Fraunhofer IGD
Description
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is the leading organization for applied research in Europe, currently operating 74 institutes and research institutions at locations throughout Germany. The majority of our 28,000 staff are qualified scientists and engineers, who work with an annual research budget of 2.8 billion euros. Of this sum, 2.3 billion euros is generated through contract research. Around 70 percent of Fraunhofer’s contract research revenue is derived from contracts with industry and publicly funded research projects. International collaborations with excellent research partners and innovative companies around the world ensure direct access to regions of the greatest importance to present and future scientific progress and economic development. Fraunhofer IGD is the world‘s leading institute for applied research in the field of Visual Computing. Visual Computing stands for image- and model-based information technology. It includes computer graphics, computer vision, as well as virtual and augmented reality.
Fraunhofer IGD has been developing technologies and applications based on Visual Computing for more than 20 years. In cooperation with its partners, Fraunhofer IGD develops technical solutions, prototypes and complete solutions based on customer demands. The range of applications of the concepts, models, and practical solutions spans from virtual product development to medicine, commerce, and multimedia learning and training. The Fraunhofer Information and Communication Technology Group, part of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, is Europe‘s largest combined research unit for ICT. From smartphones to intelligent energy networks, from operating rooms to car assistance systems – our modern living and working environments cannot be imagined without information and communication technology. The research and development projects of Fraunhofer IGD are directly related to current requirements of market and economy. With its experience and expertise, Fraunhofer IGD provides technical solutions for innovative products and services and significantly contributes to strengthening the international competitive capacity of German and European economy. Numerous spin-offs ensure that prototypes are quickly brought to market. Together with its partner universities, Fraunhofer IGD also performs key technology research and cooperates with companies of various industrial sectors. Apart from its headquarters in Darmstadt, Fraunhofer IGD has locations in Rostock, Graz and Singapore. The department “Maritime Graphics”, involved in “NECA - Nature based Eco-Hydraulic Coastal Adaptation”, is dedicated to transferring technologies of visual computing into the maritime sector. The researchers in the Hanseatic City of Rostock are concentrating on 3D visualization, and Virtual/Augmented Reality as well as underwater computer vision. They have a track record of more than ten years of successful applied research in joint projects with the industry. The large-scale project “Ocean Technology Campus” (OTC) will turn the Hanseatic city of Rostock, Germany into a leading location for technological underwater research with a versatile testing area off the coast. At the core of the project is the “Digital Ocean Lab” - an undersea site for testing ideas and simulations under controlled conditions in a real-world environment. The OTC will maintain a bridgehead where researchers from the various project partners will work together – the OTC basecamp.
Role In Project
The Fraunhofer group for Smart Ocean Technologies in Rostock operates an underwater lab in the estuary of the river Warnow close to the Baltic Sea and an offshore infrastructure (Digital Ocean Lab) linked to an artificial reef off the coast of Rostock in the Baltic Sea. This infrastructure will be used to develop and implement different Pilots within WP7. Both elements will be integrated in the Iliad framework to identify obstacles and evaluate applied solutions. Coincidently, Fraunhofer will contribute to WP2 by running own data aquisition devices in the field and combining this field data with the pilot infrastructure from WP7. Fraunhofer will adress environmental baseline parameters needed for situational awareness and automated underwater vehicle (AUV) movement prediction for applied use of DTO infrastructure and capabilities.