HEiDi – Highly automated railway thanks to a digital twin
As part of the HEiDi project, the DLR is creating a digital twin of the entire Wegberg-Wildenrath test centre in North Rhine-Westphalia, complete with vehicle and sensor models. With the help of this digital twin, the scientists are investigating how simulation can facilitate future approval processes for highly automated systems in the railway sector. The aim is to develop a toolchain that enables individual sensors and sensor systems to be developed and tested more quickly, cost-effectively and flexibly.
Digitalisation and automation offer considerable potential for rail transport. Simulation is essential for driving innovation in this field. It significantly accelerates the development and approval of autonomous driving systems.
As part of the HEiDi project (Highly Automated Railways thanks to Digital Twins), the Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) is therefore developing a digital twin in collaboration with the IKADO GmbH This digital twin replicates the entire Wegberg-Wildenrath test centre in North Rhine-Westphalia, including vehicle and sensor models. Using tests carried out in the simulator and at the real-world test centre, the scientists can then validate the quality of the virtual sensor technology and investigate how simulation can be used in future approval processes for highly automated (AI) systems in the railway sector.
The toolchain to be developed is intended to enable researchers and developers to develop and test individual sensors and sensor systems in the railway sector more quickly, cost-effectively and flexibly. As part of this, the shunting assistant developed by IKADO, amongst others will be integrated into the DLR’s simulation and will serve as a test platform in both real and virtual environments.
To ensure that the digital twin can be used freely by industry, it is being released as open source. This also enables other developers to build on the project’s results, thereby expanding the scope of the simulation environment or optimising it for specific cases.
Project title:
HEiDi - A highly automated railway thanks to a digital twin
Duration:
01/2026 to 12/2028
This project is led by the department:
