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The name Dr. Wulf-Dieter Wirth conjures up a picture of an extraordinary man — a researcher whose impact on the development of radar technology is unrivalled still today. His expertise is held in the very highest esteem worldwide, and his pioneering spirit is the stuff of legends. Wirth, who holds the role of Senior Scientist at the Wachtberg-based Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE, celebrated his 90th birthday back in August. The landmark occasion added yet another outstanding achievement to his career, as he is officially the oldest of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s approximately 32,000 employees.

Preparations have been underway since September with the first teams having already registered: In early July 2025, robotics experts from all over the world will come together for the 5th time at the European Robotics Hackathon (EnRicH) near Vienna. At the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), a site that has never been in operation, they will spend a week testing their robotic systems under the most difficult conditions – and simulating emergency scenarios under real world conditions.

Robot systems explore unfamiliar terrain, buildings or danger zones with cameras. In the 3D-InAus project, researchers from the Fraunhofer FKIE are using a LiDAR laser on a mobile robot, emitting laser pulses to measure distances. The results are used to produce geometrically accurate 3D environments.

For their dedicated leadership and collaboration in the NATO STO Research Task Group “Full-Duplex Radio Technology for Military Applications” (IST-175-RTG) Fraunhofer FKIE scientists Prof. Dr. Marc Adrat, Dr. Markus Antweiler and Matthias Tschauner have been awarded the “NATO Information Systems Technology (IST) Panel Team Excellence Award.” In its statement, the jury emphasized the great importance of their research for NATO: The newly developed “in-band full-duplex” technology paves the way for the Alliance's military superiority in the electromagnetic spectrum. For essential key disciplines on the battlefield of the future, whether in communications or drone defense, the technology is of the highest practical relevance for future NATO missions.

Cyberattacks have become a major risk for companies and other organizations. To prevent data theft, sabotage and extortion, many companies and government agencies are turning in response to Security Information and Event Man-agement (SIEM) systems, which use detection rules, also known as signatures, to identify cyberattacks. However, researchers at the Fraunhofer FKIE have conducted extensive tests and concluded that it is easy for attackers to evade many signa-tures like these. AMIDES, a new open source system from Fraunhofer FKIE, is designed to help remedy the situation. It uses AI to identify attacks that traditional signatures miss.

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.

Bundeswehr Command and Staff College, Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE, and Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Armed Forces Hamburg sign agreement.

The long-standing research group leader for software-defined radio at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE, Dr. Marc Adrat, has been appointed honorary professor at RWTH Aachen University. The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology is gaining “an excellent and committed colleague who will enhance the department's teaching program with his cutting-edge expertise,” RWTH Aachen University said in its press release. The university stated that this appointment will also further strengthen collaboration with Fraunhofer FKIE.

It’s almost completely dark in the tunnel. The ground is uneven and slippery in places. A robot slowly makes its way toward a car, across pallets, past crates and tipped-over barrels. Its task: find and “rescue” two dummies and bring them outside. Some hundred meters or so away, Patrick Weiss is focused on remotely controlling the robot’s movements and its overlong gripper arm, while his colleagues Oliver Schulz and Patrik Bylin are glued to their monitors, watching the action unfold in the tunnel. The three of them, all from southern Germany, made up one of 17 teams from all over the world who entered the 12th European Land Robot Trial (ELROB), held on the grounds of Bundeswehr Technical Center for Land-Based Vehicle Systems, Engineer and General Field Equipment (WTD 41) in Trier in late June. Across five challenging disciplines with a military focus, the competitors tested their robotic systems to see how they would perform in real-world settings — and the results were mixed.

Preparation is almost complete, all the scenarios have been planned and the tasks have been finalised: From 24–28 June this year, the elite of military robotics will gather for the 12th European Land Robot Trial (ELROB), which will take place in Trier, Germany for the first time.