Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and SystemsAround 90 percent of all accidents are due to human error. New technologies and advancing autonomy will enable safe interaction between all road users. At the Fraunhofer IMS, two essential aspects are addressed: On the one hand, environment detection with sensors and, on the other hand, the failure safety of electronic systems.
Environment recognition for safe mobility
Autonomous Mobility
Environment detection and trustworthy electronics pave the way for safe traffic.
© Adobe Stock - Andrey Popov
Autonomous Mobility
Environment detection
For a high degree of autonomy, it is essential to map the entire environment with the greatest possible depth of information. In this context, three-dimensional detection of the environment in combination with reliable object recognition plays a key role. Fraunhofer IMS develops optical sensor systems that are based, for example, on the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) measurement method. Apart from three-dimensional detection, the environment can also be imaged using infrared-sensitive sensors (IRFPAs). Both methods are also suitable at night, when conventional camera systems can no longer see anything. To detect the slightest differences in heat, Fraunhofer IMS has developed microbolometers, individual sensitive pixel elements that allow infrared scenes to be recorded in a compact system.
Sensor fusion with other detection methods creates more redundancy and a secure basis for navigation decisions. With "early sensor fusion", raw sensor data (as from LiDAR) are combined with other sensor data before image processing and before losses in information occur.
LiDAR target simulators link physical measurements with the virtual world. This will allow rapid product testing and reproducible development environment for LiDAR sensors in the future.
Sensor data as point cloud for environment detection
Trusted electronics
Trustworthy Electronics
With increasing autonomy level, it is essential to improve significantly the functional safety and cybersecurity of electronic systems to guarantee that all systems operate fail-safe. Autonomous systems in Vertical Mobility, such as those using automated drones and air taxis, must comply with air traffic approvals. This involves a new confrontation with safe sensors and electronic systems, since future flight attitude controllers for vertical takeoff and landing air systems, short VTOL will be more complex than today. The Fraunhofer IMS meets this challenge with secured processor cores based on the open RISC-V architecture. In addition, it is possible to certify electronic systems according to the Safety Integrity Level (SIL) and ISO 26262 for the automotive sector. As production protection, for example, Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) are developed, which are implemented as cryptographic key memories for secure identification of the hardware.