Pressroom

Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, inventor of mp3 and primary developer of AAC, MPEG-H Audio and other MPEG standard audio codecs, announced today that Amazon has become an important music-centric licensee of its MPEG-H audio decoder software, included in the new Echo Studio. MPEG-H is the novel audio scheme used for new immersive music services including those based on the Sony 360 Reality Audio format. 360 Reality Audio services from Amazon Music HD on the Echo Studio are enabled by the Fraunhofer software.

When merging and overtaking in complex traffic situations, drivers must pay extreme attention. A lapse in concentration can sometimes lead to accidents – something that automated driving assistance systems work to prevent. The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, together with its project partners RISE, Scania, Waysure, Ceit-IK4, Baselabs and Commsignia, has made another successful step towards autonomous driving as part of an EU-funded project PRoPART. On a test track in Sweden, automotive industry experts were able to see how well the automated merging solution performed in an impressive live demonstration with a truck.

Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has launched its first-ever competition dedicated to the development of an innovative, energy-efficient AI system. The Fraunhofer Institutes IIS and IPMS have entered their joint ADELIA (Analog Deep Learning Inference Accelerator) project into the BMBF’s Sprunginnovationen competition, where their focus is on the design of an analog inference accelerator ASIC. Fraunhofer IIS leads the project.

Fully automated and autonomous vehicles should be able to respond appropriately in every situation. Together with partners in the "KI-FLEX" project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is developing a platform that uses artificial intelligence methods to help measure vehicle position and determine vehicle environment in the future.

As of November 1, 2019, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is expanding its management. Prof. Alexander Martin will join what is now a three-member management team. He is responsible for the Positioning and Networks as well as the Supply Chain Services research areas and also holds a chair for applied mathematics at the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.

The Fraunhofer Center for Supply Chain Services (SCS) presents the new edition of the »TOP 100 in Logistics« on the European logistics market at International Supply Chain Conference in Berlin from 23 to 25 October 2019.

If you listen to your favorite song and suddenly get the feeling you’re hearing it for the first time, diving into the music and being surrounded by the musicians, it might be that you’re listening to 360 Reality Audio. This new immersive music format, based on MPEG-H Audio technology, brings artists and their fans closer together than ever before. Music has never been so real and so immersive. At the official launch event in New York on October 15, Sony introduced the new music format and announced the first 360 Reality Audio immersive music streaming services from Amazon Music HD, Deezer, nugs.net and TIDAL will launch this fall. Also on display at the Sony Music Hall in NYC were the first 360 Reality Audio consumer devices: the Amazon Echo Studio premium smart speaker as well as Sony headphones.

Erlangen/Sankt Augustin, GERMANY: The SPEAKER project for the development of a voice assistant platform “made in Germany” won an award at the “Artificial intelligence as a driver for economically relevant ecosystems” innovation competition run by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. This Fraunhofer project was one of 16 outstanding concepts that prevailed in a field of more than 130 submissions. The award ceremony took place on September 19, 2019, as part of the inauguration of the Digital Technology Forum in Berlin.

ERLANGEN, Germany: Fraunhofer IIS introduces the latest major release of its professional ContentServer head-end technology for Digital Radio DAB+ and DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale): Version R7 of this flexible and highly reliable solution is now readily available in products from Fraunhofer’s OEM partners. The new DAB/DRM ContentServer R7 enables broadcasters to put audio content and attractive data services on air with ease while benefitting from the latest standard upgrades and a range of new productivity features.

ERLANGEN, Germany/SÃO PAULO, Brazil: The SBTVD (Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão Digital / Brazilian Digital Television System) Forum has selected MPEG-H Audio for inclusion as an additional audio system in the ISDB-Tb specifications. This allows broadcasters to deliver immersive and personalized sound to Brazilian viewers over the existing SBTVD/ISDB-Tb system by simulcasting MPEG-H Audio alongside the existing AAC audio. Fraunhofer IIS and its technology partners EiTV and ATEME will showcase live ISDB-Tb broadcasting using MPEG-H Audio for the first time at the 2019 SET Expo trade show, taking place from August 27 to 29 in São Paulo, Brazil.