Projects

With Aeolus, ESA carried out for the first time an assisted re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere for a satellite that was not originally designed for such maneuvers. On behalf of the Space Situational Awareness Centre, which collaborates closely with ESA, the Space Observation Tracking and Imaging Radar (TIRA) provided crucial mission support – through time-critical tracking data and high-resolution radar images – for the preparation and execution of the re-entry, as well as for future missions.

The RADIKAL project (Radar Sensors for Automated Drone Control with Intelligent Camera Image Processing and Safe Landing) is developing innovative sensor and assistance systems for autonomous transport drones. The goal is to significantly advance the safe and flexible use of drones in logistics—particularly in express delivery, last-mile delivery, and industrial intralogistics.

Fiber-reinforced composites are considered a key technology in modern lightweight construction. They combine high strength with low weight, thereby making an important contribution to climate protection—for example, by reducing energy consumption and emissions in the mobility and industrial sectors. At the same time, they place high demands on quality assurance in production. Defects such as delamination, air pockets, or material irregularities are often difficult to detect but can significantly impair the performance and safety of the components.

For nearly a century, the depots of German tram companies have hardly changed. All vehicle movements are still carried out manually by employees. In this process, passenger service and shunting operations are usually strictly separated. Trams are handed over at designated transfer points; washing and maintenance bays are accessed manually. At an average depot, employees walk several kilometers each day and perform around 100 vehicle movements that are not related to passenger transport.

Die zunehmende zivile und militärische Nutzung des Weltraums verlangt eine präzise Erfassung der Weltraumlage, um Kollisionen zu vermeiden, Wiedereintritte zu prognostizieren und Objekte zu charakterisieren. Netzwerke aus Phased-Array-Radaren können dabei die räumliche Abdeckung, Empfindlichkeit, Bahngenauigkeit und Klassifikation verbessern. Am Fraunhofer FHR werden dazu Konzepte, Betriebsmoden, Signalprozessierung und Ressourcen-Management entwickelt und durch Simulationen analysiert. Damit entstehen technologisch fundierte Lösungen, die den steigenden Anforderungen moderner Weltrauminfrastrukturen gerecht werden.

SCaRL is a large-scale synthetic dataset developed at Fraunhofer FHR to support the training and validation of autonomous driving systems. Built on top of our former CARLA simulator, SCaRL provides fully synchronized data from a complete and diverse sensor suite, including RGB, semantic, instance, and depth cameras, coherent LiDAR with Doppler capability, and MIMO-FMCW-radar, across 140,000 time-aligned frames covering dynamic, multi-actor traffic scenarios.

Fraunhofer FHR is equipped with a variety of instruments and facilities to perform numerous types of RF measurements. This includes the characterization of antennas and RF circuits, monostatic radar cross section (RCS), and measurements of electromagnetic material parameters. In addition to standard procedures, customized measurement solutions can also be developed. Our in-house precision mechanics workshops provide valuable support.

In the deployment of airborne radar systems, a central objective is to obtain results of the highest possible precision in the detection and classification of objects on the ground. Research conducted at Fraunhofer FHR has demonstrated that multidimensional radar imaging can provide valuable additional information about a scene. The institute addresses this topic on behalf of the German Armed Forces and actively contributes to relevant NATO research groups.

The threat posed by landmines on the ground is increasing in light of wars and conflicts worldwide. In efforts to clear landscapes of mines, finding explosive devices in the soil poses an enormous challenge: a large share of objects are empty oil cans, broken shopping carts, or simply an old tin. There are also cases where, when placing improvised explosive devices, scrap is laid out to hinder the enemy from locating them. This is where the work of the researchers led by Dr. Christian Bräu, group leader UWB radar at Fraunhofer FHR in Wachtberg, comes in.

Die Zukunft der Weltraumbeobachtung liegt in multistatischen Radar-Systemen – und das Fraunhofer FHR ist der Partner, um diese Schlüsseltechnologie zu nutzen. Mit dem weltweit führenden Tracking and Imaging Radar TIRA bietet das Institut bereits heute eine einzigartige Infrastruktur, die durch strategische Kooperationen kontinuierlich erweitert wird.