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Cooperative Systems Group

Research Topics

RCAS

The research interests of the “Cooperative Systems” group lie in the area of novel systems that combine robust navigation, ad-hoc communications and information processing. We are addressing applications such as cooperative assistance systems for vehicles, intelligent multi agent systems, ubiquitous and context aware pedestrian navigation, and disaster management. Our work is conducted at experimental, simulative and theoretical levels. Much of our activity in the areas of navigation is at the signal processing level with the goal of assessing and improving the performance of future navigation systems in challenging environmental scenarios such as heavy shadowing and multipath or under interference from other signal sources. Many of the problems we address can be formulated as estimation or decision problems and require a good understanding of underlying models, such as utilities, process and sensor models. We make a strong effort to validate our approaches in real world experiments and early prototypes.

The following list describes our current main topics and research activities:

• Channel and interference measurement for satellite navigation systems in critical scenarios; channel modelling, signal and system simulation.
• Development of a collision avoidance system for railways. 
• Development of novel co-operative driver assistance systems based on vehicle to vehicle communications, sensor fusion, and intelligent information exchange 
• Development of robust, decentralized algorithms for multi-agent systems in exploration and surveying applications, including human/system interaction aspects.
• Dynamic multipath mitigation for satellite navigation receivers using efficient quasi-optimal algorithms
• Sensor fusion with Bayesian filtering (in particular particle filtering). 
• Research, development and prototyping of indoor navigation systems for pedestrians, based on INS, compass, GNSS and RFID, human motion models and maps. This also includes cooperative Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM).
• Development of Bayesian context inference of human physical activities.

Current Projects and Activities:

• Car2X and Driver Assistance: Work within the Car2Car Communications Consortium and also a DLR-Project towards new communications networks and driver assistance technologies. 
• Dependable Navigation: This DLR project will focus on the development of an End-to-End Bayesian Position Estimator for GNSS and additional Sensors. We will also explore various fields of opportunity and their use in positioning and SLAM. 
• RCAS (Rail Collision Avoidance System): We are co-ordinating this DLR-Project with the aim of developing a wireless communications based, autonomous collision avoidance system for railways including reliable positioning of trains. 
• SafeTrip: We are analysing to which extent and under which circumstances a combination of V2X and Satellite communications technology will have a positive impact on innovative safety applications, in particular we are addressing the low penetration rates expected at the beginning of market introduction.
• DRIVE_C2X: We contribute to this European project through our CODAR technology for the project’s test management center which aims at creating a common European cooperative driving testbed by extending and harmonizing several national Field Operational Tests at 7 test sites throughout Europe, after demonstrating the capabilities of the technology in the preceding project PreDRIVE_C2X.
• EU Societies: An Integrated Project in the framework of FP7 in which we are combining pervasive and context aware computing with social computing approaches in the area of disaster management.
• ESA DME Evaluation: A project that draws on our airborne interference measurements performed in the EU project ANASTASIA with the goal of modelling DME interference on Galileo signals in aviation.
• VABENE: In this DLR project we are working on an integrated real-time observation system for traffic monitoring and in disaster situations that combines distributed sensor technologies, intelligent information management and communications technologies.

Selection of Former Funded Projects:

• Galileo ADAP (ADvanced APplications): DLR-Project on satellite navigation (our contributions: indoor positioning, sensor fusion, channel measurement, modelling, and receiver design). 
• iTetris: A European standard compliant, sustainable and open source platform combining traffic mobility and wireless communications simulations was implemented within this EU Project to investigate the use of V2X technologies in cooperative traffic management strategies over large-scale scenarios.
• GIRASOLE - Galileo Safety of Life Receivers Development: A GJU funded project. Our contributions were extensive simulations and interference measurements 
• PERSIST: A European STREP in which we continued our work on Bayesian context inference, specially human activity estimation.
• GITEWS: A national project that established a sensor-based Tsunami Early Warning System for the Indian Ocean. 
• DAIDALOS I+II: A European Project (IP) in the framework of FP6: Development of an architecture which integrates a broad range of heterogeneous network and mobile computing and sensor technologies for mass market applications. Our contributions were in the area of algorithms for advanced context awareness. 
• Heywow: A regionally funded project. Development and demonstration of an architecture and distributed platform for mobile information systems over heterogeneous networks. 
• BeiL: In this study we analysed current and future localization systems in terms of their potential to estimate the position of goods and people to forecast their interrelationships with IT safety&security.
• ITS TestBeds: While the general objective of this European  project was to establish an ITS test environment based on the findings and results of several ITS research projects and a suitable basis for large Field Operational Tests, we contributed a suite of methods for interoperability testing of the various communication components.
• FAMOUS: We contributed with our expertise in indoor positioning in this DLR internal project which addresses future airport terminal management concepts.
• ANASTASIA: European Project (IP) in the framework of FP6. Work in this project was directed towards novel navigation receiver algorithms for aircraft and the execution of flight tests to measure DME inference on Galileo signals. 
• ESA Promote: An ESA project providing an operational, Europe-wide service for location dependent personalised UV information (sunburn time).
• ESA-Study "Navigation Signal Measurement Campaign for Critical Environments": Aeronautical and Indoor Propagation measurement campaign for satellite navigation systems.  
• ESA-Study "Multipath Channel Reduction": Analysis of the effects of reducing the complexity of GNSS multipath channel models for receiver performance evaluation.  
• MCP (Multimedia Car Platform): This EU IST Project defined the mobile platform, heterogeneous network structure, privacy and security framework and operator interfaces for mobile applications and terminals. DLR led the Workpackage "Mobile Terminal". The project successfully demonstrated the terminals and network interoperation (including mobile DVB-T) at trade shows, including IFA in Berlin. 
• Multimedia over Integrated Networks and Terminals (Nationally funded project).  DLR's main contributions were the study of transmission schemes and source coding schemes for multimedia contents transmitted via wireless systems (e.g. DAB, DVB-T) as well the specification and verification of a broadband and decentralised indoor wireless network.  
• Signal Design Study for GNSS-2 (ESA funded project). In this project different signal formats and parameters were studied for the future European GNSS-2 navigation system. The signal aspects were verified and analysed with the help of extensive simulations.  
• Digital Video Broadcasting Integrated Receiver and Decoder (DVBird, a EU project funded within ACTS). Simulation and analysis of the DVB-T standard; hardware-close simulation, specification and optimisation of receiver algorithms  for the first chip-set for a fully DVB-T compliant receiver.  
• Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (dTTb, EU project funded within RACE) and Hierarchical Digital Television Transmission (HDTVT, a nationally funded project): Design and verification of the system concept for the DVB-T air interface. Special focus on OFDM frame structure, (hierarchical) channel coding and modulation techniques, as well as investigations on error concealment for MPEG-2 encoded video signals.