Engineering Navigation

Engineering Navigation covers various aspects of precise kinematic positioning related to construction processes, monitoring and maintenance of structures, and other engineering applications. Topics of interest include: (i) kinematic positioning of structural elements like prefabricated components in order to safely and efficiently drive them to their intended position and orientation within the structure (ii) Kinematic positioning of construction machines and vehicles for automated motion along digitally defined but physically unmarked paths, for automated realization of designed structures (continuous setting-out), and for collision-free and efficient delivery of objects to target positions (iii) Monitoring of structures like bridges, rails, cables, and road surfaces using moving sensors, moving sensor platforms, or sensor networks comprising static and kinematic sensors (iv) Accurate navigation of moving objects in environments with limited line-of-sight satellite visibility like in high-density areas, on construction sites, or even indoors. Currently, IGMS staff and students work on the following related research projects: (a) Monitoring of moving cable-cars and cables along the whole track under various loading and environmental conditions (b) Automated determination of road surface conditions using distributed low-cost sensor networks (c) Continuous positioning of a slipform under harsh environmental conditions (d) Highly accurate kinematic determination of longitudinal and transverse inclination along a railway Numerical analyses are mainly carried out using proprietary MATLAB toolboxes for GPS and GPS/IMU processing (loosely or tightly coupled, standalone or network processing), and for sensor output simulation (accelerometers, gyros, GPS, ...) comprising both static and kinematic scenarios.