Feed of press releases

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.

Optimizing communication between vehicle and driver as a function of the degree of automation is the objective of a research project conducted by Fraunhofer in collaboration with other companies. The researchers are combining sensors for monitoring the vehicle interior with language models to form what are known as vision language models. They are designed to increase the convenience and safety of cars in the future.

* Fraunhofer IOSB will establish the field of AI-based large-scale robotics in the Robotics Institute Germany (RIG), which has now been presented for the first time - this includes autonomous construction machines, agricultural robots and other heavy-duty machines that perform complex tasks independently. * Similar issues have so far been researched in particular at the Robotics Competence Center for Decontamination in Hazardous Environments (ROBDEKON). IOSB head of institute and ROBDEKON spokesperson Prof. Jürgen Beyerer presented the results of this work at the "AI-based Robotics" (KIRO) conference in Berlin on June 18. * The conference participants were also able to commission an autonomous excavator over 500 kilometers away to recover barrels live.

With the global population continuing to grow, food waste not only presents a resource problem but also carries a significant cost factor. Now, a new AI-supported multisensor application developed by the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT is being used to screen perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables. This technology carefully detects quality features even under the surface, making it possible to predict the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. It can be used on entire crates at the touch of a button — and customized with the addition of other sensors.

* Fraunhofer IOSB releases version 1.0 of the FA³ST service, an implementation for digital twins according to the Asset Administration Shell specification. * FA³ST (Fraunhofer Advanced Asset Administration Shell Tools) allows you to create digital twins for Industrie 4.0 applications in a matter of seconds. * FA³ST service is free of charge, open source and, thanks to its open architecture, easily expandable and configurable.

Whilst there is no doubt about its detrimental effects, corruption is a complex phenomenon that is hard to precisely grasp and measure. Thus, policy decisions are poorly informed, and technological tools to support the fight against corruption are lacking. The recently launched Horizon Europe project “Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks (FALCON)” will tackle these challenges. To this end, 25 partner organisations from 15 countries join forces. The 3-year interdisciplinary project is funded by the European Union with 4.7 million Euros under Grant Agreement ID 101121281. It is being coordinated by the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), Greece. The kick-off meeting was held September 20-21 in Athens (see photo).