Source: AMS Osram Author: AMS Osram
    The research teams of AMS Osram and Fraunhofer have been awarded the German Future Prize. The prize is awarded by the President of Germany to recognize excellence in innovation in science and technology and is one of the most prestigious scientific achievement awards in Germany;
    Ams OSram's "Digital Light" project LED technology leads the intelligent and highly accurate development of traffic lighting, enabling new and safe applications such as projection.
    Shanghai, China, November 29, 2024 - AMS OSram, a global leader in optical solutions (SIX: AMS announced today that the President of Germany, Mr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at an official ceremony in Berlin, Germany, on November 27, The winner of the German Future Prize 2024 (Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2024) was honored. The winning team was led by Dr. Norwin von Malm and Stefan Gr? tsch, led by Dr. Hermann Oppermann from The Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM, The idea of "turning car headlights into projectors through LED matrix" into a technological reality. The LED technology developed by the team opens up innovative possibilities for automotive lighting design with its superior high-resolution light distribution and energy efficiency.

    As part of the "Digital Light" project, the researchers and their team are rethinking smart LED technology in all its aspects and establishing a foundation technology that can enable many new applications, and its applications are not limited to automotive headlights. Ams Osram, Dr. Norwin von Malm and Stefan Gr? tsch, and The light source system developed by Dr. Hermann Oppermann of The Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM Compared with traditional light sources, it shows a smaller size, higher brightness, more energy-saving energy efficiency, more advanced intelligent control and more accurate light output. This new technology enables car headlights to illuminate the road ahead more precisely, avoiding glare to oncoming vehicles or pedestrians. The traditional combination of low light and high light cannot achieve this function, because they need to precisely control the spatial distribution of light, so that the light exposure range can be adjusted according to different driving situations. The innovative technology does away with the two light sources used in traditional headlights and uses 25,600 individually controllable light chips in a 320-by-80 matrix, where each LED can be controlled by digital signal. Combined with the use of special lenses, it can make car headlights achieve the working effect of video projectors.

Compact design and excellent efficiency
    This innovative light source system only needs to activate the key leds to achieve the desired light distribution, making it stand out for its compact space usage and excellent energy efficiency ratio. In contrast, traditional passive light modulation systems rely on blackout technology, which means that the light source must continuously operate at full power to filter out excess light. Traditional solutions are not only inefficient, but also produce a lot of unnecessary light. And the resulting heat also needs to be discharged through a large, costly cooling system. The new technology developed by AMS OSram and the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and MicroIntegration fundamentally avoids these energy losses and additional costs, demonstrating great advantages in terms of energy efficiency and environmental adaptability.

Increase security with projected graphics
    In order to enhance road safety, the research team at AMS Osram and the Fraunhofer Institute has come up with an innovative idea to design headlights that not only provide accurate and efficient lighting for the road ahead, but also act as projectors, projecting graphics directly onto the road surface. For example, when there is a risk of ice on the road, a snowflake pattern can be projected as an early warning to show a specific guide symbol for a lost driver, thus providing additional navigational aid.

    The light-based information processing technology opens up numerous innovative applications for the team's LED matrix technology, which can be precisely controlled through a digital system. For example, in data centers with AI applications, optical data communication can enable high-speed transmission between computer chips, or play a key role in augmented reality (AR). In AR applications, light matrix technology can be used as a virtual display for AR glasses, superimposing digital information on the real environment in the user's field of view. Given that AR glasses need to be lightweight and have long battery life, the compact design and high energy efficiency of the LED matrix is particularly important. These application cases fully demonstrate the great potential and far-reaching impact of digital Light technology in changing the way humans interact with electronic devices.

About Ams Osram
    AMS OSram Group (SIX: AMS) is a global leader in smart sensors and transmitters. We bring intelligence to light, inject passion into innovation, and enrich people's lives.
    With a history of more than 110 years, our imagination for the future of technology, combined with deep engineering expertise and strong global industrial capacity, has long been deeply engaged in sensing and optical technology to drive innovation. In automotive, consumer, industrial and medical health, we are committed to providing customers with competitive solutions, improving the quality of life and promoting green environmental protection in terms of health, safety and convenience.
    With approximately 20,000 employees worldwide, we are focused on innovations in sensing, light sources, and visualization that make journeys safer, medical diagnoses more accurate, and communication easier. We continue to develop breakthrough applied innovations and have currently granted and applied for more than 15,000 patents.
    The Group is headquartered in Premstaetten/ Graz, Austria, and the joint headquarters is located in Munich, Germany. In 2023, the Group's total revenue exceeded 3.6 billion euros. ams-OSRAM AG is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (ISIN: AT0000A3EPA4).