When planning and developing new products, computer systems provide engineers with increasingly far-ranging and efficient support. Simulations reveal errors in development processes already well before the construction of the first prototypes: This cuts back on development time and sharply reduces costs, but it also requires that individuals and their digital tools be as perfectly matched as possible. Our research concentrates above all on engineers and architects. It is for them that we develop and design new ways of interacting with professional digital tools and worlds, so that they are able to present their concepts, products or buildings in the best possible way using techniques such as virtual reality.
The interdisciplinary teams from the Engineering Systems business unit are made up of engineers, architects, computer scientists and psychologists, and they combine competencies in product design and work organization with extensive knowledge of the processes involved in creating new products. This applies as much to design and development as it does to production planning. Our teams bring together multifaceted experience in simulation and real-time visualization with application expertise dedicated to Human Factors.
Activities at the Engineering Systems business unit are targeted at the following focal fields:
Process optimization for digital engineering in the network-based realization of products
Development of technologies and applications for virtual reality with emphases on engineering in the manufacturing industry and in the construction sector.
Human Factors engineering for products and work systems
We use the methods we have developed within research projects or customer commissions to optimally adapt products or even entire buildings to the respective needs of human beings. In the process, we always keep an eye on both usability as well as economy.
In addition, we support our customers in the improvement of digitally-controlled processes for the conceptual design of products and their realization. Thanks to the close correlation between our innovation research and solutions we have devised for digital engineering in practical use, we are able to offer companies access to the latest technological trends and support them in their professional implementation.
Services
In the Engineering Systems business unit, we develop technologies at the interface between digital engineering and work systems that are optimally adapted to humans. Our research is conducted in groups and under direct contract from industry. We help companies to profitably deploy the possibilities offered by digital engineering. A focus of our research is the introduction of methods and systems for virtual reality. We use simulations (and prototypes, where appropriate) to evaluate developments in terms of their practical utility.
Together with industrial partners it will thereby lay the foundation for creating smart and sustainable system innovations for future cities.
We invite industries and enterprises that want to shape future urban markets, to join this project in order to learn from global best practices today and to develop the smart and sustainable urban solutions of tomorrow.
We analyze the intermediate processes a company employs up to final realization of a product in terms of the interfaces existing between areas of specialization, responsibilities, data ownership as well as insular or inhomogeneous IT systems and media incompatibilities. Together with specialists from the company itself, for instance in design, series production, or IT, we then design an end-to-end customized overall process for the company.
In order to efficiently implement digital engineering specific to the detailed requirements of the company, we devise a roadmap made up of clearly structured intermediate steps that are built up upon one another. Thanks to our experience in industrial projects and our independence from individual manufacturers, our customers benefit from our know-how and commitment during the integration and implementation of appropriate engineering systems that best suit the processes involved.
This will benefit many processes, be it during the conceptual design of the product and its development, production planning, or even marketing and sales. Nevertheless, even an application that is cost-efficient demands a fundamental evaluation of costs and benefits and a selection of appropriate communication systems.
In order to identify the right solution for a company, we use methods of approach that have already proven themselves in numerous consultation and implementation projects. Besides comparing costs and benefits, we also examine the existing processes, thereby helping to optimally integrate virtual reality applications in operational processes and the IT infrastructure.
For special cases, we and the company join forces to look for the most suitable hard- and software. Naturally, we also develop »tailor-made« VR systems.
These allow conceptual considerations and implementation variants to be »experienced« at an early stage of development, such as when digital models are used to accompany the construction process of building complex.
In order to deploy real-time computer graphics and immersive systems, our customers do not necessarily need to invest in expensive hard- and software. Our stereo visualization rooms are available for a variety of customer projects – whether this involves visualizing a trade fair exhibition stand or accompanying a construction project. We create walkable and interactive virtual worlds, customized to individual requirements. Our experts will handle all the necessary steps in the process and can link in competent partners in the implementation of the project as and when required.
We support our customers by applying engineering approaches and methods, and tools from the digital factory.
Our advice is based on a great deal of practical experience in how various solutions can be elaborated and evaluated. Multi-project management, Design-for-Assembly (DfA) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) are just some of the methods we use in combination with innovative IT tools to support our customers and deliver a reliable basis upon which to make the right decisions.
We attend to the planning of production systems with methods and tools from the digital factory, such as the Delmia tool suite, our planning table visTABLE® and virtual reality tools we have developed ourselves. Companies are thus assured a high degree of reliability in their planning of products and production systems at a very early stage. This avoids to the greatest possible extent any follow-up costs resulting from necessary changes that are only noticed late in the game.
An immersive interface with interactive stereographics offers the opportunity to connect the two: continued use of the proven system and the exploitation of new technical possibilities in design and planning.
We support companies in the preparation and implementation of such projects, thanks to our 15 years’ experience in immersive real-time computer graphics. Together with the customer, we define the interface to the existing solution and specify what functions the 3-D interface must provide, or which make practical sense. Our team then makes the necessary technology components available for the visualization. In addition, the companies are also given support during the implementation and validation, or the usability tests.
OLEDs will further expand the spectrum of illumination concepts considerably. Display technology will also be essentially changed by this development.
In other words, some fundamentally new possibilities in the use of light are making their mark, not only on technology, but also in terms of design and ergonomics. The laboratories of the LightFusionLab offer our customers a developing and testing area that can be used for the evaluation of new lighting and display concepts, as well as for the implementation of prototypes of new LED-based lighting systems. These laboratories are equipped with comprehensive, state-of-the-art electronic (light) measurement technology and a variety of options for the construction of electronic, optical and mechanical prototypes. Backed up by many years of experience in how to devise and carry out ergonomic investigations involving test subjects, we pursue an integrative approach that takes technological, creative and ergonomic aspects equally into account.
We provide our customers with the most »suitable« analytical and evaluation methods in each case, from the theoretical ergonomic observation, all the way to usability testing and practical experiments. Once the results of the research are presented, we develop new product concepts or features that match the analysis.
With the help of modern prototyping methods, we can also design virtual and real prototypes. New product concepts are not only experience as in real life, but can continue to be iteratively optimized in user tests. This produces ergonomical products that will meet the needs and expectations of the target group in the best possible way.
Future concepts envisage a much more far-ranging deployment of such electronic helpers. Multi-display solutions will be accompanied by assistants that support the driver’s ecological awareness, or by the integration of office functions.
A host of questions must be answered in order to integrate the diverse components and functions in the cockpit so that they genuinely provide more safety and comfort: How do different drivers use the assistance systems and how can these systems be adapted to the behavior and habits of the drivers? What kind of concepts and solutions will lead to products that are convenient to operate, gain wide acceptance and also ensure a high level of driving safety? Our teams support enterprises in finding substantiated answers to such questions by using special tools and methods that create real and virtual prototypes out of concepts and design outlines, making it possible to put the operating concepts literally within reach.
We use driving simulators for the efficient prototyping and testing of HMI concepts. The simulators have been equipped with a re-configurable human-machine interface. This allows the most diverse prototypes and conceptual ideas to be integrated in the cockpit quickly, in order test them in a near-realistic driving simulator.
Facilities
Our laboratories boast a comprehensive and intelligent infrastructure, allowing us to investigate issues relating to virtual reality and the interaction between people and products or working equipment, people and cars, or even people and dwellings.
For simulation and visualization, we make use of equipment from third-party manufacturers, as well as hard- and software we have developed ourselves. PC clusters and graphics computers control visualization systems in the most diverse configurations. Various simulators and immersive environments allow us to implement virtual worlds that are very realistic. In addition to flexibly deployable virtual environments, we also have special driving simulators at our disposal. We employ rapid-prototyping methods at the transition point between virtual and »physical« engineering,. The resulting 3D models are also used in mixed-reality applications in the immersive environments.
In our demonstration centre for digital engineering, we use examples of applications to show the benefits of marketable software tools and their integration into operational process organization.
Wearing stereo goggles, they spatially perceive the computer-generated world created within a cube made up of six stereo projection walls. HyPI6 is primarily used to assess and make decisions in architecture and urban planning, in the development of automobiles and for a range of training and simulation tasks.
Furthermore, we also have a number of other VR systems available, ranging from desktop systems of various sizes, to stereoscopic projection walls, through to a multimedia room featuring an integrated stereoscopic projection wall.
The core aspect of this research revolves around the ideal design of the interface between man and machine for new electronic systems in vehicles.
For usability engineering, driving simulators are used that allow testing of a wide variety of alternatives in reproducible situations. Dangerous situations, above all, can be analyzed without risk. In such cases, we make use of either a simulator in combination with a real vehicle and a virtual environment; or we use virtual reality simulators in which a computer recreates the vehicle and the street.
The LightFusion lab demonstrates how work and private space can be designed using the possibilities of »innovations in light«.
The laboratory is used for demonstrations and for the development of applications for LED and forthcoming OLED technology. The latest measurement technology allows us to answer questions that arise with regard to both lighting technology and the impact of light and displays on humans.
Research
In our research projects, we develop new methods and technologies for virtual engineering and Human Factors Engineering. These projects are carried out on behalf of funding authorities which include the European Union, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), or the State of Baden-Württemberg. This provides a springboard for our work on implementation projects contracted directly by industrial clients.
The following list gives an overview of our current research investigations:
We are exploring ways to synchronize and match the two development strands. The Digital Production innovation cluster and several projects in the area of mass customization represent flagship projects in this field..
Deploying simulation and virtual realities as early as possible in the development process can avoid errors later on in the course of development. That is why we concern ourselves with the use of immersive technologies in the early phases of product development, in the design phase (CAD) and also in functional validation.
On such assignments, we place emphasis on simulating the interaction between the product and the human being, and optimizing the »interaction« between the developers and the immersive technology.
Here, immersive technologies in particular have proven their worth.
Nevertheless, when it comes to digitizing planning processes without media discontinuity, the construction industry lags far behind other sectors such as the auto industry. In order to make up for this »handicap«, we are focusing our current research on the development of configurators for construction projects, as well as process and tool chains for individual objects and large-scale projects.
While this may in some ways make life easier for drivers, they must also cope with a growing number new difficulties and distractions. In order to identify and reliably prevent the possible negative effects of new systems in cars, a comprehensive analysis of the interaction between the human and the vehicle must be carried out. We make use of driving simulators and test cars in our investigations of human-machine interfaces for individual functions as well as integrated systems that comprise various functions.
As a rule, research activities are carried out within the framework of collaborative projects at European level with several participating automakers and suppliers.
Nevertheless, the development of »serious« applications in an industrial context must extend beyond the mainstream.
We are driving forward the development of VR systems that offer exact stereo views for a group of several users. Other projects involve systems for distributed rendering to improve graphics performance, stereo display systems with adjustable resolution, or mixed-reality solutions that incorporate an appropriate degree of haptic responsiveness for the respective application.
In developing the appropriate solutions, we concentrate first on applications at the workplace. Building prototypes allows us to examine the influence on people, on their health, their circadian rhythms and their performance. We are also conducting longitudinal studies on already marketable systems in a real workplace situation.
Teams
The Engineering Systems business unit is organized in the following teams:
Phone+49 711 970-2153
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This center explores and examines the application of virtual reality in industrial practice. Emphasis is on the deployment of immersive technologies that place the user in a computer-generated world. The main areas of application are design, construction and virtual verification in product development as well as in architecture and construction planning.
The Competence Center offers the capability to accompany a product through its entire life cycle, from conceptual development through to marketing and sales.
Phone+49 711 970-2232
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The Team conducts research on issues relating to visualization and visual perception. Our research is targeted at two focal fields: In the first instance, we develop and test new processes for 3D real-time image generation as well as innovative spatial display technologies.
Secondly, we conduct research on LightFusion, the integrated treatment of lighting and display systems, which are today largely dominated by LED and OLED technologies. We look in particular at the impact of light on the human being, considering the aspects of lighting, physiology/psychology and how light works when conveying information.
The Visual Technologies Competence Team not only develops the necessary fundamental technologies, but also researches their integration in systems landscapes in order to make them useful for companies and research institutions.
Phone+49 711 970-2285
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Digital engineering supports companies in developing products and production. It allows strategic and operative processes to be built up, networked and carried out more efficiently and in a more targeted manner. The emphasis of our work is on minimizing losses by attrition that arise from insufficiently integrated process chains and interrupted information flows between the various corporate divisions. We focus on the specific requirements of the user and the deployment of innovative information technologies.
The aim of digital engineering is to accelerate organizational processes in technical activities at manufacturing companies, to enhance the quality of such processes and to render them more cost efficient. At the same time, the methods and systems of digital engineering also optimize production planning, production systems and the products, with regard to time, cost and quality.
Phone+49 711 970-2105
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Human Factors Engineering ensures that products, working equipment and work systems are designed to be safe and appropriate to the needs of people and their health. This competence team made up of engineers and psychologists uses proven methods to analyze the interaction between humans and the product or humans and machines. We take a holistic approach towards investigating which product features are useful or necessary and how they can best be designed.
This allows us optimize such features according to ergonomic and cognitive criteria and with an eye to cost-efficiency.
Phone+49 711 970-2091
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The Mobility Innovation Competence Center supports companies and research consortia in carrying out innovation projects. A superb team of specialists utilizes its skills and proven methodologies to develop business models, identify new business fields and analyze technologies. In addition, we tap into our expertise and experience to set up and manage innovation networks and advise companies on technological issues relating to e-mobility drive concepts and electric vehicle design, as well as in the field of intelligent materials.
We investigate technological fundamentals in the pre-competitive arena both in our own projects and through our innovation networks focused on the topics of “Microencapsulation”, “Future Car/E-Mobility”, “Intelligent Materials” and “Climate Change Opportunities for the Chemicals Industry”. These are then further developed in bilateral projects with industry partners. Our goal is to tap into business opportunities offered by new business fields, innovative products and technologies and verifiable business models, in order to generate competitive advantages for our cooperation partners.
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