Smart Industry

Machinery and equipment are increasingly being interconnected and fitted with sensors. Big data and artificial intelligence generate greater transparency which in turn leads to growing efficiency, lower consumption of resources and decreasing costs. This development is still in the very early stages and will continue to accompany us in the decades to come. It is the basis for our future competitiveness and our prosperity.

The central key for the Smart Industry of tomorrow consists in intelligent software that controls machinery and equipment and interconnects entire value chains. After all, in future value will be created in networks rather than linear processes. IAV has many decades of experience in this field. One single engine control unit contains around three million lines of code; a complete vehicle with its many connected control units has around 100 million, and soon there will be 200 to 300 million lines of code. There can be scarcely a more complex mass product than the car, which has a service life of around 20 years and cannot be modified after leaving the factory. Software quality plays a very important role here. IAV has demonstrated in numerous projects that we are capable of taking top quality, fully validated software to the level of volume production – from requirement and systems engineering through to the finished solution.

We are increasingly transferring this know-how into industry. Our experts use proven engineering methods such as agile working and continuous integration respectively continuous everything to produce embedded software, apps and backend solutions for companies. One example here consists in predictive maintenance of machinery and equipment. IAV also uses other methods and tools from the automotive sector, including simulation-based test environments such as HiL systems for the virtual commissioning of S7 controllers and the model-based control systems of industrial machinery. We offer our customers consulting (e.g. about new digital business models or potential for optimizing production), individual software solutions and complete products.

Numerous solutions demonstrate our expertise in the area of Smart Industry. Distributed diagnostic systems by IAV constantly monitor machinery and equipment, providing a central overview of their current state and issuing instructions for remedial measures when problems arise. As a result, industrial machinery can continue operating even in the event of a partial failure.

Data logistics by IAV identifies dispersed data records in companies, converts different formats and concentrates the data at a central point, such as a company server or in the cloud, thus creating the prerequisites for big data applications. In many cases, today’s machinery and equipment is not yet equipped with sensors. This is where our Fast Info Mesh System comes in. It is used to set up and manage dynamic wireless networks with data multi-hopping capability, operating with gateways for transmission to an intranet or the internet.

The energy transition means that municipal utility companies and electricity suppliers are really feeling the effects of digital transformation at the moment. Modern sensors and actuators have been fitted to the infrastructures they use to supply power, gas and water. To remain competitive in future, it is no longer sufficient to simply record the states of pumps or valves etc. Scenario analysis entails performing simulations with models of the infrastructure. In this context we have developed a digital twin that runs through various scenarios in real time.

At IAV, mathematicians, information engineers, control technicians and data scientists work at solutions to meet the needs of industrial customers. We also work with leading solution providers in the context of projects as and when the need arises.