Headquarters Locations Ilmenau Dresden Würzburg Bamberg Waischenfeld Fürth Erlangen Nuremberg Deggendorf Passau Munich You can find the online version of the Annual Report along with further information and multimedia content at www.iis.fraunhofer.de/annualreport Link to further information about the topic Link to multimedia content 

Foreword Prof. Alexander Martin, Prof. Albert Heuberger, Prof. Bernhard Grill (from left to right) 

Contents Interpreting expressions with AI Quantum-safe data transmission made in Saxony Preparing for climate change with sensor technology 20 26 34 We Know 6 Knowledge meets play: The new Fraunhofer IIS 20 #WeKnowHow: Smart Sensing AI showroom | The Long Night of the Sciences at Fraunhofer IIS | United by diversity 10 Awards, prizes and appointments 2022 – A selection | RFicient® – Wireless, efficient, sustainable 12 Organizational Chart | Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) IMAGO – Image-based cell sorting | Bavarian Chip Design Center strengthens the economy | Chips that increase sovereignty in cybersecurity | Trustworthy artificial intelligence 26 #WeKnowHow: Adaptive Systems AI to optimize welding processes in shipbuilding | Standards-based chiplets on Samsung’s 5 nm process technology 16 Facts and figures | Members of the Advisory Board | The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft 32 #WeKnowHow: Communication 5G for tomorrow’s mobility | New simulation platform available 34 #WeKnowHow: X-ray The final secrets of encryption machines | PCBcycle – Recycling printed circuit boards | For5G – Digitally twinning cherry trees 

#WeKnowHow l Knowledge meets play: The new Fraunhofer IIS AI showroom Fraunhofer IIS AI showroom, Augustinerhof, Nuremberg Opening hours: Wed to Fri 12 noon – 7 p.m. Sat to Sun 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Knowledge meets play: The new Fraunhofer IIS AI showroom Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining more and more ground in everyday life, but very few people actually know what it’s really all about. Fraunhofer IIS has come up with a special way to shed light on this important topic: a “showroom” that considers many different aspects of AI – and is open to everyone. Presenting the institute’s own AI research methods, expertise and use cases in ways accessible to the general public, the AI showroom also gives visitors the opportunity to playfully engage with AI and even co-create it. The AI showroom was officially opened with a ceremony attended by representatives of industry, politics and society on May 17, 2022. In honor of Joseph von Fraunhofer Interactive AI knowledge transfer The new AI showroom location in the Augus- tinerhof in the heart of Nuremberg puts it in respectable company – namely the Future Museum, a branch of Munich’s Deutsches Museum. Visitors can learn about all kinds of future topics and then go next door to the new showroom and immerse themselves in the world of AI. Covering a total area of 60 m2, the showroom is divided into four sections. As soon as they enter, visitors are met with a series of four colored glass panels. These recall the namesake of Europe’s largest applied research organization, Joseph von Fraunhofer, and his pioneering work on the spectral absorption lines of sunlight. The panels present his research biography and the operational scope of Fraunhofer IIS. Next stop is the AI exhibition, which provides the basic content required to understand the technology as well as a selection of Fraunhofer IIS research topics. These inclu- de a topic that is particularly relevant at the moment: the sustainable handling of data throughout its life cycle – from collecting, analyzing and publishing to archiving and reusing it. The exhibition takes a multimedia approach, with information boards and inter- active screens presenting text, stills and videos – including about sample use cases from Fraunhofer IIS research. Armed with all this fascinating knowledge, it’s time for visitors to get involved: in the center of the room, an interactive gaming table stands ready for talented players to demon- strate their skills. The goal of Metro Driver – a subway game based on a joint research project between VAG Verkehrs-Aktienge- sellschaft Nürnberg and Fraunhofer IIS – is to guide subway trains through multiple stations as energy-efficiently as possible. Together, the trains are not allowed to cause any load peaks and must remain on schedule. Quite a challen- ge – that is, without the help of AI! 6 

#WeKnowHow l The Long Night of the Sciences at Fraunhofer IIS The Long Night of the Sciences at Fraunhofer IIS Following a prolonged break due to the pandemic, guests were once again able to experience research face to face in the tri-city area of Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen At the showroom, the focus was on AI, here for energy- efficient subway operation On May 21, 2022, the Long Night of the Sciences gave know- ledge-hungry adults and the next generation of scientists the chance to experience research up close and learn more about the trends that will shape the future. It was the tenth time that state and city institutions and associations joined universities, institutes and research-focused companies in opening their doors to the public. Visitors got to look over researchers’ shoul- ders and gain insights into their day-to-day work. Fraunhofer IIS took part in the event at three locations: New on the program was the recently opened AI showroom in Nuremberg’s Augusti- nerhof, where guests could learn more about artificial intelli- gence through a wide range of exhibits and interactive experiences. Fraunhofer IIS headquarters in Erlangen-Tennenlohe presented highlights including smart screw connections, an escape game, a driving simulator that detects when the driver is overtaxed, and audio technologies that are popular the world over. And visitors to the Development Center X-ray Technology in Fürth got to take a look inside both tiny and massive objects – from crop plants to sections of aircraft. Center left: Visitors to the Erlangen location were treated to a great many exhibits and presentations Center right: The next generation of scien- tists was also taken with the smart screw Bottom: In Fürth, an aircraft was inspected for material faults with the help of RoboCT 8 

#WeKnowHow l Awards, prizes and appointments in 2022 – A selection Awards, prizes and appointments in 2022 – A selection EURASIP Best PhD Award Dr. Maja Taseska won the European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP) Best PhD Award for her thesis on “Informed Spatial Filters for Speech Enhancement.” Best Paper Award Winner at ETRA Marie Eckert, Thomas Robotham, Prof. Emanuël Habets and Olli Rummukainen received the Best Paper Award at the ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research & Applications (ETRA) 2022 for their work titled “Pupillary Light Reflex Correction for Robust Pupillometry in Virtual Reality.” Graduate prizes – SIEMENS AG Anna Leschanowsky and Luca Resti from our Audio and Media Technologies research area were honored by Siemens AG’s Corporate Technology department for their outstanding academic performance in informa- tion and communications technology. website about audio coding artefacts. Best Paper Award – First Workshop on Ever Evolving NLP Jann Goschenhofer, who works at our Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services, and his coaut- hors received the First Work- shop on Ever Evolving NLP Best Paper Award for their paper “CC-Top: Constrained Clustering for Dynamic Topic Discovery.” Dissertation Prize – University of Passau As part of the University of Passau’s Dies academicus on November 11, 2022, Dr. Thomas Lang from our Development Center X-ray Technology was among those awarded the Dissertation Prize for his outstanding work titled “Al-Supported Inter- active Segmentation of 3D Volumes.” Best Paper Award Winner at CadenceLIVE Europe 2022 Andy Heinig and Gunjanben Limbachiya from our Engi- neering of Adaptive Systems EAS division received the Best Paper Award at CadenceLIVE Europe 2022 for “Develop- ment of Radar Algorithm for the Tensilica Processor.” Funding through the Reinhart Koselleck program Prof. Meinard Müller and his team were awarded 1.25 million euros in funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the Reinhart Koselleck program of projects. The funded project on music data analysis is being carried out at the International Audio Laboratories. Best Paper Award Winner at IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference Sebastian Kram, Christopher Kraus, Maximilian Stahlke, Dr. Tobias Feigl, Prof. Jörn Thielecke and Dr. Christopher Mutschler from the Positioning and Networks division won the Best Paper Award at the IEEE WCNC for “Delay Estimation in Dense Multipath Environ- ments using Time Series Segmentation.” Best Presentation Award – ION-GNSS+ Johannes Rossouw van der Merve and his co-authors Inigo Cortes Vidal, Dr. Fabio Garzia, Alexander Rügamer and Dr. Wolfgang Felber received the Institute of Navigation Best Presentation Award for their paper “Exotic FMCW Waveform Mitigation with an Advanced Multipara- meter Adaptive Notch Filter (MPANF).” Living Lab innovation prize The Fraunhofer IIS Mobile Health Lab is one of 13 consortium partners for the TEAM-X project, which was awarded the Living Lab inno- vation prize by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action on May 31, 2022. TEAM-X aims to pave the way for forward- looking health and nursing care provision. EurAI Fellow Prof. Ute Schmid, head of the Comprehensible AI group at Fraunhofer IIS and Professor of Applied Computer Science focusing on cognitive systems at the University of Bamberg, was named one of four new EurAI Fellows. Best Poster Award – Scientific Conference Autism Spectrum (WTAS) Martina Simon of our Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services and her co-authors won the Scientific Conference Autism Spectrum (WTAS) Best Poster Award for their work titled “Acceptance of Robot-Assisted Therapies for Children on the Autism Spectrum and Assessment of Associated Ethical and Social Aspects.” AES Fellow Sascha Dick from the Audio and Media Technologies divi- sion was made an AES Fellow in recognition of his work on a new kind of educational 10 

#WeKnowHow l Organizational Chart Organizational Chart Management of the Institute Deputy Directors Prof. Dr. Randolf Hanke, Dr. Peter Dittrich Prof. Dr. Albert Heuberger (executive), Prof. Dr. Bernhard Grill, Prof. Dr. Alexander Martin Stell. Institutsleiter Prof. Dr. Randolf Hanke Dr. Peter Dittrich Administration and Research Management Dr. Peter Dittrich IT Service | Florian Freund Staff | Matthias Rose Administration Erlangen | Sonja Ludwig Administration Fürth | Colett Rißmann Audio and Media Technologies Prof. Dr. Bernhard Grill Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT Dr. Norman Uhlmann Smart Sensing and Electronics Dr. Jens-Uwe Garbas ER FÜ Dr. Denise Müller-Friedrich ER Audio Johannes Hilpert Conversational AI Research Prof. Dr. Emanuël Habets Application-specific Methods and Systems Alexander Ennen, Dr. Stefan Gerth Digital Health Systems Dr. Christian Münzenmayer Audio for Embedded Systems Dr. Nikolaus Färber Media Systems and Applications Harald Fuchs Contactless Test and Measuring Systems Dr. Peter Schmitt Integrated Circuits and Systems Dr. María Loreto Mateu Sáez Audio for Communications Manfred Lutzky Patents and Licensing Stefan Geyersberger, CT in Metrology Prof. Dr. Simon Zabler Integrated Sensor Systems Dr. Volker Peters Martin Dietz AudioLabs-IIS Dr. Frederik Nagel Semantic Audio Processing Oliver Hellmuth Moving Picture Technologies Prof. Dr. Siegfried Fößel Staff Audio and Media Technologies Matthias Rose DEG Magnetic Resonance and X-ray Imaging Dr. Karl-Heinz Hiller WÜ Production Monitoring Dr. Steven Oeckl Sensory Perception and Analytics Stephan Gick Business Marc Gayer 12 Last updated: April 2023 

#WeKnowHow l Research Fab Microelectronics Germany FMD Research Fab Microelectronics Germany FMD Fraunhofer IIS has been part of the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) since 2017. As a coope- ration of the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics and the Leibniz Institutes FBH and IHP, the FMD is the central contact for all questions concerning micro- and nanoelectronics in Germany and Europe. As a pioneer for cross-location and cross-technology cooperation, the FMD is actively addressing the current and future challenges of electronics research, providing key impulses for the development of elementary innovations for the world of tomorrow. In 2022, the FMD has further grown. Currently, more than 4,500 employees contribute their expertise to the research and development of micro and nanosystems. The FMD is thus one of the largest R&D associations of its kind in the world. computing technologies. The equipment and structural setup required for this is being funded by the BMBF. Setting up a Microelectronics Academy Major projects launched for sustainable electronics and new computing technologies Building on the competences, structures and services created within the framework of the FMD, two new major projects – the "Green ICT @ FMD" and the "FMD-QNC" – were launched in 2022. As part of the Green ICT @ FMD project, the Fraunhofer and Leibniz Institutes cooperating in the Research Fab Microelec- tronics Germany, together with the Fraunhofer ISI, are setting up a cross-location competence center for resource-conscious information and communication technology (ICT). Within this framework, Green ICT-specific issues can be addressed in a bundled manner and cross-technology ICT solutions up to a high level of technical maturity can be provided to partners in industry and research – all from a single source. This project, launched in August 2022, is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the Green ICT Initiative, which in turn is part of the Federal Government's Climate Action Program 2030. Furthermore, to bring together and expand the existing microelectronic research and the developments related to quantum and neuromorphic computing carried out in Germany, the FMD together with four further Fraunhofer institutes, the Research Center Jülich and AMO GmbH launched a joint project in December 2022: The Research Fab Microelectronics Germany - Module Quantum and Neuromorphic Computing (FMD-QNC). FMD-QNC is a nationwide collaboration aimed at supporting researchers and companies in developing customized microelectronics and scalable manufacturing and integration processes for new As part of the Green ICT @ FMD and the FMD-QNC projects, a Germany-wide microelectronics academy will be established over the next three years. In December 2022, the kick-off of the conceptualization phase took place and with it, the esta- blishing of the Academy and the enabling of modern training opportunities in the field of micro and nanoelectronics. Regar- ding its thematic foundation, the Academy is structured in three thematic pillars. The first two pillars, Resource-conscious ICT and Practice-oriented semiconductor engineering and tech- nology (both derived from the Green ICT @ FMD and FMD- QNC projects), are further complemented by the third pillar focusing on design of microelectronic circuits and systems. In the process of setting up the Microelectronics Academy, the FMD is not only assuming the organizational management, but also taking responsibility for the three thematic pillars. The overarching goal is to improve the quality of the training for skilled workers in the field of microelectronics as well as, in the long term, to actively impact and drive forward areas such as climate protection and sustainability, new computing technolo- gies and trustworthiness in the semiconductor and chip sector. Increasing the innovative strength of microelectronics in Europe To ensure that Germany and Europe remain key players in the global value chain, the FMD undertook crucial preparatory work for the technological foundation of the "European Chips Act" in 2022. For instance, the FMD-QNC is being complemented at the European level by the PREVAIL project (Partnership for Realization and Validation of AI hardware Leadership). This project brings together four European research organizations, CEA-Leti, Fraunhofer, imec and VTT, to create a networked 14 

#WeKnowHow l Facts and figures Facts and figures Personnel development 1173 salaried employees Fraunhofer IIS has a workforce of 1173 salaried employees. The number of staff on the books rose slightly year over year. In addition, 452 students and 18 trainees work at the institute. 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Salaried employees Student assistants Trainees 16 * Projection as of January 2023 

#WeKnowHow l Members of the Advisory Board Members of the Advisory Board The Advisory Board advises the institute’s directors and helps to forge contacts with industry and other organizations Dr. Annerose Beck Marco-Alexander Breit Eckard Eberle Dr. Bernd Ebersold Dr. Astrid Elbe Prof. Kai Fischbach Prof. Joachim Hornegger Dr. Walther Pelzer Dr. Heike Prasse Dr. Heike Riel Dr. Dietmar Schill Dr. Isabel Thielen Dr. Dirk Tielbürger Dr. Manfred Wolter Ulrich Zwölfer Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Siemens AG Thuringian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Science and Digital Society Aviat Networks University of Bamberg Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg German Aerospace Center (DLR) German Federal Ministry of Education and Research IBM Research Sony Europe B.V. Thielen Business Coaching GmbH German Federal Ministry of Defence Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy SICK AG 18 Last updated: December 2022 

#WeKnowHow l Smart Sensing » Interpreting facial expressions with AI Zitat« Name Position Most people can tell at a glance if someone looks sad, angry or happy. Researchers at Fraunhofer IIS in Erlangen used artificial intelligence to teach a software to do the same. SHORE®, the facial recognition and emotion analysis software, is now 15 years old and has been upgraded with additional functions, including heart rate recognition. While most people can recognize and inter- pret facial expressions right away, children with autism frequently find this difficult. Moreover, they can often have a hard time finding the correct facial expression for what they themselves are feeling. As part of the ERIK project, therapists want to use a robot to teach autistic children how to read people’s facial expressions with a view to understanding others’ feelings. The technology behind this work is pro- vided by SHORE®, the facial recognition and emotion analysis software developed by Fraunhofer IIS. “SHORE® is a software library for real-time facial recognition and expression analysis using artificial intelli- gence methods,” says Dr. Dominik Seuß, head of the Facial Analysis Solutions group at Fraunhofer IIS. “SHORE® can recognize a person’s face and use what it sees to identify their age, sex and emotions.” The idea to incorporate facial recognition technology into therapies for autistic children came from a number of parents who wanted to make their child’s day-to-day life easier. The Fraunhofer IIS development team received a number of such inquiries. At a glance 1 | SHORE® , the facial recognition and emotion analysis software developed by Fraunhofer IIS, celebrates its 15-year history. 2 | To mark this milestone, SHORE® was given several new features: contactless camera-based detection of heart rate and remote analysis directly in a web browser. 3 | This is relevant for applications including driver monitoring systems for cars and trucks. 20 

#WeKnowHow l Smart Sensing In collaboration with Humboldt University of Berlin and with funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the team got to work. The result was a white, humanoid robot with a display on its chest showing sample facial expressions that the children are invited to inter- pret. The robot speaks to the children, offering advice, praise, encouragement and explanations. For instance, it will tell them that a hallmark of a happy face is when the corners of the mouth are raised. Then it’s the children’s turn to imitate the expression they’ve just seen. This method appears to be effec- tive: the participating children are finding it easier and easier to interpret other people’s facial expressions. Keeping an eye on ethical aspects When it comes to projects like ERIK that involve research on or with people, Fraunhofer IIS researchers always take into account the ethical, legal and social implications, or ELSI for short. They include users in the process and gain the appro- val of an ethics commission as a matter of course. Artificial intelligence (AI) is trained using large data sets. In the case of children’s facial expressions, the researchers train the AI using videos of people making a range of facial expressions with a view to making the training as nuanced as possible. “For every new research method, we get confirmation that what we’re doing is ethically tenable,” Seuß says. SHORE® has also held a data privacy seal for more than five years. Emotion recognition in advertising? Applications for facial expression recognition are by no means limited to therapies. Take advertising: Does the key message resonate with the target group? At what point do viewers experience positive feelings, and when should the manufac- turer’s or product’s logo then appear? To help answer these and similar questions, German market research company GfK also used the SHORE® facial recognition software. “GfK visited people at home and showed them a series of advertising spots on a computer and got their permission to be filmed while watching. This new footage was transmitted to the GfK offices, where it was analyzed using SHORE®,” Seuß says. An upgraded version of SHORE® at 15 To mark the 15th year of SHORE®, a new version of the tech- nology was released. It’s now possible to analyze data directly in a browser, which means that videos no longer have to leave the computer they are saved on. Instead, only the metadata, in other words the results of the analysis, are transmitted. 22 “Now that we have a WebAssembly version, the software library can also be used in web applications. This has the enor- mous benefit of no longer having to transmit video material,” Seuß says. Another enhancement is that the facial analysis can now deter- mine heart rate. This is because each heartbeat sends a pulse wave through the body, subtly altering the color of the skin. Although these changes are imperceptible to the naked eye, the camera picks them up due to its much more finely tuned color detection. The AI is thus in a position to determine a person’s heart rate based on pulse-controlled changes to their skin tone. Potential applications here include driver monitoring systems: camera-based – and thus contactless – facial recog- nition can be used to capture vital parameters. Fraunhofer IIS researchers plan to develop SHORE® so that it can be used to detect even more biosignals in addition to heart rate. “To this end, we’re working closely with our neighboring Digital Health Systems department as well as with other experts whose expertise dovetails with our own,” Seuß says. In addition, the SHORE® research team is making inroads into crown analysis. “We want to use SHORE® to detect, say, the moment when the mood of a large crowd suddenly shifts,” Seuß says. The conditions the technology supports could hardly be better: SHORE® can already detect and 

Schematic illustration of image- based sorting of cell pairs © Fraunhofer IZI-BB The aim of the Bavarian Chip-Design-Center is to promote technology transfer in business and enhance the training of highly qualified chip designers IMAGO – Image-based cell sorting Bavarian Chip-Design-Center strengthens the economy Sorting cells according to their microscopic appearance using smart image analysis A key technology in modern biomedicine is segregating hete- rogeneous cell populations. The IMAGO research project is taking cell sorting to a whole new level: in the future, it will be possible to sort cells according to spatially resolved characte- ristics. This is about characteristics that describe a cell’s inner appearance, such as the position of cell organelles or the dis- tribution of proteins. IMAGO uses smart image analysis methods as well as neural networks that learn the cell characteristics upon which sorting decisions will be made. If successful, this could overcome the previous limitations of conventional cell sorting methods and open new doors in biomedical research – for example in the field of immunotherapy. At Fraunhofer IIS, the working group on Medical Image Analy- sis is responsible for developing the AI that makes the sorting decision. This group is develo-ping a user-adaptable AI that will work for many sorting use cases as well as an application software for future users. As part of Fraunhofer’s PREPARE program, IMAGO is to achieve market readiness in collabora- tion with the Bioanalytics and Bioprocesses (BB) branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Enginee- ring IOF and the Charité university hospital in Berlin. www.iis.fraunhofer.de/imageanalysis Funding from the State of Bavaria strengthens the competitiveness of microelectronics particularly among SMEs Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integ- rated Security AISEC and the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Microsystems and Solid State Technologies EMFT, we have been awarded just under one million euros in funding for the preliminary project for the Bavarian Chip-Design-Center, or BCDC for short. The funding notification was presented by Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger. The preliminary project will focus on establishing the organi- zational structure, setting up networks and initiating the first topic-based research projects to pave the way for a joint BCDC. In the long term, it is hoped that the BCDC will expand Bava- ria’s expertise in IC design, establish a chip design ecosystem and provide SMEs in particular with easy access to application- specific ICs at minimal risk. What’s more, it should expand access to manufacturing capacity, expedite the training and qualification of designers and pave the way for faster innova- tion rollouts. Also on the agenda is the education and training of the next generation of chip designers. Fraunhofer IIS is providing the project with the benefits of its cutting-edge research into microelectronic and IT system solutions and services as well as of the innovative and integrated digital and mixed-signal systems it develops. The focus here is on designing chips for a wide range of applications and on establishing design solutions for increasingly complex electronic systems. Above all, what we are doing is bringing the entire development process together under one roof – from gene- rating ideas to resolving supply chain issues to acting as an interface to semiconductor manufacturers. www.iis.fraunhofer.de/bcdc-en 24 

#WeKnowHow l Adaptive Systems At a glance 1 | Communication based on the quantum key exchange principle cannot be intercepted without being noticed. 2 | We have established an Application Center for Quantum Communication to support the practical development of electronic systems. 3 | The center plans to demonstrate highly secure signal transmission from Saxony to Thuringia and subsequently to Bavaria. 26 

#WeKnowHow l Adaptive Systems The new application center will help shape key stages in the development of quantum technology. Innovation potential for high-tech industry The Application Center for the Design of Scalable Electronic Systems for Quantum Communication – to give its full title – at the Engineering of Adaptive Systems (EAS) Division is working to cultivate this technolo- gical principle for practical application. Its goal is to nurture the innovation and application potential of the technology for the high-tech industries that are such a strong presence in the Saxon economy, such as micro- and nano-electronics. Since the summer of 2022, the center has been providing companies and researchers with flexible experiment and test environments for the development of elec- tronics for quantum communication systems. One of the focuses of its work, for example, has been on microelectronic circuits based on chiplets. This approach not only makes it possible to produce electronics cost-effectively even in small batches, but also offers a way to implement very high-performance functional units using the optimum technology for each of the heterogeneous systems required. “Quantum communication – that is, the exchange of data via qubits – will change our world forever. The prospect of hack-proof data transfer offers just a glimpse of the full potential of this technology. However, it will take many more technological innovations for this technology to become widespread in industry and administration and, ultimately, among the general public. This is where the new application center comes in. Working within a partner net- work, it will develop and test precisely these applications in an effort to shape the key development stages of quantum techno- logy,” says Saxony’s Minister of Science, Sebastian Gemkow. Demonstrator for quantum-safe video communication An important milestone of the applica- tion center was achieved in 2022 with the successful creation of a prototype quantum communication system. “In a first stage, we did intensive testing of quantum-safe com- munication via fiber optics at our institute building on Münchner Straße,” reports Dr. Kay-Uwe Giering, head of the application center at Fraunhofer IIS/EAS. “As a result, we can now give other research institutes and companies access to a demonstrator as a practical testing environment for their own developments of electronic components and systems.” This experimentation environment is based on entangled photon pairs, which permit the allocation of a random key. The setups use individual photons and currently encode the key bit in the photon polarization or the photon phase. Furthermore, the test environment makes it possible to implement the design, validation and optimization of high-performance electronic circuits for quan- tum communication in modern semiconductor technologies. “The modern approach we’re pursuing here offers huge advantages for our partners,” Giering says. “As well as enabling miniaturized and cost-effective electronic modules, it also provides them with maximum performance capability and adaptability.” 28 

#WeKnowHow l Adaptive Systems AI to optimize welding processes in shipbuilding Manufacturing individual components with an innovative Al-based welding process In many industrial sectors, welding is one of the basic processes for joining components together. The welding methods currently used in shipbuilding are particularly efficient when it comes to repeatedly prefabricating similar and flat components. But in the field of component manufacturing, more and more new, complex and even three-dimen- sional tasks are emerging – tasks today’s welding robots are not designed for. To avoid major time losses and an increase in the cost of manufacturing a ship, we and our partners in the KISSS research project (the German acronym stands for “AI-based manufacturing technology for autonomous laser welding of complex ship structures”) are working on a new and robust laser wel- ding process. Our goal is for this to form the basis for significant productivity and quality improvements in component manufacturing for shipbuilding. The project will employ AI methods in different phases of the welding manufacturing process in order to make the high complexity of the application manageable. By employing suitable AI methods, the project partners aim to draw up approaches that can help improve the entire planning of a sequence of welds. The partners will also apply these methods to find the optimal design for each individual weld seam in a new type of automated laser welding pro- cess that uses targeted heat input. Overall, this shortens lead times and reduces error rates while improving product quality. www.eas.iis.fraunhofer.de/kisss-en About the KISSS project The move toward smart systems and production methods will make it possible to tap the potential of maritime digitalization and strengthen resource- efficient production methods. Under the leadership of MEYER WERFT GmbH & Co. KG, project partners Laserline GmbH, SLV Mecklenburg- Vorpommern GmbH and the Engineering of Adaptive Systems EAS division of Fraunhofer IIS will collaborate to achieve the project’s goals by 2025. The KISSS joint project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of the Maritime Research Program. 30 

#WeKnowHow l Communication 5G for tomorrow’s mobility Testing 5G functionalities for connected driving in a real traffic environment The new 5G mobile communications standard is putting connected driving within reach. Faster data connections, minimum latency and high reliability pave the way toward optimi- zed traffic concepts that enable vehicles to communicate with their environment and be intelligently integrated into the traffic flow. Companies can find out whether this also works smoothly in practice at our 5G Bavaria automotive test bed. Since May, companies have been able to give their 5G applications a “reality check” in the test bed sponsored by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. In this way, applications can be put through their paces under various reception conditions before being launched on the market. The controlled and reproducible test environment south of Rosenheim is ideal for this purpose due to its heterogeneous road area. The automotive test bed is of particular use to developers who want to test new connectivity solutions in a real road network. The focus is on testing transmission technology and evaluating specific transmitter and receiver components. Essential performance parame- ters such as latency, reliability and throughput provide valuable insights into a given applica- tion’s quality of service and user experience. Connected driving introduces new functions that can be evaluated on the area’s test routes just as comprehensively as the quality of the data connections between the vehicle and the wireless network and among the vehicles themselves. Connected car scenarios can also be expanded to include infrastructure components such as stationary traffic monitoring systems with object recognition. A local multi-access edge computing server can help test numerous applications in cases that require short res- ponse times, need to avoid cloud processing due to privacy concerns, or where local proces- sing is preferred to reduce network traffic. www.iis.fraunhofer.de/5g-testbedautomotive youtu.be/qk-orVwRexM Testing connected automotive applications with 5G 32 

#WeKnowHow l X-ray Preparing for climate change with sensor technology The summer of 2022 made it clear once again: agriculture needs plants that are adapted to climate change. To help breeders select suitable varieties, Fraunhofer IIS develops high-performance optical and X-ray systems. Since 2022, these techno- logies have been further refined in the recently established Fraunhofer Center for Biogenic Value Creation and Smart Farming. At a glance 1 | The Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT develops technologies to objectively measure external characteristics of plants. 2 | Phenotyping results support breeders in selecting crops adapted to climate change. 3 | Fraunhofer IIS is establishing a new site in Triesdorf, a national center for agricultural research and teaching. 34 

#WeKnowHow l X-ray Top: X-rays let us look into the earth: potato tubers at an advanced stage of growth Bottom: A corn plant’s washed root structures (optical image) No less a figure than Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Hubert Aiwanger, came to the kickoff meeting of the Fraunhofer Center for Biogenic Value Creation and Smart Farming in July 2022. His presence underscored the importance of the research network that is being established in Mecklen- burg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria. Its objective is to develop innovative technologies for sustainable agriculture – from seeds to food processing technology to refined products. In a Bavarian subproject, the Development Center X-ray Tech- nology EZRT of Fraunhofer IIS starts with the seed. More spe- cifically, with the process of breeding crops adapted to climate change. The new varieties have to cope with heat and drought, while also requiring as little fertilizer as possible and ideally no more pesticides. “People have been selecting crops based on external characteristics for thousands of years,” explains Dr. Stefan Gerth, Head of Department at Fraunhofer EZRT. “We’re developing technologies to objectively and reproducibly mea- sure these traits and use the data to optimize breeding.” The scientists consider factors such as leaf size, leaf position, root network and yield. Together, these characteristics determine the phenotype, i.e. the external appearance of a plant. Watching potatoes grow – without digging them up When Dr. Gerth began X-raying potatoes ten years ago, he was one of the pioneers in the virtually unexplored field of nondestructive phenotyping of underground plant parts. Back then, he was studying potatoes suffering from heat stress. He wanted to track their growth without digging them up, so he cultivated the potatoes in flowerpots and constructed a com- puted tomography device with his team to X-ray the plants. “Regular X-rays allowed us to observe exactly how tuber formation is affected by heat and drought,” Gerth says. With this research, he laid the foundation for the construction of a special X-ray chamber for crops; this one-of-a-kind equip- ment exists only at Fraunhofer EZRT in Fürth. Pots of crops are arranged in neat rows on the narrow conveyor belt in front of the X-ray machine. The assembly line positions the plants one after the other in the device. After just five minutes, it’s 36 the next plant’s turn. “With this system, we can even record the delicate root architecture of wheat and observe how the plants react to heat or drought stress,” Gerth explains. “Our device is the most modern and powerful X-ray system for underground plant parts.” In collaboration with Fraunhofer EZRT, Dutch company Pheno- Key has developed a robust CT scanner for plant cultivation. Its customers also include big seed breeding companies, which have tens of thousands of plants in their greenhouses that need to be assessed. The CT images have enormously high resolution and measure some 40 gigabytes. To make these data volumes manageable for customers, algorithms analyze the data sets automatically and zero in on the important data. 

#WeKnowHow l X-ray The final secrets of encryption machines Thanks to powerful X-ray technology, the mysterious interiors of 60 encryption machines from the col- lection of the Deutsches Museum have been revealed Their inner workings are among the best-guarded of secrets – after all, the machines themselves were all about secrecy. We are talking about encryption machines, with which the military and secret services but also banks encoded their messages. Last year, 60 of these encryption machines from the collection of the Deutsches Museum were studied using a particularly powerful X-ray machine. The Enigma machine used by the Nazis and its less well-known successor, Cipher Machine 41, were among the items scanned at the Development Center for X-ray Technology EZRT at Fraunhofer IIS in Fürth. “We expect that this research project will yield new findings about the construction of the encryption machines and how they work,” says cryptography curator at the Deutsches Museum, Carola Dahlke. “The Enigma has been quite thor- oughly researched, but other encryption machines simply cannot be opened without damaging them.” Machines from the early days of computers in particular have revealed a lot of mysteries. Their designers wanted of course to shield the inner workings of the machines from the eyes of unauthorized people. “Some encryption machines are welded shut or even filled with a mysterious substance that ensures that the inner workings of the machine are destroyed when the casing is opened,” Dahlke says. But thanks to state-of-the-art technology at Fraunhofer EZRT in Fürth, it is possible to study the inner workings of these devices nonetheless. The XXL scanner at EZRT somewhat resembles a CT scanner in a hospital – except that the XXL scanner does not have a giant tube that rotates around a patient, rather the object is placed on a turntable that rotates while the X-ray source stays fixed in its place. And the X-ray source is also much stronger than in a medical device. “That’s necessary because the objects are largely made of metal and difficult to penetrate for conven- tional X-ray tubes,” explains Nils Reims, head of the 3D-Ciphe- ram project at the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology EZRT. This allows the last mechanical mysteries of the top-secret encryption machines to be brought to light. Left: The encryption machines are carefully unpacked Bottom: X-ray image of a Kryha cipher machine 38 

#WeKnowHow l Digital Transformation Knowledge graphs for Industry 4.0 trustworthy electronics, called Velektronik. With knowledge graphs as a database, we are building Welektronik: an open, collaborative wiki for describing supply networks and analy- zing them for trustworthiness. The data for this is obtained from public sources such as Wikidata or manufacturer web- sites, but can also be entered by supply chain participants themselves. Using connected data to move toward smarter process analysis and more trustworthy electronics www.scs.fraunhofer.de/en-ai-nalyze www.scs.fraunhofer.de/en-welektronik Tomorrow’s digital factory will be able to organize itself more and more independently and will also be increasingly automa- ted or able to respond on its own to malfunctions. However, to become reality, this vision requires a wide range of machi- ne-readable data in large quantities. To this end, our Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services is developing “knowledge graphs.” These knowledge graphs use artificial intelligence (Al) to link data from different sources and pool it all together. With this Al-based technology, it is possible not only to represent data, but to conduct predictive analy- tics as well. For example, in such a data space, Al can analyze in advance what time is good for a repair so that upcoming orders can be processed in line with demand. Process mining of material flows Al-Nalyze – intelligent analysis of production processes in real time Disruptions often occur at inopportune times. The Al-Nalyze project aims to create an intelligent process analysis solution that, using AI, can learn from previous failures and predict future ones in real time. Together with Trevisto AG, we are working to find opportunities for controlling and improving transparently mapped processes for the Siemens AG plant in Amberg, Germany. Data such as machine speed, power con- sumption or which workpieces are currently in use are automa- tically recorded – as are malfunctions. This smart factory data is applied to optimize processes in real time; for example, by having an Al suggest a suitable time for maintenance – before any damage occurs. The underlying knowledge graph makes it possible to link the various data sources and thus provides the system context for individual data points, which the Al can then take into account. Welektronik – a wiki for electronics hardware without security gaps In computing parlance, a backdoor is an unwanted access point built into electronic hardware that hackers use to bypass security systems so they can spy on, say, corporate networks. To ensure that trustworthy suppliers are reliably recognized by the German microelectronics industry, we are developing new software as part of a Fraunhofer-wide consortium project on Verification of internal material flow processes in small-scale production operations Wide ranges of variants, small batch sizes and flexibility: as manufacturing becomes more and more individualized, the tasks of in-house logistics are becoming increasingly complex. There is still plenty of potential for optimization in material flow control, but at SMEs especially, the corresponding physi- cal processes are often insufficiently digitally mapped. It is also not always clear which processes have actually been executed, to say nothing of when and how. That’s why in the ProCheck project, our Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services and the Positioning and Networks unit have been researching how to enable automated and continuous analysis plus optimization and verification of material flow processes, even in small-scale production operations. To do this, the team used process mining methods for these physical material flows. Missing data and information on cyber-physical systems (CPS) was collected to create a valid data basis. The application partner was a manufacturing company with a corresponding requirements profile, such as spatially distri- buted machine and assembly stations as well as material and tool requirements related to ordering. Fraunhofer researchers installed the required CPS and, in parallel, applied process mining methods to the existing ERP data. www.scs.fraunhofer.de/en-procheck 40 

#WeKnowHow l Digital Transformation Making cash supplies more resilient How digital eagle eyes find brownfields Ensuring the supply of cash in a crisis: Optimization algorithm for determining key cash withdrawal points in Germany as part of a new security framework An intact cash cycle is important. What happens, however, if crisis situations disrupt the circulation of cash and today’s widely adopted electronic payment methods cease to work? In the Resilience of Cash Supply (BASIC) consortium project, the German Central Bank, commercial banks, trading compa- nies, cash-/valuables-in-transit service providers and research institutions are developing the first ever holistic cash security framework that is designed for the long term and takes into account all the players involved and their needs. For specific scenarios, researchers at our Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services define the optimum cash delivery by means of mathematical optimization. They pinpoint which data needs to be available for an optimization in a given crisis situation. And based on the available data, they calculate the most relevant cash withdrawal points (ATMs and banks) in order to prioritize their supply or, for example, to equip them with crisis-proof emergency power generators. Moreover, the optimization algorithm can be adapted individually to the crisis setting through various parameters. This new, integrated approach will improve the supra-regional availability of cash in emergency situations. www.scs.fraunhofer.de/en-basic Detecting unused industrial and commercial sites using geodata and aerial and satellite images Abandoned warehouses, empty industrial facilities, unused commercial properties – in Germany, there are many of these brownfield sites, which are often difficult to research. At the same time, there are many expanding businesses that are looking for industrial and commercial sites. In the ARGOS project (Reconnaissance of Reactivatable Brownfield Sites Using Optical-Based Systems), researchers at our Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services are training AI to identify such sites. Brownfield sites have a lot of advantages: As well as being connected to supply networks, they are often in a central location with good infrastructure links and are accessible by truck. Detecting unused sites with AI AI can be trained to recognize reactivatable brownfield sites using geodata and aerial and satellite images. This reveals the existence of potential industrial and commercial sites and enables new real estate projects, which is beneficial not only for commercial reasons, but also from a sustainability stand- point. After all, no new land has to be paved over and perma- nently sealed for new developments and company expansions. A preliminary study has already demonstrated the project’s feasibility Germany-wide. www.scs.fraunhofer.de/en-argos 42 

#WeKnowHow l Positioning Professional mobile communications applications with global appeal Fraunhofer IIS has developed an unprecedented 5G offering that enables precise location of autonomous vehicles, products and tools on factory floors. The Fraunhofer IIS team demonstrated how this system works and what the 5G mobile communications standard can do for professional mobile users for the first time at the new, positively received 5G Connect symposium in its 5G Bavaria Industry 4.0 test bed in Nuremberg. At the event, attendees were able to learn more about 5G from automotive applications to satellite communications, experience localization in industrial environments, and dive into the world of private networks while learning about the opportunities of edge computing. 44 

Precise positioning in demanding environments The 5G standard has been rolled out worldwide for a good two years. The fact that Fraunhofer IIS has already been able to pre- sent such powerful localization for use in enterprise solutions is primarily due to many years of development of the algorithms that process the radio signals. “Factories and production envi- ronments are full of obstacles and sources of interference that make signal processing difficult,” says Maximilian Kasparek, an expert in algorithm development. They feature a lot of metal, which can both reflect and shade radio signals. In addition, the environment changes frequently because material is tempo- rarily stored close to production. This presents an enormously challenging environment for localization. The algorithms developed at Fraunhofer IIS are capable of correctly interpreting the 5G signals despite interference. But 5G isn’t everything. Fraunhofer IIS has expertise in a wide range of different radio standards and methods. These are used together on vehicles that travel both indoors and outdoors in the yard. For example, 5G is combined with satellite navigation. “Among other things, we use the signals from Europe’s Galileo satellite system,” reveals Jan Niklas Bauer, who is responsible for implementing localization in the 5G Bavaria Industry 4.0 test bed in Nurem- berg. “Not only will this allow users to seamlessly switch be- tween satellite and 5G navigation, but the technologies can also support each other to make localization more reliable overall.” #WeKnowHow l Positioning When the topic of 5G comes up, the thing most people probably think of first is smartphones, greater bandwidth and shorter response times. In fact, however, 5G opens up completely new possibilities, especially for professional mobile communications applications such as in industry. In the future, it will be possible to link machines, control devices, cameras and sensors together even more effectively than before with 5G. This will make production more automated and, above all, more flexible. A far less well known fact is that the 5G standard is also suitable for a completely different industrial application – the precise localization and reliable control of, for example, autonomous transport vehicles or products in the manufacturing process. Fraunhofer IIS has been researching positioning technologies for around 20 years and has been working for some time with radio frequencies and signals that are now used in the 5G standard. It offers researchers a 5G test center and two 5G test beds. Manufacturers of 5G tech- nology, network operators and, above all, companies can test applications, concepts and new developments here together with Fraunhofer experts. Fraunhofer IIS expertise has global appeal: this was evident at 5G Connect, the international sym- posium that the institute hosted for the first time on Septem- ber 29, 2022. Hosting 200 professional mobile communications users from Europe and the US Around 100 experts gathered at the Nuremberg test center to learn about the current state of research on industrial 5G applications, including experts from the United States, Canada and many European countries. Another 100 or so international participants used the online platform to take part. One of the highlights of the event was the 5G location of an industrial truck in a 5G campus network. “The vehicle is equipped with a commercially available 5G modem,” says Karin Loidl, a posi- tioning and networks expert, who organized the symposium. “But we’ve enhanced our local 5G network with algorithms to be able to locate the vehicle in real-world environments to within about 50 centimeters. The development step to get there was enormous,” she stresses, “because tracking vehicles by radio normally requires additional technology that has to be installed and networked specifically. We, however, are using the 5G standard, which combines communication and locali- zation in one system and will be available almost everywhere in the future, including most factory floors. We can get by with this without any additional technology at all; except, of course, for the laser scanners on board, which help to avoid collisions.” Accordingly, the guests at 5G Connect were thrilled when the small vehicle drove through the hall, Loidl says. 46 

#WeKnowHow l Positioning Smart and sustainable The Q-Bo® smart screw connection enables wireless, energy-efficient and reliable loT sensor technology for condition monitoring 4.0 Screw connections are fundamental to the construction of machines, structures and vehicles. They secure bridges and buildings, keep flange connections tight and ensure that wheels and rotors are firmly positioned. But inspecting them as part of maintenance routines is complex and costly. Making screws smart enough to report any problems at an early stage before any damage occurs was the aim of a research project on the Q-Bo® smart screw connection. This project was conducted by the cross-institute research team in the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence for Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT, consisting of Fraunhofer IIS and the Fraunhofer Institutes for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF, and for Applied and Integrated Safety AISEC. Top: The Q-Bo® smart screw con- nection secures e.g. structures and wind turbines Bottom: Smart, robust, sensitive and self-powered: the Q-Bo® smart screw connection 48 Smart and sensitive A piezoresistive, pressure-sensitive thin film on a washer measures a screw connection’s pre- tension at three points. Using three measuring points ensures that even a tilting of the screw connection will be detected. The measurement is then sent via a radio transmitter. An addi- tional temperature reading on the washer takes into account and corrects any temperature effects on the measurement. Self-powered, robust and reliable To enable many of these Q-Bo® smart screw connections to be energy-efficient or self-powered, the experts at Fraunhofer IIS integrated energy harvesting technologies into their radio transmitters. A thermoelectric energy converter generates sufficient current to operate the wireless sensor even when temperature differences are only small. The wireless sensor’s energy requirements can also be met completely using small solar cells. This eliminates the need to replace or recharge batteries. The mioty® LPWAN technology, also developed at Fraunhofer IIS, can be used to reliably send data across several kilometers using the robust telegram splitting method. That means a base station can receive and forward more than 3.5 million data packets per day. The mioty® protocol is so resistant to interference that even if 50 percent of the transmitted data packets are lost, all relevant information will safely reach its destination. Thanks to cryptographic encryption, each screw’s data transmission is tamper-proof. Q-Bo® is already in the evaluation phase at several companies. www.cit.fraunhofer.de/smartscrew www.iis.fraunhofer.de/energyharvesting-en youtu.be/p_L9FCJfJzs 

#WeKnowHow l Audio AI technology for clear TV dialogue At a glance 1 | The AI-based MPEG-H Dialog+ technology makes it easier to understand dialogue on television – for instance in the ARD Mediathek. 2 | Fraunhofer IIS’s MPEG-H Dialog+ technology allows incremental transition to the media formats of the future. 3 | With automated workflows and cloud-based solutions, we facilitate cost- effective, scalable and future-proof investments. 50 

#WeKnowHow l Audio Object-based audio (OBA) such as the MPEG-H Audio techno- logy from Fraunhofer IIS delivers the components of an audio mix to the consumer device as separate objects. This enables users to adapt audio contents to their personal taste – by selecting defined presets, for example, or adjusting individual elements within a framework defined during production. Because the final mix is created in the playback device, it can be perfectly adapted to the individual situation. High-performance training for networks MPEG-H Dialog+ is a file-based dialogue separation technolo- gy that was developed at Fraunhofer IIS. At its core is a neural network that separates out the dialogue – in this case, a Deep Convolutional Neural Network. The network is trained using a specially prepared audio database that contains data derived from real broadcasting content supplied to Fraunhofer IIS by TV networks and production companies. The DNN training works on the basis of stems – that is to say, composite sound- tracks. Two stems are prepared: one for dialogue and another for music and effects (M&E). These audio stems are edited manually to exclude all parts in which non-speech sounds are present in the dialogue stem or dialogue in the M&E stem. This prevents training errors whereby, for example, sounds could later be misinterpreted as speech and separated. Having received the mix of the components as an input signal, the neural network automatically separates them so that they are available as individual elements at the output and can be remixed. The goal is for these elements to resemble the separate components as closely as possible. For the quality and robustness of the model, it is essential to have a very broad variety of training data covering the full spectrum of broad- casting contents. Both female and male speakers are represen- ted in the data, which comes from all kinds of genres – from nature documentaries to sports programs to movies. The language of the training data has been predominantly German to date, but initial projects in other languages indicate that Dialog+ can also deliver good results there. It’s all in the mix Dialogue separation makes it possible to separate the dialogue and non-dialogue signals in existing mixes. But what do you do with the separated components to get a new audio mix that is easier to understand? This is where the automatic remixing of MPEG-H Dialog+ comes into play: it can combine static back- ground noise reduction with dynamic, time-variant background noise reduction. 52 The static reduction lowers the level of the separated back- ground sound by a set decibel value across the entire signal. This has several advantages: one is that the general sound design and music, which many people find intrusively loud, becomes more quiet; another is that it makes it possible to distinguish clearly and quickly between the original mix and the Clear Speech versi- on. However, background noise reduction isn’t strictly necessary in the absence of dialogue. Indeed, it can even spoil the esthetics and artistic intent or suppress sounds with narrative significance. In such cases, it makes sense to lower the background sound level only when the dialogue signal is present and to lower it only as much as is absolutely necessary. Helpfully, Fraunhofer IIS also has a solution for this: the Adaptive Background Attenuation algorithm, which automatically generates a dynamic new mix by means of a few easily adjustable parameters. Clear Speech for the ARD Mediathek Is speech intelligibility really such a big problem? The short answer is: Yes! Many people complain about not understan- ding dialogue. For this reason, the German public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) and Fraunhofer IIS cooperated in an online test in 2020. While watching content in the ARD Player, over 2,000 participants were able to switch between the original mix and a Clear Speech – as ARD calls it – version with reduced background noise. Afterward, the participants answered an online survey. It turned out that 68 percent of all participants have problems understanding TV dialogue either often or very often. This problem intensifies with age. A full 90 percent of participants over the age of 60 reported difficulty understanding TV dialogue. The option of switching to a Clear Speech mix appealed to 83 percent of participants – even those who said they had no or few problems with speech intel- ligibility. This shows that this is not a fringe concern, but that the desire for clearer speech, or at least for options, permeates the entire audience. Subsequently, the Fraunhofer IIS partners WDR and Baye- rischer Rundfunk (BR) carried out field tests with MPEG-H Dialog+, whereby Clear Speech soundtracks were produced and made available for various popular German TV shows. WDR transmitted Clear Speech via DVB-S as an additional audio signal, while BR provided Clear Speech via HbbTV and added it synchronously to the existing broadcast signal. Some of the WDR productions were then offered in the on-demand service in the ARD Mediathek, with the addition of further TV shows since. The provision of an additional Clear Speech soundtrack does not involve any significant additional cost or effort; it can be inserted directly into the current workflows of the existing media center content. The Clear Speech mix is generated automatically from the original mix and fed into the ARD Mediathek. 

#WeKnowHow l Audio Global demand for audio codecs from Erlangen AI-driven speech technologies Thanks to MPEG-H Audio, soccer fans in Brazil and South Korea experienced the World Cup with immersive, interactive sound. Windows and Xbox users enjoy the benefits of xHE-AAC. Reliable speech technologies have gained hugely in importance due to increased use of videoconferen- cing and voice-controlled devices xHE-AAC now enables uninterrupted streaming of audio content in two prestigious Microsoft products. With the support of Fraunhofer IIS, the tech giant has integrated the codec into Windows 11 and distributed it to all users worldwide as part of a service update. Microsoft’s Xbox console also received an xHE-AAC decoder via an update. At the 2022 World Cup, soccer fans in Brazil and South Korea experienced the benefits of MPEG-H Audio. Brazil’s largest media corporation Grupo Globo broadcast the event in MPEG-H Audio on three of its five commercial channels. In addition, comprehensive tests were carried out before the launch of the TV 3.0 standard with MPEG-H Audio as the mandatory audio codec. SBS, one of South Korea’s leading broadcasters, streamed the mega sporting event via an app in which viewers could choose between different audio presets. In the domain of communication codecs, LC3 became the mandatory Bluetooth Low Energy profile earlier this year. Since then, it has been enhancing the listening experience of users of wireless devices. Meanwhile, LC3plus has been certified by the Japanese Audio Society for the prestigious Hi-Res Audio Wireless Logo program. www.audioblog.iis.fraunhofer.com The Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS and Fraunhofer IIS have globally unrivaled expertise in the field of speech technologies. Building on this, the institu- tes are partnering with German industry to develop a completely new voice assistance system. Because the resulting solutions are independent of US or Asian technologies, they can guarantee that data security complies with European standards. To pool their expertise, the two Fraunhofer Institutes are planning to establish a German Center for Speech Technologies, which will be at the center of an extensive ecosystem of start-ups, SMEs, industry and research. Unlocking the power of AI to solve complex tasks is a particular challenge here. For example, neural networks and machine lear- ning methods can detect the speech signal in a video recording and separate it from other sounds. The noises are efficiently sup- pressed as a result, which greatly increases speech intelligibility. And when it comes to speech output, AI can generate natural- sounding voices that very closely approximate the intonation and emotions of human speakers. Moreover, the AI-driven adapta- bility of speech characteristics can be used to reinforce brand identity – for example, with the voice of a well-known speaker. www.allinga.fraunhofer.de/en.html 54 

#WeKnowHow l Resource-efficient technologies for sustainable, global value creation Resource-efficient technologies for sustainable, global value creation Powerful computers have become a fact of everyday life and the digital transformation is continually engendering new high-tech business models. While fulfilling our demand for quality of life, security and health, these advances consume a lot of energy. It is our conviction that forward-looking technologies for our economy and day-to-day lives must be in harmony with the needs of a sustainable world, which is why we see it as our mission to promote resource efficiency. Prof. Albert Heuberger Executive Director Fraunhofer IIS Microelectronics can help bring about notable energy savings Albert Heuberger: We are continuously developing and improving the performance of technologies and entire systems. While doing so, we strive to make the energy consumption of electronics as efficient as possible – through means such as energy-efficient AI processors. When it comes to microelectronics, we start with things like resource efficiency in sensor edge cloud systems, energy-saving communi- cation infrastructures and resource-optimized electronics production. Resource-efficient electronics is the basis for a forward-looking economy Industry 4.0, machine learning and artificial intelligence are making new demands in relation to energy consumption, data proces- sing and data transfer times. For this reason, we are working to advance next-generation computing and developing quantum-based and neuromorphic computing as well as resource-efficient microelectronic compo- nents and systems. Green ICT @ FMD is a central contact point for green microelectronics On August 1, 2022, we founded Green ICT @ FMD, a cross-location competence center for resource-conscious information and com- munication technology. The center has been awarded funding of 34 million euros by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Green ICT ini- tiative within the German government’s Cli- mate Action Program 2030. Green ICT hubs will be opened with a focus on sensor edge cloud systems, infrastructures, materials and processes for green production. The Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) will function as a central point of contact for a wide variety of environmental questions in electronics – for industry, for politics, for individual customers, for young people and for students. Prof. Bernhard Grill Director Fraunhofer IIS Efficiently implemented algorithms give competitive advantage Bernhard Grill: For businesses to maximize their competitive advantage, they need to go beyond economical electronics. Resource- efficient technologies also require adapted, efficiently implemented algorithms for the respective platform. As such, companies need w o H w o n K e W # 56 

#WeKnowHow l In the name of sustainability In the name of sustainability A globally digitalized and environmentally sustainable world – that is what all social actors must collectively strive for. With its climate action measures and climate protection technologies in research and development, Fraunhofer IIS is helping society on the road to more sustainability and resource efficiency. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has set itself an ambitious climate objective: It has commit- ted itself to making its scientific operations climate-neutral by 2030 and to reduce the emissions created by its headquarters and institutes to virtually zero by 2045. To this end, over 100 officers for climate neutrality and sustainability have been appointed across all Fraunhofer establishments. Their task is to develop and implement the institute’s own climate strategy and to initiate and coordinate suitable measures and structures. Further- more, Fraunhofer will of course continue to develop and advance technologies that help industrial enterprises and society implement sustainability. Employees should also actively pursue the implementation of sustainable thinking in everyday situations. Indeed, Fraunhofer IIS’s participatory energy saving initiative has proved to be a big success. All employees were asked to contribute their ideas on energy saving. The suggestions are collected in an action list on the intranet. This list is continu- ally expanded. The aim is to underscore the message that sustainability begins with the individual. If, for example, every single one of the around 1,200 employees were to switch off their computer monitors when finishing up for the evening, that would have a big impact. An individual cannot make a difference? Nothing could be further from the truth! The technologies developed at Fraunhofer IIS are an engine for greater sustainability. Climate action at Fraunhofer IIS As the largest institute in the Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft, Fraunhofer IIS is actively transforming its scientific operations in the pursuit of greater sustainability. Dr. Peter Dittrich, Deputy Director of Fraunhofer IIS, is an officer with responsibility for implemen- ting sustainability in everyday business at the institute. For example, he oversaw the instal- lation of heat pumps at three of the insti- tute’s locations – Erlangen, Nuremberg and Fürth – and is organizing the installation of solar panels. New buildings at Fraunhofer IIS are also being designed with sustainability in mind. Take the Fraunhofer building in Wai- schenfeld, for example, which meets low- energy standards and was built by regional companies using local timber. “Fraunhofer IIS has long made sure that its construction activities obtain the ‘silver’ quality standard under the Assessment System for Sustaina- ble Building (BNB),” Dittrich confirms. 58 

#WeKnowHow l DFG-Collaborative Research Centre German Research Foundation CRC/TRR 154 enters third phase Controlling gas networks by means of mathematical optimization The focus of the German Research Foundation Collaborative Research Centre / Transregio 154 is on mathematical model- ing, simulation and optimization using the example of gas net- works. Its objective is to plan and control complex gas networks using a clever combination of mixed-integer and non-linear opti- mization concepts along with numerical analysis and simulation. In the third phase of TRR 154, the primary focus is on the switch to new energy sources, taking hydrogen as an example. One of the questions being addressed is whether and how the existing infras- tructure can be used by the new energy source, which has some different physical properties compared to conventional sources. The spokesperson for the project is Prof. Alexander Martin in his role as Chair of Analytics and Mixed-Integer Optimization at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). HU Berlin, TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt and WIAS Berlin are partners. In previous projects, the close cooperation between the Chair of Analytics and Mixed-Integer Optimization and the Analy- tics Department at the Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services at Fraunhofer IIS has led to a lively exchange of knowledge and personnel, which has benefited both basic research and work on application-related industrial projects. 60 Fraunhofer IIS projects in phase 4 of the High-Perfor- mance Center Electronic Systems (LZE) The focus of the High-Performance Center Electronic Systems (LZE) is on implementing state-of-the-art technologies from research directly in products and making them quickly and easily accessible to business A joint initiative of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, its Institutes for Integrated Circuits IIS and for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB, and the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the High-Performance Center Electronic Systems (LZE) has entered its fourth project phase. Fraunhofer IIS is represented in this phase by the following projects: Fraunhofer IIS is investigating the expectations of its customers in a novel manner. On behalf of Fraunhofer, LZE GmbH is conducting a market test in the sphere of X-ray techno- logy and running the corresponding X-ray factory, from which interested customers can order various X-ray services. Screw connections in critical and safety-relevant installations such as bridges, wind turbines and industrial machines are constantly subject to high stresses. The smart screw con- nection Q-Bo®, a wireless, self-powered monitoring 

#WeKnowHow l Outlook: Neuromorphic computing as an AI accelerator Outlook: Neuromorphic computing as an AI accelerator Neuromorphic hardware and software for edge Al applications Fraunhofer IIS is a world-class innovation driver in the field of neuromorphic computing. We develop chips whose architec - ture is based on biological neural networks. Strategically important and sustainable research field In addition, Fraunhofer IIS is working on integrated circuits for convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and spiking neural net- works (SNNs) in qualified CMOS technologies that are scalable and configurable depending on the use case. Using analog circuits, our low-power, low-latency neuromorphic processor units (NPUs) for CNNs have higher parallel processing and lower on-chip data transfer requirements than von Neumann based solutions. The software tools we develop are used to train networks and to transfer the networks to the hardware. What makes Fraunhofer IIS’s neuromorphic solutions special is that their hardware and software development is seamlessly intertwined, so that both components are coordinated from the outset. This particular hardware-software co-design flow permits the rapid development of highly complex designs, especially through our neural network (NN) synthesis generator tool. To this end, we combine our expertise in low-power IC design, neural network (NN) algorithms, software tools, system and circuit architecture design with application-specific domain knowledge such as sensors, audio signal and image proces- sing, message transmission and localization. By combining this expertise and domain knowledge, we can implement complete application-specific solutions that offer better system perfor- mance than generic solutions. www.iis.fraunhofer.de/analog-ic Neuromorphic computing: Chips whose architecture is based on biological neural networks 62 

Publishing notes Publishing notes Publisher Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS Prof. Albert Heuberger Prof. Bernhard Grill Prof. Alexander Martin Am Wolfsmantel 33 91058 Erlangen, Germany Phone +49 9131 776-0 info@iis.fraunhofer.de www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en Editors Agnes Pelzl (editor-in-chief), Thoralf Dietz, Saskia McDonagh, Patricia Petsch Editorial team Dr. Janine van Ackeren, Christine Broll, Clara Conradt, Dr. Katja Engel, Mandy Garcia, Simon Hagen, Syndia Ioannidou, Jennifer Karbach, Thomas Kestler, Sandra Kundel, Angela Raguse-Fößel, Daniela Rembor, Tim Schröder, Diana Staack-Tettling, Lucas Westermann, Claudia Wutz Layout and production Claudia Matthias Translation Klein Wolf Peters GmbH Proofreading Saskia McDonagh Contact Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS Corporate Communications Am Wolfsmantel 33 91058 Erlangen, Germany Phone +49 9131 776-1631 presse@iis.fraunhofer.de 64 Photo acknowledgments Cover, pages 6–8, 20–23, 25, 34–35, 36 (bottom), 44–47, 53: Fraunhofer IIS, Paul Pulkert Foreword, page 57: Fraunhofer IIS, Peter Roggenthin Page 9, 33, 37: Fraunhofer IIS, Franziska Köhler Page 11: Fraunhofer, Piotr Banczerowski Page 15: Fraunhofer Mikroelektronik Page 24: Fraunhofer IIS, Erik Rümpel (left), Fraunhofer EMFT (right) Page 26–29: Fraunhofer IIS/EAS and BLEND3 Frank Grätz Page 32: Fraunhofer IIS and Adobe Stock, candy1812 Page 38 (rechts): Deutsches Museum and Fraunhofer EZRT Page 39: Fraunhofer IIS, Claudia Matthias Page 41: Bagszas Industrial Logistics (left), Adobe Stock, ban- nafarsai (right) Page 43: Adobe Stock, surasak Page 49: iStock, Fraunhofer IIS Page 50–51: David Hartfiel and Fraunhofer IIS Page 54: Fraunhofer IIS and Adobe Stock, magneticmcc (left), Fraunhofer IIS and F.M.Eckstein Fotografie (right) Page 55: Adobe Stock, Mediteraneo (right) Page 58: Fraunhofer IIS, Peter Roggenthin Page 59: Adobe Stock, Henk Vrieselaar (right) Page 60: iStock, Brazhyk (left), Fraunhofer EZRT (above) Page 61: Fraunhofer IDMT, Stefanie Theiß Page 62: iStock, tcareob72 and Adobe Stock, tampatra Page 63: Adobe Stock, metamorworks All other images: © Fraunhofer IIS All rights reserved. Reproduction and publication is permitted only with written authorization from the editors. Report period January 1 to December 31, 2022 © Fraunhofer IIS Erlangen, February 2023 facebook.com / FraunhoferIIS @FraunhoferIIS linkedin.com / company / fraunhofer-iis xing.com / companies / fraunhoferiis youtube.com / user / FraunhoferIIS 

Cover image Fraunhofer IIS audio technologies are shaping the future of sound – whether in radio, telephony, television, or music and movie streaming. And they are already solving everyday challenges. MPEG-H Dialog+ is an AI-supported technology that improves the intelligibility of television dialogue – for example in the ARD Mediathek. Thanks to artificial intelligence, it can separate the dialogue and background of existing film sound, enabling a new, more intelligible mix. This means that future technology from Erlangen is already ensuring accessible movie experiences today, while at the same time helping with the seamless transition to Next- Generation Audio technologies. Fraunhofer IIS The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen is one of the world’s leading application-oriented research institutions for microelectronic and IT system solutions and services. Today, it is the largest institute of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Research at Fraunhofer IIS revolves around two guiding topics: “Audio and Media Technologies” and “Cognitive Sensor Technologies.” Applications for the research results are found in connected mobility, in communication and application solutions for the Internet of Things, in the digitalization of human sensing, in product and material monitoring and in business analytics in supply chains.