Research Database: Projects

Investigation of the usability of protective devices of work equipment in commercial sectors Objectives of the project: The primary objective of this project is the development of methods and tools for interdisciplinary investigations of human computer interfaces for work safety applications within a usability laboratory environment. Special emphasis will be put on empirical research of design principles and the evaluation of the usability of protective equipment, of safety equipment and of work safety concepts of machines and installations. A first prototype of an interactive virtual visualisation environment in which usability tests of work safety applications will be evaluated, will be established based on the Immersion Square technology currently available at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. Developments for the detection and tracking of head position as well as gaze direction have to be performed in detail. Furthermore, the necessary technologies and the psychological principles of practical work safety applications have to be transferred. Methods and Activities: Firstly, a comprehensive investigation of the state of the art of sample applications in several member companies of the Accident Prevention and Insurance Association will be undertaken. This activity will be supported by an interdisciplinary workshop on the identification of both applicable principles of usability and industrial practical examples for work safety. A special modus operandi of this project will be its interdisciplinary approach. The technical realisation of the interactive virtual environment is inseparably connected to the development of usability methods applicable to work safety measures. In order to analyse reasons for accidents caused by human-machine interactions from the psychological perspective rather than just the technical view point, new methods and tools need to be developed in close cooperation with engineers and work psychologists. The selection and development of applicable usability methods is an essential part of this project and should be supported by a systematic study of psychological aspects. In this case technology should follow up the usability methods, not vice versa.

In an ever growing world/economy and an increasing number of population comes the need to deploy modern techniques and technological advances to improve traditional farming. The field of precision agriculture (PA) enables accurate operational practices by farmers to assess agricultural produce, leading to a cost and time efficient predictive management of crops by providing real-time crop data.  As a result of predictive management and health assessment in PA, significantly smaller quantities of herbicides can be applied or even avoided altogether.

Die Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg - einfach ausgezeichnet. Studieren Sie bei uns! Es erwartet Sie ein praxisorientiertes Studium auf der Basis aktueller Forschungsergebnisse.

The perception of self-motion is a multi-modal process that is influenced by vision, endogenous stimuli and gravity. Specifically, the experiments will help us determine how effective visual cues are in different gravitational conditions (in microgravity, and under lunar and Martian conditions). Based on this, we will develop a model that maps how these gravitational conditions affect the process of optical flow to create the sensation of motion. In this context, we will also examine whether there are gender-specific differences in this perception. The results of our investigations should help to understand visual-vestibular interactions and thus significantly increase safety in all those situations that require movement in altered gravitational conditions (e.g. in space or on the Moon/Mars). At the same time, however, the results can also help to better understand the perception of proper motion on Earth. This applies in particular to clinical conditions in which navigation or gait are disturbed (e.g. in Parkinson's disease). The experiments will be conducted during parabolic flights. We plan to conduct two realted experiments during the weightlessness phases. Subjects will lie on the floor or sit in a chair (loosely attached to it for safety) and wear a Head Mounted Display (HMD). All our visual cues will be presented on the smartphone inside the HMD. In both experiments, participants see a simulated corridor. In the first experiment, a cue stimulus is presented within this corridor, at one of 17 simulated distances. After the cue is extinguished, participants are virtually moved down the corridor. Their task is to indicate when they have arrived at the position of the previously displayed target. In the second experiment, participants are first moved virtually down the corridor and then asked to adjust the distance of a virtual cue stimulus.

Die Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg - einfach ausgezeichnet. Studieren Sie bei uns! Es erwartet Sie ein praxisorientiertes Studium auf der Basis aktueller Forschungsergebnisse.

Project management at the H-BRS

BET Ghana is a transdisciplinary research and transfer project between the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, the University of Cape Coast and partners from the consumer goods and food processing industries in Germany/Europe and Ghana. The stated overall project goal is to enhance employability and (self-) employment opportunity of students and graduates specifically in the Ghanaian consumer goods and food processing industry. This shall eventually increase the competitiveness and growth of the Ghanaian consumer goods and food processing industry and promote innovation and job creation, which will be facilitated by the transfer of knowledge between academia and the private sector. The project consists of three pillars, namely (1) the set up of a research task force Consumer goods and food processing industry, (2) digital and blended learning, and (3) start up training and development. These pillars are interconnected, with the generated knowledge through applied research feeding into the development of digital and blended learning formats, and in the coaching and counselling of entrepreneurs. At the same time, students while being enabled to study the field of consumer goods and food processing will contribute to generation of knowledge through small scale applied research projects. The development of business ideas will eventually offer more insights into the challenges and dynamics of the consumer goods and food processing industry in Ghana as it also related to the global economy, specifically Europe and Germany. Projektleitung: Oghenekome Umuerri

Project management at the H-BRS

The institute TREE operates the TREE-Energy Lab (TRE3L) in the university's Center of Applied Research (ZAF)  with it's industrial partners GKN Driveline and GKN Sinter Metals. In the three sub-labs Powder Fabrication-Lab, Mobility-Lab and Hydrogen-Lab the three partners work on innovative techniques in powder metallurgy and recent topics of environment friendly mobility and energy-efficiency. These labs are supported by a Simulation-Lab.

Project management at the H-BRS

Das Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum Usability unterstützt kleine und mittlere Unternehmen dabei, digitale Technologien so zu gestalten, dass sie einfach genutzt und positiv erlebt werden können. Die Gestaltung digitaler Produkte und Dienstleistungen bedarf optimaler Usability (U) und positiver User Experience (UX). Werden passende UUX-Methoden angewandt, führt dies zu höherer Produktivität, mehr Kundenzufriedenheit und steigender Begeisterung der Nutzer. Wir möchten Unternehmen ansprechen, die mit ihren entwickelten digitalen Produkten oder Dienstleistungen so besser am Markt überzeugen wollen. Ebenso richten wir uns an Unternehmen, die für die Verbesserung ihrer eigenen Geschäftsprozesse IT-Lösungen mit herausragender UUX auswählen und beschaffen möchten. Zudem versetzen wir UUX-Berater in die Lage, mittelständische Softwareentwicklungsunternehmen optimal begleiten zu können. Das Kompetenzzentrum bietet seine Dienstleistungen kostenlos und deutschlandweit über vier Regionen (Nord, Ost, Süd und Mitte) an. Je besser die UUX, desto schneller erfolgt die digitale Transformation kleinerer und mittlerer Unternehmen. Die Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg – als Teil der Region Nord – beschäftigt sich im Rahmen dieses Projektes insbesondere mit der Gestaltung von Innovationen für und mit Nutzern. Dies wird durch ein Living Lab für die Bereiche Wohnen, Mobilität und Ernährung sowie der Unterstützung des Mittelstands bei der Entwicklung nutzerzentrierter Innovationen realisiert. Im geschützten Bereich des Living Labs können neue Produkte und Dienstleistungen experimentell entwickelt, unter realen Bedingungen getestet und kontinuierlich verbessert werden. E-Learning Angebote für UUX-Management und Nutzerstudien (User Research) unterstützen diese Innovationsprozesse.

Sub-project of proposal: „HACS – Hierarchical Methods for the Efficient Analysis of Cloud-Based Simulation Data“ The steady growth in size and complexity of simulation data, as well as the way it is postprocessed, in many situations does not comply with the requirements of efficient visual analysis. This becomes obvious when data from very large simulations of, e.g., airflow around vehicles, is maintained at an automobile manufacturer‘s headquarters, and engineers at remote locations are working with the data in a loop of visual analysis and model modification. Todays visualization processes like remote visualization or the bulk transmission of all data before visualization do not scale with data growth and increasing numbers of concurrent users. This project aims at developing novel data Teilprojekt im Antrag: „HACS – Hierarchical Methods for the Efficient Analysis of Cloud-Based Simulation Data“representation and transfer methods to integrate into a new visualization pipeline, which will be capable of handling and visualizing efficiently increasing magnitudes of remote data. To these ends, hierarchical compression of irregular grids is combined with progressive on-demand data transmission and local volume rendering of tetrahedral multiresolution meshes. The interface to the data is provided as a generic layer that models general graphs and grids, which enables zero-overhead integration with distributed caching services as well as existing simulation and visualization systems.  

Project management at the H-BRS

As part of the NRW-Ghana Partnership and the funding programme "NRW Partnerships for the Promotion of Technical Universities in Ghana", the Ministry of Innovation, Economics and Research (MIWF) has been funding the university partnership project "Partnership for Applied Sciences - PASS" between Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (consortium leader), Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Bad Honnef International University of Applied Sciences and the two Ghanaian universities Kumasi Technical University and Cape Coast Technical University through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) since 2017. The project has a duration of four years.