with visiting dignitaries as a form of welcome. Priests traditionally used the plants to engage in religious activities including divination, prophecy, healing, and dream interpretation.

Xōchipilli as depicted in the Borgia Codex. (Public domain)

Xōchipilli as depicted in the Borgia Codex. ( Public domain )

Xochipilli: The Aztec God of Fun

Another major piece of evidence pointing towards the Aztec use of hallucinogens is their major deity Xochipilli. Xochipilli was known to the Aztecs as the god of summer, flowers, painting, dancing, love, and creativity. Combined, he was the god of “fun,” further nicknamed the “Prince of Flowers.”

At festivals, statues of Xochipilli would be given offerings including corn, and pulque, an alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant, also known as agave. At times, pulque would also be mixed or taken with other entheogens to cause stronger physical effects.

Of the recovered artifacts from Aztec civilization, a statue of Xochipilli from the Late Post-Classical Period (1450-1500 AD) provides further insight into the use of teotlnanácatl mushrooms in Aztec culture. Xochipilli sits upon a platform adorned with flowers, butterflies, and dots representing the sun.

On Xochipilli himself are animal skins, psychotropic flowers, and teotlnanácatl mushrooms. These psilocybin mushrooms were termed teotlnanácatl mushrooms, a Nahuatl term that can be translated into “sacred mushroom” or “God’s Flesh mushroom.” Specifically, the term breaks down into “teotl,” which translates into “god” and “nanácatl,” which translates into “fungus.” The teotlnanácatl mushrooms can be seen specifically adorning his ears and knees. This suggests that hallucinogenic mushrooms would have been used by Aztecs seeking pleasure, creativity, or emotional warmth outside of religious use.

Further proof of this usage comes from Francisco Hernandez de Toledo, who was a physician to the King of Spain in 1656. Hernandez was a naturalist and spent much of his time and effort finding and researching natural plants that had medicinal uses and purposes. As part of his work, he wrote a guide to the New World to prepare missionaries to enter the mission field and be more aware of local resources and cultural differences.

In this guide, he describes the frequent use of hallucinogenic mushrooms by Mesoamerican natives. Specifically, he states that the mushrooms caused “madness” in the natives, claiming they caused them to see “... All kinds of things, such as wars and the likeness of demons.”

Psilocybe aztecorum and Psilocybe mexicana are the two primary candidates for the teotlnanácatl mushrooms used by the Aztecs. (Alan Rockefeller / CC BY-NC-SA)

The Great Discovery of P. Aztecorum

Researchers observing these artifacts then had to consider: what were these teotlnanácatl mushrooms, and are they still around? These questions went unanswered until 1956 when French mycologist Roger Heim discovered what he believed to be a cluster of Psilocybe mexicana . P. mexicana was originally discovered by Roger Heim that same year and was originally thought to be the only species that could have been the teotlnanácatl described within Aztec history. As he researched the P. aztecorum more thoroughly, he decided to designate it as its own species due to differing physical characteristics from P. mexicana .

Specifically, P. aztecorum has a slightly different cap shape than P. mexicana . P. aztecorum is normally identified by its convex or campanulate (ball-shaped) cap shape, while P. mexicana has a conical or umbonate (umbrella-shaped) cap shape. In addition, the spores of P. aztecorum are purple, while the spores of P. mexicana are more purple-brown. P. aztecorum also has smaller spores and is found at lower elevations compared to P. mexicana . These may sound like slight differences, but they are quite noticeable to professional mycophiles and other mushroom experts.

Heim named the species after the Aztecs when he noticed their proximity specifically to Aztec regions and also discovered their continued use amongst Nahua communities. P. Aztecorum was also one of the species mentioned in the 1957 Life magazine article that brought the knowledge of “magic mushrooms” to the western world. In the article, R. Gordon Wasson, an American ethnomycologist, describes the experiences he had using various psychedelic mushrooms during religious rituals performed by the Mazatec people. The Mazatec are another indigenous Mexican group, which while different from the Aztecs, do share similar religious rituals and entheogen usage tendencies.

Because of the location and description of P. aztecorum , some believe that this is the true teotlnanáctl mushroom described in Aztec history. However, we cannot be certain that it was. It is possible that the teotlnanáctl was simply P. mexicana , or perhaps the Aztecs used both species in their ceremonies. It is also possible that the Aztecs did not differentiate between the two due to their similarity and therefore recognized both species as the sacred “God’s Flesh” mushroom used so often in their religious rituals. Since both mushrooms are part of the psilocybe family and therefore produce the same physical effects, it would have been difficult to perceive a significant difference between them at the time. Regardless, it is clear that the teotlnanáctl mushroom, whether P. aztecorum, P. mexicana , or both, still lives on and is used to this day.

Mexican magic mushrooms. (alexander_volkov / Adobe Stock)

Mexican magic mushrooms. ( alexander_volkov / Adobe Stock)

Shrooms Still Going Strong!

Though the use of psychoactive mushrooms in religious and cultural rituals is becoming less common as time progresses, they are still used heavily in some areas of the world. In particular, Central Mexico still has high psilocybin mushroom usage amongst the Nahua, Mazatec, and Zapotec groups. They are also still heavily used in some native medical treatments, especially those originally practiced by María Sabina, a famous Mexican healer known as the “priestess of mushrooms” throughout the 1900s.

Because of human nature, the use of psilocybin mushrooms, as teotlnanácatl mushrooms were never not in use by the Aztecs, will likely never fully stop. Some cultures and religions will continue to use them in sacred, passed-down rituals. Others may continue to try them as recreational drugs, an activity that has only grown in popularity in the western world since the 1950s.

Regardless, the full history of the use of these mushrooms is still being uncovered, and we may never know the full extent to which they have been used in the past. With more research and expert analysis, perhaps someday we will learn even more about the Teotlnanácatl mushroom and its uses within Aztec culture and religion.

By Lex Leigh

Akers, B. 2015. Cave paintings of mushrooms . Available at:

Carod-Artal, F.J. 2015. Hallucinogenic drugs in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures . Available at:

Cartwright, M. 2013. Xochipilli. Available at:,the%20good%20things%20in%20life

Faena. n.d. María Sabina, a most fascinating Mexican healer . Available at:

Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., Jesse, R., et al. 2017. Psilocybin-occasioned mystical-type experience in combination with meditation and other spiritual practices produces enduring positive changes in psychological functioning and in trait measures of prosocial attitudes and behaviors . Available at:

Heim R. 1957. Notes préliminaires sur les agarics hallucinogènes du Mexique . Revue de Mycologie (in French). Editors. 2009. Aztecs. Available at:

Psychedelic Science Review. 2021. R. Gordon Wasson coins the term "Magic mushroom.” Available at:

Sellers, A. D. 2021. Psilocybin and magic mushrooms . Available at:

U.S. Forest Service. n.d. Forest Service Shield . Available at:

Damn mushrooms kept me awake, way past my bedtime and into the morning.

If you have an interest then go on to research the mushroom Amanita Muscaria, it has an interesting history amoung European peoples and is still used by the Sami people.

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Carer breaks down after Tesco queue skip rejection

A care home worker has posted an emotional video after being told she couldn’t skip a supermarket queue.

Lynne Tonkin, who works for Trelawney Care, was trying to buy supplies on behalf of an elderly woman but was told by the manager of Tesco in Camborne that she’d have to join the back of the queue, even though it meant she wouldn’t be able to complete her shop due to the number of other people she needed to help elsewhere.

She said she had previously been allowed to skip the queue as her job was to buy food for vulnerable people.

Tesco told the BBC it had apologised to Ms Tonkin and the care home, and thanked customers for their patience while social distancing measures are in place.


• Circular Indiana

Glass Recycling, Explained

Updated: Jul 29

Welcome to the circular world of glass recycling! Glass embodies more than one aspect of the circular economy, and there’s more to glass than just recycling it right. From your bin to the product’s next life, we break down the basics on how glass recycling works.

Multi-colored glass cullet in recycling machinery

Glass & the Circular Economy

Glass is a valuable part of the circular economy, and was one of Indiana’s first major manufacturing products, along with aluminum and steel. Actually, its value extends to multiple levels of the circular economy. Glass is non-toxic, is infinitely recyclable, and embodies an especially important part of the circular economy—other “R” words like reuse and refill.

Since the 1900s, the glass industry has been a critical piece of Indiana manufacturing. Today, Indiana continues to be a glass manufacturing powerhouse—Indiana is one of the top container glass producing states in the US—and also is a primary end-user for recycled glass. In fact, while Indiana only recycles about 10 tons of glass each year (Glass Packaging Institute), Indiana manufacturers use over 150,000 tons of recycled glass to make new products.

Glass is Non-toxic

One of the most impressive features of glass is that it is completely non-toxic, both during use and when it breaks down. The reason for this is that glass is “inert,” or chemically inactive, meaning that it does not interact with other substances. This is great for keeping the flavor of last week’s tuna casserole out of this week’s guacamole, but it’s even more helpful in the event that glass is discarded. Unlike other materials that can leave toxic substances behind when they break down, glass just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces until it forms a sand-like substance.

Glass is Infinitely Recyclable

Glass can be recycled endlessly without loss in quality or purity. There are many benefits of using recycled glass to make new glass. Because glass melts at a lower temperature than raw materials, using recycled glass as a feedstock in the glassmaking process decreases the energy needed to run the furnaces. Less energy means fewer greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. Additionally, recycled glass can be substituted for up to 95% of the raw materials used to make new glass, such as sand, soda ash, limestone, and feldspar. These valuable resources may seem unlimited, but some are actually running out—there is currently a global sand shortage. Sand is the second most used resource after water, but without proper management, supplies could dwindle.

By using recycled glass to make new glass, the need for finite natural resources can be substantially reduced—thereby lessening the environmental impacts of mining those materials.

Of course, not all glass is recycled into new containers—much of the glass recycling that occurs today is made into other products, like fiberglass insulation, reflective roadway paint, abrasives, and more. These products are typically the end of life for the glass used to make them, but they still play a vital role in reducing the impact of our waste and keeping glass out of landfills and incinerators.

Glass is refillable and reusable

Glass recycling is valuable, but the circular economy prioritizes reducing or reusing materials before recycling. Because the quality of glass does not degrade over time, this makes glass durable for reuse. Items made of glass can be easily washed and refilled, without concerns of contamination or leaching into whatever is stored inside. In fact, the first commercially-produced glass containers manufactured in the US (many of which were made in Indiana) were specifically designed to be refilled and reused over and over again because glass was expensive to make. As industrialization lowered manufacturing costs and disposability became the cultural norm, we shifted away from reuse and towards glass recycling. However, glass’s unique qualities still make it an ideal choice for reducing waste.

Glass Container Recycling Loop: 1. Recyclables are placed in curbside bins; 2. Recyclables are collected; 3. Recyclables are delivered to a Material Recovery Facility; 4. Recyclables are separated by material types; 5. Glass from the MRF and drop-off locations is sent to a glass processing company; 6. Glass is separated from trash and other contaminants, then sorted by color; 7. Recycled glass is sold to manufacturers and made into new bottles and jars; 8. Consumers purchase food and beverages in glass packages. And the cycle continues!

How Glass Recycling Works

The process of making new products from your recycled glass has 6 basic stages. Follow our step-by-step guide for detailed information on this process, or watch this NPR Planet Money segment.

1. Collection & Sortation

Glass recycling starts when you put glass in your recycling bin. In Indiana, we have two ways of collecting glass: in a curbside bin with other recyclables or in a separate glass-only bin. The recycling process is generally the same for both collection methods, but glass-only collection tends to be much cleaner because it is not mixed with other items that can cause contamination. Because it is cleaner, separate glass collection tends to have a greater value for manufacturers than glass from a mixed-material, curbside recycling bin.

Definition: a materials recovery facility (MRF) is a sortation plant that separates the different materials in your recycling bin, like paper, glass, metal, and plastic.

If you’re recycling glass in your curbside bin,* your recycling is collected and taken to a material recovery facility (MRF) where the glass is sorted from other materials like paper or metal and sometimes by type. This may seem simple, but there are a variety of kinds of glass, and not all of them are recyclable. Glass may also be sorted by color, separating clear glass from clear, green, or amber.

*If you’re recycling your glass via a separate glass collection program, your glass may be transported directly to the processor, skipping the MRF altogether.

One of the most advanced glass material recovery facilities in the country is the Rumpke Waste and Recycling facility in Dayton, Ohio. Rumpke is a waste and recycling company servicing residential and commercial customers in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The company recently earned a gold-level Glass Certification, an award given out by the Glass Recycling Coalition. Rumpke values glass as a commodity and is committed to recycling it. To ensure more recyclable glass, their Dayton facility has a pre-cleaning process to remove glass early in the sortation process, which creates a cleaner, more recyclable product. The sorted glass is then taken to their glass processing sites for further cleaning, sorting by color, and distributing to manufacturing customers.

2. Transportation

After sorting, the glass is transported to a processing facility, which will transform the MRF glass into cullet—the product used in making new glass products.

Definition: glass cullet is glass that has been crushed into small pieces, with different grades of cullet for different colors and sizes of glass pieces.

In Indiana, glass is transported to the largest glass processing company in North America—Strategic Materials, Inc (SMI). With over 50 locations in the US, SMI plays an important role in the glass recycling process and is a critical partner in providing clean glass cullet to manufacturers across Indiana. The company prioritizes passionate advocacy, operational excellence, and collaborative partnership to convert recyclable glass into valuable products.

3. Preparation & Cleaning

Once at the Strategic Materials, Inc. facility, the glass goes through a cleaning process to remove any lingering contamination, and is sorted again. Magnets and charged currents remove metals while air vacuums remove light materials like paper, plastic, or organics. Any contamination that is recyclable elsewhere, like most metals, is also recycled.

4. Sortation

Optical sorters are then used to separate the glass by color and also remove non-recyclable glass materials like ceramics. There are three primary colors of glass used in packaging—green, amber, and flint. Clear glass is known as flint and is primarily used for food packaging. Amber glass is most used to make beverage bottles - especially beer - for the UV protection it provides. Green glass is often used for packaging wine and olive oil.

5. Crushing & Screening

After cleaning and sorting, glass recyclables are crushed into cullet and sorted using screens with different sized holes. Different sizes of cullet have different uses—larger pieces which are 5/8 inches are used to make new glass containers. Cullet smaller than5/8inches is often ground into a fine powder, which can be made into other glass products like fiberglass or abrasives. After processing the glass into cullet, SMI sends the cullet to manufacturers across Indiana to make brand new products from your recyclables.

6. Making New Glass Products

Indiana has many companies that use recycled glass to make new products. Some examples of these companies include Knauf Insulation which makes fiberglass insulation; Owens-Illinois, which manufactures glass containers; and Ardagh, which manufactures glass containers.

Knauf Insulation

One user for the glass cullet is Knauf Insulation, a leader in sustainability, the circular economy, and glass recycling in Indiana. Since 1978, they have employed hundreds of Hoosiers at their plant in Shelbyville, Indiana. Knauf Insulation’s EcoBatt fiberglass insulation is made from thousands of tons of recycled glass cullet (about 10 railcars of glass, every day!), along with an eco-friendly binder made out of plants. In addition to their use of recycled materials, Knauf Insulation is committed to promoting the circular economy, increasing energy efficiency, and becoming zero-waste across their operations.

Another Indiana user of glass cullet is Owens-Illinois (O-I), located in Lapel, Indiana, a leading producer of container glass. The plant was built in the 1890s and was purchased by O-I in 1988. Many of O-I glass plants use recycled content to make new glass bottles and jars, with an average of 40% of the raw materials being glass cullet. In addition to using recycled glass, O-I also promotes circularity through designing and manufacturing refillable glass bottles, which can reduce waste even more. O-I recognizes that many communities have limited glass recycling options, and therefore has targeted initiatives aimed at growing and improving glass recycling.

Ardagh Group

Ardagh Group, is a glass packaging company with its North America group headquartered in Fishers, Indiana. Their manufacturing facility in Dunkirk, Indiana uses recycled glass to make products, with glass cullet ranging from 10 to 60 percent of raw ingredients. The facility was built in 1889, making it one of the oldest continuously operating glass manufacturing plants in the country. Ardagh Group values glass packaging as a sustainable way to contain food and beverages, both because glass is considered highly safe for food packaging and because of its recyclability.

Closing the Loop

Glass recycling is a valuable part of the circular economy, and it’s happening right here in Indiana! Indiana’s manufacturing industry has a large demand for recycled glass cullet because using recycled glass instead of raw materials provides many benefits. Manufacturers save energy and cost when using recycled glass cullet, which also can extend the lifespan of furnaces due to operating at lower temperatures. Additionally, using locally recycled glass makes supply chains more resilient. Because the materials are closer to the facility, transportation and procurement costs are minimized.

In fact, Indiana manufacturers demand so much recycled glass that if every Hoosier individual, business, or organization recycled all their glass, it would be used to make new products close to home. Despite the great need for recycled glass, Indiana is currently not capturing enough of it for recycling—but you can help by recycling all the glass you can and encouraging others to do the same. You can also support organizations, like Circular Indiana, who are advocating for policy changes to support glass recycling.

To learn more about the different commodities, how they fit into the circular economy, and the organizations doing circular work in Indiana, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter and follow @CircularIndiana on social media!

Educational resources like this article take hours of research, writing, and designing, and we couldn’t do it without help from individuals like you! Your support matters, and what you give comes back to you. We rely on the support of donors like you—make your gift today!

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Home > Judgments

Re B (Children: Police Investigation) [2022] EWCA Civ 982

An appeal concerning an injunction made in the High Court prohibiting any person serving with the Metropolitan Police (‘MPS’) from interviewing two teenage children (‘A’ and ‘B’) without the ‘express order’ of the judge save for speaking to them ‘in order to determine whether they are at a real and immediate risk of being subjected to harm or ill-treatment and for the purpose of considering whether any immediate police or statutory powers should be exercised to avoid that risk’ [1]. Appeal allowed.

The issue for the court to determine was whether the High Court (i) had inherent jurisdiction to make the injunction, and if so, (ii) whether it should have exercised its powers to do so [1].

There are long-running and complex private family law proceedings in relation to A and B. The background to the appeal can be summarised as follows:

- Professionals had worked with the parents and children for at least 15 months to try and resolve parental conflict. The conclusion was reached that the mother had turned the children against the father and, if they remained with her, the emotional and psychological harm the children had suffered would be reinforced. Keehan J had ordered a transfer of residence of the children from the mother to the father and the children moved to live with him in November 2020. There were two early episodes where the children ran away [2].

- On 15 October 2021, A's school received an email, apparently signed by both children, which essentially stated that they were being abused by their father, lived in a constant state of terror, and professionals had repeatedly failed to help them [3]. Police were notified and spoke to B who confirmed the allegations [4]. A had reached school that day but left before entering so was reported as missing, prompting an urgent and ex parte application for collection and port alert orders [5].

- The father was informed that the children would be seeking separate representation in the ongoing proceedings. Applications dated 14 October 2021 supported by a statement of Mrs Jane Broadley (a family solicitor with 'significant experience' in representing children) dated 15 October 2021, sought an ex parte order that the children live 'other than with their father until the application is properly and fully considered by the court' [6]. Later that day, without knowledge of the statement, MPS officers and Children's Services conducted a joint investigation. While talking to B at school, the father arrived, asserting a court order prevented them from speaking to the children [7].

- There is no transcript of the without notice and ex parte proceedings before Keehan J on 15 October and it is difficult to ascertain when the father's solicitors had been notified of the email or what detail and evidence was provided to the judge in support of the application [8]. The order dated 15 October 2021 contained a recital in the terms 'the court being satisfied that the Father had not acted inappropriately towards either of the children', and it prohibited 'the Metropolitan Police' and 'Children's Services at the [the local authority] or elsewhere' from interviewing either A or B without the judge's 'express order' [8]. That night, counsel for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis made an urgent application to the out of hours Family Division judge [9].

- On 18 October 2021, the order of 15 October 2021 was varied to replace the words 'Metropolitan Police' with 'any person serving with the Metropolitan Police' and providing that the prohibition did not prevent 'a constable from speaking to either child in order to determine whether they are at a real and immediate risk of being subjected to harm or ill-treatment and for the purpose of considering whether any immediate police or statutory powers should be exercised to avoid that risk' [10]. At the hearing on 18 October, written submissions were made by counsel for the MPS asserting the order of 15 October overreached the court's powers, also drawing attention to the deficiencies in the process leading to that order [11].

- On 24 October 2021, the MPS made an application to interview the children [13]. It would appear from a document headed 'draft order' with indication that it was a 'composite draft' inserted into the bundle (father contending for what was written in green and the solicitor for the children for what was in red) that Keehan J made an order which, amongst other things, recorded he would expect a 'fully informed decision' to be made at a senior level in the MPS before officers spoke to the children about 'the allegations that are the subject of this matter' and adjourned the application to 19 November 2021 [15].

- The MPS' application was not heard on 19 November 2021, but in his judgment in the application made by A and B to be joined as parties, Keehan J said that, as no statement from a senior officer in charge of child protection from the MPS had been filed, he assumed that the MPS did not wish to interview the children [17].

- On 15 December 2021, Ms Woodall, a therapist working with A and B, gave evidence that, the day before, A had revealed that she had been repeatedly contacted by her mother though third parties  [18]. Keehan J expressed concern and raised the possibility that A and B may need bodyguards [19]. A recital in the order made subsequently stated that the court was satisfied that putting the mother on notice of the hearing prior to the hearing fixed on 12 January 2022 would 'put the children at grave risk of significant harm'. The judge directed that the order was not to be served on either party [20].

- The anticipated hearing on 12 January 2022 did not take place until 19 January. Leading counsel for the father invited the judge to make orders dealing with the police application to interview the children. The details of the order can be found at [22].

- The case was listed on 24 March 2022. MPS wished to proceed to interview A and B, not confined to the allegations made in the email of 15 October, so the application was for the injunctive order to be amended so the children could be 'appropriately interviewed', or otherwise, for the order to be discharged [23]. Macur LJ notes that a transcript of the hearing reveals Keehan J's antipathy towards the MPS application from the outset. Keehan J refused the MPS' application [26], his reasoning being found at [25].

The Appeal

The MPS appealed, challenging the court's powers to make an order of this nature (grounds 1, 2, and 3) and the judge's welfare evaluation (grounds 4 and 5). Permission to appeal, limited to grounds 1-3, was granted by Peter Jackson LJ. The challenge was namely that the judge had overreached his otherwise extensive inherent jurisdiction, usurping the common law and/or statutory duties of the police in the detection, prevention and prosecution of crime [28].

Macur LJ notes how comprehensive directions were made as to the structure of bundles to be filed by specific reference to CPR PD52C paragraph 27. A timetable was provided for serving skeleton arguments and directing that the father be represented, this timetable then being amended following the MPS' successful application to amend the grounds of appeal and skeleton argument. Nevertheless, the requirement for the Respondents to serve a skeleton argument by 21 June 2022 was 'patently clear' [29]. Macur LJ says how she felt it necessary to refer to these details to highlight 'the evident wholesale lack of discipline in preparing this case for an efficacious hearing thereafter', going on to address the various issues that arose [30-34].

The judge then raised how the Court not having rejected the bundles or their contents due to non-compliance with procedure and for the failure to identify essential reading reflected 'the urgent need to hear an appeal which has widespread implications for the interface of the police and family court jurisdictions and the court's concern about the worrying facts of this case so far as the two children are concerned' [35].

Also raised was 'a similar lack of discipline [being] demonstrated by the procedural deficiencies which preceded the making of the original oral application for an injunction, without notice to the MPS or the Children's Services and ex parte' [36]. Macur LJ presumed the judge had not been referred to the Practice Guidance (Family Courts: Without Notice Orders) [2017] 1 WLR 478 where, at paragraph 5, the relevant principles which it is 'essential' for the court to observe are addressed. There was a lack of compliance in several respects [36], this then going on to be explored.

Macur LJ went on to say how 'There is no issue but that, regardless that A and B were neither wards of court nor subject to care proceedings, the High Court has retained a parens patriae jurisdiction by which, theoretically at least, it may prohibit a police officer from questioning the children. However the exercise of that jurisdiction must be approached by reference to a considerable body of jurisprudence' [44].

Macur LJ then raised how this body of jurisprudence is summarised by Sir James Munby, President, in A Ward of Court [2017] EWHC 1022 (Fam), but how there is no indication that either this case or the equally august authority to the same effect, namely Re A (A Child: Female Genital Mutilation: Asylum) [2019] EWHC 2475 (Fam), were cited in argument in the Court below.  Macur LJ suggested that, if they had been, 'it would have been unnecessary to burden the court with further authority on the principle in point' [44]. This is followed by an exploration of these cases and the principles in them [45-52], as well as their application to this current case.

It seemed to Macur LJ that the judge's comparison of 'welfare best interests' as against 'simply the broad duty upon the police to investigate crime' was suggestive that the judge had lost sight of the 'altogether different considerations' which fall within the remit of other public bodies. Macur LJ found that, as it is, 'the order of 15 October 2021, (as amended), impermissibly interferes with an operational decision made by the MPS regarding the scope and manner of the criminal investigation to be conducted into the circumstances of the case' [53].

With regards as to whether (i) the High Court had inherent jurisdiction to make the injunction, and (ii) whether it should have exercised its powers to do so, both Peter Jackson LJ and Nugee LJ were in agreement with Macur LJ's conclusion. In relation to (i), yes, but with a significant caveat, and in relation to (ii), no [57].
The appeal was allowed and the extant injunction directed to MPS was set aside [58].

Case summary by Diana M. Panizzon-Pineda, Barrister, St John's Chambers

For full case, please see BAILII


Francois Michonneau in lab
Francois Michonneau hopes to determine if these three similar sea cucumbers are separate species or variations of the same species.

Florida Museum photo by Jeff Gage

Francois Michonneau received the Austin Award for his work on the systematics and evolution of sea cucumbers. The Austin Award honors Oliver Austin, a former Florida Museum ornithology curator, and recognizes one UF graduate student performing research guided by a Florida Museum curator, collection manager or research scientist.

Michonneau conducted his research under the mentorship of Gustav Paulay, the museum’s marine malacology curator, and traveled on expeditions to the French-Polynesian Islands, Japan and Madagascar to collect sea cucumbers, sea urchins and other invertebrates from coral reefs. After more than 20 expeditions, he has contributed about 12,000 invertebrate specimens to the Florida Museum collections.

Jeffery Vadala
PhD student in Anthropology, Jeffery Vadala, examines artifacts in the Anthropology department.

Florida Museum photo by Kristen Grace

Jeffrey Vadala received the Bullen Award for his research on the architecture of the Mayan archaeological site Cerros in Belize and work to help create and curate an exhibit on his research in 2012. Florida Museum curator of Latin American art and archaeology Susan Milbrath nominated Vadala for his work in Yucatan and Belize and praised his computer modeling skills that allowed him to create the 3-D graphics for the Cerros exhibit.

The Bullen Award is named for former Florida Museum archaeology curator Ripley P. Bullen, and recognizes one UF undergraduate or graduate student for research on the anthropology of Florida or the Caribbean Basin. The student must be guided by a Florida Museum curator, collection manager or research scientist, and preference is given to students spending a significant portion of their scholastic career researching the museum’s programs and collections.

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The “supernatural” category

The term “supernatural” is frequently used in discussions related to skepticism. I am trying to establish the category that people refer to with this term.

All uses of this term appear to imply a separation of concepts and events into two disjoint categories: “natural” and “supernatural”. Some examples of things typically classified into “supernatural”: God, ghosts, telepathy, telekinesis, aura. Things typically classified as “natural”: animals, rocks, talking, earthquake, body temperature.

I will try to follow the advice given in Similarity Clusters and try to establish some verbal hints as to what causes a concept to be classified into either similarity cluster.

One idea I had is the following: anything we expect to be able to experience, if the necessary prerequisites are met, is “natural”; anything we expect to fail to experience even if we try hard is “supernatural”. This seems to work quite well on the concepts mentioned above. This works for unlikely events too: a plane crash is not “supernatural” because if I’m at the right place and the right time then I expect to be able to experience it.

It’s still a bit weak for exceedingly unlikely events. For example, proton decay has never been witnessed, and we don’t know if it can even occur. But “proton decay” is not classified as “supernatural”; rather as a “hypothesis”. Telepathy, however, might for all we know be as rare as proton decay (thus being exceedingly hard to confirm experimentally), and yet it’s classified into “supernatural”. Something is missing from this verbal hint.

But what?

Approaching this from a different perspective, it appears that one can classify “supernatural” as having the property of being “outside of the universe”. On further thought, however, this isn’t helpful at all: the latter is not so much a verbal hint as a label in itself.

If taken literally, one might argue that all supernatural things therefore don’t exist. They are said to be outside the universe, but we can only experience things within the universe, because anything we can experience must be part of the universe, and thus “inside” it. This is quite useless, however, in my opinion: as used by actual people, the category “supernatural” isn’t intended to preclude existence. So this doesn’t work.

Could it be that the category “supernatural” is actually completely useless, by offering so little information about the things that belong to it that knowing that something is classified as “supernatural” doesn’t tell us very much at all?

Thinking about this led me to the idea that perhaps “supernatural” simply means “something that science has shown false or doesn’t accept as a valid theory”. That is certainly a property I infer about P when told that P belongs to “supernatural”.

This is still quite unsatisfactory. It can’t be the only property. People explain away God’s undetectability by being “supernatural”, intending it as a convincing argument—but even those who do things like this wouldn’t claim that “not a valid theory” is an argument in favour of God. They must mean something else.

But what?


Circular Economy Explained

Traditionally, we have taken or extracted materials from the earth and our natural world, often causing great harm to ecosystems and wildlife. Then we make materials, products and packaging that we use, in many cases just once. When we feel we no longer want or need these things, we simply throw them ‘away’. This is the take-make-waste model of a linear economy. It is unquestionably outdated.

Our current linear economy is causing large-scale and sometimes irreparable harm to our planet and thus also to people and animals. Some of the environmental issues arising from this archaic system are: resource scarcity, biodiversity loss and mass extinction, plastic pollution, environmental degradation, global warming and climate change.

A collection of plastic bottles

Some of the social issues arising are: poverty, inequality, job insecurity, poor working conditions, poor access to clean water and sanitation, and lack of access to quality education. One of the most troubling things about the climate crisis is that the people and animals with little or nothing to do with causing these issues are most often the ones that are the most affected. This point is centred around the idea of climate justice which you can learn more about by clicking here.

What does a circular economy look like?

A circular economy is based on reducing consumption, waste and pollution through better design of materials, products and packaging. It also prioritises reverse logistics trends and practices to ensure the return of those goods back into the system where they can be reused, repaired or recycled. These are the five Rs of a circular economy, according to MeetthefiveRs

At its core, it involves keeping goods ‘in the loop’ for as long as possible, if not indefinitely. Ideally hairdressing businesses, salons, barbershops or groups thereof can create their own closed loop systems so the individual or group can eliminate their need for virgin or non-renewable materials, resources and energy. A circular economy will also look to regenerate our natural ecosystems and repair the damage inflicted by the linear economy.

Examples of the five Rs in action:

Reduce: Reducing salon towel waste by using only one towel per client visit, and limit colour waste by using a service like SmartMix.

Reuse: Investing in sturdy, reusable colour mixing bowls rather than disposable ones.

Recycle: Sending your plastic packaging waste to local recyclers (through Green Salon Collective, of course!) so they can transform it into valuable products for the industry.

Repair: Investing in salon equipment (e.g. blow dryers) whose manufacturers allow for repair and regular maintenance.

Return: Ensuring the return of used materials (a.k.a. ‘waste’) to reliable recycling businesses like Green Salon Collective.

To learn more about the five Rs, click here.

So what can you do?

A mixture of GSC recycling

There is no such thing as ‘waste’ in natural systems (ie ecosystems). One organism’s waste inevitably becomes food for another. Life on our planet has evolved in this way in near-perfect balance for millions of years and we would do well to take note. It is our challenge to find ways to transform our ‘waste’ into valuable materials for other processes and so remove the need for landfill and eradicate pollution.

Businesses in particular have a crucial role to play in making the circular economy a reality. This starts with looking at exactly what is going into your business and what goes out. Input can be things like products, packaging, energy and water. Output can be things like plastics, food waste, electronics, chemicals and the list goes on.

Want to learn more about circular economy and sustainability in your salon? Email us at to book a free session with a Green Guru to find out how to be a more eco-friendly business!

Jess Rigg

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Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät - Visual Computing

Detection of Face Morphing Attacks

Identification tasks with identity cards, passports and visa are often performed automatically by biometric face recognition systems. Criminals can trick these systems, such that two people can use the same passport for authentication. This attack (morphing attack) is performed by fusing two face images to a synthetic face image that contains characteristics of both people. Using this image on a passport, both people are authenticated by a biometric face recognition system.

Illustration of a face morphing attack (left and right: source images, center: morphing attack).

Deep Morphing Detection

To generate a face morph, we align two face images, such that each facial feature (e.g. left corner of the right eye) is at the same position in both images. Since the haircut and the ears are difficult or even impossible to align and usually ignored by commercial facial recognition systems, we blend only the face region and stitch it into one of the aligned input images. The transitions are calculated individually for different frequency bands and an optimal stitch line is estimated.

In order to decide whether a face image is authentic or crated by a morphing algorithm, we trained deep convolutional neural networks on morphed and original face images. Since we focus on semantic image content, like highlights in the eyes or the shape and appearance of facial features to determine the authenticity of a face image, we applied several preprocessing steps on our training data to remove sensor or camera specific information. In addition to a decision about the authenticity of an image, we are also interested in a reason for decision. For this purpose, we analyze the regions in the face image that were relevant for the networks decision using the LRP Toolbox. This might also be useful when involving humans to the decision making. It helps to find suspicious regions in a face image that needs to be checked by a human as well as it helps to identify and classify artifacts that were created during a morphing process so that experts can be trained to identify them.

Results of a Layer-wise Relevance Propagation (LRP) algorithm on face morphs. Booth face morphs were correctly classified as morphs by a neutral network. The regions that were relevant for this decision are highlighted.

Robustness against Image Compression

Face images on the chip of electronic Machine Readable Travel Documents are strongly compressed using JPEG or JP2000 compression methods. We analyzed the effect of these lossy compression methods on the accuracy of different detection methods for morphed face images. We found that our DNN-based detections methods are already very robust against image compression. Our DNN-based methods are still able to detect them, if artifacts, which would be used by a human to classify a face image as a morph, are not recognizable for a human inspector. Further investigations in the intermediate steps of our detectors show that they learned features that are already invariant against compression.

Morphed tip of the nose with three different compressions: no compression, JPEG compression, JP2000 (left to right). While the ghosting artifact at the right nostril is easily recognizable in the uncompressed image, it looks completely different and is hard to see in the compressed images.

Neural Morph Enhancement

One important step in the process of creating a morphed face image is the blending of two aligned images. During this process, high frequency details, like wrinkles, scars or pore structures are smoothed or get lost and the resulting image appears dull. A detector might use such characteristics to detect morphed faces, but a professional attacker can manually enhance such details to stay undetected. We developed a method based on Neural Style Transfer that counters this image quality degeneration caused by blending. Thus, we are able to generate morphed face images with characteristics similar to the genuine input images. Our detectors were not able to detect such improved images in many cases at first. After adding the improved morphs to our pool of training data, our detectors can reliable detect them too. In addition, our detectors become even better in detecting morphs that have been improved by post-processing methods, which are not reflected by the training data. Improving the face morphs for our training data thus helped to improve the robustness of our detectors against unknown post-processing methods and to develop detectors that are more general

Simple morph (left) vs. improved morphed face image (right): The improved image has a higher contrast and appears less dull than the simple morph. In particular, the freckles and the eye appear more sharp and realistic.

C. Seibold, W. Samek, A. Hilsmann, P. Eisert
Accurate and Robust Neural Networks for Face Morphing Attack Detection, Journal of Information Security and Applications, vol. 53, August 2020. [URL], [arXiv]

C. Seibold, A. Hilsmann, A. Makrushin, C. Kraetzer, T. Neubert, J. Dittmann, P. Eisert
Visual Feature Space Analyses of Face Morphing Detectors to Predict Generalization Ability, IEEE Workshop on Information Forensics and Security (WIFS 2019), Delft, Netherlands, December 2019.

C. Seibold, A. Hilsmann, P. Eisert
Style Your Face Morph and Improve Your Face Morphing Attack Detector, 18th International Conference of the Biometrics Special Interest Group (BIOSIG 2019), Darmstadt, Germany, September 2019. [arXiv]

A. Makrushin, C. Kraetzer, J. Dittmann, C. Seibold, A. Hilsmann, P. Eisert
Dempster-Shafer Theory for Fusing Face Morphing Detectors, Proc. European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), A Coruna, Spain, September 2019. 10.23919/EUSIPCO.2019.8902533

Detection of Face Morphing Attacks by Deep Learning, Proc. 16th Int. Workshop on Digital Forensics and Watermarking (IWDW2017), Magdeburg, Germany, August 2017.


Open access

3D High-Quality Ultrasonic Imaging

Written By

I.V. Minin and O.V. Minin

Submitted: October 12th, 2010 Published: August 23rd, 2011

DOI: 10.5772/16460

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1. Introduction

Methods of direct quasioptical vision and holography can be used in systems of ultrasonic vision to form high-quality images of objects (V. A. Zvereva, I. N. Stepanova, 1979). The formation of images in the ultrasonic wavelength bands has certain specific features, namely: the sizes of the image-forming systems and of the objects of observation are comparable with wavelength, so that the diffraction nature of the image must be taken into account in calculating the structure of the image.

Both in the ultrasonic and optical wave bands, dielectric lenses and mirror antennas are used to format images of objects (Zelkin E. T., Petrova R. A., 1974). The application of these focusing elements does not solve the problem completely since objective lenses with very large apertures – on the order of several meters – are needed to obtain high-quality ultrasonic images. Fabrication of such lenses involves considerable technological problems because the more practical ones are lenses with a small refractive coefficient and focal length equal to the aperture (Minin I.V., Minin O.V., 1992).

The thickness of the lens is several tens of percent of aperture size. Therefore the mass of such a ultrasonic objective is considerable. Energy losses connected with absorption of the transmitted radiation in the lens material are high. Using mirrors to generate ultrasound images is constrained by the fact that the object and the image area on the same side of the focusing system.

Promising analogues of lenses in the ultrasonic band are objectives based on diffractive elements (Minin I.V., Minin O.V., 1992. Minin I. V., Minin O. V., 1988. Minin I. V., Minin O. V., 1989).

When building a real system for generating ultrasonic images of objects with the resolution depth greater than given by a conventional image, one must scan the object in three coordinates. For instance, using a mechanical scanning into the depth of the object makes it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to obtain the entire radio image of the object in real time.

A realistic system of visualization of three-dimensional objects in the ultrasound wave band must provide scanning of a volume of space of at least (105 - 108)3, and it is required that objects whose characteristic sizes come to several wavelength must be reliably identified in this volume. Therefore, the system of visualization must provide resolving power in the object space of about 5-6 mm. In classical systems of image generation, that is, in systems that use lenses and mirrors as image formatting elements, high transversal resolution (relative to the optical axis of the objective lens) is achieved at high values of numerical aperture. However, as the resolution on the object increases, the resolution depth of the lens (and therefore, the longitudinal resolution) decreases, and if we take into account that

dlongit~2λ(F/D)2        and     dtransv~1.22λ(F/D),E1

it is not difficult to arrive at the following estimate:

dlongit~ 1.3d2transv/λ.E2

A contradiction thus arises: trying to increase resolution on the object in the transverse direction, the resolution depth of the image-formatting systems decreases following square law, that is, the problem of generating a ultrasonic image of a three-dimensional object whose extension in the longitudinal direction is several tens of wavelengths, becomes practically unresolvable in this approach because of the high spatial resolution.

Generation of quasioptical ultrasonic images of objects

We shall consider now how to obtain images of objects with resolution depth greater than that provided by the quasioptical system.

The problem may be solved in this case by applying the so-called layer-by-layer scanning of the object. The essence of this technique is that at each given moment of time a flat two-dimensional radio image is constructed of one layer of the object or of an individual point within the resolution depth of the transmitting lens with high transversal resolution. The total image of a three-dimensional object is then reconstructed by summing up individual layer images with assigned weight coefficients. A layer-by-layer scanning of a three-dimensional object can be implemented, for instance, using the method pointed to in (Pat. FRG 1762, 406, 2301800, 26555257).

For instance, three-dimensional information is reconstructed in several spatial zones arranged stepwise into 3D space. The zones are then displayed sequentially one after another for a short interval on the controlling video device. Therefore, the observer is offered not only the general view of an object observed in a single plane of image – as we have in cinema or television – but also information on spatial depth which is used as additional information by quantizing over depth. It is expedient to choose the time sequence of the displayed two-dimensional flat images in such a way that the observer (owing to the inertia of eye vision) perceives the sequence as one total image.

In a continuous process of creating a large number of images with various positions of layers, an object is created and poorly defined details are suppressed by filtering through a filter with predominantly high-frequency characteristics. By adding up these filtered signals, the total image of a three-dimensional object is created and the corresponding non-filtered image is added to the filtered one. Filtration here can be implemented with a filter with a linearly growing frequency curve – because it is assumed that in continuous focusing and summation (integration). For instance, if a distribution of intensity of light dots over black background is processed and then this image is integrated, a pointlike image with a wide halo appears.

A change in the focal distance of the quasi-optical system that uses diffractive elements is implemented by changing the frequency of radiation emitted by the irradiator. To implement spatial selection of the signal reflection by the object and the signal sent by the irradiator, and for automatic “tracing” of the region of focusing along one of the coordinates, for instance, along the optical axis, it is advisable to use either off-axis diffractive elements or diffractive elements with off-axis position of the focusing region. The former option is preferable for the radio vision because diffractive elements then retain their focusing ability in a wider frequency band than elements with off-axis position of the focal point.

Formation of images using partially coherent radiation

We will consider the problem of suppressing interference fringes in the optical system for formatting the image, with the irradiator being a small-size thermal source of quasi-monochromatic radiation / << 1, where and are the effective frequency and the irradiator’s frequency band, respectively.

According to (Perina J., 1972 Tarlykov V. A., Magurin V. G., 2002.) we can observe here interference fringes, provided

where λ¯= c/ν¯is the effective wavelength, с is the velocity of light and a is the size of the source (Kaliteevskii N. I., 1971).

If a thermal source of quasi-harmonic radiation is used as irradiator, the interference fringes on the image is removed if the ratio of numerical apertures of the source and the receiver s/0 >> 1 and the resulting resolution corresponds to the diffraction limit of receiver optics with non-coherent illumination.

When an object with specularly reflecting surface is observed, its image contains sparkling that suppresses the fine structure of the image. At the same time sparkling from external sources are superimposed onto the original images.

It is possible to remove this distorting noise without changes in illuminating sources, for instance, by placing in front of a flat object a nonuniform transparent scattering (refracting) plate. The possibility of removing the sparkling is determined by the scattering diagram of the plate and by the optical power of noise.

The illumination of the object in systems of direct vision in the ultrasound band is done with coherent radiation. The image of the object is constructed in reflected radiation using special high-aperture objectives (lenses). An interference image is formed when layer images are added up. Furthermore, most objects have specular surface in this wavelength band. This occurs because the wavelength 0 at which vision systems work is much longer than the visible light wavelength c used to visualize an object 0/c 104. Therefore the surface structure of visualized objects is smoother (more specular) with respect to ultrasonic than it is for light by a factor of (0/c); hence, an interpretation of the resulting image becomes ambiguous. For instance, the image of a sphere is a point.

Method of isotropic construction of images of three-dimensional objects (Minin I. V., Minin O. V., 1998)

As it well known reflection coefficients of objects for ultrasound waves are generally random complex value. Hence the conventional coherent imaging systems have suffered to some extent from speckle noise. Speckle occurs when scattered radiation from objects or rough surfaces randomly destructively interferes and degrades image smoothness. So speckle noise and weak edges make the image difficult to identify the object in the ultrasound image. And the analysis of ultrasound image is more challenging one. But if we can generate at each point on the object sufficient large number of sample wave fields with the same magnitude and random phases and the image of the average intensity of the field can be derived, then a desired imaging which is free from speckle noises must be realized (Takayoshi Yokota, Takuso Sato, and Makoto Hirama, 1985).

The “spaced-apart reception” techniques can be used to suppress interference noise in ultrasonic images.

Let us consider an object model consisting of two pointlike reflectors. With two-frequency illumination, the best suppression of interference noise is achieved if

where m = d/ and d is the distance between the reflectors.

In the case where there is only one wavelength and we have two receivers whose signals are added up, the following condition can be obtained for the angular separation between two receivers:

Ω= arctan[(4m  1)1/2/(2m  1)] .E5

Similarly, we can derive for n-frequencies illumination and a string of nreceivers the formulas

Δλ/λ= (n 1)/mn,E6
Ωк=arctan[(2mnк  к2)/(mn к)],   n= 2, ... ,E7
к = 0, ... , ( 1).E8

The interval corresponds to the difference between the maximum and the minimum of wavelengths of n-frequencies irradiation and к corresponds to the angular separation between the first and the Kth receiver of the linear string.

Consider the placement of several receivers optimized for suppressing interference noise in a finite field of view.

To suppress interference noise in a finite field of view we distribute nreceivers in such a way that for each point there would be two receivers whose signals are in antiphase. We define the number of receivers as the ratio of the solid angle covering the system of receivers to the solid angle of a single receiver.

In order to maximally suppress interference effects at a point A on the axis (fig. 1) it is necessary to place the second receiver 2 at a distance given by formula (1). To suppress interference effects at the edge of the field of view at points BB’ it is necessary to install receivers 3 and 4 at such a distance from receiver 1 that the difference between the optical path lengths between receivers 3 and 4 and the point B equal 1/2 of the wavelength of the radiation used.

Figure 1.

Locations of radiation receivers for suppressing interference noise in a finite field of view.

Consequently, in a string of four receivers, two pairs of them are strictly in antiphase (at the centre and at the edge of the field of view). For nreceivers, the number of such locations is n-1. We were looking so far at a one-dimensional case. To consider a two-dimensional case, the string of receivers has to be rotated K times around the X axis by an angle , so that (К)=.

The required number of receivers can be found as

=Ω/ΔΩ= {2π( cosq/2)}/{(π/4)(D/4)2}.E9

Let us find the optimum location of two receivers for an arbitrary location of the object in the field of view. Let the object lie on the axis of the first receiver. The signals of the two receivers will be at opposite phases if

We conclude that for optimum suppression of interference noise the distance between the receivers must equal

Therefore, this method of forming radio images on the basis of an “isotropic” receiver (source) essentially consists in implementing the principle of spatial averaging. For instance, the object may be scanned by a focused beam of electromagnetic waves, the radiation scattered by the object being received by a systems of receivers located in space on the side of the irradiator, while the signals from them are added up non-coherently and are sent to the common system of reconstruction. The receivers are placed on the surface of a hemisphere whose centre lies on the object. As a result, it becomes possible to visualize objects using the difference between their reflection coefficient and the reflection coefficient for the background signal, that is, to visualize an image of a three-dimensional object. Non-coherent adding suppresses interference effects. When integrating narrow directed signals reflected from obstacles (the background signal), the received interference signal is proportional to the coefficient of reflection from the obstacle, and this is typically much lower than the coefficient of reflection from the object. On the whole, a system of N receivers proves to be more sensitive than a single receiver by a factor of N1/2. Furthermore, averaging considerably reduces the dynamic range of signals recorded, which makes the requirements to systems reconstructing radio images less stringent.

Another important factor must be mentioned. In systems of direct vision, a receiving device is as a rule large and heavy which makes using this technique very difficult (for instance, the diameter of the objective is at least 200-300, so that even with a speed of 1 frame per second and the number of added layers n30, the objective that does mechanical scanning of the object over its depth must periodically move at a typical speed of about 350 m/s).

Attempts to use the conventional “optical” approach to constructing ultrasonic images of three-dimensional objects result in extremely unwieldy formulas. The resulting dimensions, weight and parameters of objective lenses fail to satisfy today’s requirements.

Layer-by-layer construction of the image of a three-dimensional object without mechanical scanning over depth can be implemented by using the frequency characteristics of DOE in which the position of focusing area depends on the wavelength of the irradiating field. In this case the speed of the vision system improves considerably. It becomes possible to start with locating an object by scanning over the depth of the scene and then to carefully “scrutinize it” in detail.

Listed below are the main specifics of designing the ultrasonic vision system.

  1. Row-by-row scanning for building the image of an object in real time is carried out by electronic scanning of the string of receivers.

  2. Frame-by-frame scanning (column-by-column scanning) is implemented by mechanically moving the object controlled.

  3. Mirror flashes in the image are removed and the images of the object in different orientations are obtained using quasi-isotropic illumination by a system of irradiators distributed in space.

  4. Scanning of the controlled space is done by the electronically shifting the plane of focusing of the vision device (its focal length) by varying the irradiators’ wavelength and using diffractive optics. The use of elements of diffractive optics on a non-flat surface makes it possible to extend the field of view of the vision device and improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the ultrasonic image.

  5. Access to the object scanned is provided on one side only.

The vision set supports scrutinizing an object with a single frequency (scanning of a plane) or with a number of frequencies (scanning over the depth of the scene) in single-pass or continuous modes of recording the frames of image with an external coupling (to the motion sensor) or internal coupling to the motion of the object, and can also operate in adjustment mode to fine-tune individual components of the vision set.

The main component of any vision system of quasioptical type is an objective that must satisfy a number of requirements (Minin I. V., Minin O. V.,1986. Edward O.Belcher et al., 1999. Yuji Sato at al., 2009):

  • to be multicomponent (to satisfy the requirements to field of view (2 60°) and the number of resolved pixels on it (N2~100100));

  • to possess frequency characteristics adequate for inspecting three-dimensional scenes in real time;

  • to have aperture ratio of at least 0.5 and lens aperture (D/) of at least 200 to provide high spatial resolution constrained by the diffraction limit over the entire field of view;

  • to be fabricated of a material possessing low absorption of ultrasonic power, and be of minimal thickness.

In the active vision mode, when monochromatic radiation is used to illuminate the target object, it is possible to reshape the focusing surface by controlling the frequency of the illuminating radiation and scan the space over the depth of the scene by this surface (Minin I. V., Minin O. V., et al.1985). Therefore, frequency characteristics of diffractive objectives make it possible to remove limitations stemming from the small depth of definition of classical lenses. Such systems of image generation are capable of scanning space over depths exceeding the depth of definition by a factor of 10 to 20 without mechanical scanners (Minin I. V., Minin O. V. 1986. Baibulatov F. H., Minin I. V., Minin O. V. 1985.). Small thickness of diffractive objectives (on the order of radiation wavelength) allows designers to achieve high efficiency of using ultrasonic power.

Figure 2.

The pilot version (1988) of 40 KHz real-time ultrasonic imaging system for concealed weapon detection, based on points 1,2,5 and developed under the scientific leadership of Professor V. F.Minin (Minin I.V., Minin O.V., 2003).

2. Fresnel lenses design by acoustic network

Fresnel zone plate (amplitude binary type) was designed by Shu Zhang (Shu Zhang., 2010) to pass only the odd (even) zones and obstructs the even (odd) zones. Fig.3 (left) shows the configuration of planar 1D Fresnel lens we designed. The lens is composed of an array of Helmholtz resonators. The resonators which resonate at 50 KHz in pass even zone are filled with water. The cells in odd zone are filled with air to induce large impedance mismatch, resulting large reflection to obstruct vibration.

Finite-element method was employed to study the focusing of the designed Fresnel plate lens. A collimated acoustic wave is incident on the plate, which is put inside water medium. More than 50dB pressure level difference is found between pass and obstruct zones in Fresnel zone plate based on acoustic network at 50 KHz. Compared with conventional Fresnel lens with the same thickness, the focus effect is more efficient through those based on acoustic network design.The focal length of the lens can be tuned at different frequency as well.

Figure 3.

Configuration of acoustic Fresnel lens (left) and the unit of Helmholtz resonator (right) (Shu Zhang., 2010)

3. Elementary principles of diffractive optics design in acoustics

Acoustic zone plates are used to demonstrate various physical processes (Kirilov V. A., Tverdohlebov V. I., Homenko V. I., 1964). Considerable difficulties are encountered, however, in creating acoustic zone plates that invert the phase of oscillations of one half of the zones. The reason is that the acoustic resistanceuof any material is so high compared to the resistance of air that acoustic waves are nearly completely reflected. A phase zone plate can be produced using the method suggested by Kock (Kock W. 1965) for fabrication of microwave lenses. The method consists in forcing waves to move between tilted plates; the path length then increases by a factor of 1/cosQ which corresponds to the effective index of reflection n = 1/cosQ for the propagation of waves in free space.

The strip width l is found from the conventional relation d(n - 1) = /2 or d(n - 1) = , which in this particular case of n = 1/cosQ and strip width l = d/cosQ takes the simplest and physically transparent form:

Also the circular Fresnel zone transducers may be made, for example, of sandwiched structure with C-axis oriented ZnO piezoelectric film between two Au electrodes (QIAO DongHai, LI ShunZhou, WANG ChengHao. 2007).

3. Ultrasonic piezoelectric transducer based on diffractive optics

For active focusing systems the surface of a rigid plate makes bending oscillations, and allocation of their amplitudes of particle displacements along radius of a plate looks like standing waves. Each point oscillations surfaces radiate an ultrasonic wave in an air medium. As is well know, in condition of central exciting of thin flat disk, which radius is multiple to half of flexural waves (in disk material), distribution of oscillating displacement on the disk surface will look like stationary waves. The radial boundaries on the plate from centre of a plate calculating according to the formula from microwaves (Minin O.V., Minin I.V. 2003). In this case the waves radiated of each exact plate will come to a focal point in one phase. The Noise level in a focal point in that case reaches values 200-220 decibel and above, and around of focal point surfaces of equal phases where the noise level reaches values 140-170 decibel is formed. The vibration amplitude of a radiating surface is about 200 micron.

Figure 4.

The active ultrasonic diffractive transducers of half-wave (left) and four-level (right) types.

It could be noted that the advantages of diffractive plate-type emitters are: the possibility of forming ultrasonic vibrations of high power and provide frequency tuning of the radiation due to transition from one harmonic to another. The same diffractive plate-type emitter can create vibrations of different frequencies, operating at different harmonics.

For example, for the circular membrane in an common case we can use polar co-ordinates (r,θ). The spatial part of the wave function will be of the form R(r)Θ(θ). The boundary conditions will act specifically on R(r) which will be a Bessel function Jm(kr) with zeros at well known (tabulated) values xmn (m for the function and n for the nth zero). This leads to the relation kmna=xmn to force a zero at r=a, the radius of the membrane. These results in the following relation for computing the angular frequency associated with the different modes:

where v is the velocity of the wave in the membrane. The solution of our problem for the mode (m,n) is, basically, of the form:

A dependence with sin(mθ) is also possible, giving rise to the existence of 2 degenerate modes for each m (except for m=0). In general, a linear combination of both modes will be excited.

For the case of a transducer we need only the modes with m=0. The distribution of oscillations amplitude on the first three oscillation modes of disk radiator is shown in Fig 5.

Figure 5.

The distribution of oscillation amplitude of diffractive radiator on the different oscillation modes: n=1, 2, 3.

4. Some other diffractive optical elements applications in acoustics

Fresnel zone plates can be used in audiovision (Greguss P. 1980) and nondestructive ultrasound testing (Stamnes J. J., Cravelsxter J., Bentsen O., 1982. Ermolaev I. N., Kanevskii I. N., Kofolev V. D. et al. 1980. Chernoverskii M. P. 1988), both in reception and emission modes. In reception mode, the zone plate consists of a sequence of alternating transparent and opaque zones. This zone plate behaves as a conventional acoustic lens.

If used as focusing emitter, the acoustic converter is fabricated as a zone plate. For instance, a binary zone plate with 10 zones made as a sequence of gold electrodes on the surface of a ceramic converter was described in (Stamnes J. J., Cravelsxter J., 1982). The other side of the converter has a common metal coating. When used to transform electric fields, only transparent zones emit. This means that the same zone plate can be used to generate both an “audio” picture and an image of an object.

Acoustically emitted diffractive focusing elements possess another very interesting and very promising property (Kock W., 1965. Greguss P., 1980). If zones made of gold electrodes are replaced with photoconducting layers and placed between a converter and an optically transparent electrode, this device can be controlled by light. If an optical image of a diffractive element is projected onto such a converter and is moved transversally, the point of acoustical focus will also move. Therefore, two-dimensional scanning can be realized.

The design and development of a low cost, electro-mechanical ultrasonic scanner for obtaining high resolution C-scan images of the friction skin ridge structure found on the digits of the hands or feet in order to create imagery of sufficient quality for use in automated personal identification systems were discussed in (J.K. Schneider, S.M. Gojevic. 2001). It has been shown the optical scanner is unable to image through the contamination, while the ultrasonic scanner is unaffected.

A breadboard ultrasound sensor has been developed for remotely detecting and imaging concealed weapons (Applied Technologies - Jaycor ultra.htm). The breadboard sensor can detect metallic and non-metallic weapons concealed on a human body under heavy clothing at ranges up to 8 m and can image concealed weapons at ranges up to 5 m.

This breadboard sensor has produced the only remote ultrasound images of concealed weapons, including lexan (plastic) knives and a handgun concealed under a heavy sweatshirt at 15 feet. The sensor includes a highly efficient source of high-power, tunable ultrasound radiation suitable for remote imaging in air. Together with millimeter-sized, highly sensitive ultrasound detectors and high-gain transceivers, these advances make possible the centimeter-resolution imaging of concealed weapons at ranges between 1 m and 5 m.

Ultrasound is also a “technology that uses high-pitched sound waves to create images of hidden internal anatomy” to detect a land-mine (C. P. Gooneratne, S. C. Mukhopahyay, G. Sen Gupta. 2004). Conventional ultrasound detection involves the emission of a sound wave with a frequency higher than 20 kHz into a medium. This sound wave reflects on boundaries between materials with different acoustical properties. A strong enough ultrasound signal could penetrate the ground and detect otherwise unobtainable signatures of buried mines. It is also capable of operating in wet ground. Ultrasound systems encounter problems at the interface of air and ground.

One of the classical applications of the ultrasonic imaging system is a nondestructive method of inspection. For example (SERDP PP-1134, Final Report, November 2001), the inspection of very thin metallic sheets (0.06 inches up to 0.125 inches thick) was shown to be difficult for the reflection method of ultrasound imaging to undertake; this was due to the extremely short time delay between the front and back surfaces of the thin sheets. By injecting the sound beam into the metallic sheet at an appreciable angle it was found to cause multiple reflections progressing along the sheet with the end result of illuminating a large region of the sample with sound energy. A prototype angle beam ultrasound camera was fabricated at the Becker Labs of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (Figure 6) and has proven that rapid ultrasound imaging of thin sheet is practicable and is unaffected by painted coatings.

Figure 6.

Schematic of oblique angle reflection camera for real-time ultrasound imaging (SERDP PP-1134, Final Report, November 2001).

The Acoustocam system (Development of Innovative Nondestructive Evaluation Technologies for the Inspection of Cracking & Corrosion Under Coatings SERDP PP-1134, Final Report, November 2001) was shown to be able to respond to the dynamic range of the multiple bounces with an image very similar to that of a through transmission image with the exception that recurring images of a defect are observed in the oblique angle reflection mode owing to the fact that the sound beam continues to reflect (See Figure 7). The concept, however, has proven to be viable for the inspection of corrosion under painted coatings at high speed and with high sensitivity. Application has been made for the issuance of a patent based on the oblique angle beam system.

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Written By

I.V. Minin and O.V. Minin

Submitted: October 12th, 2010 Published: August 23rd, 2011


"The new story of the Ligne Noire collection takes us to Sweden, in the tradition of today's greatest Scandinavian crime fiction. Recently graduated from the police academy in Stockholm, Lisa Forsberg, 26 years old, returns to Linköping, her hometown, as part of her first assignment. Alongside inspector Erik Linden, she is in charge of investigating the disappearance of Anton Wiger. This man is not completely unknown to her. In fact, they went to the same high school. Lisa remembers him being a difficult boy, aggressive and irresponsible... like she herself once was. Given his profile, it doesn't seem all that alarming that he has disappeared. However, as a big fan of the Motorcity festival that brings together old American car and rock'n'roll enthusiasts, it's surprising that Anton did not attend the event this time. The inspector and her partner interrogate the various protagonists involved closely or remotely with the disappearance. The mystery remains: how can you incriminate just one person when they all seem suspect? And what if the true victims are not who we initially thought they were?"

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Lisa Forsberg is a rookie cop who has just taken her first assignment in the small Swedish city where she was born. In her youth she was a troublemaker, part of a hard-living subculture called "raggare" who worship American rock'n'roll and vintage cars from the 1950s. Now Lisa finds herself thrown back into this world when she is sent to investigate a missing person report involving people she went to school with. She and her partner, Erik Lund, will uncover secrets that put them in harm's way and bring them face-to-face with the unspeakable.

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Horacio Coppola

Horacio Coppola (Buenos Aires, 1906 – 2019)

In the year 1932 , Horacio Coppola  attended  the photography courses imparted by the famous photographer and teacher Walter Peterhans at the Bauhaus, where the latter ran the Photography Departatment. There Coppola met the German photographer,  Grete Stern,  also a pupil of Peterhan’s .The two young photographers soon formed a couple, and in 1933, when the Bauhaus closed its doors (due to Hitler’s rise to power), they  left for London. In England both were very active, in graphic design (Stern) and photographic commissions (Coppola). At that time the  Argentinian also made a short documentary film, “A Sunday Afternoon at Hampstead Heath”.

In 1934, Coppola went to France for a short period of time. He took some wonderful photographs of Paris and made a short documentary film of the city, Un Quai de la Seine. He also took the photographs for a book, L’art de la Mesopotamie, commissionned by the famous editor Christian Zervos, creator of  Cahiers d’art.

In 1935 Coppola and Stern got married and left Europe. They travelled  to Buenos Aires, Argentina, were they settled permanently. Shortly after their arrival in Buenos Aires, they jointly mounted an exhibition of their work on the premises  of the prestigious literary magazine Sur. It is considered the advent of modern photography in Argentina. A year later  Horacio Coppola started working on his famed photographic series, Buenos Aires 1936. These photographs stablished Coppola’s pre-eminence in the photographic scene of his country as well as in the rest of the continent.

Other commissions and other series followed, and he went on to publish several influencial and celebrated photo-books. Also, in 1936, Coppola made a remarkable avant-garde short film, “Así nació el Obelisco”  (Thus the Obelisk was Born).

His work is featured in several publications, among others:  Jorge Luis Borges’s Evaristo Carriego, (with two photographs by Coppola),Buenos Aires, 1930;   Buenos Aires 1936. Visión fotográfica (edited by the Buenos Aires Municipality, 1936); Esculturas  de  Antônio Francisco Lisboa, o Aleijadinho , Buenos Aires, 1955, Viejo Buenos Aires, Adiós,  Buenos Aires 1980;  Imagema; Una antología fotográfica, 1927-1994 , Buenos Aires, 1994;  El Buenos Aires de Horacio Coppola (IVAM, Valencia, 1996); Buenos Aires años 30 (Galería Jorge Mara-La Ruche, Buenos Aires, 2005); Visões de Buenos Aires (Instituto Moreira Sales, Brazil, 2007); Horacio Coppola. Fotografía;  (Fundación Telefónica, Madrid, 2008); Los Viajes de Horacio Coppola (Galería Jorge Mara – La Ruche, Buenos Aires, 2009).

His work is represented in several museums, institutions and private collections, in Europe, The United States and Latin America; among others: the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires (MNBA); Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (MAMBA); Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM);  Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA). In 2008 the Instituto Moreira Salles, in Rio de Janeiro, hosted Horacio Coppola. Visões de Buenos Aires, a major exhibition that toured several cities in Brazil. In March of the same year, the Fundación Telefónica, Madrid, held a large exhibition of Coppola’s work. A well documented catalogue was published for the occasion.

In 2009, Galería Jorge Mara-La Ruche, Buenos Aires,  presented the exhibition Horacio Coppola. Los Viajes. It consisted of mostly unpublished  photographs made between 1931 and 1935 during his travels through Europe and Brazil. The exhibition was shown at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid. A comprehensive catalogue was published jointly by the Argentinian gallery and the Spanish institution. The book included reproductions, texts by Luis Priamo, Natalia Brizuela and David Oubiña and a DVD with 4 short films made by Coppola during the 1930´s (Traum, A Sunday Afternoon in Hampstead Heath, Un Quai de la Seine  and Así Nació el Obelisco).

In 2015, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, showed From Bauhaus to Buenos Aires: Grete Stern and Horacio Coppola, a retrospective exhibition accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue.


Register now for the LEGS webinar on Gender and Livestock in Emergencies

By 6th October 2020News

LEGS is pleased to announce that the first webinar in its upcoming series is open for registration:

Gender and Livestock in Emergencies

Thursday 15th October 2020 at 12 noon GMT (1pm British Summer Time)

Presenters: Karin de Jonge and Lucy Maarse

Understanding gender roles and addressing specific gender-related needs and vulnerabilities can lead to improved outcomes for livestock-based humanitarian action, in terms of protecting women’s assets, addressing their priorities, and overcoming cultural and economic barriers. The webinar will include a summary of current trends and thinking regarding gender and humanitarian action, and its relevance for livestock related humanitarian interventions.

Please register at the following link:

The LEGS Discussion Paper on Gender and Livestock in Emergencies, written by Karin de Jonge and Lucy Maarse, will be available prior to the webinar on the LEGS website resources page and will also be advertised via the LEGS mailing list.

We look forward to you joining us.


Highly powerful, yet passively cooled, computer-on-modules

congatec has introduced seven less power-hungry variants of the 12th Generation Intel Core IOTG mobile processors (formerly codenamed Alder Lake) on 7 new COM-HPC and COM Express Computer-on-Modules.

Featuring the Intel hybrid architecture with its mix of performance cores (P-cores) and efficient cores (E‑cores), the BGA-solderable processor variants consume just 15 to 28 W base power, which enables engineers to use them in fully passively cooled embedded and edge computing platforms and eliminates the need for costly cooling options as well as improving the ruggedness and MTBF of system designs.

The lower energy consumption is mainly achieved by reducing the number of P-cores while maintaining the E-core count. For example, in the Intel Core i7 processor performance range heterogenous workloads benefit from 8 efficient cores in all available variants and can scale down from 6 P-cores (12800HE/45 W base power) to either 4 (1270PE/28 W base power) or 2 P-cores (1265UE/ 15 W base power).

Another power saving factor is less PCIe lanes (20 instead of 28). As selected processors are also suitable for hard real-time applications, support virtual machines and include Intel TCC and TSN support, these new Computer-on-Modules are suitable in consolidating different heterogenous workloads including AI and/or immersive GUIs on one single passively cooled edge computing platform.

These high-performance Computer-on-Modules with Intel Core i7/5/3 and Celeron processors are intended for industrial applications and can be deployed wherever passively cooled computing systems need more performance. This includes, for example, edge computers and IoT gateways incorporating multiple virtual machines for smart factories and process automation, AI based quality inspection and industrial vision, real-time collaborative robotics, and autonomous logistics vehicles for warehousing and shipping.

Typical outdoor applications include autonomous vehicles and mobile machines, video security and gateway applications in transportation and smart cities, as well as 5G cloudlets and edge devices requiring AI supported packet inspection.

Offering DDR5 memory support in all different core combination variants, the congatec Computer-on-Modules with PCIe Gen 4 supporting Intel hybrid architecture accelerate multithreaded applications and make background task execution more efficient. They can also deliver impressive graphics performance with up to 96 execution units.

Besides higher bandwidth and overall improved performance, the flagship COM‑HPC Client and COM Express Type 6 modules provide dedicated AI engines supporting Windows ML, Intel OpenVINO toolkit and Chrome Cross ML. The different AI workloads can be delegated to the P-cores, E-cores and the GPU execution units to process even the most compute-intensive edge AI tasks. The built-in Intel Deep Learning boost technology leverages different cores via Vector Neural Network Instructions (VNNI), and the integrated graphics supports AI accelerated DP4a GPU instructions that can even be scaled to dedicated GPUs.

Intel’s lowest power built-in AI accelerator, the Intel Gaussian & Neural Accelerator 3.0 (Intel GNA 3.0), enables dynamic noise suppression and speech recognition and can even run while the processor is in low power states for wake-up voice commands.

Combining these features with support for Real-Time Systems’ hypervisor technology as well as OS support for Real-Time Linux and Wind River VxWorks, means that these modules will be able to accelerate the development of edge computing applications.

The conga-HPC/cALP COM-HPC Client Size A modules (95x120mm), as well as the conga-TC670 COM Express Compact Type 6 modules (95x95mm) are available with 6 energy efficient 12th Gen Intel Core processors as well as a cost optimised Celeron processor.

Both module families support up to 64 GB ultra-fast DDR5 SO-DIMM memory with 4,800 MT/s. Graphics support for up to 4 independent displays and up to 8k resolution is provided by the integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics with the Intel Core i7 and i5 processors, and by the Intel UHD graphics with Intel Core i3 and Intel Celeron. To connect peripherals with massive bandwidth, the COM-HPC modules support up to 16 PCIe Gen 4 and 8 PCIe Gen 3 lanes, and additionally boast up to 2x Thunderbolt. The COM Express variants feature up to 8 PCIe Gen 4 and 8 PCIe Gen 3 lanes. Both support an optional and ultra-fast NVMe SSD.

Further storage media can be connected via 2x SATA Gen 3.

For networking, the COM-HPC module offers 2x 2.5 GbE, whereas the COM Express module executes 1x 2.5 GbE, with both supporting TSN. Sound is provided via SoundWire, HDO or I2S in the COM-HPC version, and HDA on the COM Express modules.

Comprehensive board support packages are provided for all leading Real-Time Operating Systems, including hypervisor support from Real-Time Systems as well as Linux, Windows and Android.