Research

The Institute of Digital and Autonomous Construction (IDAC) conducts interdisciplinary research in a broad wealth of areas related to digitalization in engineering. Integrating sensing, control, and information technologies, the IDAC team members work at the boundaries between traditional civil/environmental engineering and related engineering disciplines, such as computer science, robotics, mathematics, material science, and electrical engineering.

Areas of application include, but are not limited to cyber-physical systems, intelligent structures, smart sensing and actuation, cognitive buildings, additive manufacturing as well as abstract and traditional information modeling strategies ("BIM") and artificial intelligence techniques for Industry 4.0 and IoT applications. Representing vital elements of the IDAC research infrastructure, the institute hosts

  • A smart sensing lab and
  • An additive manufacturing lab,

and it co-hosts the university's IoT lab, together with the Institute of Communication Networks and the Institute of High-Frequency Technology. Our research is sponsored primarily by the German Research Foundation, the European Union, German federal ministries, and industrial foundations. We are working in close collaboration with industrial partners and with leading national and international research institutions. We are looking forward to initiating new collaborations focusing on basic research and on applied research with industrial partners. Feel free to contact us. Selected recent research projects are listed below.

Selected research projects

Project titleFunding source/project typeDuration
Coupling climate models and indoor climate models for climate-informed engineering
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2025 - 2030
Explainable artificial intelligence for fault diagnosis in structural health monitoring
 
Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)2025 - 2026
Security issues in the transmission of structural health monitoring data from energy networks in an explainable AI environment
 
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)2025 - 2025
Multi-robot collaboration for monitoring and inspection of civil engineering structures
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2024 - 2028
Decentralized digital twins for structural health monitoring
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2024 - 2027
Digitalization of earth-based construction processes
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2024 - 2027
Robot-based inspection of civil infrastructure using frame semantics and linguistic metamodels
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2024 - 2027
TUHH-Twin: Smart campus monitoring using digital twins
 
Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)2024 - 2025
Digitalization of earth printing to advance climate-informed engineering
 
Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)2024 - 2025
Development of a state-wide wastewater surveillance in Thuringia using mobility data and artificial intelligence ("AMELAG")
 
Robert Koch-Institut (German Federal Ministry of Health, BMG)2023 - 2024
Generating and using digital twins of sewer infrastructure for increased operational availability and resilience ("KaSyTwin")
 
German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV): mFund2023 - 2026
Modeling and design concepts for digital roads
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2023 - 2026
Quality assurance of digital twins based on mathematical abstraction and tangle-based blockchain architectures
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2022 - 2025
Infrastructure data assessment using artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies ("IDA-KI")
 
German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV): mFund2022 - 2024
Digital twins in civil engineering
 
Cooperation with MKP GmbH2022 - 2032
Smart monitoring of Köhlbrand Bridge using intelligent sensors and mobile robots
 
Cooperation with Hamburg Port Authority (HPA)2022 - 2026
Innovative and knowledge-based neighborhood development for energy- and resource-efficient living ("Innowater")
 
German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU)2022 - 2023
Classifying movements on flooring based on machine learning and capacitive sensing ("Smart floor")
 
Cooperation with Bern University of Applied SciencesSince 2022
Resilient infrastructure based on cognitive buildings
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2021 - 2024
Explainable fault diagnosis for smart cities
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2021 - 2024
Semantic modeling of additive manufacturing processes of metal structures ("ODE_AM")
 
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): MaterialDigital2021 - 2024
Multi-agent-based sensor/actuator systems for intelligent facades ("BioFass")
 
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): Biologization of Technology2021 - 2022
Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater ("CoMoTH")
 
European Fund for Regional Development (EFRD) /
Thuringian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Science and Digital Society (TMWWDG)
2021 - 2022
Localization of mobile robots using LiDAR technology ("LoMoRo")
 
Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg2021 - 2022
Monitoring methodology for intelligent structures based on RFID sensors
 
Cooperation with the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM)Since 2021
Computerized production robot for additive manufacturing in civil engineering ("Concrete printer")
 
German Research Foundation (DFG) /
Free State of Thuringia
Since 2020
Research group "Intelligent materials – Functionalization of smart materials under multi-field requirements for transport infrastructure"
 
Carl Zeiss Foundation2020 - 2025
Research group "Impact of climate change on buildings and urban districts – Structural integrity, indoor climate, and energy efficiency"
 
European Social Fund (ESF) /
Thuringian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Science and Digital Society (TMWWDG)
2020 - 2022
Data-driven analysis models for slender structures using explainable artificial intelligence
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2019 - 2021
Fault-tolerant wireless structural health monitoring based on frame analysis and deep learning
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2019 - 2022
BIM4FIBER
 
Cooperation with South Westphalia University of Applied SciencesSince 2019
BIM-based information modeling for semantic description of intelligent structural health monitoring systems
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2018 - 2022
Semi-probabilistic, sensor-based design concepts for intelligent structural systems
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2018 - 2022
Facility information modeling – Implementation methodology and economic aspects
 
PhD project (external)Since 2018
Metaization concept for structural health monitoring
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2017 - 2021
Data-driven fault diagnosis in structural health monitoring systems for civil infrastructure ("Dafmon")1
 
German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI): mFund2019 - 2020
Research group "Digital roads – Intelligent transport infrastructure for automated and networked driving"1 
 
European Social Fund (ESF) / Thuringian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Science and Digital Society (TMWWDG)2018 - 2020
Integral lifecycle management for wastewater treatment ("ILMA")1
 
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): KMU innovativ2017 - 2020
Structural health monitoring laboratory (SHM lab)1
 
European Fund for Regional Development (EFRD) / Thuringian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Science and Digital Society (TMWWDG)Since 2017
BIM-based simulation of structures using IFC elements and sensor data1
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2015 - 2016
Automated infrastructure planning of fiber optic networks1
 
Cooperation with South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences2014 - 2020
Sensor-based, hybrid partial models for decentralized condition assessment of civil engineering structures1
 
German Research Foundation (DFG)2014 - 2017
Robust construction scheduling – Methods for incorporating uncertainties into the generation and assessment of construction schedules1
 
Thüringer Graduiertenförderung, a program of the Free State of Thuringia, Germany, supporting graduate students2014 - 2017

1Acquired by Professor Smarsly at Bauhaus University Weimar.