IDEA - Innovative Depot-Automatisierung

Table of contents

1. 1. Project details
   2. Motivation
   3. Projektziele
   4. Main focus of the Chair of Vehicle Mechatronics
   5. Project partners

Project details

Project duration:               01.04.2023 – 31.12.2024

Funded by:                         Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV)

Budget:                               3,5 Mio. €

Funding:                             2,9 Mio. € (1,7 Mio. € TU-Dresden)

Motivation

The increase of automation in depots of transport companies allows in perspective the reduction of personnel deployment. Especially tasks like driving to the car wash, gas station/charging station or parking the buses at the end of the shift can be automated to reduce personnel costs and to relieve the driving personnel from tasks at the end of a shift.

Thanks to depot management systems and components already present in modern vehicles, the prerequisites for increasing automation of depot processes are in principle in place, but there is a lack of suitable infrastructure and standardized interfaces for linking the subsystems. This is where the IDEA project comes in.

Projektziele

The IDEA project aims to explore the automation of depots of public transport companies using innovative radio-based communication between automated vehicles as well as a depot management system via a 5G campus network:

• Research appropriate architectures and interfaces to harness the communication and location functionalities of the 5G campus network for depot automation.
• Research the standardization requirements for depot automation to translate into appropriate standardization activities at the national and international levels
• Evaluate the location accuracy required for automated driving and docking of vehicles at the depot
• Upgrade of a conventional 18m articulated bus for real-world tests to validate the functions of depot automation

Main focus of the Chair of Vehicle Mechatronics

The main focus of the professorship for vehicle mechatronics in the IDEA project is the provision and conversion/upgrading of several automated vehicles as well as the testing of the effective chain of 5G communication - 5G localization - vehicle control and the investigation of interference effects and fault cases on the safety of the automation systems.

Our tasks include:

• Creation of a minimal or low-cost sensor concept for later retrofit solutions and evaluation in corresponding simulation environments.
• Prototypical integration of sensors in a conventional 18m articulated bus
• Development and design of vehicle controllers and automation functions for large commercial vehicles (e.g. articulated buses) as well as integration of a interface for the depot management into the vehicles
• Extensive investigation of the systems in real-life tests for evaluation and validation of the research projects

Project partners