"visIT" science journal: Insight into our current research

In "visIT", our science journal or theme brochure, we inform you in a concentrated form about current focal topics of our research. On this webpage, you can find all issues in digital form (mainly in German language). If you wish, we will be happy to add you to the distribution list for the digital or print edition - you will then receive visIT two to three times a year, free of charge. Simply write an e-mail to: publikationen@iosb.fraunhofer.de

The four-page newsletter InfOSB, which informs about recent developments in all the institute's business units (in German), accompanies visIT. visIT subscribers receive it automatically.

The fourth industrial revolution was proclaimed in 2012: Industrie 4.0 is an export hit, and companies, research institutions and public bodies worldwide have launched and implemented projects to advance their own digitalization. However, despite great successes in research, Germany's companies are only in the middle of the pack when it comes to digitalization in an international comparison. The question is: why is that? Perhaps German companies have focused on making their own factories more efficient first when it comes to Industrie 4.0 and have looked less at creating customer-related added value. Concerns about sharing data with customers, suppliers or equipment suppliers have outweighed considerations about the potential that would arise if data were exchanged within the value creation networks. And: standards that the various players use as a matter of course were unknown or unavailable to the companies.

With this booklet, we want to help refute these arguments: Data exchange in data spaces and digital twins are promising solutions for advancing digitalization. And they are two sides of the same coin: without digital twins based on open standards, there can be no efficient data exchange. Data spaces and the principles on which they are based ensure that digital solutions scale.

Our guest authors report from the practice of their data room projects and initiatives: Roland Rosen (Siemens AG) as head of the collaborative project Factory-X and the experience of almost three years of Catena-X. Georg Kube (SAP) is intensively involved with data spaces and data ecosystems and their interoperability so that software applications can be used across industries. Hanno Focken (Cofinity-X) works in the first operator of shared services for an industrial data space, Catena-X. Georg Schnauffer (ARENA2036) stands for the targeted transfer of data room solutions to SMEs like no other. The collaboration between research at Fraunhofer and companies shows that R&D results can indeed be put into practice quickly - in order to advance digitalization in German industry.

We hope you enjoy reading our "Data spaces and digital twins" issue.

Content

The links will take you directly to the corresponding page of the ePaper (in German):

• Manufacturing-X brings the breakthrough for digitalization in the manufacturing industry
  Georg Kube, Olaf Sauer
• Manufacturing-X  – Construction plan and role of digital twins
  Jürgen Schmelting, Olaf Sauer 
• Factory-X – Are digital twins conquering the shopfloor?
  Roland Rosen
• System environment for digital twins - reference model and Eclipse tools
  Thomas Usländer, Ljiljana Stojanovic, Florian Pethig
• Machine learning and engineering models for hybrid digital twins
  Constanze Hasterok, Julius Pfrommer
• Digital twins and data spaces: the FA³ST approach
  Friedrich Volz, Ljiljana Stojanovic
• Digital twins in plastics recycling - Waste4Future: Flexible choice of the most sensible recycling path
  Michael Baumann, Georg Maier
• Digital twins and sovereign data exchange for the energy transformation of the industry
  Oliver Warweg, Stefan Klaiber
• Data spaces and portals in the energy industry: from the perspective of a major European IT provider
  Michael Laskowski
• Transfer-X – How research results overcome the "valley of death"
  Georg Schnauffer, Olaf Sauer
• Catena-X – Operating a data ecosystem
  Hanno Focken
• Research factories are development, test, and demonstration centers
  Business unit AD
• Summary and conclusion
  Business unit AD

Satisfying the needs of the present in such a way that the opportunities of future generations are not restricted - this is how the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development defines the omnipresent concept of sustainability. The importance of sustainable action and economic activity has become widely accepted in society, but recent developments and crises have highlighted the need for further measures. The climate crisis with all its consequences, increasing scarcity of resources and global conflicts are just a few examples that underline this.

With the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, the United Nations has created a programmatic framework for the realization of a global sustainable society. Technical innovations play a key role in this: they help to use resources more efficiently, reduce energy requirements, establish circular economies and develop environmentally friendly alternatives. For many years, Fraunhofer IOSB has been researching technologies that play a key role in achieving sustainability goals - in the areas of food production and agriculture, recycling and secure material supply, resilient water systems and energy supply. With this in mind, this issue is dedicated to our contribution to technologies for sustainability.

In a guest article, Christoph Hilgers explains the potential of using hyperspectral imaging for efficient and resource-saving mining. Paul Bäcker, Felix Kronenwett, Lukas Roming and Henning Schulte show how machine vision systems using AI processes can help solve current challenges in the recycling of construction waste, plastic, electrical appliances and bulky waste. Anna Taphorn, Pascal Gauweiler and Felix Kronenwett explain how these technologies can be used for the food production of tomorrow. Thomas Rauschenbach describes the development of hierarchical control structures for effective and sustainable aquaponics systems. Stefan Klaiber focuses on increasing the efficiency of a heating network operation.

For better classification, all articles are marked with the logos of the corresponding UN Sustainable Development Goals.

"Technologies for sustainability" is a forward-looking topic that will increasingly accompany us in the coming years.

We hope you enjoy reading our magazine and find it inspiring! 

Content

The links will take you directly to the corresponding page of the ePaper (in German):

• Hyperspectral identification of minerals
  Christoph Hilgers, Thomas Längle
• Removing pollutants from construction waste
  Paul Bäcker, Felix Kronenwett 
• Challenges in plastics sorting
  Lukas Roming, Felix Kronenwett
• ASKIVIT – Waste wood in bulky waste: too good for incineration
  Lukas Roming, Robin Gruna
• PA-NIRSort – Using AI and hyperspectral imaging to reliably detect pyrrolizidine alkaloid-containing weeds
  Georg Maier, Felix Kronenwett
• Sensor technologies against food waste
  Anna Taphorn, Benedikt Fischer
• MetallKiDD – Recovering technology metals with the help of AI-assisted sorting
  Henning Schulte, Manuel Bickel
• KI-iREPro – AI-based image analysis for vine monitoring with pinpoint accuracy and more efficient harvest logistics
  Benedikt Fischer, Pascal Gauweiler
• Sustainable management of aquaponics systems:  A holistic approach
  Thomas Rauschenbach, Divas Karimanzira
• Agent4Heat: Optimal operational management of cross-sectoral energy systems - taking into account the dynamic characteristics of heating networks
  Stefan Klaiber, Jonas Pemsel