Automotive

In the next few years, the importance of electronics and information technology in the automotive sector will increase sharply. Experts assume that the proportion of electrics and electronics in vehicles, which is currently around 20%, will increase by a further 10% over the next 10 years. There is a wealth of functions in the area of driving, safety, comfort and infotainment applications, which are implemented by electronic modules. Telematics services and new infotainment offerings based on cellular technologies such as GSM/GPRS or UMTS/HSPA, as well as the global localization system GPS are also becoming increasingly common.

The competence focus Automotive Engineering unites disciplines of communications engineering, automation engineering and power engineering.

Current research and development topics are:

• Radio-based sensors / measurement of motion quantities (measurement technology, communications engineering)
  Wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, Zig-Bee, WLAN and UWB will be tested for their suitability in the car, especially for the internal, wireless connection of various components and the connection of various sensors. Optimization of digital signal processing and the development of innovative algorithms. The verification of the developed procedures takes place with the help of simulation models, as well as by hardware implementations on the basis of FPGAs and DSPs.
• Intelligent driver assistance systems (communications engineering, computer science)
  Intelligent driver assistance and information systems support the driver and help to avoid accidents. The development of such systems is part of current international research projects, which are furthered by the European Union, as the goal is to halve the annual number of road deaths.
• Road simulation (computer science)
  Navigation systems (maximum frequency technology)
• Hybrid vehicles (power engineering, drive technology)
• Quality improvements for occupants (control engineering, measurement technology)
• Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) (Theoretical Electrical Engineering)