Press Releases 2012

Fraunhofer’s AAC-ELD audio codec software to provide high-quality communications in living rooms through TV sets and set-top boxes.

Torrential rapids, plunging mud holes and soaring hurdles: in the outdoor competitions at the Olympic Games, athletes pushed themselves to the limit. But it’s hard to depict this in pictures alone. This is why researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS created an intelligent camera that instantly delivers additional metadata, such as acceleration, temperature or heart rate. The new INCA can be seen at the IBC trade show in Amsterdam from September 7 - 10 (Hall 8, Booth B80).

The available technology for localization within buildings is growing rapidly. Every day, new companies enter into this area. With N-Solut and CloudMade, two experienced professionals are now committing to this market. In doing so, they are relying on awiloc, the WLAN positioning technology from the ­Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. awiloc has been helping smartphone users since 2008 to find the shortest, fastest, most convenient or even the most interesting path through shopping centers, airports, train stations and museums.

A joint R&D project conducted by GfK Verein and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS with support from the University of Geneva has seen the ­development of a piece of innovative software for measuring advertising effectiveness. The software, called EMO Scan, makes it possible to objectively assess study participants‘ emotional responses based on their facial expressions. Using the method requires no special hardware or operator training. The software has won the 2012 German Innovation in ­Market Research Award.

Goal or no goal? In response to this question, world football association FIFA wants to use technical assistance in the future. In its meeting of Thursday 5th July 2012 the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body which determines the laws of the game, approved both goal-line technologies GoalRef and Hawk-Eye.This approval is subject to a final installation test at each stadium before the systems can be used in “real” football matches, in accordance with the FIFA Quality Programme for GLT.

The Fraunhofer IIS, together with MOBA and other partners, has successfully concluded the „ASPHALT“ project (Advanced Galileo navigation System for asPHALt fleeT machines). The concluding meeting took place close to Enspel (Westerwald). With the aid of satellite navigation, road construction can be significantly improved in the future. To this end, the IIS has developed a special Galileo/GPS/EGNOS receiver.

s-net® is a highly energy efficient solution in the field of wireless sensor networks. The Fraunhofer IIS technology is now available as evaluation kit and is being showcased for the first time at the trade show Hannover Messe Industrie. With s-net®, planned applications can be tested at the designated location, whether metrology, surveillance or control application.

Fraunhofer IIS, the world’s renowned source for audio and multimedia technologies, announces today that its Dialogue Enhancement technology has been selected by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) for its 2012 NAB Technology Innovation Award. Dialogue Enhancement answers broadcasters’ challenge to deliver balanced dialog and ambient sounds for TV and radio.

At NAB, Fraunhofer IIS will demonstrate the benefits of its HE-AAC Multichannel and MPEG Surround Audio Codecs for Dynamic Adaptive Streaming. Fraunhofer IIS, the world’s renowned source for audio and multimedia technologies, played a major role in the development of the ISO MPEG DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) standard ratified in November 2011.

New version 2 of the Sonnox Fraunhofer Pro-Codec Plug-in comes with iTunes Plus codec and multi-channel support. At NAB in Las Vegas, Fraunhofer IIS shows a preview of the new upgrade of the award winning Sonnox Fraunhofer Pro-Codec Plug-in for digital audio workstations. The new version of the plug-in will come with easy and intuitive tools for mastering engineers to mix their music for the “Mastered for iTunes” program. Furthermore, the plug-in will support the latest multi-channel audio codecs such as MPEG Surround. The upgrade will be available in July for free for all current users of the Sonnox Fraunhofer Pro-Codec.