Cognitive Sensor Technologies

With the new 5G mobile radio standard, the high requirements of applications in the areas of industry and logistics 4.0, intelligent city, medicine and health and rescue services for wireless communication and localization solutions can be better met. Fraunhofer IIS is an internationally recognized partner when it comes to the development and application of 5G. Read the interviews with our experts to get Fraunhofer IIS researchers’ take on these technologies and what exciting visions of the future they open up. We spoke to them about their respective projects, areas of application and transformative potential.

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Located in the town of Ilmenau in the German state of Thuringia, the InSignA High-Performance Center aims to harness synergy effects at a local level and to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with digitalization and other projects. Jörg Robert, Deputy Head of the Electronic Measurements and Signal Processing (EMS) department and professor at TU Ilmenau, explains: “Part of our mission as a research organization is to successfully transfer the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s research and technologies and apply them to serve industry and society. High-Performance Centers are incubators of innovation with a regional focus.”

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The European Association for Artificial Intelligence (EurAI) is an umbrella organization for scientific associations devoted to work in the field of artificial intelligence. Every year, about 3 percent of the members of the EurAI member societies are named EurAI Fellows. One of this year’s four new Fellows is Dr. Ute Schmid, Professor of Applied Computer Science / Cognitive Systems at the University of Bamberg and head of the Group on Comprehensible AI (CAI; formerly Explainable AI) at Fraunhofer IIS. In this interview, she explains what this honor means to her and her research, and looks back on her research findings of the past few years.

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Whether in the workplace or in everyday life, to combat climate change or to gain resilience: digital technologies offer solutions to the major challenges of our time. The kind of future these solutions lead to depends on the values and goals they focus on. The only way Europe can win is if we follow a resource-saving and trustworthy path; if we guarantee opportunities for collaboration and use our uniqueness as a competitive advantage.

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How data recycling and clever use of the data life cycle lead to greater sustainability in business and industry.

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Facial recognition is a hot topic right now. Already in use in numerous sectors, it is being improved all the time. But it also carries the risk of abuse, such as the systematic surveillance of millions of people. This article explains why SHORE is immune to such misuse, what makes the technology special and what its future looks like.

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Dr. Marco Breiling (51) wants to assist in shaping the future of Germany. The electrical engineer from Erlangen helps get successful high-tech products made in Germany. Inspired by the energy efficiency of a bee’s brain, his team develops clever microchips that process very large data volumes in an energy-saving manner. This achievement impressed the jury of the pilot innovation competition “Energy-Efficient AI System” organized by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Here, Marco Breiling gives fascinating insights into his field of research.

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The SEC-Learn (Sensor Edge Cloud for Federated Learning) project, involving eleven Fraunhofer Institutes, promises a major technological leap in the field of neuromorphic hardware: for the first time, a chip is being developed to accelerate spiking neural networks (SNN) in conjunction with what is known as federated learning. This would offer practical benefits for companies and individuals.

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Analyzing plants with a CT scanner may seem like a curious idea, but the Fraunhofer Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT, a research division of the Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and Dutch company PhenoKey were confident it could work. Now, their joint development project has produced a robust CT scanner specifically designed for use in plant breeding. We talked to department head Dr. Stefan Gerth of the Fraunhofer Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT and PhenoKey managing director Bas van Eerdt to find out how CT data can make life easier for breeders – and why e-resourcing is such an important part of the puzzle.

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Christian Hofmann, Group Manager at Fraunhofer IIS, is working on the development of “CardioTEXTIL”: a textile-integrated sensor system that conveniently enables continuous monitoring of cardiac activity. #WeKnowHow

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The Nuremberg Metropolitan Region, with its global players and its Medical Valley partner network, is already seen as a Bavarian lighthouse for the medical technology industry with great international visibility. The Fraunhofer IIS Center for Sensor Technology and Digital Medicine broadens this spectrum. This is where novel smart health technologies will be developed and validated in a clinical environment, in part using AI-based solutions. The center is headed by Matthias Struck from the Image Processing and Medical Engineering department at Fraunhofer IIS.

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The human element plays a major role in the success and the productivity of Industry 4.0 technologies and applications. This is why we also look at each phase of digitalization from a behavioral and sociological perspective. In this interview with Stephanie Schmitt-Rüth, head of the Human Centered Innovation group, you can find out how we support companies as they plan and design the rollout and communication of their digital transformation to ensure it enhances motivation and productivity.

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In most companies, the efficiency of in-house transports with industrial trucks is recorded only manually and in a very incomplete manner. We tap the potential for optimization by developing “intelligence” for industrial trucks that enables analysis of individual intralogistics transport processes. In this interview, Christoph Hohmann, former deputy head of the Process Analytics group , uses the example of forklifts equipped with a specially developed system of mobile positioning technologies to demonstrate the recording of data and its subsequent analysis and use.

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In many cases, tightening procedures have an impact on quality during assembly – but monitoring them has been difficult up to now. Our key to quality monitoring and support in assembly is a wireless tool sensor module that detects and analyzes the screwdriver’s movement and position in real time. In this interview, Christian Nickel, Senior Engineer in the Machine Learning and Validation group, presents a retrofit solution that turns tools from any manufacturer into a cyber-physical, intelligent system.

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The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS sees itself as one of the drivers of innovation within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s strategic research areas. At Fraunhofer IIS, we are conducting research in a wide variety of areas to support today’s agricultural industry, thus fostering the sustainable shaping of society, the economy and the environment. State-of-the-art cognitive sensor systems are no longer found only in high-tech factories. We asked Dr. Norman Uhlmann, division director of the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology EZRT, why such systems will also become the tools of the trade for farmers and cultivators.

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Bottlenecks are not exactly popular – after all, they bring entire processes to a standstill. Artificial intelligence has a bottleneck of its own to contend with. To be precise, it is impossible to speed up artificial intelligence indefinitely on classical computers. The hardware needs time to “think”.  Read here how we solve this problem.

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Every mistake in the picking process causes extra work. But installing assistance systems that alert the order picker to picking errors can be extremely complex. That is why we are developing a reliable picking monitoring system based on inductive near-field positioning. In this interview, Tobias Dräger, manager of the RFID and Inductive Sensor Systems group, explains how this system marks a fundamental departure from previous picking monitoring systems that work with optical sensors, light barriers or laser scanners.

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She is exceptionally talented in many respects. Dr. Theresa Götz, who indeed holds two doctorates – in physics and information science –  pursues her wide-ranging interests with both passion and dedication. And her career path reflects that variety: She had originally planned to become a hotel manager and chef with the ultimate aim of taking over her family’s restaurant. Then she won a youth research award, took part in the Fraunhofer Talent Academy, and completed her physics degree in record time. At the age of 26, she had successfully earned two doctorates, and she now works as chief scientist and deputy group manager of the Multimodal Human Sensing group at Fraunhofer IIS. We interviewed Theresa Götz about her career and her life.

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Wired pick-by-light systems are inflexible and costly when the picking area is redesigned. Our wireless information system makes it easy to install compartment displays, thus allowing for temporary storage setups and quick reconfiguration of pickup compartments. Stephan Oswald, a research fellow in the IoT Applications group, answers questions in this interview about how the system works, the value it adds for companies, and its customized implementation.

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We interviewed Prof. Alexander Martin about the European data strategy for the future, how Europe can deal with data in a responsible and sustainable way, and in which specific areas of application federal data management should apply. Alexander Martin is a director at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and a member of the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT.

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Which conditions are important for the technological implementation of Industry 4.0 in SMEs?
Jasper Jahn, Advisor to the Head of the Positioning and Networks unit at Fraunhofer IIS, highlights different points where promising applications can be launched or used in existing intralogistics and industrial processes. In a video interview, he addresses the following questions:
• What do small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to consider from a technological perspective when it comes to digitalization?
• Do SMEs need to switch to completely new technical systems to keep up with the digital transformation?
• Which existing processes can be digitalized without major effort?

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Hydrogen is considered a technology of the future. But what exactly is the hydrogen economy? What expertise does Fraunhofer IIS offer in this field? And how can companies benefit from it? Prof. Alexander Martin, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen and Chair of Analytics & Mixed-Integer Optimization at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg has some answers.

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We must start putting greater emphasis on treating data as a valuable resource. After all, producing and storing data consumes enormous amounts of energy. One solution is the concept of eResourcing, which provides for a sustainable way to handle the resource “data.”  Even data recycling will soon be a matter of course. Prof. Alexander Martin explains why.

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Professor Andreas Harth, Head of Data Spaces and IoT Solutions in our Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services SCS, talks about the topic of data as well as data platforms and information exchange. He comments on the following questions:
• Why do I need better access to process data?
• How can data be made available as quickly and flexibly as possible?
• How can data be shared in a meaningful way?

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We’ve developed nanoSPECTRAL technology, which enables a large number of highly integrated spectral channels to be produced at very low cost. These production costs essentially remain constant, regardless of the number of spectral channels required. We achieve this by structuring metallic layers as part of the CMOS semiconductor fabrication process. Unlike with conventional optical filters, such as thin-film filters, no further processing steps are required to produce these optical nanostructures. #WeKnowHow

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In the video interview, Professor Alexander Pflaum explains why a research project on digitalization and Industry 4.0 is particularly relevant for SMEs, and answers the following questions:

• Why is there a need for a project that focuses explicitly on digital value creation at SMEs?
• What approach did we take?
• What do SMEs need to keep in mind to make their own digital transformation a success?

• What can we do specifically to support SMEs?
• What essential advice can we give SMEs?

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Dr. Roland Fischer, managing director of the Fraunhofer Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services at Fraunhofer IIS, and Markus Weissenbäck, project manager for the FACE project, describe how a fast and equitable distribution of medical protective goods works based on mathematical methods. #WeKnowHow

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The FutureIOT platform captures and connects data from the real world. It can be used to coordinate processes and to monitor and optimize infrastructure. This is useful for a variety of applications, including animal health, parking space management, air quality measurement and connected sensor technology for fields. Dr. Christine Funk from Fraunhofer IIS is managing the joint project that brings together 29 companies and authorities as well as 11 partners from the scientific sector in Bavaria. Funded by the Bavarian Research Foundation, the project ran until the end of July 2021. In the video, IIS Executive Director Prof. Albert Heuberger explains how the platform benefits people and the environment.

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Christian Weigand’s professional interests center around the digitalization of healthcare. He is head of the Mobile Health Lab for mobile and digital medicine in Bamberg and CTO of the Digital Health Application Center (dmac). Addressing the question of whether physicians will visit us in our living rooms in the future in an interview on the Innovationskünstler*innen im Gespräch (“Innovation artists in conversation”) podcast from the Innovationskunst initiative, Weigand discussed innovations in the area of telemedicine that are intended to facilitate communication between patients and medical staff. The conversation focused on the security and availability of medical data, as well as the significance for research.

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For the third time, the INC Invention Center and Fraunhofer IIS/EAS are training companies in the use of artificial intelligence (AI). In the consortium project “AI: Understand – Apply – Benefit,” participants from a wide range of industries learn how to harness the potential of AI to their advantage. Applications range from production processes and operational workflows to integration into products and services. The consortium project will run from June 25, 2021 to April 5, 2022, although it is still possible to join at a later date during the first few weeks after the start of the project.

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In this interview, Albert Heuberger talks about the challenges facing the field of Green ICT, and how applied research can help. As chairman of the steering committee of the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD), he also discusses the topics the FMD is working on, as well as outlining the developments currently being pursued at Fraunhofer IIS.

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The "Bayerische Kompetenzzentrum Quanten Security and Data Science", or BayQS, was launched with a kickoff event on April 29, 2021. The center’s main objective is to research and develop fundamental concepts and solutions, and also to evaluate prototypes in the field of quantum computing. Prof. Alexander Martin and Markus Weissenbäck attended the event. Here, they explain how Fraunhofer IIS plans to use quantum computing to optimize methods and applications.

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Bavaria has set its sights on becoming a hotspot for artificial intelligence (AI). To this end, the State Government established the Bavarian Council on AI. It is chaired by Prof. Sami Haddadin, Director of the Munich School of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MSRM). The body’s 21 members have been drawn from various fields. High-caliber experts from universities, non-university research institutions and industry are pooling their know-how and resources to advance Bavaria’s High-Tech Agenda in the field of AI through intensive cooperation in a dense network.

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Christian Hofmann and his Medical Sensor Systems Group are working on the Filter4Flow project, which simplifies care for patients requiring respiratory assistance and could help avoid the feared bottlenecks in ventilation units. #WeKnowHow

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Computer architecture inspired by the human brain – to most people, this sounds rather abstract and removed from everyday life. Far from it: a research team from Fraunhofer IIS and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has developed neuromorphic hardware capable of detecting early signs of atrial fibrillation and considerably reducing the risk of stroke. In other words, this application has an entirely practical place in everyday life.

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Christian Weigand heads the Mobile Health Lab in Bamberg, Germany, and works at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. He explains how the pandemic management app can help support health authorities.

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Group manager Dr. Matthias Völker and senior engineer Dr. Markus Stahl-Offergeld both work in the Smart Sensing and Electronics Division at Fraunhofer IIS. They are currently working on “KI-PREDICT”, a project funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) devoted to on-sensor data processing supported by AI functions. For this project, the two experts are focusing on the development of a “sensor interface ASIC” with integrated AI functions. One of the partners in the “KI-PREDICT” project is Rolf Slatter, the managing director of Sensitec GmbH since 2009. Sensitec is a global market leader in high-quality, innovative magnetic sensor solutions. We asked Matthias Völker, Markus Stahl-Offergeld, and Rolf Slatter to tell us about the project and their collaboration.

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Prof. Dr. Andreas Harth is head of the Data Spaces and IoT Solutions department at the Fraunhofer Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services at the Fraunhofer IIS. He seeks out hidden data that makes companies more resilient in a crisis and enables them to stay in control, and he researches technologies for decentralized information systems.

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Bringing intelligence to devices is an essential prerequisite for autonomous driving. After all, real-life traffic situations demand fast responses and leave no time to transmit sensor data to a cloud for intelligent analysis. In the KI-FLEX project, researchers are developing neuromorphic hardware that allows artificial intelligence (AI) to be integrated directly into a car – in the form of a flexible platform. Project coordinator Michael Rothe from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS offers his insights into the project.

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Analog or digital – two terms that will be quite familiar to most people. But when it comes to artificial intelligence, only the experts know that there’s something “in between.” They call this “in between” the spiking neural network (SNN). One of the main hopes for the SNN approach is that it will resolve how to integrate “intelligence” directly into devices. Cognitive scientist Johannes Leugering explains what’s involved.

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The purpose of Edge AI is to relocate artificial intelligence to where it is needed: end devices. For this to work, however, processing operations cannot be too energy-intensive. In the ECSEL projects ANDANTE and TEMPO, researchers at Fraunhofer IIS are paving the way for this emerging technology with the development of suitable chips, algorithms, and tools.

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Professor Ute Schmid has been at the head of the Project Group Explainable AI (EAI) since January 2020. Schmid and her team explore ways to help users understand machine learning.

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In our interview, Professor Ute Schmid, head of the Comprehensible Artificial Intelligence project group and professor at the University of Bamberg, and Dominik Seuss, head of the Intelligent Systems group and head of the Image Analysis and Pattern Recognition business unit, describe in an interview how AI is constantly expanding to include more and more applications and further areas of implementation and explain why humans require transparency and explainability in AI systems.

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Some challenges are best faced shoulder to shoulder – like developing the chips, algorithms, and the hardware needed to integrate artificial intelligence directly into end devices, a paradigm also known as “Edge AI”. Marco Breiling, chief scientist at the Fraunhofer IIS Communication Systems division and Dr. Loreto Mateu, group manager at the Fraunhofer IIS Smart Sensing and Electronics division, talk about why their collaboration on Edge AI is so fruitful, and the benefits of working in an international team.

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Dr. Simon Zabler and his team develop systems for high-resolution computed tomography in the micro- and nanometer range. This allows microscopically fine structures to be examined in three dimensions. His working group is located at the Würzburg location of the Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT.

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Alexander Ennen heads the Application-Specific Methods and Systems department in the Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. He and his team are developing X-ray systems designed for use on conveyor belts in the fields of electronic waste recycling, mining and detecting foreign objects in food.

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At the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology (EZRT), Wolfgang Holub designs robotic systems able to perform CT scans of entire vehicles. The innovation earned Holub and his team this year’s User Prize awarded by the German Society for Non-Destructive Testing.

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How the discovery of X-rays changed the Nuremberg metropolitan region and the world.

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Artificial intelligence gives technical systems the ability to learn, thus enabling them to apply what they have learned to new situations. Typically, the “intelligence” is not stored in the system itself, but rather in clouds that provide the high computing power required. The common term is therefore cloud artificial intelligence, or cloud AI. But people are also hearing more and more about edge AI.

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Uwe Veres-Homm is Business Unit Coordinator for logistics, transport and mobility topics in the Fraunhofer Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services SCS. He explains how supply can work in times of crisis.

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Anne Loos explains how companies can benefit from the Saxony consortium project.

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Michael Salamon was instrumental in setting up the world’s only XXL computed tomography system at the Fraunhofer Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT in Fürth, a division of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. He and his team use it to scan large, often spectacular objects and are developing new applications for high-energy computed tomography.

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Stefan Gerth is a researcher and group manager at the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-Ray Technology in Fürth. He oversees the development of CT systems to aid the selection of heat-tolerant crops. His group's research makes an important contribution to the efforts of plant breeders to respond to the threat of climate change.

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Ada Lovelace is the name giver of the ADA Lovelace Center, which combines AI research with AI applications. But who was this Ada and what distinguishes her as a pioneer in the evolution of data processing? In this story, "she herself" tells us how computers and data processing have developed.

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Prof. Alexander Martin is head of the Fraunhofer IIS and also in charge of the co-located ADA Lovelace Center. He and his team are looking into ways to extract information from big data using artificial intelligence (AI).

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Dr. Christopher Mutschler is one of the AI experts at Fraunhofer IIS. He researches machine learning and ensures that scientific findings make their way into industry. In this interview, Ilona Hörath reflects on his career path and field of work.

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Prof. Albert Heuberger, Director of Fraunhofer IIS, explains the significance of research in the development and use of 5G and how it can benefit users.

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In collaboration with the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and the University of Bonn, Fraunhofer IIS researchers have succeeded in applying magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in orthodontics. This gentle method has the potential to replace the current common use of harmful X-ray radiation. We spoke with Dr. Daniel Haddad about this breakthrough that has also been honored by the European Federation of Orthodontics FEO.

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