Press Releases

Against the backdrop of an unstable geopolitical environment, defence and security have become a major focus of activities in politics, the public sphere and research. It was with these areas foremost in mind that Fraunhofer President Professor Holger Hanselka paid a visit to the two Wachtberg institutes FKIE and FHR, which together represent the largest defence location within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institutes IMS and FHR have successfully qualified for the second round of competitions for Fraunhofer Society's high performance centers with their work on "Terahertz Sensor Technology." This participation comes with funding of 3 million euros, spanning from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2027.

From September 22 to 27, 2024, the European Microwave Week (EUMW) will take place in Paris. Fraunhofer FHR will present the latest developments and projects in radar and high-frequency technology at a joint booth with the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO and Fraunhofer IAF (Booth No. 202k).

Researchers at Fraunhofer FHR have successfully conducted initial experiments with the new target tracking radar of the TIRA facility: They produced a high-resolution radar image of the entire Moon’s surface visible from Earth - from a distance of 385,000 kilometers! By utilizing the motion of Earth and the Moon, a significantly larger, virtual aperture was created using the 34-meter antenna of the TIRA facility, thereby achieving high resolution imaging. This method of generating a synthetic antenna aperture (SAR) enables coherent imaging of the entire visible Moon’s surface.

Specific physical human-robot interactions are increasingly required in the manufacturing industry, the professional service sector, and healthcare. This necessitates improvements in comfort and convenience as well as in communication between humans and machines. Robots need to be able to predict human actions and recognize intentions. And that calls for flexible metamaterials, and more specifically, flat metasurface antennas with highly integrated electronics that allow for sensing of the near environment. The Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR has teamed up with six partners in the EU’s FITNESS project to develop these kinds of surfaces, which cover a robot like an adaptive, intelligent skin. The idea is that robots equipped with metasurface antennas will be able to scan their near-field environment with greater accuracy and communicate more effectively with their base station in the far field.

At the World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (WCNDT), held from May 27-31, 2024, in Incheon, South Korea, the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR will present tailored solutions for the industry as an expert in contactless quality control with radar.

On February 27, 2024, INDRA hosted the concluding meeting and demonstration of the CROWN project. Launched in July 2021, with funding from the European Commission (EC) under the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) and the management of the European Defence Agency (EDA), the project European active electronically scanned array with Combined Radar, Electronic Warfare and Communications functions for military applications (CROWN) focuses on the innovative concept of a multifunctional radio frequency (RF) system, which aims at substantially enhancing future Defence capabilities, with specific focus on manned and unmanned aerial platforms.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the joint Space Situational Awareness Centre commissioned Fraunhofer FHR to accompany the re-entry of the retired ERS-2 satellite. With its unique space observation radar TIRA (Tracking and Im-aging Radar), the final orbits were measured with high precision and the last images of ERS-2 were generated. For the first time, changes in the structure during re-entry were captured in images.

Maxcess, a leading provider of innovative products and services for web handling ap-plications, has collaborated with Fraunhofer FHR to develop a new radar sensor to enhance web production in the metal industry. Maxcess introduced the prototype of the new Fife ExactTrak Radar Sensor at last year's METEC trade fair in Düsseldorf. Its practicality was demonstrated in a comprehensive 12-month field test phase at Ségal in Belgium. The newly available sensor utilizes radar waves to accurately detect the position of a metal strip through the insulation window of an oven with temperatures exceeding 1000°C.

For the first time, visitors at the 2024 Olympic Games will be able to fly to venues using air taxis. Vertical takeoff aircraft such as drones, multirotors and air taxis will take off from and land on pads known as vertiports. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR are developing an entirely digital sensor network, including a radar sensor, that in the future will be able to closely monitor air traffic at a vertiport and ensure safe flight operations. The system includes decentralized active and passive sensors with fully autonomous functionality, linking to each other and collectively sensing the port.