Consumer electronics, telecommunications, and smart assistants are inconceivable without digital signal processing. Machine learning and artificial intelligence help overcome previously unsolvable challenges in these areas.
While the first generation of audio codecs developed at Fraunhofer IIS, the well-known mp3 format, required 192 kbit/s to encode music in good quality, the latest AI-based generation of codecs requires only about 1 kbit/s to encode speech signals. Thanks to data rates this small, the efficiently implementation of a voice messaging service via satellite is now a possibility. In the research area of moving picture technologies, AI can generate realistic videos from only a few photos. They could be used, for instance, for virtual real estate tours. Modern data transmission, for example in the 6G network, also benefits from AI models that predict data throughput and optimize network capacities.
The application of AI technologies ensures the commercial viability of the products of many businesses in Germany and Europe. To ensure that this remains the case in the future, Fraunhofer IIS has established the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Digital Signal Processing (DSAI), which brings together all relevant interdisciplinary knowledge under one roof.
The DSAI Center has received €13 million in funding from the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy between 2020 and 2025. Numerous exciting publications and technology demonstrations are available on the project’s website and accompanying blog, where scientists and researchers provide fascinating insights into their work for an interested readership.
A follow-up research project, headed by Dr. Frederik Nagel who was also leading the DSAI project, is already taking shape: On 24 March 2025, the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, Hubert Aiwanger, and the Head of the Regional Representation of the European Commission in Munich, Dr. Renke Deckarm, each presented a grant for research in digital signal processing using generative artificial intelligence (DSgenAI) and for the installation of the necessary computational infrastructure in Erlangen.
This post is also available in: Deutsch