By Laura Johanne Schou Carlsen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photo: Privat

SOUND AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO REVEAL BATTERIES’ HIDDEN LIFESPAN

The project Groundbreaking Battery Management has just received DKK 4.5 million in funding from the Villum Foundation through its Synergy programme. The goal is to develop a new, non-destructive method for monitoring battery health – enabling the prediction of dangerous faults such as overheating and fire before they occur.

Interdisciplinary collaboration with sustainability in focus

The project is led by Associate Professor Daniel-Ioan Stroe from the Department of Energy and Professor Jan Østergaard from the Department of Electronic Systems. Daniel is an expert in battery technology, while Jan heads both the Section for Artificial Intelligence and Sound and the Centre for Acoustic Signal Processing Research.

Together, they will combine signal processing, machine learning and acoustics to develop a method that can “listen” to the inside of a battery. By sending sound through the battery and analysing how it changes over time, the researchers aim to create a three-dimensional soundscape that reveals the battery’s condition.

From idea to method – and perhaps to practice

Today, predicting a battery’s lifespan requires extensive laboratory testing and advanced modelling. Often, the battery must even be cut open or destroyed to understand what’s happening inside – a process that is costly, cumbersome and far from sustainable.

With the new method, the researchers will instead attempt to send sound through the battery and analyse how it changes over time. In this way, the battery can be imagined as a kind of three-dimensional soundscape, where small changes over time reveal how the battery ages and wears. The results are expected to transform how we monitor batteries and pave the way for a new generation of intelligent, data-driven systems that can predict battery lifespan in real time – safely and sustainably.

Aalborg University stands out in this year’s Synergy grants. In addition to Groundbreaking Battery Management, another research team has also received support for an interdisciplinary project. Read the article here: Geographical Artificial Intelligence to predict Denmark’s future landscape

Artificial Intelligence and 2D Materials to Create Quantum Light on a Chip

Professor Zheng-Hua Tan from the Department of Electronic Systems at Aalborg University and Associate Professor Sanshui Xiao from DTU have also received a grant from the Villum Foundation’s Synergy programme for a new interdisciplinary research project aimed at bringing quantum technology closer to practical application.

The project, entitled Leveraging Machine Learning for Developing On-Chip Quantum Sources with 2D Materials Integration, combines artificial intelligence with advanced 2D materials to develop compact, chip-integrated sources of quantum light, a technology that plays a key role in future secure communication, precision measurements, and quantum computing. At present, quantum light, particularly single photons, is difficult to produce efficiently and without noise, which limits its use in real-world systems.

From AI to Practical Quantum Technology

Using machine learning, the researchers will develop methods to rapidly identify and manufacture high-quality 2D materials, discover reliable single-photon sources, and enhance the performance of quantum components. The goal is to make quantum technology more efficient, scalable, and practically applicable, while also reducing the complexity and cost of producing quantum light.

The project is founded on a strong collaboration between AAU’s expertise in machine learning and DTU’s knowledge of nanophotonics and quantum optics. Together, the researchers will develop new solutions that can accelerate the development of quantum-based systems and strengthen Denmark’s position in the digital infrastructure of the future.

The research period runs from 2026 to 2028 and is part of the Villum Foundation’s Synergy programme, which supports data-driven and interdisciplinary research across Danish universities.