About this site
One site of the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation is located in Ettlingen, near Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg. Until 2009, the research institute for optronics and pattern recognition (FOM) of the defense-oriented research company for applied natural sciences (FGAN) was based here. When FGAN and Fraunhofer merged, FOM and the Karslruhe-based institute Fraunhofer IITB together formed Fraunhofer IOSB.
In the five departments at Ettlingen, Laser Technology, Object Recognition, Optronics, Signatures and Scene Analysis, fundamental research is carried out in the fields of warning sensors, the evaluation and interpretation of image sequences, laser sources and laser applications. Based on this, concepts, procedures and systems are developed that also enable the institute to leverage its competence in analysis and evaluation in the defense technology environment.
Accordingly, a large number of state-of-the-art devices and laboratories in the field of electro-optics are available at the Ettlingen site. For example, a wide variety of cameras are in use at the institute, covering the entire wavelength range from ultraviolet to long-wave infrared.
Together with the expertise of the employees, these devices are repeatedly borrowed by external parties (e.g. industry) as part of measurement campaigns. With its approximately 200 employees (as of 2018), the Ettlingen site is also able to tackle larger and longer-term projects. International collaboration is strengthened by collaborations with renowned research institutions abroad. Fraunhofer IOSB has been able to successfully incorporate many of the scientific results into innovative developments in industry and support them through to application maturity.
The greater Karlsruhe area, with its attractive research landscape, offers the necessary environment for scientific exchange beyond one's own areas of responsibility. Within this framework, diploma and doctoral theses are also assigned at the Ettlingen site, and teaching assignments are taken on by scientists.