Sectoral Integration and Interdisciplinary System Development

Due to its comprehensive interdisciplinary character, sectoral integration is a particularly challenging task of system integration. Today, the associated technical problems must be addressed holistically and, in particular, extended to include the dimensions "human" and "environment". Due to its broad thematic orientation, the IMS is ideally positioned to make an important contribution to shaping the upcoming paradigm shifts in the fields of sectoral integration and interdisciplinary system development.

The research at IMS is divided into the fields of Vehicle Systems, Energy Systems, Robotics Systems and Actuated Systems, with promising developments particularly at the interfaces between the research fields. Particularly the research in the area of sectoral integration between the vehicle or mobility and energy systems can be highlighted.

Integrated solutions in this area have the greatest potential for a sustainable transformation of the transport and the energy system. Challenges arise from the complexity of the subsystems in the respective sectors, leading to an even more complex integrated overall system. Suitable approaches to integrated solution development can be found, among other things, in the field of mechatronics, especially in the methods of interdisciplinary system development and system integration, which are summarized as the “V-model of mechatronics”. Based on requirements derived from the use case, parallel solutions are developed at system level. Only then, a discipline-specific design of a suitable solution is developed in close and regular exchange between the disciplines. In classical mechatronics, these are the disciplines of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science. This deeply rooted interdisciplinary orientation of the discipline of mechatronics enables integration of non-technical elements, such as human and environmental factors. As a last step in the development, the partial solutions are combined or integrated into an overall solution and validated with respect to the customer’s requirements.

Due to the broad orientation of IMS under the topic of mechatronics, there is a great potential in the area of interdisciplinary system development and sector integration, which is investigated in a number of projects.