Pressroom

Erlangen, Germany: Global mobile communications that reliably reach every remote region, leaving no gaps on the map? Satellites play a key role in achieving this goal. In the future, however, not all satellites will be powerful enough to act as complete base stations. As part of the TRANTOR project funded by the European Commission, Fraunhofer IIS has now researched a splitting method that allows satellites of different classes to be integrated into the 5G network despite that shortcoming.

Erlangen, Germany: The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS has developed an AI chip for processing spiking neural networks (SNNs). The inference accelerator for spiking neural networks SENNA is inspired by the functioning of the brain, consists of artificial neurons, and can process electrical impulses (spikes) directly. Its speed, energy efficiency, and compact design make it possible to use SNNs directly where the data is generated: in devices at the edge.

Erlangen, Germany: The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is now offering an even simpler way to use RFicient^®, its ultra-low-power wireless receiver: now, in addition to development services and IPs, customers can also order evaluation kits, cost-effective breakout boards, and individual chips. The particularly energy-efficient technology combines ultra-low energy consumption with extremely fast response times – a unique combination resulting in reliable IoT and tracking solutions that last longer. Fraunhofer IIS is presenting the evaluation kit, breakout board, and individual chip options at embedded world in Nuremberg from March 11 to 13, 2025.

The pilot line for “Advanced Packaging and Heterogeneous Integration for Electronic Components and Systems” (APECS) marks a major leap forward in strengthening Europe’s semiconductor manufacturing capabilities and chiplet innovation as part of the EU Chips Act. By providing large industry players, SMEs, and start-ups with a facilitated access to cutting-edge technology, the APECS pilot line will establish a strong foundation for resilient and robust European semiconductor supply chains. Within APECS, the institutes collaborating in the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) will work closely with European partners, to make a significant contribution to the European Union´s goals of increasing technological resilience, strengthening cross-border collaboration and enhancing its global competitiveness in semiconductor technologies. APECS is co-funded by the Chips Joint Undertaking and national funding authorities of Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain, through the “Chips for Europe” initiative. The overall funding for APECS amounts to € 730 million over 4.5 years.

The large language model of the OpenGPT-X research project is now available for download on Hugging Face: "Teuken-7B" has been trained from scratch in all 24 official languages of the European Union (EU) and contains seven billion parameters. Researchers and companies can leverage this commercially usable open source model for their own artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the OpenGPT-X consortium – led by the Fraunhofer Institutes for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS and for Integrated Circuits IIS – have developed a large language model that is open source and has a distinctly European perspective.

Erlangen, November 13, 2024: Fraunhofer IIS is the first technology supplier to implement WorldDAB’s new EWS/ASA alarm signaling standard into their digital radio DAB+ head-end and receiver solutions. The implementation was tested and demonstrated as an on-air showcase during the recent “Deutscher Warntag”. Public and private broadcasters as well as device manufacturers can now receive the innovation through a DAB ContentServer technology upgrade.

Erlangen, Germany: The nanoSPECTRAL chip is a chip-size spectrometer based on the nanoSPECTRAL technology developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. This chip offers an innovative solution for spectral analyses, making it possible to measure the optical spectrum of a wide variety of objects quickly and precisely – both in transmission and in reflection. What’s new is that the technology is compact, affordable, and easy to integrate into existing systems. This opens the door to new potential applications – from agriculture and the food industry to medical applications. The nanoSPECTRAL chip will be presented at electronica in Munich from November 12 to 15, 2024.

Erlangen, Germany: Radiation, vacuum, and substantial temperature fluctuations: extreme conditions prevail in space, presenting a tough challenge for satellite communications. With the Fraunhofer On-Board Processor (FOBP), experiments can be conducted in space to explore whether new technologies are operational under real conditions. The FOBP passed its final tests last week and has begun its service on board the Heinrich Hertz satellite of the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

At the beginning of 2024, Bernhard Niemann took over from his predecessor Michael Schlicht as Director of the Communication Systems division at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. Niemann has been working at Fraunhofer IIS for more than 20 years. He moved from the position of Head of the Broadband and Broadcast department to the role of division director.

The Fraunhofer Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT, a division of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, has developed a novel testing method for electric-vehicle batteries. In collaboration with Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences, the scientists have now showcased the AIR research project (a German acronym for traction battery inspection using X-rays), presented measurement results from preliminary studies, and classified the possibilities that could open up for private users once the research project has been completed.