Autonomous driving and flying as well as autonomously acting mobile robots will be the norm in the foreseeable future. Autonomy requires reliable perception of the environment and intensive cooperation from all actors. Application examples range from automatic landing of airplanes to autonomously driving ships and swarm exploration on foreign planets. Robust communication and navigation methods are key technologies here. 

• With our technologies, passengers of all modes of transport reach their destinations safely, efficiently, comfortably and in an environmentally friendly manner at all times. We ensure the safe landing of aircraft, the safe docking of ships even under difficult environmental conditions, and the flexible division and composition of train convoys. With our situational awareness solutions, we protect vulnerable road users and enable new collision avoidance and route optimization procedures on water.
• We are unlocking new applications in lower airspace through new approaches to decentralized organization of autonomously flying drones. In addition, we enable robust and efficient exploration in challenging terrain on Earth as well as on alien planets through cooperating swarms of drones, rovers and crawlers.

Laboratories and large-scale Facilities - Mission Autonomy and Cooperation

Research port Rostock Here, new systems and procedures for safe and efficient ship navigation are tested under conditions that are as real as possible, and services and assistance systems based on them from the areas of ship navigation and traffic management are developed and validated. Full article

Jamming-Testbed The first civilian maritime test area to investigate the impact of jamming and spoofing attacks in the L-band is located off the coast of Darß. Full article

Holodeck The holodeck is used for pedestrian navigation and swarm exploration. Full article

Vehicles, aircraft and ships The Institute regularly uses its own vehicles, the DLR aircraft fleet as well as ships and trains for measurement and demonstration campaigns in the real environment. Full article

Contact

Prof. Dr. Uwe-Carsten Fiebig German Aerospace Center Institute of Communications and Navigation, Communications Systems Tel.: +49 8153 28-2835 Fax: +49 8153 28 2676

Thoralf Noack German Aerospace Center Institute of Communications and Navigation, Nautical Systems Tel.: +49 3981 480-136 Fax: +49 3981 480-123