Press & Media

The aim of the 5G-Industry Campus Europe is to jointly explore – together with companies and research partners – further application areas of the new mobile radio technology 5G in the production field and test them as practical as possible: The consortium, coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT on the Campus Melaten of RWTH Aachen University, is receiving funding of almost 6.2 million Euros from the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) in order to set up the regional 5G research network. The institute has now selected Ericsson as its 5G network supplier.

Having established a center of excellence in Aachen, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT is now bringing together a network of companies and research institutes to create a new photonics hub in North Rhine-Westphalia. In the "Aachen Center for Optics Production", or ACOP for short, the Fraunhofer researchers are pooling their own expertise with that of the regional optical industry to jointly create a digital, networked infrastructure for optics production. Eleven companies have agreed to support the center in its work. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is funding the collaborative venture to the tune of 2.8 million euros over an initial period of three years.

The majority of driver assistance systems and completely autonomous vehicles currently use solid-state systems, known as LIDAR systems to measure distances and detect obstacles: The abbreviation LIDAR stands for "light detection and ranging" and describes a method used to measure the environment using the reflection of emitted laser beams. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Tech-nology IPT in Aachen, Germany, has developed a system for the automated as-sembly of solid-state LIDAR systems so that such systems can soon be made available to the automotive industry at low cost. The prototype was integrated into a basic machine manufactured by the project partner Aixemtec GmbH and put into operation together with Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH, worldwide technology leader in LIDAR sensors.

Modern sensor technology can already collect an extensive range of data from machines and equipment. Analyzing these data can expose anomalies between planned and actual production in order to support optimization purposes. However, data storage and analysis still tend to be decentralized and involve a time-lag. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen has joined forces with international partners to network industrial production wirelessly with 5G in order to test its potential for industrial environments.