2017

The technologies presented by the Fraunhofer IVI at the trade fair support complex strategic, operative and tactical decisions in emergency response. End users are planners, command staff and relief forces from fire rescue and emergency services as well as disaster management.

The user-friendly system solutions are being constantly improved in cooperation with end users. These systems have been in daily use for several years, providing support during large-scale disasters and large-scale events. The freely configurable system is used as a planning aid in administration, emergency management agencies and fire departments as well as in operative-tactical areas on mobile command vehicles, control rooms and mobile devices. In addition, users can perform extensive analyses regarding the fulfilment of “time to help” periods and evaluate concepts for fire safety requirements and rescue service zones with the system. At the FLORIAN trade fair, the Fraunhofer IVI will present both the newly developed app for smartphones and tablets as well as the online version for operational command.

One of the highlights of the showcase is the new concept for the MobiKat master data portal, which will be developed stepwise to become a cross-organizational resource management platform. These developments are mainly driven within the EU-funded project CIFAD II. This new system simplifies the registration and administration of personnel, equipment and material, training courses, vehicles and operations. The flexibly configurable authorization concept supports the application in voluntary and professional fire departments, relief organizations as well as responsible authorities. The platform also offers functionalities for the automated export of the statistics sheet Feu905 and data synchronization with DISMA.

The Fraunhofer researchers are happy to present their current developments at the joint booth (hall 3, booth B3) with their partners TÜV Rheinland, SiKonA and KL FORMAT.

July 5, 2017

Digitization, electrification, autonomous and self-organized work in the fields – even in the seemingly archaic field of agriculture, extensive transformation processes are currently underway and ready to meet the challenges of the next industrial revolution. These developments will outshine many others, given their global relevance in the face of a predicted world population of almost 10 billion people. At that time, feeding the world will only be possible by means of a highly efficient and sustainable agriculture. The research project »Feldschwarm^®« (field swarm), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as an innovative regional growth core with a total of 8 million €, will contribute to these developments. After several years of thorough preparations, the project has finally been kicked-off as the grant notifications were handed over in Dresden’s »Transparent Factory« on 5^th July. In collaboration with the international market leader John Deere, Saxon SMEs, research institutes of the TU Dresden and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will develop highly flexible and automated agricultural machinery that protect the soil and build upon renewable propulsion technologies. With a total budget of 12 million €, the 3-year project is one of the most voluminous R&D project in Saxon agricultural engineering.

The »Germany – Land of Ideas« initiative and the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure have announced 10 outstanding digital innovations for safe mobility. As one of the winners, the research project »FAPS – Fraunhofer IVI Accident Prevention School« was honored as lighthouse project for intelligent mobility.

Press release

Prize winner website (in German)

Based on results of the European research project »European Bus System of the Future – EBSF«, the follow-up project EBSF 2 started in May 2015. More than 40 partners pool their expertise to develop and test technologies for the bus transport of tomorrow. The Fraunhofer IVI contributes to two larger research topics. One of them is concerned with the needs-based adaption of the length of city buses during regular operation. It proposes to split a multi-unit bus so that the trailer can be detached at the articulation joint and the remaining segment can be used independently. The implementation was carried out in co-operation with Hübner GmbH, the world’s leading manufacturer of articulation systems.

The innovative solution was officially demonstrated on June 21^st, 2017, using the AutoTram® Extra Grand. Numerous international guests came to visit the Fraunhofer IVI in Dresden to follow this presentation.

The project is funded within the European Research Framework Programme HORIZON 2020 and coordinated by UITP.

Under the motto »a night creating knowledge«, numerous research-related institutions opened their doors to welcome visitors on Dresden’s Science Night for the 15^th time. The Fraunhofer IVI also participated in the event by once more offering a diverse program.

In addition to a display on the history of computer engineering, which invited the visitors to dive into the world of abacuses and analog IT, the institute also presented the current Big Data trend in more detail. As an example, the project iSand demonstrated how information from social media sources can be processed for the use in disaster management. Another highlight for the visitors was the autartec® FreiLichtHaus. The house came to life by means of augmented reality, turning from a simple 2D print into a tangible, real object on the tablet screen. The Guide2Wear project sparked the audience’s interest by showing the potential of wearable devices in public transport navigation. The evening program was rounded off with a kids’ station offering little handicrafts projects and the opportunity to try the computer games of the parent generation.

On June 14, more than 50 experts from innovative logistics companies, electric vehicle manufacturers and related research institutions met during the industry-specific user’s day to discuss current challenges in electric freight traffic. The event was held in the city of Essen, for the first time in cooperation with the Haus der Technik e. V. In addition to this year’s main topics of financing and procurement, the participants debated vividly on new technological developments: »Introduction barriers – such as the battery prices, which are still too high – can be implemented in an economically feasible way by using suitable technical measures like ageing diagnosis«, Claudius Jehle says. He is manager of the Fraunhofer IVI’s group on Storage Systems and Converters. With its remote remote battery monitoring system, the institute is well equipped for the future requirements of electric logistics.    

• Press release (in German)

May 29-31, 2017

For 25 years now, Fraunhofer has been an established engine of progress in the federal states of Germany. No other research organization was so quickly and supportively present on site in the period of political and social upheaval in East Germany in 1989/1990. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft took the opportunity to celebrate this anniversary during the Annual Conference by hosting a public event in the city center of Dresden, as well as an interactive exhibition showcasing the organization’s research highlights.

On the evening of May 30, the »Joseph von Fraunhofer Prizes« awards ceremony was held. Since 1978, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has annually been honoring researchers for their outstanding scientific achievements solving application-oriented problems. This year, four awards of 50,000 euros each were presented. In addition, the event honored the winner of the 2017 Fraunhofer award »Human-Centered Technology«, a prize that is announced every two years. Guest speakers at the event included Stanislaw Tillich (Minister President of the Free State of Saxony) and Prof. Johanna Wanka (Federal Minister for Education and Research).

Award winners

Following the award ceremony, interested »night owls« were invited to join an interactive tour in Dresden’s city center. Actors played eager, curious science journalists who took the visitors on a journey through time. Prof. Matthias Klingner, Lars Seiffert (Director, Operations and HR of the Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG) and Dr. Frank Dressel, a representative of the »Zukunftsstadt«, got together in a round of talks at the Albertinum to discuss mobility topics, including also the Saxon initiative »Synchronized Mobility 2023«. Altogether, a broad public audience had the chance to learn about the relevance of research and knowledge networks in a vivid and artistic manner.

Another highlight was the interactive anniversary exhibition »#real_digital: Creating values together«, showing important events and exemplary technologies of Fraunhofer research. The official opening of the exhibition took place on May 29 at the International Congress Center Dresden, featuring speeches by Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, and further high-profile guests.

May 16, 2017

The Research and Development project HarmonizeDD was officially launched with a kick-off meeting on May 11-12 in Dresden. To support connected vehicles, the project will develop an innovative cloud-based transport system. Thereby the focus will be on the interaction of conventional and future highly automated vehicles in mixed urban traffic as well as transport infrastructure in urban scenarios. The project is closely linked to the initiative »Synchronized Mobility 2023« and the results will be evaluated on the urban digital test field for autonomous driving in Dresden.

The two year project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) with resources from the »Funding guideline automated and connected driving on digital test fields in Germany« (Förderrichtlinie automatisiertes und vernetztes Fahren auf digitalen Testfeldern in Deutschland). Project partners include BMW AG (project management), Fraunhofer IVI (project coordination), Chemnitz University of Technology, Technische Universität Dresden, IAV GmbH, IVM gGmbH, MUGLER AG, Noritel GmbH, Preh Car Connect GmbH and Vodafone GmbH.

With the project having reached its mid-term, the second issue of the INFRALERT newsletter has been published. It briefly sumarizes the work done so far and also includes an interview with Axel Simroth, Group Manager at the Fraunhofer IVI and overall coordinator of the project. In addition to short summaries of the latest project meetings, the newsletter provides a report from the 1st INFRALERT Open Workshop which was successfully held in Brussels.

The newsletter is available on the project website:

• INFRALERT Newsletter No. 2

In the run-up to the innovation conference »Cleantech as an opportunity for the economic development in Lusatia – challenges and perspectives« (»Cleantech als Chance für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in der Lausitz - Herausforderungen und Perspektiven«), a student’s ideas competition was initiated by the Cleantech Initiative Eastern Germany. The contest aimed at presenting innovative concepts for the economic development in Lusatia within the four categories of »energy technology«, »circular economy«, »efficiency of energy, raw materials and material« as well as »sustainable mobility«.

Students of the Fraunhofer IVI and the GEDES e.V. won the first prize in the category of »energy technology« with their contributed paper »Latent-heat storage system – the key to the autartec® house« (»Latentwärmespeicher – der Schlüssel zum autartec®-Haus«). Their investigations concentrated on the concept and optimization of a latent-heat storage system in the context of autarkic buildings. The underlying achievements were made within the Regional Growth Core project autartec®, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The official award ceremony was held on April 3rd, 2017 in Spremberg.

March 31, 2017

A consortium of industrial companies and scientific institutions initiated the Saxon research initiative »Synchronized Mobility 2023« to face the challenges of digitalization and interconnection in the field of transportation. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure supports this state initiative by officially appointing Dresden as one in six cities to become urban digital test fields for autonomous driving. This development will  be supported by federal funding.

Besides autonomous driving functions in private and public transport, the initiative aims to make traffic flows more fluid in order to reduce pollutant emissions and increase the traffic density for an optimal utilization of infrastructure capacities.

Synchronous movements, which we observe in the swarm behavior of animals such as fish, birds and insects, set examples for showcasing how a large number of living entities could move forward efficiently even in a very small space.

The Fraunhofer IVI takes the lead in numerous research projects of the Saxon pilot project »Synchronized Mobility 2023«. Federal Minister Alexander Dobrindt granted further funding within the »Funding guideline automated and connected driving on digital test fields in Germany« (Förderrichtlinie automatisiertes und vernetztes Fahren auf digitalen Testfeldern in Deutschland). Parliamentary State Secretary Dorothee Bär handed over the notifications of approval  to the project partners on March 30.

• Press release by the BMVI (in German)

State Secretary Dorothee Bär hands over notifications of approval for automated driving projects
© Photo Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure BMVI

As a member institute of the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance, the Fraunhofer IVI presents its competencies in the field of cloud-based battery monitoring at this year’s Energy Storage Europe held in Düsseldorf, Germany, from March 14-16.

In addition to battery and cell manufacturers, the comprehensive battery monitoring technology also addresses maintenance service providers, finance providers and insurance companies. The showcase of the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance presents a wide selection of topics regarding energy storage technologies, including electrical, mechanical and thermal storages, power electronics as well as monitoring and energy management functionalities.

The booth is located in hall 8b, booth A07.

Further information:

• Fraunhofer Energy Alliance website
• Energy Storage Europe event website

The biennial EBUS Award is the first international environmental prize for public transport. It honors companies and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the development of electromobility in public transport by creating and implementing technical and economical solutions in the preceding two years.

The Fraunhofer IVI received the 2017 EBUS Award in the category of »consulting and monitoring companies« for their excellent achievements in the introduction of electric buses. On behalf of the institute, Dr. Frank Steinert accepted the award at the festive event held on March 6.

Further information (in German):

• Website EBUS Award

The first feasibility studies in the European project ELIPTIC have now been completed with interesting results. ELIPTIC unites 33 partners, analyzing 21 concepts for electric public transport in 11 cities with the aim of supporting the further take-up of electric vehicles cost-efficiently by using existing electric transport infrastructure.

In addition to promising use cases in the cities of Brussels and Bremen, studies were carried out in Leipzig and Eberswalde – both in collaboration with the Fraunhofer IVI. Investigations include the use of existing tram infrastructure as a charging concept for battery buses, as well as the introduction of trolley-hybrids to replace a diesel bus line.

A dedicated description of the results can be found in the Final Use Case Reports of each city, which will soon be published in the Results section on the ELIPTIC website.

More information:

• Full article

The kick-off meeting for the research project IVS-KOM was held on February 24 at the Fraunhofer IVI. This project receives funding by the state of Saxony within the high-tech initiative »Synchronized Mobility 2023 – Intelligent Transport Systems in Saxony«, and collaborates closely with other projects from the initiative, for instance REMAS and SYNCAR.

Project partners include NXP Semiconductors Germany GmbH (project management), the Fraunhofer IVI (project coordination), Dresden Elektronik Ingenieurtechnik GmbH, IAV GmbH, Institut für Vernetzte Mobilität (Institute for Connected Mobility, IVM) gGmbH, MUGLER AG, Preh Car Connect GmbH and the TU Dresden - Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems.

The objectives of IVS-KOM are:

• Development, test and validation of a reference system for ITS communication with heterogeneous technologies,
• Platform integration as well as
• Recommendations for the use of communication technologies and networks in the overall ITS context.

The project will develop various platforms for on-board units in vehicles, roadside units and traffic signal systems. These platforms will be tested in real-life public transport environments and also validated for applications in vehicle automation.  

January 19, 2017

Since the Governor of Nevada first visited the Fraunhofer IVI in July 2015, both sides have been actively pursuing efforts to collaborate in building digital test beds for autonomous driving in Saxony and Nevada. As a result, the establishment of a »Living Lab« in northern Nevada is now under way, aiming to explore solutions for safe, clean and efficient transportation. Building on the expertise of the University of Nevada, public transportation is the primary research focus.

Using the county’s state-of-the-art electric buses manufactured by Proterra, the initial research conducted will explore how vehicles sense their environment and communicate with other vehicles, infrastructure such as traffic signals and systems, and individual people through their mobile devices. The goal is to develop safe, synchronized, zero-emission mobility systems, and thereby involving students in this work, who are contributing to the preparedness of the future workforce.

In addition to the regional transport provider, the Governor's Office for Economic Development, the cities of Reno, Sparks and Carson City and other regional companies and institutions, and the Fraunhofer IVI joined as project partner. The institute connects Intelligent Mobility to Living Lab developments being explored in Germany. »As a result of collaboration with Fraunhofer, this takes on global importance and elevates the work we are doing to an international stage,« Steve Hill, director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, said.

Further information:

http://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2017/intelligent-mobility-launches

http://www.rgj.com/story/news/education/2017/01/18/unr-test-autonomous-technology-reno-buses/96731526/