Research at 1:1 Scale
Numerous research projects with research and industrial partners require a research centre of this scale. The following projects provide a brief insight into our activities.
AI-Q Ready
2023 - 2026
A-IQ Ready forscht an hochmoderne Quantensensorik, Edge-Continuum Verwendung von KI und verteilte kollaborativen Technologien. Quantenmagnetfluss- und Gyrosensoren ermöglichen höchste Empfindlichkeit und Genauigkeit ohne Kalibrierungsbedarf und bieten unübertroffene Eigenschaften, wenn sie in einer nicht GPS-fähigen Umgebung eingesetzt werden. Ein solches Lokalisierungssystem wird das Timing und die Genauigkeit der autonomen Agenten verbessern und Fehlalarme oder Fehlinformationen durch KI- und Multi-Agenten-Systemkonzepte reduzieren.
AI-4Geothermal
2023 - 2024
The AI4Geothermal project aims to use AI algorithms to improve the interpretation of geological structures from laser scan data. It will develop and test models using PyTorch and TensorFlow in a Google Colab environment. The project seeks to create an efficient workflow for geological surveys, including underground and aerial applications. The anticipated benefits include faster, more accurate assessments of geothermal reservoirs, reducing costs and aiding environmental sustainability. Collaboration with Montanuniversität Leoben ensures the integration of advanced AI techniques into geophysical studies.
Archimedes
2023 - 2026
In Archimedes werden Komponenten, Modelle und Methoden entwickelt, um die Effizienz und Lebensdauer von Antriebskomponenten, Leistungskomponenten und Energiespeichern in Automobil, Luftfahrt, Infrastruktur und Industrie zu erhöhen. Damit wird die Energiewende auf der Verbraucherseite unterstützt. Um diese Mission zu unterstützen, zielt ARCHIMEDES darauf ab, Technologien und Produkte in den Bereichen Automobil, Luftfahrt, Sicherheit in der Infrastruktur und dem damit verbundenen Ökosystem in Richtung einer widerstandsfähigen, dekarbonisierten, digitalisierten und grünen EU zu verändern.
CERN Open Sky Lab
2024 - 2027
The FCC Innovation Study requires evidence of a credible scenario for the prevention, reduction and compensation of landfilling of excavated material. During the ‘Mining the Future’ competition, a potential reuse process based on the pre-treatment of excavated material and incubation with fungi, bacteria and microorganisms to produce fertile soil for a wide range of applications in renaturation, agriculture and forestry was identified. Depending on the type of soil organisms added, the aim is to use the technology in different ecosystems without jeopardising their biodiversity. The technology must be demonstrated in a controlled environment on a real scale. To this end, the project partners are working together to develop a concept for a so-called ‘Open Sky Laboratory’, which will initially demonstrate the conversion of sterile molasse into fertile soil (the ‘project’) using a variety of different soil compositions and plants.
DuAList
2024 - 2025
DuaList zielt auf die fokussierte Weiterentwicklung des Ansatz LED als Sensor in der Verkehrsinfrastruktur mit zwei geplanten Anwendungsfällen, dem Monitoring des Verkehrs und der Detektion von Umwelt- und Wetterzuständen ab. Nachfolgend werden diese beiden Fälle mit Anwendungsfall Monitoring und Anwendungsfall Wetter abgekürzt.
Durch den dualen Einsatz der LEDs wird eine kompakte Bauform ermöglicht. Damit wird das Ziel in beiden Anwendungsfällen unterstützt, eine Retrofitting Lösung zur bestehenden Beleuchtung in der Verkehrsinfrastruktur zu realisieren, d.h. es müssen nur die Leuchtmittel mit ihrer Peripherie getauscht werden, ohne die Notwendigkeit eines Austausches des Gehäuses, der Verkabelung oder der mechanischen Befestigungen.
ET-PP - Einstein Telescope Preparatory Phase
2022 - 2026
The underground Einstein telescope will take research into gravitational waves and black holes to a new level across Europe. The telescope will consist of 3 tunnels of 10 kilometres each, the ends of which will lead into caverns for the detection of gravitational waves. Sardinia and the Euregio Meuse-Rhine in the border region of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands are considered to be optimal locations, which must be free of background noise. As with any major project, sustainability is a top priority right from the planning stage. In addition to site preparation, technical design and calculation and data models, work is also being carried out on a solution for using the resulting 5 million cubic metres of excavated material in order to keep the carbon footprint of the Einstein Telescope as low as possible.
EVUB
2022 - 2024
The aim of this project is to define the relevant geo-factors, infrastructure and movement areas and to establish the basis for a three-dimensional visualisation in a data structure that can be used by the Austrian Armed Forces. To this end, a prototype is to be created for a small area with real data that allows the visualisation of a complex spatial structure and goes far beyond the possibilities of conventional floor plans. To create the prototype, it is necessary to develop new survey methods and survey technologies.
Faserbetontübbinge
2023 - 2024
At the segment test rig of the Chair of Subsurface Engineering at the University of Leoben, segments are tested on a scale of 1:1 for compliance with specified load-bearing capacity criteria.
In the current research project "Fibre-reinforced concrete segments", segments with pure steel or plastic fibre reinforcement are being tested and compared with conventional steel bar reinforcement. In cooperation with scientific and industrial partners, the aim is to create a basis for the use of fibre-reinforced concrete segments in Austria.
FCCIS - Future Circular Collider Innovation Study
2020 - 2024
The Future Circular Collider Innovation Study is developing a conceptual design and implementation plan for a new CERN research infrastructure consisting of a 100 km ring tunnel and multiple surface sites. The project aims to attract academic and industrial leaders to develop a feasible and affordable plan that takes into account eco-design and resource efficiency. It involves collaboration with the host countries France and Switzerland to adapt the infrastructure to territorial constraints. CSIL is leading the project's financial planning team, which includes cost estimates, financing plans and socio-economic impact analyses. The socio-economic impact analysis will demonstrate the added value of the infrastructure in the first phase and serve as a basis for the development of a funding and implementation plan. The project emphasises user capacity building with theoretical and experimental physicists at international level to ensure the use of the facility from the outset. The FCCIS is organising the international competition ‘Mining the Future’, which deals with the challenge of converting the important mining material molasse into a resource.
IGNITE: Improved assesment of the risk of forest fires in Austria
2022 - 2024
The IGNITE project aims to improve the FWI for the whole of Austria and optimise the assessment of the risk of forest fires. The basis for this are i) in-situ measurements in different forest types, ii) ignition experiments at the Centre on the Mountain of the University of Leoben, iii) the creation of a spatially high-resolution (100x100m²) vegetation index for the risk of forest fires, taking into account tree species, gaps, litter moisture and topography, and iv) the validation/reparameterisation of the FWI using existing forest fire data, the empirical data obtained and causal machine learning approaches.
I-WASP
2023 - 2026
The I-WASP project is therefore dedicated to the question of how the complex processes on a tunnel construction site after the NATM can be automatically recorded, analysed and optimised using innovative methods of data acquisition, transmission and processing - including methods of artificial intelligence (AI).
LUQUAS
2023 - 2025
The project aims to reduce hazardous substances in underground mining using blasting technology and diesel generators. This is to be achieved through practical technical measures in order to comply with legal limits and prevent occupational illnesses. To this end, pollutants are measured online and correlated with laboratory measurement data.
NIKE-Swarm Nav - Robot navigation without GNSS signal, UAS/UGV swarms, autonomous systems
2023 - 2025
The project pursues situational awareness in complex urban environments as the scene of military conflicts, in such situations systems of unmanned ground platforms (UGV) and drones (UAS) - as "agents" - can be used in a swarm network for reconnaissance.
The project in question, NIKE-SwarmNav, aims to develop components that enable a swarm of UGVs and UAS to navigate and operate in areas without a GNSS signal.
Particularly innovative here is the interaction of the on-board sensor combination for navigation (LIDAR, UWB, camera, inertial sensors), from whose fused data the states are estimated independently of a GNSS signal. The combination with swarm coordination methods enables cooperative state estimation.
These components are then subjected to a functional test on specially developed carrier platforms consisting of UGV and UAS in realistic laboratory environments at the Centre am Berg."
NNATT
2024 - 2026
In contrast to the HORIZON 2020 project DRAGON, which was completed in 2015, the NNATT project is designing a holistic system for the sustainable use of excavated materials from civil engineering and tunnelling, which, in contrast to the current state of the art, starts with mineralogical, petrographic and geochemical as well as geotechnical parameters and extends through construction logistics and construction process engineering to industrial application. The basis is a decision matrix based on artificial intelligence (AI), which is used to separate excavated materials in real time based on mineralogical, petrographic, geochemical and geotechnical information from the preliminary exploration of a civil engineering or tunnelling project, in combination with AI-supported and sensor-based analyses.
STUVA Analyse des Reaktions- und Fluchtverhalten
2023 - 2024
Several serious fire accidents in the Alpine countries in 1999 and 2001 were one of the triggers for improving safety in road tunnels. In the BAST booklet B66 "Safety assessment of road tunnels", a quantitative methodology for the safety assessment of road tunnels was developed. In order to expand the data basis, initial investigations are being carried out on the basis of several large group tests (at least 6 people per group) and real tests on the test setting or scenario "vehicle collision with fire development" using a resilient sample that represents the breadth of society. "The aim of the project is to develop in-depth findings on group effects in the self-rescue of tunnel users as well as derived escape and reaction times."
TransIT
2020 - 2025
In the TransIT project (platform for digital transformation in civil engineering and tunneling), research groups from the Montan University of Leoben, the Johannes Kepler University of Linz and the Technical University of Vienna are working multidisciplinary with complementary expertise on the implementation of digitization topics in civil engineering and tunneling. www.tunnellinghub.at