TOMORROW TODAY CENTER FOR MOBILITY SYSTEMS
MOBILITY SYSTEMS OF THE FUTURE LETITFLOW // Supporting older professionals in the healthcare sector SYRNEMO PROJECT // Supporting older professionals in the healthcare sector ICT DM 2016 // Conference on ICT in crisis and disaster management
DI Arno Klamminger, Head of Center for Mobility Systems
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TOMORROWTODAY II
HOW WE’LL MOVE IN THE FUTURE
DI (FH) Markus Ray, DI Manfred Haider, Mag. Silvia Bernkopf, DI Arno Klamminger, Dr. Alexandra Millonig (from left)
RoadSTAR, a mobile measurement laboratory, collects road condition Virtual Reality: Analysing the behaviour of pedestrians within infrastructures.
parameters and road geometries without disrupting the flow of traffic.
Top-Story
The MoProVe (Motorcycle Probe Vehicle) collects data on driving dynamics as a basis for assessing road safety on motorcycle routes.
The AIT Center for Mobility Systems explores tomorrow’s multimodal transport and mobi lity systems, and the underlying infrastructure.
Photos Fotos & & Coverphoto: Coverbild: Johannes Zinner/AIT
People and goods, vehicles and infrastructures are all key elements in any mobility system. And their relationship to one another is dynamic: changes to the behaviour of one system component have an impact on the system as a whole. “That’s why we’re taking an integrated approach to developing mobility and transport systems,” explains DI Arno Klamminger, Head of the Center for Mobility Systems since January this year. He continues, “Where formerly the individual elements in a mobility system would be observed separately, today we see an environment which is strongly characterised by synergies and convergence.”
The AIT Center for Mobility Systems has access to unique specialised vehicles which use high precision measuring equipment to simultaneously record a range of infrastructure parameters during a measurement run.
In a nutshell: our mobility systems are changing, and changing at an ever faster pace. New models and forms of mobility are emerging, as well as new combinations in the choice of transport modes, and convergences which were hitherto almost unthinkable. Consequently, AIT is examining the interaction between people and goods, vehicles and infrastructures, as well as people and infrastructures. The interactions are set against the background of the “grand challenges”: the pressure to decarbonise requires new mobility concepts, urbanisation poses challenges to public transport networks and local authorities, and globalisation creates new commodity flows. And the almost unending possibilities opened up by digitalisation have an impact on all these areas. The key to researching these changes is to record and analyse data on mobility, the condition of infrastructure and the traffic flo-
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wing through it. “We develop solutions for interpreting mobility-related data, and use this to create realistic models. These, in turn, form the basis for simulations, forecasting and optimisation in the transport sector. In this way we extract information from the data and can use our software solutions and know-how to support strategic decision-making processes both in the planning phase and during operations,” says Klamminger. One example is the AIT smartphone app ‚Smart Survey‘, which is designed to enable simple and reliable mobility surveys. This solution is primarily directed at transport and urban planners who currently have to collect the required mobility data using time-consuming questionnaires. The smartphone itself has become hugely important as an information and data interface. “Our new technology, called Travel Mode Identification, uses a smartphone to automatically identify the mode of transport you are currently using. In future this tech-
EFFICIENT, SAFE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE AIT’s Transportation Infrastructure Technologies experts are working on the central mobility topics related to this field: the high-precision recording and forecasting of road and rail infrastructure performance, the resilience and functional service life of key elements such as bridges, and the role of infrastructure in improving road safety and reducing traffic noise and vibrations. The RoadSTAR is an important measuring vehicle in this context. This unique, mobile measuring laboratory allows high-precision road condition parameters and road geometries to be collected without disrupting traffic flow. These measurements are a vital input for the infrastructure operator’s maintenance management to make the roads of the future efficient, safe and sustainable. By systematically recording road conditions and the surroundings, as well as parameters of driving dynamics (such as braking forces and acceleration), AIT’s measuring vehicles create an important basis for ensuring greater road safety: the data they gather can be used to generate models and simulations for analysing and developing efficient infrastructure-based road safety strategies.
spectrum of the external forces (below) and during the journey (above).
nology will make the transport system easier for us to use, for example by automatically billing for each mode of transport used,” says Arno Klamminger. This information can also be used to develop new tariff models.
ON-DEMAND MOBILITY IS INCREASING Klamminger recognises that the significance of individual mobility solutions is increasing massively, and this calls for totally new approaches. “These should be optimised to suit personal needs while being sensibly integrated into the transport system as a whole.” The AIT Center for Mobility Systems takes the human factor into account in its models. For, as Klamminger says, “Accepting new mobility applications or the motivation to change personal mobility patterns depends on many individual factors.”
On the right track: Analysing and optimising pedestrian flows The AIT Center for Mobility Systems is using pedestrian flow simulations to examine the behaviour of pedestrians in various surroundings. The focus lies on analysing and predicting critical situations which arise when different flows of pedestrians converge. “We investigate how people find their way within their surroundings, how they react to directions, and then we use this information to design infrastructure and guidance systems,” explains Arno Klamminger. This information plays a critical role in planning public spaces such as railway stations and airports, and in drawing up evacuation plans for large events. AIT uses special virtual reality glasses to evaluate infrastructure designs – further proof of the enormous opportunities offered by digitalisation.
Photo: AIT
This is how the smartphone detects a bus journey: the frequency
Performance & Success
FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE & SUCCESS
Christian Chimani, Head of the Center for Low-Emission Transport, invites the submission of papers.
New AIT software provides the basis for automated ticketing.
NEW AIT SOFTWARE
SMARTPHONES DETECT MODES OF TRANSPORT We always have our smartphones with us. We no longer use them just for phoning, surfing the internet or taking photos – when installed with the relevant tools, a smartphone can be used for ever more tasks, for example as a means of making payments. AIT scientists at the Center for Mobility Systems have just developed software which automatically detects the mode of transport the smartphone carrier is using. Furthermore, the software also distinguishes between eight different types of movement: by foot, bicycle, car, train, tram, underground, bus or motorbike. This information can be used in applications such as automated ticketing and traffic apps which provide real-time information about the route, as well as reliable mobility surveys using smartphones.
LET IT FLOW
Photos: Vipress/Peter Strobl, AIT
SUPPORTING OLDER PROFESSIONALS IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR The aim of the AAL project ‚LetItFlow‘ is to develop a system which supports older hospital staff and laboratory technicians in their daily working routines while simultaneously functioning as an intelligent healthcare monitoring tool. As work routines become ever more complex and increasingly reliant on technology, the goal is to use smartphones and smartwatches for monitoring purposes in order to optimise workflows especially designed to meet the needs of older members of staff. In this project AIT is cooperating with partners including university clinics in Bucharest and Seville where the LetItFlow system is being tested. One thing the project shows is that conventional smartphones and smartwatches are not suitable within laboratory workflows. Project manager, Valentin Gattol: “As laboratory technicians are usually wearing rubber gloves, this limits their ability to manipulate a touchscreen. Bearing this in mind, we are developing a prototype smartwatch which we will test using alternative methods of interaction, such as gesture control.”
TRA 2018 VIENNA
NEW DIGITAL ERA IN THE TRANSPORT SECTOR The Transport Research Arena (TRA), Europe’s largest research and technology conference in the field of transport and mobility, will be held in Vienna from 16 to 19 April 2018. The call for abstracts is open and runs until 21 March 2017. Scientists, researchers and engineers are invited to submit their abstracts online. Dr Christian Chimani, Head of the Center for Low-Emission Transport at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and Chair of the Programme Committee for TRA 2018, explains that, “We are accepting excellent scientific papers which will undergo a scientific review process, as well as technical papers which will be reviewed by an expert jury based on the quality of technology, relevance for implementation and case studies.” An expert jury decides which contributions will be presented at TRA 2018 in the form of presentations or posters. The best scientific papers will be published in a major SCI journal. For further information see: http://www.traconference.eu/call-for-abstracts/
TOMORROWTODAY VI
Laying the foundations for better climate protection: Christian Köfinger (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology), Christoph Winterhalter (Chairman of DIN Executive Board).
The electric motor developed as part of the EU project ‘SyrNemo’ should contribute to significantly reducing future CO2 emissions in Europe.
SYRNEMO
FIGHTING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
ENERGY-SAVING HEAT PUMPS The average European consumer uses between 500 and 800 kWh of energy each year simply on heating water. The role which hot water heating systems play in our personal pattern of usage is often underestimated. In order to help consumers choose more energy-efficient and sustainable technology, EU Regulation No 812/2013 was put into effect three years ago. This regulation on the energy labelling of water heaters, hot water storage tanks and packages of water heater and solar device was implemented for heat pumps by means of the new DIN EN 16147 standard. This standard determines the methods for testing, performance rating and marking all types of heat pumps. The prescribed methods set out in this standard provide the basis for introducing an EU Energy Label for heat pumps. Just as with the EU Energy Label for electrical appliances, this allows consumers to see a heat pump’s efficiency rating at a glance. “This label enables comparisons between different heat pumps, and also with other water heating appliances,” explains Christian Köfinger, an AIT expert who has been closely involved in the work of developing the new European standard for which he was recently awarded the “Benefits of Standardization” prize by the German Institute for Standardization (DIN).
Photos: AIT
Good news for our environment: as part of the EU project ‘SyrNemo’, which is being coordinated by AIT expert Michele De Gennaro, scientists have developed an electric motor which can contribute towards significantly reducing Europe’s CO2 emissions. Prototypes of the motor have been manufactured, qualified and tested, and now the project partners are examining the market opportunities for this innovation. SyrNemo has developed two fully functioning prototypes, which contain no rare earths and are not dependent upon the monopoly of existing magnet suppliers. The final design was evaluated on the basis of its output constants of mechanical performance and torque density and exceeded the 2016 benchmarks defined for these two parameters by 45% and 25%, respectively. The SyrNemo motor design was showcased at the SAE 2016 World Congress and Exhibition in Detroit, and was successfully presented at the leading event for transport research in Europe, the Transport Research Arena in Warsaw.
INNOVATION CALENDAR ICT DM 2016
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Photo: AIT/Michael Mürling
The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology hosted the third international conference on ICT in crisis and disaster management in Vienna from 13 to 15 December 2016. The conference was organised by the AIT Environmental and Crisis & Disaster Management group at the Center for Digital Safety & Security, and focused on information and communication technologies used in this field. The international participants from 22 countries came from universities, non-university research institutions, industry, the voluntary sector, and public authorities. During the course of the conference topics such as the use of social media in disaster situations, innovative early warning systems, decision support systems for crisis managers, and communications strategies in crisis and disaster management were presented in plenary sessions. AIT presented research findings from the KIRAS projects INKA and PASA which focus on interoperability aspects of management in crises and disasters, and Austria’s future public warning and alert system.
06-09/03/2017 // HRI 2017 Major international conference on human-robot interaction chaired by AIT. Venue: Vienna AIT contact: Manfred Tscheligi Info: humanrobotinteraction.org/2017/ // 13-14/03/2017 // SYMPOSIUM ON INNOVATIVE SMART GRID CYBER SECURITY SOLUTIONS End-of-project symposium held as a two-day event plus evening event featuring presentations in the large conference room and the SmartEST Lab. Venue: TechBase Vienna AIT contacts: Michaela Jungbauer, Michael Mürling Info: smartgrid-cybersecurity.events/ // 14-15/03/2017 // 10TH CIO CONGRESS SPRING „TECHNOLOGY“ Workshop on the topic „Blockchain – ‚the Game Changer System‘ - Techno logies & Applications“. Venue: Waidhofen AIT contact: Ross King Info: lsz-consulting.at/events/ // 14–16/03/2017 // PASSENGER TERMINAL EXPO 2017 Trade fair for the aviation industry with a focus on airlines and airport operators. Venue: Amsterdam AIT contact: Silvia Bernkopf Info: passengerterminal-expo.com/ //
Gerry Foitik, Federal Commander of the Austrian Red Cross, talked about humanitarian aspects in the public perception of crises and risks.
16-17/03/2017 // FRAUD CONFERENCE 2017 The focus of this conference is on IoT security and cybercrime. AIT will give a keynote on gamified cyber security, the
effectiveness of different gaming approaches in fending off social engineering attacks. Venue: Salzburg AIT contact: Michaela Reisinger Info: privacyofficers.at/event/fraud- tagung-2017/ // 27-28/03/2017 // M2M/IOT FORUM CEE 2017 M2M and IoT take disruption to a new level. Intelligent technologies will change our lives. AIT co-organises the event and is also represented with a stand and expert presentations. Venue: Vienna City Hall AIT contact: Michael Mürling Info: m2m-forum.eu // 05-07/04/2017 // 1ST EMMC INTER NATIONAL WORKSHOP The workshop organised by the Euro pean Materials Modelling Council (EMMC) addresses the latest developments in metallurgical modelling and new applications for industry. Venue: Vienna AIT contact: Amir Horr Info: emmc.info/ // 06–07/04/2017 // BVL LOGISTICS DIALOGUE The 33rd Logistics Dialogue organised by the Austrian Logistics Association (BVL) focuses on the general topic of customer focus, dynamisation and leadership. Venue: Pyramide Vösendorf AIT contacts: Jürgen Zajicek, Boschidar Ganev Info: bvl.at //
AIT Top Journal Papers
‚STRUCTURE-FROMMOTION‘ APPROACH
SOCIAL INNOVATION THROUGH CO-CREATION
TRANSPORT MODELLING FROM A GIS PERSPECTIVE
We present a novel ‚structure from motion‘ pipeline, which estimates camera motion and a three-dimensional model of a scene from imaged line segments across multiple views. Although the position and orientation of line segments can be determined more accurately than point features, the instability of their endpoints and the fact that lines are not constrained by epipolar geometry diverted most research focus away to point-based methods for scene reconstruction. In our approach, we tackle the problem of instable endpoints by utilising relaxed constraints on their positions, both during matching as well as in subsequent bundle adjustment. Furthermore, we gain efficiency in estimating trifocal image relations by decoupling rotation and translation. To this end, a novel linear solver for estimating relative translation given rotations from five line correspondences in three views is introduced. Extensive experiments on long image sequences show that our line-based ‚structure from motion‘ pipeline advantageously complements point-based methods, giving more meaningful 3D representation for indoor scenarios.
This paper shows inter-linkages between service and social innovation by identifying research areas in which both find a joint heuristic field. The bridge between social innovation and service innovation research can be built when social innovation is examined through a multi-agent framework. Our case study of the Austrian nationwide public access defibrillation (ANPAD) programme provides an exemplar of the process of co-creation by which this social innovation was developed, implemented, and sustained. The Austrian Red Cross organised an innovation network capable of creating both the demand and the supply side of a market for the production and safe application of portable automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in Austria. The process involved raising public awareness of the need for portable defibrillators, acting as a user representative when inducing changes in the design of portable AEDs and institutionalising AED training in every first aid course in Austria. The project involved close cooperation with local manufacturers producing the device and with large user organisations installing AEDs on their premises.
Mobility research and geography have in the past developed largely independent scientific approaches to transport systems and models. Driven by recent conceptual, methodological and technical developments, however, the need for an integrated approach is obvious. This paper outlines the potential of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for transport modelling. We identify three fields where the spatial perspective can significantly contribute to a more efficient modelling process and more reliable model results: processing of geospatial data, generation of disaggregated transport models and geo-visualisation. The article compiles available findings from various domains and formulates future research questions for these three fields.
Micusik B., Wildenauer H.: Structure from
Windrum, P., Schartinger, D., Rubalcaba,
Motion with Line Segments Under Relaxed
L., Gallouj, F. and Toivonen, M. (2016) The
Endpoint Constraints, International Journal
Co-Creation of Multi-Agent Social Innova-
of Computer Vision (IJCV), © 2016 Springer
tions: A Bridge Between Service and Social
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/
Innovation Research. European Journal of
s11263-016-0971-9
Innovation Management, 2016, 19, 2, 150-166
Loidl, M., Wallentin, G., Cyganski, R., Graser, A., Scholz, J., & Haslauer, E. (2016) GIS and transport modeling — Strengthening the spatial perspective. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2016, 5, 84. doi:10.3390/ijgi5060084.
Imprint: Editor-in-chief: Michael H. Hlava, Production manager: Daniel Pepl, Editorial team: Beatrice Fröhlich-Rath, Florian Hainz, Michaela Jungbauer, Michael Mürling, Fabian Purtscher, Juliane Thoß. Please send your feedback to: presse@ait.ac.at