Wolfgang Koch (computer scientist)

Johann Wolfgang Koch (born October 18, 1962 in Nuremberg, Bavaria) is a Germany physicist and computer scientist. He teaches Applied Computer Science at the University of Bonn, Germany, and is Chief Scientist of the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics (FKIE).
== Life and education ==
As the eldest of three sons of the lawyer, insurance scientist, and manager Peter Koch and his wife Luise, née Köllner, Wolfgang Koch spent his childhood in Nuremberg. He passed his Abitur at the Charlemagne Gymnasium in Aachen. At RWTH Aachen University, he studied physics and mathematics, graduating in physics (diploma in 1987). He received his doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.|Dr. rer. nat.) in 1990 at the Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology of the RWTH Aachen University|RWTH Aachen with a dissertation in the field of ergodic theory of Dynamical system under the supervision of Gert Roepstorff.
From 2002 to 2010, Koch taught as a lecturer at the chair of Armin B. Cremers on a part time basis and Habilitation in the field of applied computer science at the University of Bonn. In 2011, Koch was elevated IEEE Fellow. Since 2015, he has been IEEE Distinguished Lecturer At the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Bonn, he has been teaching as an Academic ranks in Germany#Other positions|Apl. Professor since 2018, focusing on signal processing, sensor data fusion, artificial intelligence, resource management. As a long-standing speaker and scientific director of a seminar series for professionals, he is involved :de:Carl-Cranz-Gesellschaft|Carl Cranz Society for Technical and Scientific Education.
Koch is the author of numerous scientific publications and contributions to international conferences, symposia and workshops.
== Scientific focus ==
For many years, Koch has headed the research department Sensor Data and Information Fusion (SDF) at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics (FKIE). Fraunhofer FKIE is a research institute of the Fraunhofer Society, the largest organization for applied research and development in Europe.
He and his team work predominantly for the Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany) Federal Ministry of Defence, its subordinate divisions, authorities and organizations with security tasks, including homeland security, and corresponding industrial companies. His work covers numerous aspects of digitization in this environment, such as Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Electronic & Navigation Warfare, sensor and platform resource management, mobile and distributed multisensor systems, and aspects of Manned-unManned Teaming (MuM-T). Koch also coordinates research and technology for defense, aerospace and public safety in the context of digitalization at a higher level. In particular, he performs the role of a single point of contact of the Fraunhofer Segment for Defense and Security (VVS) for the European Future Combat Air System (FCAS). As a national point of contact, he also represents scientific interests of the German Navy within the framework of the European Defence Fund.
With quantum computing on the horizon, Koch's interests also include Quantum algorithm. Moreover he publishes and organizes public exchance platforms on the ethical, societal, and legal aspects of artificial intelligence, information fusion, and technical autonomy, including public surveillance and defense. Koch is one of the initiators and co-chair of the Working Group on Responsible Use of New Technologies in a Future Combat Air System (FCAS)https://www.fcas-forum.eu/en, whose group of experts represent a comparatively broad cross-section of societal and political points of view.
Koch is a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Information Fusion (ISIF) and regularly supports program committees for ISIF's FUSION conference series. As Executive Chairman of FUSION 2008 in Cologne, he contributed to the international visibility of the German research landscape in the field of information fusion.
As an IEEE Fellow, IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, and Member of the Board of Governors, Koch is involved in the IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society (AESS) within the globally operating Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 2014, he founded the Germany Section of the IEEE AESS and has since chaired it as Chapter Chair. In various roles, he was and is active as an editor of international journals as well as an organizer of scientific events. In addition, as a Member-at-Large of the Sensors and Electronics Technology Panel (SET), Scientific Director of Lecture Series, and Chairman of Research Task Groups, Research Specialists' Meetings, and Research Symposia of the NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO), he is helping to shape defense-related research and technology, including in the NATO framework.
In 2005, Koch founded the annual Sensor Data Fusion - Trends, Solutions, Applications (SDF) event series[9] as a meeting of the fusion community of Germany and neighboring countries, which he also chairs and which has been held annually since 2011 as a peer-reviewed IEEE symposium at the Universitätsclub Bonn and has been a component of the content-related international ISIF-FUSION and IEEE-MFI conferences on several occasions.
== Personal interests ==
As a Catholic, Koch is involved through publications and lectures in areas between faith, science, art and culture. He is a member of the German Working Group for Mariology (DAM). Together with his wife Dorothea Katharina, née Wolff, who has been working for the Federal Chancellor Adenauer House Foundation since 2011, he has published, among other things, on the religious aspects of Konrad Adenauer's life. In addition, his interests include Christian Democratic politics and the social position of scientific and engineerig professions.
== Selected publications ==
* Tracking and Sensor Data Fusion. Methodological Framework and Selected Applications. Zugl. Habilitation. Springer Nature, Berlin/Heidelberg 2014, :de:Spezial:ISBN-Suche/9783642392702|ISBN 978-3-642-39270-2
* Accumulated State Densities and Their Applications in Object Tracking. Chapter 18 in: H. Fourati (Ed.). Multisensor Data Fusion: From Algorithm and Architecture Design to Applications. CRC Press 2016, :de:Spezial:ISBN-Suche/9780367656287|ISBN 9780367656287.
* The Role of Context in Multiple Sensor Systems for Civil Security. Chapter 20 in: L. Snidaro et al. (Eds.). Context Enhanced Information Fusion. Springer Nature, Berlin/Heidelberg 2016, :de:Spezial:ISBN-Suche/9783319289717|ISBN 978-3-319-28971-7
* as Ed. with Richard Klemm, Hugh Griffiths: Novel Radar Techniques and Applications. Part II: Target Tracking and Data Fusion. SciTech Publishing, 2017, :de:Spezial:ISBN-Suche/9781613532263|ISBN 978-1-61353-226-3
* Zur Ethik der wehrtechnischen Digitalisierung. Informations- und ingenieurwissenschaftliche Aspekte [Ethical Issues in Defense Digitalization. Computer Science and Engineering Espects]. Chapter 1 in: M. Rogg et al. (Eds.). Ethische Herausforderungen digitalen Wandels in bewaffneten Konflikten [Ethical Challenges of Digital Transformation in Armed Conflict.]. :de:German_Institute_for_Defence_and_Strategic_Studies|German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies (GIDS), Hamburg 2020, ISBN 978-3-948752-00-2 (E-Book)
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* Marianisches bei Goethe. fe-Medienverlag, Kißlegg 2021, :de:Spezial:ISBN-Suche/9783863572983|ISBN 978-3863572983.
Category:1962 births
Category:German physicists
Category:German computer scientists