It is the aim of the photonikSensor project to develop a novel coherent photonic sensor for characterizing objects with respect to its material composition and to localize them. The sensor is expected to operate in the sub-/millimeter-wave regime at frequencies beyond 250 GHz. The novelty of the photonikSensor is that it utilizes photonic heterodyning for the generation but also for the detection of the high-frequency signals. By doing so, we expect being able to allow for much wider frequency tuning as compared to all-electronic solutions and this would immediately help us in detecting the spectral finger prints of a variety of different materials. The three Ruhr universities closely cooperate in photonik- Sensor. Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB) contributes by providing a compact dual-wavelength laser operating at 1.55 μm wavelength, Technical University Dortmund (TUD) provides the required know-how for the digital signal processing of the measurement data and in the theoretical analysis of the sensor system and the wireless channel. University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) coordinates the photonikSensor project and is responsible for setting up the sensor system. UDE also provides the photonic-based terahertz transmitter and receiver.