Aktualités

Scenario based testing on "iMAR's" proving ground for automated vehicles  

In April 2020 iMAR will open its own workshop on the TRIWO Automotive Test Center at Zweibruecken, only 20 km away from iMAR headquarters in St. Ingbert / Germany.

The picture shows the workshop building with 140 m² space. This building will also host a GNSS reference station (iREF) and the base for the iDMN mesh communication network to operate all vehicles on the proving ground and to distribute GNSS correction data on RTK level.  

Link for further information

With the evolving COVID-19 situation we would like to update you on how this is affecting shipments from iMAR and give you details about our business continuity planning and impact on iMAR.

In Germany since Monday 16, 2020 schools and major venues have been closed. We have transmission prevention measures in place at our facility and at this point iMAR has not been impacted by COVID-19. Our supply of raw materials has not been significantly disrupted nor have our out-going shipments.

Business Continuity Planning:

To prepare for a possible disruption to our raw material supply we have increased safety stock levels of certain critical components and are currently purchasing to these levels. We have plans in place to continue production in case the severity of the COVID-19 situation worsens. Similar plans are in place to move engineering and design based work to home-office temporarily if necessary.

Further Updates:

We are constantly monitoring the situation and will send our customers updates if there are any developments affecting our ability to deliver our products or to perform scheduled engineering or design work.

As always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us at: +49 6894 9657 - 0 (general information) or -36 (sales) or contact your pont of contact at iMAR by eMail.

Deutsche Bahn uses iNAT-RQT on the fastest Lab on the Rail  

For more than 20 years iMAR provides INS/GNSS/ODO reference systems to many rail network providers, rail vehicle operators, rail constrution machineries and rail vehicle assistance system manufacturers, worldwide.  

Since January 2020 also the "advanced TrainLab" from Deutsche Bahn AG is equipped permanently with iMAR's iNAT-RQT-4001 INS/GNSS/ODO inertial measurement system to provide accurate position, velocity, roll, pitch, heading, accelerations, angular rates, time and standard deviations in real-time.  

advanced TrainLab is one of the most modern labs on rails, where both rail companies and industry can test latest technologies for future railway applications.

Link to advanced TrainLab

Additional building will be available from Q1/2021 for further R&D and production activities 

The year 2019 was also very successful for iMAR.

The management and all teams from production, engineering, purchasing, QA, sales, logistics, support and administration from iMAR Navigation would like to thank our customers and suppliers very much for the good and trustful cooperation during the past year.

To follow the requests from our markets and customers, we have finalized the planning which allows us to expand our space for production and engineering in Q1/2021 by further 30 %. 

The picture shows the additional building with 800 m² on the right side. 

2-axes precision mult-iturn turntable for 80 kg payload

A customer specific design of iMAR's multi-axes multi-turn turntable iTURN has been delivered for a customer, who manufactures advanced airborne gyro stabilized telecommunication antennas for commercial airliners. iTURN-2D is designed to carry up to 80 kg payload on an extrawide tabletop in static condition as well as under dynamic motion. 

Link to iTURN turntables

The Market decides to make Components compatible to iMAR's leading Technology and Architecture

In the field of active safety testing,  iMAR demonstrated its leading technology for automotive proving ground instrumentation and scenario based testing within the well-known PEGASUS project in 2018. Besides iMAR's advanced automated vehicle control, vehicle localization, dynamic and static trajectory planning and following and safety management, also our superior dynamic mesh communication network (iDMN) had been demonstrated, which allows a secured and high data rate, low latency communication between all participants (objects like vehicle under test, traffic simulation vehicles, soft crash targets, Infrastructure Elements and iARGUS-CC Control Center). 

The iMAR iSWACO-ARGUS proving ground setup has demonstrated its excellent performance in front of international users and visitors, worldwide, e.g. at ZalaZone (Hungary), AstaZero (Sweden), Ehra-Lessien (Volkswagen), Neuburg (Audi) etc. as well as on iMAR's proving ground in Zweibrücken, only 20 km from our headquarters in St. Ingbert.  

For all operators worldwide compatibility of proving ground equipment is a key issue, e.g. combining a steering robot from ABD with a SCT from 4a Systems within iMAR's iSWACO-ARGUS. For this reason, iMAR together with 4a Systems are the leading driving forces to establish a standardization for proving ground equipment (ISO 22133-1).  

Consequently, iMAR is proud to announce that also ABD (UK), a supplier of steering robots, has decided to equip its components and objects with communication devices being compatible to iMAR's iDMN de-facto standard. 

iMAR is Member of the QGyro Research Group: Development of Atom Interferometry based Inertial Sensors

In October 2019 the project QGyro has started, where iMAR supports the research and development activities of atom interfero,etric inertial sensors. The three years lasting project is a collaboration between the Leibniz University of Hannover, Institut für Quantenoptik (LUH IQ) and Insttut für Erdmessung (LUH IfE), and iMAR Navigation GmbH. 

The project QGyro is partially funded by the German Government's Ministry of Economy (BMWi). 

OpenSCENARIO based Real-Life Testing of Automated Vehicles with many simultaneous operated Objects 

During last week iMAR demonstrated additional features of the well-known iSWACO-ARGUS toolchain to interested visitors. Seamless import of OpenSCENARIO descriptions are part of this as well as the implementation of sophisticated safety and security features. Also the latest release of the iARGUS-CMD software has been presented and demonstrated, which allows to operate also more than 10 vehicles simultaneously. 

The presentation took place at iMAR's proving ground (TRIWO) at Zweibrücken, which recently had been  completely surveyed by 3D Mapping Solutions, working in partnership cooperation with iMAR. Also the highway A6 close to iMAR headquarters in St. Ingbert had been surveyed. Based on these OpenDRIVE data, iMAR can operate even most complex traffic scenarios on the proving ground. The same system is used e.g. for swarm monitoring on public roads.   

MOSES by measX – the key to efficient vehicle dynamics measurements on the proving ground

iMAR's iTraceRT-MVT series for vehicle dynamics measuring is supported by MOSES, a leading vehicle dynamics test software, made by measX. iTraceRT-MVT is the well-known successor of the iDIS-FMS, which is supported by MOSES already for many years. Both systems are e.g. in daily use at many German and international automobile manufacturers and suppliers. 

About MOSES:
Vehicle dynamics tests are a fixed part of modern vehicle development. The in-vehicle data acquisition software MOSES optimally supports you in planning, executing and evaluating your tests. MOSES was developed by measX in cooperation with one of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers and is oriented around the workflow of testing engineers and test drivers down to the smallest detail. The software controls the entire test process – from integration of the sensors to test planning and all the way to quality control and verification of measurement validity. All steps are coordinated with each other, and as much as possible takes place automatically. One particular highlight of MOSES is the consistently maneuver-oriented design with an extensive collection of predefined maneuvers and interfaces for the data acquisition.

Further information:

MOSES Product Information: The Key to Efficient Driving Dynamics Testing (Link to web site of measX)
MOSES: Flyer incl. List of supported Test Scenarios (english - pdf)
MOSES: Flyer incl. Liste der unterstützten Fahrmanöver (deutsch - pdf)
iTraceRT-MVT Series - INS/GNSS systems for advanced Driving Dynamics Testing

iMAR on Tour: 4 Tage kulturelle Impressionen und Weiterbildung in "Elbflorenz"  

Der diesjährige Betriebsausflug führte die Mitarbeiter der iMAR Navigation Ende Juni 2019 für 4 Tage von der Saar an die Elbe nach Dresden.

Dort standen neben  einer ausführlichen Stadtführung die Besichtigung der Gläsernen Manufaktur von VW und eine sehr interessante Führung durch das Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin der Luftwaffe in Königsbrück mit Humanzentrifuge und Unterdruckkammer auf dem Programm. Ferner besuchten wir das architektonisch von Daniel Libeskind gestaltete Militärhistorische Museum. Außerdem absolvierten alle Teilnehmer eine interne Schulung zum Thema "Einfluß anwendungsbedingter Eigenschaften gestützter und ungestützter inertialer Meßmethoden auf die Systemkonzeption moderner Meßsysteme".

Eine abendliche mehrstündige Schiffahrt mit einem historischen Raddampfer auf der Elbe bildete einen entspannten Ausklang von 4 sehr abwechslungs-, bildungs- und kommunikationsreichen Tagen in Dresden bei bestem Sommerwetter.   

PEGASUS Safeguarding Toolchain demonstrated on the new ZalaZONE Test Track

After we demonstrated the new seamless workflow for safeguarding for highly automated driving cars during the PEGASUS Symposium together with AUDI AG on the Volkswagen proving ground in Ehra-Lessien / Germany just last week, we had been invited to demonstrate an even more complex setup during the inauguration of the new European proving ground ZalaZONE in Hungary today, together with the introduction of the new 5G technology by T-Systems and Ericsson. 

About 150 invited high ranking guests from industry, research and politics visited our life demonstration during the ZalaZone test track inauguration, where we showed in a joint activity of T-Systems and Ericcsson, how to control a fully automated driving "Traffic Simulation Vehicle" iTSV-KIA within a complex traffic scenario, first time via their 5G communication on a proving ground, and how to perform communication between several participating cars and the iARGUS-CC Control Center.

The impressive demonstration showed as an example a setup to verify or homologate the functions of ACC (active cruise control) of a standard Golf VII car by stimulation via the iTSV-NIRO, where the visitors had been even allowed to interact with the iTSV-KIA during the test execution via a panel, to trigger the lane change or the emergency braking execution in real-time.

Prof. Zsolt Szalay from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and Head of Innovation and Research of the ZalaZONE Test Course  guided the visitors with an ambitioned talk through the demonstrations.

iMAR has also a research cooperation with Prof. Szalay's university department of automotive technologies (GJT).

Further information:

YouTube Video from the ZalaZONE Event
Press Echo "Such a Technology..."

Autonomous Vehicle International (11/2019): Moving a step closer to hands-free driving

ZalaZone Proving Ground in Hungary
iTSV-KIA: iMAR's Traffic Simulation Vehicles
iSWACO-ARGUS: iMAR's Proving Ground Instrumentation Suite

IMU for Automated Guided Vehicles

iMAR has celebrated the manufacturing and delivery of the 1000th IMS of type iVRU-CB-M. It contains a MEMS based IMU, an integrated GNSS receiver, interfaces for an external GNSS receiver and to the vehicle's odometer.

It is e.g. used in industrial automation as well as in harbor applications.  

Link to iVRU-CB-M

See also iNAT-M200/MLD for INS/GNSS solutions with higher data rate and more interfaces.

PEGASUS Project: Standards for the safeguarding of highly-automated vehicles

In order for functions for the safeguarding of highly-autmated vehicles to be approved, new quality standards and methods had been developed in the recent 3 years – through the close cooperation between the automotive industry and innovative, agile engineering companies. This is what the PEGASUS joint project, funded by the German Government / BMWi) stands for: Project for the Establishment of Generally Accepted quality criteria, tools and methods as well as Scenarios and ("Und") Situations for the release of highly-automated driving functions. The objective ihad been to develop a procedure for the testing of automated driving functions, in order to facilitate the rapid implementation of automated driving into practice.

iMAR Navigation participated in PEGASUS and developed and provided one of the most reliable and easy-to-use metrology for trajectory generation from common simulation formats (OpenScenario / OpenDrive), trajectory stimulation & vehicle control and motion surveying for both, on the proving ground and on the highway. Within PEGASUS, the results had been obtained within a close collaboration between AUDI AG and iMAR Navigation GmbH. Partially also TÜV Süd had been involved to cover also the requirements of future homologation needs within the developed system. 

Safe the Date: The PEGASUS Symposium is held on May, 13th and 14th  2019 at the proving ground in Ehra-Lessien at Volkswagen facilities. An exhibition of the results  incl. life presentations on the proving ground is included. iMAR Navigation will present the full proving ground implementation incl. INS/GNSS localization, stereo-vision based signal processing and a "robot-free" proving ground setup for the testing of highly and fully automated driving vehicles up to SAE level 5, using an Audi RS7 and a KIA-NIRO, both with iMAR's control interface.

The presentation in May 2019 is held in close cooperation between Audi AG and iMAR Navigation.

Further information:

Poster about iMAR / Audi novel Proving Ground Setup (from Simulation to Real World)
PEGASUS Symposium: May 13/14, 2019 (english Invitation)  |  (deutsche Einladung)
Link to PEGASUS project (official web site) 

Automotive Projects:  Additional secured Space for Test Vehicles  

In February 2019 we installed at our headquarters in St. Ingbert an additional, secured garage area, which enables us  to store additional testing vehicles, also  incl. iinstalled test setups.

This further expands our capabilities within our customer driven projects in the wide area of automated driving, vehicle control and motion dynamics. Same capabilities are available also at our proving ground in Zweibrücken, only 25 km away from our headquarters in St. Ingbert. 

iMAR is a major driver for automotive development and research: Link saaris brochure (iMAR) 2019  

Full brochure Link: Link

Highly Automated Vehicle for Public Transportation  

iMAR is in process to integrate its positioning and vehicle guidance & control technology into the FLAIT Fast Lane Artificial-Intelligence Transportation System. FLAIT is an advanced vehicle design for efficient public transportation of individuals as well as for last-mile cargo transportation, ovecoming many of the well-known disadvantages of current solutions.

FLAIT only uses half of the space of one lane, supports driving to individual destinanations for individual passengers (where the operation of a larger bus with more than 2 passengers for public transportation is uneconomical), comes with a very small turning circle (important for urban areas), supports tilting technology for high passenger comfort and fast motion capability and also supports platooning, where several passengers intend to visit the same destination.

FLAIT is designed by Innovative Dragon Ltd., located in London / UK and based on more than 30 years experience in advanced engineering. Details can be found on www.iDragon.eu

The FLAIT has been presented by Innovative Dragon and iMAR on the CAR Symposium on February 6th, 2019 in Bochum / Germany and had been subject of high interest.     

New GNSS Simulator in Operation in iMAR's Development and Production  Departments  

The SKYDEL GNSS simulation software is known as one of the best solutions for flexible real-time testing of GNSS engines. NOFFZ in Germany now provides a turnkey solution based on the SKYDEL software, a software defined radio, a GPU and the required support electronics. This allows running individual signal simulations in real-time. The integrated Scenario Editor allows free definition of trajectories in up to 6 degrees of freedom. It supports GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and other optional constellations, differential and RTK GNSS and multi-vehicle simulation, GNSS satellite orbit modification, unlimited pseudorange additive ramps and many things more.

Beside of the simulation, the system also allows to acquire GNSS RF data from test tracks and to use them in a replay mode or even to modify the real-world signals before using them for INS/GNSS system testing. The GNSS simulator can be operated synchronized to iMAR's hexapod motion simulator, which can generate 6 DOF motion for payloads up to 1 ton with up to 1 g and 30 deg roll / pitch / yaw.  

The simulator is used for the iMAR R&D department as well as on the production floor.

The new GNSS simulator enables iMAR to test our data fusion algorithms, the used GNSS engines and our entire systems under GNSS conditions, which had been more difficult so far with standard solutions. 

Navigationssysteme für 338 Fahrzeuge der deutschen Katastrophenhilfe (BBK) 

iMAR is contracted in 12/2018 to equip all 338 CBRN vehicles of the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katasprophenhilfe, BBK) with the well-known navigation and localization system iNAT-M200/MLD. CBRN stands for the detection and documentation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear contamination. 

The selection of the iNAT-M200 had been done within a worldwide competition, considering cost, reliability and performance.

Further information:

Product Information iNAT-M200/MLD

Ride Control System installed on Brittany Ferry’s high speed craft „Normandie Express“  

Another catamaran vessel now benefits from the reliable and high performance of our ship motion damping Ride Control.  The system, jointly developed and supplied with our Dutch partner KWANT controls B.V., was installed on-board during an extensive retrofit of the vessel last week.

The Ride Control System adaptively damps undesired roll and pitch motion of the ferry. An INS/GNSS based inertial measurement system from our iATTHEMO product series is provided to monitor the motion of the ship. Based on this information iMAR’s ride control algorithm commands the vessel’s trim tabs and foils for optimal motion damping. The algorithm automatically adapts to changing sea states and effectively increases passenger comfort under all conditions.

We were confirmed by the crew of the ship: The new system is a big step forward for this ferry, compared to what we knew from before, both in performance and operability.

Further information:

Product Information iATTHEMO-M

Datasheet iATTHEMO-M

Complex Multi-Object -Scenario demonstration at AEB Praxis Conference together with 4a Systems  

iMAR has shown that complex testing of highly automated driving vehicles with several synchronized participants is possible in a highly accurate and repeatable manner.

In cooperation with 4active Systems, a future EuroNCAP Jjunction Scenario, comprising of two 4a Soft Crash Targets and iMAR’s self-driving iTSV-KIA-NIRO has been performed with highest reliability during the AEB praxis conference in Schlüsselfeld / Germany at September 20/21, 2018 in front of many professional visitors from automobile manufacturers and their suppliers.

All moveable objects had been equipped with iMAR’s high accurate INS/GNSS systems of type iTraceRT-MVT-xxx, providing position, velocity, acceleration, orientation and timing for synchronisation and control of the whole scenario.

For October 1, 2018 iMAR is invited  to present the iTSV-KIA-NIRO at the opening ceremony of CERMcity, an advanced urban test field on the proving ground in Aldenhoven / Germany (RWTH Aachen).

Further information:

Datasheet iSWACO-ARGUS: Proving Ground Instrumentation for vehicle tests up to SAE level 5

Datasheet iKIA-NIRO: Self driving traffic simulation vehicle