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Climate Research @ AIT How AIT is contributing to the success of the energy transition
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Molecular genetics in field crops Improvement of storage life Discussing Technology New views of a complex world
AIT and Christof Industries want to jointly develop state-of-the-art sensor networks and environmental solutions for use in heavily air-polluted urban regions. An important target market in this respect is Asia.
Holger Link/unsplash.com
CLIMATE RESEARCH @ AIT The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology is developing industrial applications that will contribute to the success of the energy transition – for example in a partnership with environmental technology specialist Christof Industries. The AIT is thus regarded as an enabler for industry to tackle decarbonisation and digitisation as well as to develop new business models from this.
Air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase worldwide – the consequences of the Covid 19 pandemic only leave a temporary impact in this long-term trend. The monitoring of air pollutants in all regions of the world is becoming increasingly important for the implementation of targeted measures against emissions. Now two leading companies are joining forces in a trend-setting alliance: The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and the environ2
mental technology specialist Christof Industries are pooling their know-how to implement sophisticated solutions for the detection and analysis of environmental pollutants worldwide. "Our partnership aims to make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions and air pollutants through municipal environmental monitoring," says Wolfgang Nestler, Managing Director of Christof Systems, a subsidiary of the Graz-based family business Christof Industries.
The company successfully develops, builds and markets integrated waste management and environmental concepts for cities and regions. Christof's developments include municipal waste management concepts in Southeast Asia, plants in South Africa for the sustainable recycling of biological waste by insect larvae, innovative technologies for the rapid, safe and cost-effective disinfection and sterilization of infectious, contaminated AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
medical waste or treatment processes from biogenic raw and waste water to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions and nitrate pollution of soils. This cooperation also makes a lot of sense to Helmut Leopold, Head of Center for Digital Safety & Security at AIT: "A modern and sustainable environmental management system needs digital communication solutions and highly secure IT systems, which have been developed through high-tech research at AIT in recent years. In an exemplary cooperation with the environmental technology specialist Christof Industries, we can jointly position leading digital solutions made in Austria on the world market." AIT and Christof Industries now want to jointly develop state-ofthe-art sensor networks and environmental solutions for use in heavily air-polluted urban regions – with a particular focus on Asia as a target market. Christof Industries operates a subsidiary in Southeast Asia with its own very large production facilities in accordance with western quality standards. Climate protection as part of the AIT DNA For many years, AIT has been considered a specialist in environmental analysis & monitoring as well as environmental scenario simulation as decision support for decision makers and the public sector. But not only there: Research in the field of environmental technologies and climate protection forms part of the AIT DNA. This is about more than the writing of papers or studies – it is about the industrialisation and commercialisation of pioneering technologies and thus also about new opportunities for Austria as an industrial and innovation location. Key to this are top experts who are among the European leaders in their fields as well as a state-of-the-art research infrastructure. The particular importance of the latter is demonstrated by a national lighthouse project of the Climate and Energy Fund conducted under the leadership of the AIT Center for Energy THE MAGAZINE FOR PARTNERS AND CLIENTS
Wolfgang Nestler, Managing Director Christof Systems: "Our partnership aims to make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions and air pollutants through municipal environmental monitoring.”
with partners from research, industry and network operators. The increasing number of photovoltaic systems and additional electrical consumers such as heat pumps, storage systems or electric vehicles pose new challenges for local distribution networks. The four-year research project Leafs (Integration of Loads and Electric Storage Systems into advanced Flexibility Schemes for LV Networks) investigated the use of flexibilities in the low-voltage grid in four field trials in Styria, Upper Austria and Salzburg. The aim was to make better use of flexibilities in the low-voltage grid on site in order to relieve the strain on the networks. In addition to technological solutions, the project also focused on households with their needs and possible incentive systems for the local use of electricity. "The results from the four different field tests with the possible applications of storages and flexible loads in the electricity grid illustrate very well the potential of using flexibilities, the time shift of loads and generation, and give a comprehensive picture of possibilities for grid-friendly use," says Leafs project manager Johannes Kathan, Senior Research Engineer at the AIT Center for Energy. They examined the optimized coverage of the local demand, the securing of an operation that is as grid-friendly as possible and finally also
Christof Industries
the active participation of flexibilities in energy markets. The project successfully demonstrated the technical feasibility of different systems for the use of flexibility while at the same time highlighting regulatory gaps. It also revealed that additional revenues can be generated by using the flexibility according to the application and situation of the respective customers. Utilization of industrial waste heat In other projects, too, AIT is demonstrating its high level of expertise in shaping the energy transition. The decisive factor here is the view of the overall system: Waste heat from industrial processes has so far mostly been released into the environment completely unused. As part of the EU project DryFiciency, a specific heat pump technology was developed in a project chaired by AIT over the last three years, and a demonstrator was integrated into the drying process. At the Uttendorf brick plant of Wienerberger AG, the high-temperature heat pump is now being tested for the first time in a real industrial environment. "The DryFiciency development project has set a milestone in the direction of decarbonisation of the brick industry", says Carlo Callegati, Head of R&D Operations and Engineering at Wienerberger AG, at the presentation of the high-temperature 3
Veronika Wilk, coordinator DryFiciency: "For many drying processes, heat pumps are a sustainable alternative to gas burners."
heat pump. “Heat pumps will be an essential element of energy infrastructure in the future, also in the industrial context. Demonstration projects such as DryFiciency show how industrial processes can be made more efficient by using waste heat and strengthen confidence in this new technology through scientific monitoring," emphasises Wolfgang Hribernik, Head of Center for Energy at AIT. "Heat pumps are a real alternative to conventional gas burners for many drying processes," adds Veronika Wilk, scientific coordinator of the DryFiciency project and Thematic Coordinator for Efficiency in Industrial Processes & Systems at the Center for Energy. In comparison to conventional gas boilers, heat pumps have the potential to increase energy efficiency by up to 80 percent, reduce CO2 emissions by up to 75 percent and also generate up to 20 percent lower production costs. The technologies developed by AIT can be used in many industrial sectors – from paper, food and beverages to textiles and other branches of chemical industries – and can be integrated into existing plants.
energy world. A case in point is the city of Linz which is now using AIT technology to combat climate change: In the Horizon2020 project CLARITY (Integrated Climate Adaptation Service Tools for Improving Resilience Measure Efficiency), which is coordinated by AIT and funded by the EU, "Climate Services" are being developed as innovative digital tools and services that can be used to analyze and evaluate future negative effects of climate change on Europe's cities and thus counteract these at an early stage. The city of Linz is a partner in the research consortium led by AIT, i.e. the Center for Digital Safety & Security and the Center for Energy. "In CLARITY, we are building smart IT systems to make climate risks and corresponding adaptation measures easier to assess, so that modern and targeted urban planning can be supported. The solutions developed can be used by climate experts as well as users from administration and urban planning," explains project manager Denis Havlik from the AIT Center for Digital Safety & Security. Various services, most of which are available free of charge, enable users to investigate climate-relevant indicators and, for example, to assess the positive effects of adaptation measures to reduce local impacts (e.g. with respect to heat islands, urban planning, transport infrastructure, flooding, etc.). Local and city-wide
Support for municipalities However, climate change poses new challenges not only for industry, but also for cities. The increasing urbanisation further intensifies this. Here too, AIT offers smart solutions for the digital 4
Photos: AIT/Wolf
Wolfgang Hribernik, Head of Center for Energy: “Realizing more efficient industrial processes through the use of waste heat."
climate simulations for current and future climate periods were conducted as part of CLARITY together with the City of Linz, which has set itself the ambitious aim of becoming the climate capital of Europe (as one of four priority regions alongside Sweden/Stockholm, Italy/ Naples and Spain/Madrid). In order to be able to reduce the increasing urban heat load, the AIT Center for Energy, headed by urban climate expert Wolfgang Loibl from the research area Digital Resilient Cities, used micro-climate simulations for three different districts in Linz in order to demonstrate what developments could be expected in these areas with and without countermeasures. Thus it was possible to demonstrate the high effectiveness of unsealing and revegeta tion measures. The calculations for this are based on the complete system EMIKAT developed by the AIT Center for Digital Safety & Security, which has been used for many years to calculate the emissions and energy balances of Austrian provinces and also plays an important role in the Christof cooperation.
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ENABLING THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ENERGY SYSTEM Since 1 May, René Hofmann has been part of the team at the Center for Energy in his new position as Principal Scientist. His research focuses on the scientific investigation of the coupling of the energy sector in the industrial context using digital technologies and innovative methods.
Photo: AIT
"Principal scientists at AIT possess proven industry expertise in their research areas and their teams ensure leading application-oriented research and development. The AIT's industrial partners benefit from this. There are currently eight Principal Scientists at AIT who, in addition to their research tasks, also contribute to the definition and implementation of new business models from their work," explains Wolfgang Knoll, scientific Managing Director at AIT. René Hofmann has been Principal Scientist at the AIT Center for Energy since May. Hofmann's current research focuses on the design and operational optimisation of complex systems for a sustainable energy supply in the process industry. Among other things, the focus is on the scientific investigation of the coupling of the energy sector in the industrial context using digital technologies and innovative methods. Profound change "The energy industry is in the middle of a profound transition. This encompasses changes in the framework conditions resulting from the achievement of climate targets as well as the increasing demands on the decarbonisation of industrial processes. AIT is accompanying this transformation process by developing innovative, digitalised and THE MAGAZINE FOR PARTNERS AND CLIENTS
climate-friendly industrial energy systems," emphasises Hofmann. The new AIT Principal Scientist was already involved in the successful establishment of research activities on industrial energy systems from 2015 to 2020 as part of an endowed professorship in cooperation between AIT and TU Wien [Vienna University of Technology]. In 2019, he obtained his habilitation in this field at TU Wien. In 2015, René Hofmann started as Senior Scientist at AIT and took over the role of Thematic Coordinator for the research area "Efficiency in Industrial Processes and Systems" in 2018, which focuses on technology development and system integration. Industrial core competence Hofmann has years of experience in basic and applied research and writes about energy technology in high-ranking scientific journals and conference papers. He teaches methods for the modeling, simulation and optimisation of applications of thermal processes and components and has several patents pending. Hofmann worked as a process engineer and in the research and development department for the industrial steam generator manufacturer Josef Bertsch GmbH & Co. KG in Vienna and Bludenz on assignments all over the world. As scientific coordinator of the cooperative
AIT Principal Scientist René Hofmann and his team are developing solutions for the energy future.
doctoral school SIC! [Smart Industrial Concept], he is involved in several large research projects on efficiency, flexibility and digitisation of industrial processes at the University of Technology and AIT and is a member of many international networks. His current key fields of research cover the design and operational optimisation of systems for complex power supplies in industry. 5
CONFERENCES GO DIGITAL AIT is organizer and partner of numerous international congresses. Due to corona, many events this year are taking place digitally and as hybrid events – one more opportunity to benefit from AIT's broad spectrum of expertise. ALPBACH TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM The Alpbach Technology Symposium is organized by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and ORF Radio Österreich 1 in cooperation with the European Forum Alpbach. It will take place between 27 August and 29 August this year. This provides a hitherto unique opportunity to participate in this superlative event at favorable conditions: "Tickets for the entire European Forum Alpbach are available for 90 EUR. The Technology Symposium – just like our entire society – is addressing the major challenges posed by the corona pandemic and will therefore be held digitally. The first-rate plenary and breakout sessions will be produced live in Alpbach and broadcast via stream. The Hop-in tool is used for the online conference," says project manager Michael Hlava.
General topic “Fundamentals” Under the general topic of "Fundamentals", the Alpbach Technology Symposium addresses central issues of our present and future, which are characterised by rapid and far-reaching changes in society, politics and the economy. Digitisation is driving this development. The Alpbach Technology Symposium sets out to find new answers: What do our fundamentals look like today? What should be considered in the future? What does this mean for technologies of the future? What challenges must industry tackle in order to maintain its competitiveness? Discussions will cover, among other things, new perspectives on society and the economy, such as those opened up by complexity research, and new European perspectives for overcoming the current crisis phenomena. Valuable contributions to dealing with the pressing issues of the future can also be made by the arts, which are accorded broad scope. Besides high-le-
AIT Head of Communications Michael H. Hlava: "2020 offers the unique opportunity to digitally follow the Alpbach Technology Symposium and all other discussions of the European Forum for only 90 EUR."
vel debates on future policies for technology, innovation and industry, discussions will address a range of perspectives on our life with Artificial Intelligence. In cooperation with the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, climate and environmental topics are discussed, and complexity researchers report on initial findings from the corona pandemic and its consequences. As usual, there will also be almost a dozen breakout sessions around the general topic of the Technology Symposium. Continuous updates under: #EFAtec ait.ac.at/efatec20
Photos: EFA, AIT/Husar
Tickets at: 2020.alpbach.org/
This year, however, the Alpbach Technology Symposium will take on a different look, as they will take place digitally – but in the usual high quality. The sessions are streamed live from Alpbach. 6
AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
BERLIN SCIENCE WEEK 2020 The Berlin Science Week is a 10-day international festival that will be staged digitally from 1–10 November this year. The most innovative scientific institutions in the world, including the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, will come together to discuss, network and exchange ideas with the local and international community and the public. B erlin Science Week lends greater visibility to science, research and innovation and is the global platform for dialogue and cooperation between science and society to jointly promote a deeper understanding of our world. Last year more than 20,000 participants attended over 140 events organised by 130 organisations, including 26 international organisers. As in previous years, international speakers will discuss pressing issues of our time and also present possible solutions – from the world of work to energy, climate change, cyberspace and mobility. Not even Corona changes the basic objectives of the Berlin Science Week: Berlin brings the most innovative science organizations in the world together! More on this at: berlinscienceweek.com/de/
11TH RANSHOFENER LIGHT METAL DAYS – THE DIGITAL CONFERENCE The "Ranshofener Leichtmetalltage" [Ranshofen Light Metal Days], the renowned forum for light metal experts, will be held for the 11th time this year and will be presented in an adapted digital format due to the corona situation. The conference will take place only on 3 September (Thursday), throughout the whole day. Under this year's motto "Light metals, material and process technologies in the context of decarbonisation and digitisation", renowned speakers and keynote speakers will discuss the requirements for the development and implementation of innovations in material and process development. Participation in the LTM2020 is possible via browser, tablet or smartphone; like the keynotes, the lectures can be followed live via stream. There will be 3 sessions, 3 keynotes and 9 lectures. Interactive Q&A and discussions involve the audience, poster short presentations via video on demand round off the exciting programme. More on this at: lmt.ait.ac.at
Digital conference: The LMT2020 takes place virtually.
The cooperation between human and machine is becoming increasingly important.
Photos:Aris Venetikidis, AIT/LKR Lang
SYMPOSIUM HUMANMACHINE PRODUCTION Modern assistance systems are becoming an increasingly relevant topic. They increase the user experience, facilitate the higher qualification of employees and improve their competence. Together with Profactor and WEKA Verlag, the AIT Center for Technology Experience will therefore be devoting a virtual symposium to the topic of "Human-Machine Production" on 14 October 2020. Among other things, it will examine how assistance systems in manufacturing can improve quality, increase productivity and accelerate the introduction of new technologies. The occasion is the completion of the MMAssist II research project, which aims to develop modular assistance systems and to implement and evaluate them experimentally in industrial environments. The findings on acceptance and user experience when using assistance systems help to gain a profound empirical and socio-technically oriented understanding of the needs and requirements for assistance systems in the production context and to design them accordingly in the future. More on this at: mmp-symposium.at/
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IST2020 ONLINE CONFERENCE HOSTED BY AIT UND WU This summer, the AIT Center for Innovation Systems & Policy, together with the Vienna University of Economics and Business' Research Institute for Urban Management and Governance, will host the 11th International Sustainability Transitions Conference (IST2020). The conference will take place online from 18–21 August in an innovative, climate-friendly format. Researchers from around the world will exchange views with stake holders from politics and practice on the conference topic "Governance in an Era of Change – Making Sustainability Transitions Happen". The presentations at the conference will deal with the following questions, among others: How can the multi-dimensional causes of current crises and their causal relationships be best addressed? What enables stakeholders to initiate systemic and structural transitions, and which political, legal and institutional context must governance strategies take into account? What can "just change" look like, and how do you deal with conflicting sustainability objectives? New formats have been developed to facilitate dialogue, to discuss common ideas and to network, such as the IST2020 gallery which combines flexible on-demand access to the individual contributions and offers the possibility of an exciting live discussion with the authors. More on this at: ist2020.at
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FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE AIT Poster Award 2020 The winner is: FLEXConnect
Phytotoxic bacteria Environmentally friendly and sustainable biopesticide
insect vector that transmits the disease. BIOVEXO will subject its new biopesticides to large-scale field trials in Puglia, Mallorca and mainland Spain and will ensure full compliance with legislation to make them available for use in integrated pest management.
Telehealth solution Global partnership with Siemens Healthineers
AIT Poster Award 2020 The winner is: FLEXConnect Together with the Lower Austrian funding agencies tecnet equity and accent, AIT supported more than 200 young talents with the Poster Award in recent years. This time, innovative concepts for energy system transformation and technologies for the intuitive collection of health data were in high The aim of BIOVEXO is the biological control of Xylella and its carrier in olive trees. demand. The winner was Regina Hemm from the Center for Energy. With her work "Prosumer flexibilities to electricity AIT coordinates the BIOVEXO project for markets" Hemm presented an innovative combating phytotoxic bacteria. The aim is approach for an intelligent interface to control the phytopathogenic bacterium between prosumers and electricity "Xylella fastidiosa", which is transmitted suppliers. Thanks to this interface, private by insects and causes the death of olive households will be able to participate in trees in Spain and Italy ("olive quick short-term electricity trading in the future. decline syndrome"). The disease has Second place went to Andreas Ziegl from evolved into a major concern for olive and the Center for Health & Bioresources, fruit tree growers, causing immense who is working on the Timed Up-and-Go economic, social and societal problems (TUG) tool. The device autonomously in addition to the expected loss of the Memeasures the time it takes a person to diterranean landscape heritage. The move three meters away from a chair, project is coordinated by the Vienna-baturn around and return to the chair, and sed RTDS Association, with AIT being in serves as a basis for assessing the risk of charge of scientific coordination with falls among older people. Third place expert StĂŠphane Compant from the went to Theresa Fink from the Center for Competence Unit Bioresources of the Energy. She works on integrated urban Center for Health & Bioresources. The planning solutions through digital project is developing two types of modelling in the AIT City Intelligence Lab. ecologically sustainable and economicalThanks to cutting-edge technology, Fink ly viable biopesticide solutions that, in shares her digital designs with project combination, can target both the phytopartners around the world. pathogenic bacterium Xylella and the 8
AIT and the AIT spin-off Telbiomed have gained Siemens Healthineers as an international cooperation, sales and development partner. Based on the AIT Telehealth platform, a new flexible telemedicine solution will be further
Elke Guenther, Head of Center for Health & Bioresources: "We intend to further internationalize AIT technology with Siemens Healthineers."
developed and internationalized as a result. The AIT Telehealth platform elevates the care of patients with chronic diseases into the age of digitisation. This telehealth solution is already in successful routine use as HerzMobil in Tyrol and Styria for patients with chronic cardiac insufficiency. Healthcare providers can plan their own telemedicine programmes and flexibly adapt the underlying technology to their needs. The telehealth solution supports patients in the simple recording of their health data and the medical staff in the fast and efficient care of the patients assigned to them. For the AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Photos: AIT/Husar, Janine Joles/Unsplash, AIT/Zinner
Regina Hemm won over the panel of judges with her work.
current use case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the AIT Telehealth platform was adapted to facilitate the care of persons with unclear COVID-19 status for health authorities and medical professionals.
tion Driven Collaborative European Inland Waterways Transport Network). In doing so, various concrete innovations for the European inland waterway transport will be developed and tested.
Potential analysis Smart textiles
Photos: AIT/Zinner, AIT/APA-Fotoservice/Hinterramskogler
From intelligent sports shirts that measure the pulse, to automatically cooling mattresses, through to building security – the combination of modern fibres with electronic components opens up completely new areas of application. The "Smart Textiles" project dealt with the question of what smart textiles of tomorrow could look like and what prerequisites are needed to enable Austria to play a pioneering role in this field. The AIT-led study focused on identifying research and development topics with high future potential on the one hand, and on the other hand on developing options for action in order to make the best possible use of these for research and industry in Austria in the future. The cross-linking of the textile and electronics industries would be particularly important in doing so. The study was commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) and financed with funds from the "Production of the Future" programme.
IW-NET Innovations in inland waterway transport Particularly in the European context, inland waterway transport plays an important role with great potential for development. By 2050, CO2 emissions in this sector are to be reduced by around two thirds. A broad-based consortium supports the EU's strategic efforts with the research project "IW-NET" (InnovaTHE MAGAZINE FOR PARTNERS AND CLIENTS
Matthias Prandtstetter, Thematic Coordinator for Transport Optimisation and Logistics at AIT: "Only a holistic examination of the mobility system makes a sustainable, future-proof design of European freight transport possible".
The 36-month project, which runs as part of the "Horizon 2020" funding programme, is coordinated by the Bremen Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL). The AIT Center for Mobility Systems and five other Austrian research and implementation partners are part of the "IW-NET" project. R&D priorities include proactive and forward-looking transport planning in transport logistics, sustainable infrastructure and intelligent traffic management, as well as automation in urban goods distribution. The centrepiece of "IW-NET" are so-called "Living Labs", which will serve as test environments for the technological and organizational approaches and include several application scenarios in Germany, Belgium, France and Austria. On the Danube in Austria, the development of new push boats and the data-driven planning of navigation are being investigated in order to be well-equipped to cope with the increasingly extreme high and low water seasons.
Artificial Intelligence: Wind flow simulation for digital urban planning Researchers from the City Intelligence Lab (CIL) at the AIT Center for Energy have developed an AI-supported simulation for wind flows in an urban context. This makes it possible to determine wind factors during planning within seconds, allowing designs to be analyzed and optimized in real time in each planning phase, taking wind factors into account. Wind currents are of great importance in times of extreme weather conditions with regard to dangerous speeds during storms, but also for fine-tuning the microclimatic conditions of a particular region. Despite the measures taken against COVID-19, this application was
The City Intelligence Lab (CIL) is an interactive platform to explore new forms and technologies for the urban planning of the future.
successfully developed across national borders together with the partners of Giraffe Technologies in the interactive online platform of the CIL. This development can locate areas with potentially dangerous wind speeds during storms and mitigate the impact through targeted measures. In addition, the results can be used to fine-tune the microclimatic conditions of a particular neighbourhood – e.g. to cool down, or to maintain heat.
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Technology Experience CPUX-F Training now new at AIT
EMY (Empowerment of Mobile Youth in the EU) is an EU-co-funded project which aims to inform young mobile people in the EU about their rights as EU citizens and to motivate them to make better use of their democratic rights and opportunities for political participation in a united Europe. To this end, proposals are to be prepared to improve the involvement of these EU citizens in the political and social life of their respective host countries. The investigations are conducted in Estonia and Austria. The AIT Center for Digital Safety & Security acts as consortium leader and contributes its technological expertise in the field of e-participation. It is responsible, e.g., for the conception and creation of a software prototype that supports young mobile people in obtaining the information necessary for their participation in political events, in being able to enter into dialogue with stakeholders (such as
The AIT Center for Technology Experience recently started offering training courses for Usability and User Experience – Foundation Level (CPUX-F). CPUX-F is the ideal education and further training format for people who want to acquire, strengthen and certify knowledge and skills in the user-oriented development of services and products. It covers the basic terms and concepts from the fields of usability and user experience, i.e. essential aspects for achieving a high quality of use. The trainings take place under the supervision of certified AIT experts who optimally prepare the participants for successfully passing the basic certification. "As Austria's largest Research and Technology Organization, we are pleased to be able to share our extensive knowledge during the CPUX-F training," says Markus Murtinger, Head of Competence Unit Experience Business Transformation.
Building dynamics Dynamic measurements on Austria's oldest railway bridge
The aim is to encourage young people to actively take part in political discourse.
authorities or interest groups), and in facilitating exchange and discussion on topics and problems this target group is faced with. More on this at: www.europeanmobileyouth.eu 10
The Hammelbach Bridge, which bridges Lake Bernhardsthal in three arches, is considered the oldest railway bridge in Austria. It was commissioned in 1839 as part of the northern railway line Vienna-Brno-Krakow and is still in use today. It was built by the Austrian bridge construction pioneer Carl Ritter von Ghega, who worked as construction manager for the northern railway line before being commissioned as overall planner for the southern railway line Vienna-Trieste. On behalf of ÖBB, the structural dynamics team of the AIT Center for Mobility Systems carried out extensive measurements on the Hammelbach Bridge. The dynamic behaviour
of bridges is of essential importance, since adverse loads or vibrations can occur, in particular through the interaction between vehicle and bridge. The results now flow into a reassessment in the course of planned construction
AIT uses a non-contact laser Doppler vibrometer to determine the vibrations in the centre of the arc and at the fighter points during the crossing.
measures.
PV-Süd Photovoltaic roofing for the motorway AIT manages the "PVSÜD" project cluster, which focuses on the development of a concept and the use of a demonstrator for the production of solar energy use for road space. On the one hand, this project investigates whether PV roofing of the roadway offers hopedfor added value for the road maintainer besides energy generation, such as the protection of the road surface. On the other hand, the consortium is also exploring the question of whether the solar use of road space is practical and can be integrated into existing maintenance management, for example with regard to maintenance or snow removal. Together with the project partners Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and Forster Industrietechnik GmbH, the first part of the project will develop a draft for a prototype of such a PV street roofing, which will subsequently serve as a demonstrator, be equipped with AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Photos: Alexis Brown/Unsplash, AIT
Participation Empowerment of Mobile Youth in the EU
and monitored even with flowing traffic. This creates a digital 3D profile of the road surface with a resolution of 60µm in all three spatial directions. The data is recorded at a data rate of 2.4 GB per second and stored in real-time. In a separate work step, high-resolution 3D texture models of the road surface which are available for additional evaluations are created from the data. Thus experts can use these digital models to assess e.g. rolling noise, grip, aging of the surface layer and fuel consumption. The aim is to optimize these parameters with
The latest findings in areas such as climate protection, energy, mobility, digitisation, medicine and innovation will be presented – topics on which around 1,400 AIT experts work every day. In addition, AIT continuously produces corporate videos that you can follow on the AIT YouTube channel (youtube.com/ user/AITTomorrowToday).
Project Manager Manfred Haider, AIT Center for Mobility Systems: "We hope to gain valuable insights for the future use of photovoltaic systems on motorways."
measurement technology, and be scientifically monitored. This will allow researchers to investigate how such a design can meet the diverse requirements of the high-tier road network – e.g. in terms of drainage, wind and snow loads, stability and impact resistance, maintenance options and traffic safety.
Photos: AIT/Zinner, AIT, AIT/APA-Fotoservice/Hinterramskogler
Evaluation of road conditions Road scanner for road operators Precise information on the surface condition of the top layer is necessary to assess the current road condition. Now this process can take place in an automated manner in flowing traffic. The AIT Roadscanner records and inspects road surfaces in top quality and precision in a single measurement run. The Roadscanner was developed in cooperation between the Center for Vision, Automation & Control and Mobility Systems. It is currently integrated into the RoadSTAR mobile laboratory for road condition monitoring. The high-performance, high-speed 3D scanner records the road conditions at a measuring speed of 130 km/h. This means that the surface condition can be automatically inspected THE MAGAZINE FOR PARTNERS AND CLIENTS
AIT's research work can also be accessed in the social media.
New procedure in road construction requires automated acceptance tests.
regard to climate and environmental protection.
AIT Science Blog Conveying the benefits of research in a vivid way What is particularly annoying in the home office? Why are smart grids at risk? How can the infinite potential of the sun be used? What will cities of the future look like? What is Artiificial Intelligence? These are questions people think about. With its new AIT Science Blog, AIT as Austria's largest non-university research institution contributes to making the findings of science and research accessible to a wide audience. 11
Tara Esterl, Head of Competence Unit Integrated Energy Systems (IES), and Wolfgang Hribernik, Head of Center for Energy, in the SmartEST lab
THE FUTURE BEGINS HERE With 400 m2 of floor space, the SmartEST (Smart Electricity Systems and Technologies) laboratory has indoor and outdoor test facilities with many different functions and it is a development platform that's unique in Europe. The infrastructure comprises three configurable laboratory networks that can be operated at a constant output of up to 1,000 kW. The equipment includes grid simulators, PV simulators, a facility for setting up island systems, facilities for "power hardware-in-the-loop" simulation (P-HIL) and an environmental test chamber for tests under defined temperature and humidity conditions. The lab offers industry tailor-made test facilities for their developments and products in the power range up to 1 MVA for operating low voltage components 12
and systems. With the current expansion of the laboratory, which is scheduled for completion in mid-2021, comprehensive tests on direct current (DC) components can also be carried out in the AIT SmartEST laboratory. Driving force for innovations The laboratory also serves as a development platform for AIT innovations that are later transferred to the market. Electrical energy storage systems and their current and future tasks within the energy system are currently ranking among the technologies in particular demand. The AIT Center for Energy supports system operators and manufacturers in practically all significant demonstration projects for bulk storage systems using hardware-in-the-loop
(HIL) methods. The AIT Smart Grid Converter is the main focus in the topic area of power electronic systems. AIT has been an internationally active hub in smart grid research for many years and, as a founding member of DERLab, it is actively involved in the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) and in technology platforms in connection with the implementation of the SET Plan. Besides the technical competence, the interdisciplinary approach is of strategic importance: Energy systems are subjected to system architectures and rules. Therefore, integrated system analyses at all levels are necessary to support the transformation of the energy system in a sustainable manner.
AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Photos: AIT/Zinner
The AIT SmartEST lab is a unique, large-scale test and research infrastructure for smart grids.
DISCUSSING TECHNOLOGY Yearbook of the Alpbach Technology Symposium: A view of an increasingly complex world. Many people rightly perceive the world as increasingly complex and confusing. "Not least the corona pandemic shows the close interdependence of the most diverse areas which also leads to a high susceptibility to disturbances. This goes hand in hand with the increasing urgency of the major challenges facing humanity – such as demographic development, climate change and digitisation," says book author Martin Kugler. All these problem areas are systemic in nature and can no longer be solved by conventional means. It is becoming increasingly difficult for politicians to steer developments in a desired direction. The Yearbook of the
Alpbach Technology Symposium 2020 (more about the innovative format on page 6) is dedicated to new perspectives and approaches to better understand and manage complex systems. In addition to providing an insight into the methods and topics of the new science of complexity research, numerous specialist areas demonstrate how we can deal with increasing complexity. New impulses for this also come from the world of the arts.
INNOVATION CALENDAR Copy deadline: 22 July 2020
18–21 August 2020
3 September 2020
IST 2020 – 11th International Sustainability Transitions Conference The conference organized by AIT will focus on the topic "Governance in an era of change". New formats, such as the IST2020 gallery, have been developed for the online conference. AIT contact: Gudrun Haindlmaier Location: Vienna/virtual #IST2020
11th Ranshofener Leichtmetalltage 2020 The Ranshofen Light Metal Days take place in an adapted digital format this year. The focus is on the latest findings from light metal research and technology development for innovative products. Location: Ranshofen/virtual AIT contact: Christian Chimani lmt.ait.ac.at
2–6 September 2020 ESOF2020 European Science Forum The EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) brings together more than 4,500 leading thinkers, innovators, policy makers or educators from more than 90 countries to discuss current and future breakthroughs in contemporary science. Location: Trieste AIT contact: Thomas Scherngell https://www.esof.eu/
15 September 2020 FSV traffic day The FSV traffic day is the central point of contact and meeting place for experts from the transport industry in the German-speaking countries. The AIT Center for Mobility Systems is represented with its own booth at this important trade event. Location: Vienna AIT contact: Anna Huditz fsv.at
THE MAGAZINE FOR PARTNERS AND CLIENTS
29 September 2020 Annual energy model region event "Innovations for climate protection" is the motto of the annual event of the energy model region. NEFI – New Energy for Industry will be present with current projects. Location: Linz AIT contact: Bernhard Gahleitner klimafonds.gv.at/anmeldung-vzr2020/ 14 October 2020 1st Human-machine production symposium Online symposium for assistance systems in production. Location: voestalpine Stahlwelt, Linz; virtual: AIT contact: Sebastian Egger-Lampl Infos: https://mmp-symposium.at/ #mmp-symposium 15 October 2020 CAREER FAIR FH Upper Austria Wels Campus Professional platform for networking with HR professionals from almost 100 top-class companies from all over Austria as well as offers of internships, topics for theses, through to job offers in the fields of
technology and the environment. Location: Wels AIT contact: Martin Schnall fh-ooe.at/campus-wels/karriere/ fh-karrieremesse-wels/ 15–17 October 2020 The Battery Show Europe 2020 Combined with the Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, the Battery Show Europe brings together more than 10,500 industry experts and more than 500 leading suppliers for a unique event. Location: Stuttgart AIT contact: Marcus Jahn https://www.thebatteryshow.eu/en/ Home.ht
Further dates can be found online at: ait.ac.at/news-events/events/ Please check the respective dates due to the current situation around the coronavirus protection measures. Information about this from your AIT contact person or online.
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SCIENTIFIC PAPER
IMPROVEMENT OF THE STORAGE LIFE OF FIELD CROPS An integrative, comparative transcriptome analysis1 of six sugar beet varieties, which showed varying degrees of sucrose loss during storage, revealed specific genes and molecular patterns to improve storage life.
Transport and storage of food and its raw materials are a central component of our global economy. The journey of field crops, vegetables and fruits from the harvest to the direct consumer or to their further processing often takes a long time. Therefore storage life is an essential factor, although it varies from species to species and even from variety 14
to variety. Roots and tubers in particular have the lowest storage life. This is not surprising, since they are physiologically designed to survive in order to produce new shoots in the next growing season again. Losses in quality and ripening processes during storage can be regulated by standardizing the storage conditions (such as controlled tempera-
ture and humidity) as well as by treatment with fungicides or plant hormones (such as ethylene). In addition, the constitution of the variety itself also plays an important role. For this reason, plant breeding has been focusing now on the development of new varieties with improved storage properties.
AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Photos: AIT/Zinner
By Silvia Madritsch and Eva M. Sehr, Center for Health & Bioresources
Sugar beet offers great potential Whereas the storage life of some crops has already been researched and applied for a long time, research into the storage life of other species is still in its infancy; this is also true for the sugar beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris L.), an economically important crop for Europe. Thanks to its ability to store sucrose, it is the most important raw material for sugar production besides sugar cane. Since the processing period of sugar beets exceeds the possible harvesting period, a large part of the harvested sugar beet has to be stored; in Austria often for up to 80 days or more. During this storage period, however, biological and physiological processes continue due to the active metabolism of the beet. The side effects of these processes (such as pathogen infestation, rotting, sucrose degradation) are of great economic disadvantage, since they not only cause yield loss through loss of sucrose, but also through a considerably more difficult processing – factors which make future breeding of sugar beet varieties with storage stability indispensable. Modern plant breeding uses so-called molecular genetic markers, which allow for more efficient breeding through early analysis at the young plant stage. Molecular genetic markers are short sections of DNA whose location in the genome is known and which are associated with a specific desired trait (e.g., low sucrose degradation during storage). In the case of sugar beet, so far no molecular genetic factors associated with storage stability have been known which could have been included as a basis for such precision breeding. This challenge was addressed by the team led by Eva M. Sehr, Center for Health & Bioresources, in cooperation with IPK Gatersleben, AGRANA Research & Innovation Center GmbH and the breeding company Strube Research GmbH & Co. KG. THE MAGAZINE FOR PARTNERS AND CLIENTS
Eva M. Sehr and Silvia Madritsch are conducting important research into increasing the resilience of plants. The AIT experts are dedicated to use multi-omics approaches to characterise pathways and genes related to desired plant traits such as drought resistance, heat tolerance, and increased storability. In addition, both are working towards the development of DNA-based genetic markers that can be applied in breeding and selection processes.
Analysis of storage life As part of a storage trial, sugar beet varieties with good and poor storage properties were compared using an integrative analytical approach that included transcriptome and metabolome analyses as well as classical sugar analysis and the anatomy of the beet body. Differences were already apparent before storage, with well-storable varieties having smaller cells and thinner terminal tissue (periderm). In order to support these anatomical characteristics, active genes, whose task is the modification of cell walls, were characterized in the well storable varieties. After the maximum storage period of 13 weeks, more than 900 differently active genes between well and poorly storable varieties could be identified – with poorly storable varieties being characterized by an increased stress response and the activation of mechanisms for defense against pathogens. In addition to these basic researchoriented results for the analysis of storage life, the comparison at the gene sequences also allowed the characterization of genetic markers. It has thus been possible to characterize around 90 markers which are currently being tested on other sugar beet varieties and which may be used in the future for the breeding of storage-stable sugar beet varieties following a corresponding validation phase.
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The analysis of the transcriptome, also known as gene expression analysis, makes it possible to characterise the active genes at a specific point in time, which allows drawing conclusions about the current (health) status of an organism.
Related publication: S. Madritsch, S. Bomers, A. Posekany, A. Burg, R. Birke, F. Emerstorfer, R. Turetschek, S. Otte, H. Eigner, E. M. Sehr: "Integrative transcriptomics reveals genotypic impact on sugar beet storability." Plant Mol Biol (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11103-020-01041-8. Related funded projects: 2017–2020: “BeetStore – Transkriptomik und Metabolomik zur Charakterisierung der Lagerfähigkeit von Zuckerrüben”, FFG Bridge Projekt (Proj. No. 6914314), http://www.dnabank.at/sugarbeet/ 2018–2020: Work package “Entwicklung von Biomarkern zur Charakterisierung der Lagerstabilität von Feldfrüchten” im Rahmen von FFoQSI – Austrian Competence Centre for Feed & Food Quality, Safety and Innovation (FFG COMET K1-Zentrum), https://www.ffoqsi.at/area-1/
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SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
5G networking of vehicles Future 5G systems are to enable vehicle networking and cooperative robotics. High reliability and rapid transmission of information from sender to receiver (without long waiting times) are basic requirements. For this purpose, the radio waves must be optimally adapted to the current environment, consisting of buildings, mountains, vehicles or vegetation. The challenge now is to make this possible for fast-moving vehicles as well. In the AIT Software Defined Radio Lab, a mobile radio station prototype was equipped with 64 antenna elements to determine both the direction of reception and the direction of transmission more precisely and to reliably transmit a 5G radio signal to a desired receiving location with as little transmission power as possible. In addition, the radio signal is pre-distorted to use all existing propagation paths, thus maximizing diversity even at high speed and minimizing the error rate. T. Zemen, D. Loeschenbrand, M. Hofer, C. Pacher, and B. Rainer: "Orthogonally precoded massive MIMO for high mobility scenarios", IEEE Access, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 132979–132990, December 2019.
Handling systems for deformable materials Flexible materials such as fabric, leather, adhesive foils find many different applications. During production processes, they are usually processed manually or semi-automatically, since machines cannot yet handle the flexible material properly. At the Institute for Automation and Control (ACIN) at the Vienna University of Technology a prototype handling system which picks up here was developed in cooperation with the AIT Competence Unit Complex Dynamical Systems at the Center for Vision, Automation & Control. The system automates and optimizes the machine handling of flexible
materials. The potential of model-based control technology for handling deformable materials – in this case: glass fibre reinforced plastics (GFRP) – is being investigated. Key markets for GFRP components are, for example, the aerospace and automotive industries. A demonstrator, which applies deformable material to a multi-curved form, was specially designed for this purpose. The movements of all manipulators are calculated in real time, allowing immediate reaction to disruptions. The results underline the feasibility and efficiency of the approach presented, even for small production volumes. The paper received the Mechatronics Paper Prize Award for its outstanding treatise in the field of mechatronics. S. Flixeder, T. GlĂźck, A. Kugi, “Force-based cooperative handling and lay-up of deformable materials: Mechatronic design, modeling, and control of a demonstratorâ€?, Mechatronics, Volume 47, 2017, pp 246–261.
QoE Evaluation of Adaptive Point Cloud Raimund Schatz received the Best Paper Award at the international IEEE conference QoMEX 2020 for his paper entitled "Objective and Subjective QoE Evaluation for Adaptive Point Cloud Streaming". This paper deals with the comparison and further development of measurement methods for the reliable detection of the quality of animated 3D point clouds in the context of adaptive multimedia streaming. The results of a comprehensive objective and subjective Quality of Experience (QoE) evaluation of volumetric 6DoF streaming are presented. Using a thorough analysis, the experts examined the perceived quality impact of available bandwidth, rate adaptation algorithm, viewport prediction strategy and user movement within the scene. An analysis was conducted to determine which of 785 these aspects has PEFC/06-39-364/17 Nur gekennzeichnete Produkte sind FSC- bzw. PEFC-zertiďŹ ziert
more influence on the QoE of the user and to what extent subjective and objective evaluations are coordinated with each other. J. van der Hooft, M. Torres Vega, C. Timmerer, A. C. Begen, F. De Turck, R. Schatz: "Objective and Subjective QoE Evaluation for Adaptive Point Cloud Streaming"; Lecture: 12th International Conference on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX 2020), Athlone, Ireland; 26–28 May 2020; in: "2020 Twelfth International Conference on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX 2020)", IEEE, (2020)
Owner and publisher: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Corporate and Marketing Communications, Giefinggasse 4, 1210 Vienna / cover photo: AIT/PicturePeople / Editorial management: Michael H. Hlava, Harald Hornacek (Verlag Holzhausen GmbH) / Production management: Daniel Pepl / Editorial staff: Beatrice FrĂśhlich-Rath, Florian Hainz, Martin Kugler, Iman Kulitz, Michael MĂźrling, Margit Ă–zelt, Fabian Purtscher, Vanessa Schuster, Juliane ThoĂ&#x; / Production: Verlag Holzhausen GmbH/Repromedia GmbH / Design: WHY.Studio / Print: Donau Forum / Please send your feedback to: presse@ait.ac.at. PEFC certification: Raw materials from PEFC-certified forests with renewable resources and documented origin. EU Eco Label: The guidelines comply with the Austrian Ecolabel, but are valid for the entire EU. Printed in Austria
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