Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI

The field day "LANDNETZ meets Feldschwarm^® - Agriculture of tomorrow, experience today" presents new digital applications in agriculture and the results of the Feldschwarm^® growth core, which concludes with this event.

Since 2019, scientists from TU Dresden, together with the Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology (LfULG) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI, have been researching new technologies for area-wide wireless data transmission and networking as a fundamental prerequisite for Agriculture 4.0 as part of the LANDNETZ experimental field. At today's field day, the project partners present the current status of applications that have already been introduced at the Raitzen estate in Naundorf, Saxony.

"The combination of state-of-the-art mobile technologies with autonomous field robotics, as developed in the Feldschwarm^® project, opens up new migration paths for resource-saving, highly efficient agricultural technology. Digitalization in agriculture thus becomes tangible in the truest sense of the word," said Institute Director Prof. Dr. Matthias Klingner.

Feldschwarm^® project website  (German)

press release (German)

Within the scope of his annual “Kreativwirtschaftstour“ (creative economy tour), Martin Dulig, Minister of the Saxon State Ministry for Economy, Labor and Transportation SMWA paid a visit to Fraunhofer IVI. His main interest lay in the Fraunhofer “Science, Art and Design“ Network. In his role as speaker of the network’s design department, institute director Prof. Dr. Matthias Klingner presented the network along with its activities and programs. During the subsequent discussion, consideration was given to establishing similar formats in Saxony, including design expenses in grant applications in the future, and to create a special category for “best design in science” at the Saxon Design Awards. As a result, design aspects could receive higher recognition both in enterprises and scientific institutions.  

The Fraunhofer „Connected Mobility and Infrastructure“ Application Center in Ingolstadt is making an appearance at the newly created IAA Mobility 2021 trade fair. Together with Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt and the CARISSMA research and testing center, the Fraunhofer IVI Application Center is presenting challenges and solutions regarding the mobility of the future at the Mobilitätsregion Ingolstadt joint booth (Hall A1).

One of the key issues in the field of connected automated mobility is realizing comprehensive and reliable environmental perception. Increasing numbers of vehicles are equipped with sensors, such as cameras, Radar and Lidar, but due to unfavorable weather conditions and view restrictions, these sensors are often unable to monitor traffic sufficiently in all occurring traffic situations. By additionally equipping the road infrastructure with sensors, the range and reliability of environmental perception can be improved. The main challenges to this approach are the networking of all agents, as well as the processing and fusion of data stemming from different sensor types.

The booth showcases an automated vehicle and a roadside unit that monitor their environment and detect fair visitors with the help of their individual sensors. The vehicle and the roadside unit are networked, fuse their data in real time and provide a live display. This demonstrator is a prototype of the system that is currently being set up within the Ingolstadt Digital Testbed for connected and automated driving. In the future, it will be used to test solutions for automated traffic. 

• Link to the IAA Mobility 2021 website

The growing world population and the associated increase in global food demand are leading to the use of ever larger and heavier agricultural machinery. Due to their weight, these vehicles compress the subsoil, which in the long term lowers soil fertility and encourages flooding. Seven companies and four research institutes, including Fraunhofer IVI and Fraunhofer IWU, are working on a solution in the innovative regional growth core Feldschwarm^®. The idea is a completely new type of machinery for agriculture: a swarm of autonomously or semi-autonomously operating field robots, each unit smaller, narrower and lighter than the machines used today. Operated individually or in tandem, they preserve the soil while obtaining the same yield and increase the quality of the harvest due to tailored soil cultivation. Another object of research is a robust human-machine interface that allows users to operate and monitor their field swarm, which consists of several field swarm units operating simultaneously, safely and easily.

The aim of Feldschwarm^® is to establish Central German agricultural machinery manufacturing on the global market and to build up a leading position in the development of autonomous agricultural machinery by bundling the key competencies of the project partners and exploiting technological change in agricultural engineering. In addition, a significant contribution is made to sustainable agricultural technology and resource-saving arable farming.

project website (German)
article in the Fraunhofer magazine

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)