Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI

For more than 15 years, the MobiKat® system has been making an important contribution to the management of large-scale emergencies. Originally established in Saxony after the severe flooding in 2002, it is now regularly used in a wide variety of operations, including extreme weather situations, large-scale operations by fire and rescue services and a wide variety of major events, but also in everyday operations in Germany.

In the context of the current flood disaster in July 2021, both the Leipzig Fire Department and the German Red Cross District Administration of Dresden also used the system. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the system was primarily used to control the Saxon forces on site and to document the measures carried out. Thanks to the networked operational command, the forces remaining in Saxony could also be included in the command and control process.

The camera system installed in eastern Saxony to monitor river levels proved its worth once again, providing decision-makers and emergency forces with real-time information on the flood situation and the hazardous situation on several rivers. 

MobiKat® website

At a mobility day on the topic of »Automated Driving«, the first driverless automated shuttle called FLASH was presented at Schladitzer Bucht. It can transport up to 21 people the four kilometres from Rackwitz train station to Lake Schladitz and features a hybrid control concept that allows a smooth transition between automated and manual operation. Initially, the bus will travel with a safety driver who can intervene and take over the wheel if necessary. As of now, the shuttle is running in application mode, where FLASH learns difficult traffic situations without passengers. Pilot operation with passengers will subsequently start next year. These two final project phases are funded with a grant of 988,000 euros. The project partners of the district office are the district-owned Omnibus-Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH »Heideland« (OVH), Fraunhofer IVI, the Chemnitz location of IAV Automotive Engineering and TS Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH in Weida.

project website (German)

The Lusatian Lakeland and the Elbe-Elster region have gained another attraction. The Fraunhofer IVI’s floating autartec^® house  has already stood as a symbol of progress and innovative technology since 2019, and now  Lake Bergheide in the municipality of Lichterfeld-Schacksdorf has another highlight to offer.

On the initiative of the chairman of the EUROS Foundation, a solar-powered conference ship was built in close cooperation with the Fraunhofer IVI, which in the future will enable events and conferences to be held on the water against the impressive backdrop of the former overburden conveyor bridge F60. The official inauguration took place on June 22. The ship’s maiden voyage opened completely new perspectives for the interested guests.

The first design drafts for the seminar boat as well as the technical conception of the electric drive were defined by the Fraunhofer IVI in close exchange with the experienced executing company, Jacko Schiffsbau und Yachtservice.

At the shipyard in Storkow, the production of the trimaran’s three floats along with the steel construction took place first, before the work was continued directly at the harbor of Lake Bergheide from July 2020.

The trimaran measures 16.5 meters in length and seven meters in width. The interior offers space for 30 to 60 people, depending on seating. In addition, there is a walk-on upper deck.

Powered by two 25-kW electric motors, the ship, which weighs around 40 tons, reaches a speed of more than ten kilometers per hour. 

An essential prerequisite for digital agriculture is wireless communication, which is currently neither available nationwide, consistently nor reliably.

The LANDNETZ project addresses this challenge and develops and tests strategies for complete networking as well as adequate data exchange as a fundamental condition for Agriculture 4.0. The aim of the project is to create a digital experimental field with a focus on necessary communication and cloud infrastructures for researching and testing technologies for nationwide wireless data transmission using 5G in rural areas as well as the networking of farms and the use of data hubs in a selected model region of Saxony.

The white paper LANDNETZ Impulse provides information on current networking solutions used in agriculture and presents an alternative solution approach for digital applications in agriculture in the form of mobile cellular campus networks. It also addresses the issue of data sovereignty and highlights trends and opportunities for the secure processing and exchange of collected data.

whitepaper (German)
project website (German)