From Signal Lab to Space: Where Advanced Signal Processing Meets Industrial AI
Radek Martinek
From industrial machines and intelligent manufacturing systems to satellites and space missions, signals carry valuable information about the physical world. However, transforming raw measurements into reliable knowledge remains a major engineering challenge, even in the era of artificial intelligence. This lecture presents the journey of Signal Lab at VSB–Technical University of Ostrava, connecting fundamental research in advanced signal processing with industrial AI, embedded intelligent systems, and emerging space applications. Drawing on selected research projects and real-world collaborations, the lecture demonstrates how advanced sensing, signal processing, machine learning, physics-informed AI, and digital twins can be combined to address complex engineering problems. Examples range from industrial condition monitoring, fault diagnosis, and predictive maintenance to intelligent mobility and experimental technologies being developed for space missions, including research associated with the International Space Station and lunar exploration. Particular attention is given to the challenges of transferring research beyond the laboratory: noisy and incomplete measurements, changing operating conditions, computational limitations, and the need for reliable and explainable results. The central message is that successful AI does not begin with an algorithm, but with understanding the physical system and the signals it produces. By connecting measurement technologies, fundamental research, intelligent algorithms, and practical engineering, Signal Lab demonstrates how scientific ideas can evolve into real-world solutions — from factory floors to space missions.
