Partners
IKADO GmbH
The IT company IKADO was founded in 1989 and offers a portfolio of services in the areas of system integration, application development and consulting. In order to recognize market trends at an early stage and to transfer them into its own product portfolio, IKADO has been intensively involved in research and development activities since 2017, in which IKADO has often taken on the position of consortium leader, too.
Thanks to extensive digitalization projects in the field of rail vehicles, IKADO is an expert in the areas of environment recognition, obstacle detection, navigation, interface specification and development, real-time data processing and transmission was well as AI development.
IKADO within the SAMIRA project
Within the SAMIRA2.0 project, IKADO is responsible for consortium- and project management. This means that the administrative tasks include communication with the funding body, project management with all partners and keeping to the budget and the agreed objectives as well as the preparation of reports and other project documentation.
During project implementation, IKADO focuses to continue the entire further development of the demonstrator software from the predecessor project SAMIRA, as well as testing and validation of the new generated overall system. IKADO is also supporting the system-tests in real-life use both in the industrial shunting area and in the railroad's digital 5G test field in the Ore Mountains.
IKADO also works on revising the sensor concept based on the results of the previous project, develops safe, reliable and optimized software for data evaluation and signal transmission and finally adapts the software to the hardware platform which has been chosen to enable prototypical use in a real harsh environment.
In addition, IKADO is also responsible for developing the AI for object recognition in the last mile by the further development of existing AIs according to the special cases within the rail environment.
As part of its public relations work, IKADO creates and maintains the project website and organizes suitable project events and PR activities following the progress of the project.
Technische Universität Chemnitz
Chemnitz University of Technology is a cosmopolitan university with strong regional, national, and international networks. It employs around 2,300 people in science and administration, and has more than 8,600 students from over 90 countries. This makes it the third-largest university in Saxony. The SAMIRA2.0 project is being carried out at Chemnitz University of Technology as part of the "Smart Rail Connectivity Campus" (SRCC) project. The SRCC project aims to establish a globally visible research and development facility at the Annaberg-Buchholz site. There, research, development, and innovation will focus on digitally connected, automated, and sustainable mobility that is economically, ecologically, and socially effective and efficient. Chemnitz University of Technology, the city of Annaberg-Buchholz, and many other network partners will collaborate on this project. Due to the participation of professorships from many faculties at the Center for Knowledge and Technology Transfer, the SRCC is located at Chemnitz University of Technology as a central institution. The Chair of Communications Engineering at Chemnitz University of Technology is also involved in the SAMIRA 2.0 project.
TU Chemnitz within the SAMIRA project
Within the project, Chemnitz University of Technology is working on tasks related to reliable communication, particularly 5G communication. The sub-project aims to investigate guaranteed bandwidths that can be reliably provided without signal loss in dedicated 5G networks, as well as during transitions between private and public 5G networks.
Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG (Associated partner)
With thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG in Duisburg, the largest steel manufacturer in Germany has been won as an associated partner for the next development phase of the SAMIRA project. With around 90 locomotives, tkSE is Europe's largest plant railway operator, too. A total rail network of around 420 kilometers stretches across the company premises. In addition, with a transport volume of 142 million kilometers per year, the company railroad is the second largest logistics provider of the country and provides 55,000 shunting movements every month (!).
Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG within the SAMIRA project
Thanks to the partnership with tkSE, it is possible to test and verify the components and systems at various stages during the SAMIRA2.0 development in a highly industrial, harsh environment in real operation even at an early phase of the project.
For this purpose, tkSE provides a shunting locomotive or a small train unit to which the corresponding sensors can be attached. tkSE also provides the train engineer and organizes the test runs within their ongoing operations. The sensor and system data recorded during the real-life test drives is later being used in the laboratory for the further development of the the algorithms and AI.
The large industrial buildings and the extensive track yards with track ladders up to 45 nearby tracks pose an enormous challenge for track-selective positioning and reliable environment and obstacle detection on using SAMIRA2.0.
In addition, tkSE is also an important and valuable contact for all questions relating to railroad technology, such as operational safety and health and safety at work, signaling technology, environmental requirements and general operational processes, regulations and guidelines.