Vehicle system dynamics and control
Safety, comfort ad the responsible use of natural resources are the focus of work in relation to road and rail vehicles, in which the research fields of energy management, driving dynamics and vehicle intelligence are addressed. In these fields in particular, the opportunities offered by electromobility are to be utilised and their establishment supported by research. The development of modular, mechatronically highly integrated chassis and drives benefits from a holistic approach based on vehicle concepts. In the Next Generation Car and Next Generation Train projects, these serve as a DLR-wide framework for coordinated concept, method and technology development.
Road vehicles
The institute develops a variety of innovative approaches for mechatronic X-by-Wire chassis, which aim to simultaneously improve energy efficiency, driving safety and comfort. Key fields of research are the development of model- and cognition-based control systems with a focus on motion planning, vehicle dynamics and chassis control, vehicle state estimation, model-predictive overall vehicle control as well as active and semi-active chassis control, together with other core topics of electromobility. The latter include energy management, battery control and battery state estimation.
Automated driving and electromobility are two of the key technologies for the future of road transport. Automated driving offers the potential to reduce accidents caused by human error and to improve traffic flow, energy efficiency and driver comfort.
Rail vehicles
One of the Institute's approaches is to increase the attractiveness of rail transport with vehicle technology measures that increase the comfort, reliability, sustainability and efficiency of rail travel.
With this in mind, the institute is researching an actively controlled running gear without wheelsets. The use of independently rotating wheels allows a low-floor design and enables easy, barrier-free passenger access without steps. Mechatronic vehicle control systems increase driving safety and comfort, reduce noise emissions and wear and thus also life cycle costs. The aim is to control the various sub-functions of a running gear, such as track guidance, traction and slip control, primary and secondary suspension, on the basis of an integrated strategy and to interconnect the systems in the train set in order to exploit synergies.
Additionally the Institute aims to support the assurance of properties such as high availability and reliability as well as fail-safety of the control functions with the help of suitable digital methods and tools for development and monitoring during operation.