Press releases and news

Satellite-based electro-optical sensors are intended to detect missile launches early on, gaining valuable time for initiating countermeasures in case of an attack. The Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB is developing design concepts for sensors like these on behalf of the German Ministry of Defense. In this interview, Caroline Schweitzer, a research scientist at Fraunhofer IOSB, explains what electro-optical sensors can do and how they work.

From manufacturing to medicine, from quantum technology to nuclear fusion — lasers are the basis for many critical applications. However, without rare-earth elements and crystals from third countries, it is becoming increasingly difficult to produce them. Not only are export restrictions, war and restrictive customs policies putting pressure on industry, but they are also threatening Germany's technological sovereignty. Fraunhofer is researching alternatives in crystal growing and processing as well as glass fiber development. They will be on display at the LASER trade show in Munich from June 24–27.

Eight Fraunhofer Institutes have developed new solutions for waste management and the circular economy of plastics in the lighthouse project "Waste4Future". With their expertise, they are improving aspects such as recycling, sorting, recipe development, utilization paths and the minimization of waste streams. In particular, this makes it possible to use waste containing plastic that was previously incinerated. The results have now been presented to industry representatives at a final meeting.

Karin Stein is the first woman in NATO history to receive the von Kármán Medal, the defense alliance's most prestigious scientific award. In an interview on the occasion of the award ceremony, the IOSB department head talks about how she came to physics and the responsibility she feels.

To mark the end of its three-year term, the KARLI joint project presented its results to around 150 participants from science, industry, politics, and the press. In KARLI, twelve research and industry partners developed AI applications for automated driving. The project focused on designing AI-controlled interaction between the vehicle and its users - for example, to combat motion sickness and help drivers behave in a way that matches the level of automation. Fraunhofer IOSB was responsible for the technical project management.

* Fraunhofer IOSB releases version 1.0 of the FA³ST Registry. The software provides a registry for digital twins based on the asset administration shell specification. The implementation for digital twins, FA³ST Service, has been updated to version 1.1.

* With FA³ST (Fraunhofer Advanced Asset Administration Shell Tools) you can create and manage digital twins for applications in the context of Industrie 4.0 in a matter of seconds.

* Like the FA³ST Service, the FA³ST Registry is free of charge, open source and, thanks to its open architecture, easy to expand and configure.

With the relaunch of the scientific department "Human-AI Interaction", the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB will focus explicitly on the interface between humans and technical systems based on artificial intelligence. With around 20 scientists under the leadership of Dr. Michael Voit, the department researches current trends and innovations in the field of human-machine interaction and AI assistants.