Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Inland waterway transportation has played a limited role in Europe so far, with a share of around six percent. Together with 15 partners, Fraunhofer researchers are seeking to change this with the EU project CRISTAL. Björn Krämer and Tammo Märtens, both research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML, explain in the interview how digital twins and smart sensor technologies can help increase transportation capacities and make logistics processes more reliable.

Electronics exposed to radiation can be prone to failure. Satellites and medical devices such as CT scanners are especially sensitive. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Dresden are working on an open-source tool that can be used to better prevent radiation-related loss of function.

How can we ensure reliable communication during a disaster when mobile networks are congested? Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT have found an answer to this increasingly relevant question. A mobile, self-organizing communication network based on Fraunhofer technology connects emergency services with each other, the incident command and the internet. Private 5G networks make it possible to quickly restore communication, without relying on traditional infrastructures.

Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena today. As part of his inaugural visit to Thuringia, he toured one of the institute’s quantum laboratories and was given a presentation by researchers on the core components of a photonic quantum computer and state-of-the-art systems for global quantum communication.