Wolfgang Koch

Wolfgang Koch was born on October 18, 1962 in Nuremberg, Bavaria, and studied Physics and Mathematics at the Aachen Technical University (RWTH Aachen), Germany. In 1990, he earned a Dr. rer. nat. degree in Theoretical Physics with a thesis on non-linear dynamics and ergodic theory (supervisor: Gert Roepstorff, RWTH Aachen). At present, he is head of the department “Sensor Data and Information Fusion SDF” at Fraunhofer FKIE, a research institute active in network enabled capabilities for defense and security applications. Fraunhofer FKIE is the main consultant for the German Ministry of Defense in this area and working for the German Defense & Security as well as Communications industry. In his department SDF, researchers, engineers, and technicians work on research problems and experimental systems in the areas of Data Fusion for Array-Sensors, Localization and Navigation, Wide-Area Surveillance, and Threat Recognition. On various topics within target tracking and multisensory fusion, he published several handbook chapters and numerous journal and conference articles. At present, his particular research interests aim at linking data fusion and signal processing tightly together, as well as at bridging the gap between the lower and higher levels of information fusion, thus providing better links to decision support systems. For the IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems (T-AES), he serves as an Associate Editor-in-Chief and Technical Editor for Target Tracking and Multisensor Systems. Moreover, he is Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Information Fusion (ISIF), where he is President Elect 2012. Since many years, he is active within the NATO Research and Technology Organization (RTO) as well, where he worked in research task groups and delivered several NATO Lecture Series. At present, he chairs the task group IST-106 / RTG-051 on “Information Filtering and Multisource Information Fusion” and co-chair of the IST-112/SET-183 Joint Symposium on “Persistent Surveillance: Networks, Sensors, Architecture” to be held on April 30 – May 01, 2012, in Quebec, Canada. At Bonn University, he holds a habilitation degree on “Applied Computer Science” and regularly delivers lecture series on Sensor Data and Information Fusion serving as a “Privatdozent (Priv.-Doz.)” according to the German university tradition. Moreover, he initiated the series of the annual IEEE AESS ISIF workshops “Sensor Data Fusion – Trends, Solutions, Applications”. In 2008, he was executive Chair of the 11th International Conference on Information Fusion, June 30 – July 3, 2008, Cologne, Germany. In 2011, he has been elevated to the grade of Fellow of the IEEE.

Title of the presentation:
Wulf-Dieter Wirth and the Rise of Modern Phased-Array Sensor Technology in West Germany

Abstract:
As in the Cold War, sensor technology remains central to situational awareness in today’s threat environment. In such periods, historically informed engineering can inform architectural trade-offs in radar design. In this spirit, this paper revisits West Germany as a NATO frontline state, where phased-array radar matured from concept into a controllable information source. We highlight the interplay among (i) phased-array sensing, (ii) adaptive tracking as a knowledge-gathering process, and (iii) radar resource management as the lever that makes multifunctionality operational. The narrative centers on Wulf-Dieter Wirth and his colleagues, who established experimentally validated phased-array radar operation, tracking-driven radar control, and sensor management concepts for digitally controlled, multifunctional sensing.