The IDEA project is a recently completed joint project funded by the former Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport (BMDV), which MRK implemented together with TU Dresden and PSI Transcom GmbH. The aim of the project was to investigate the potential automation of public transport depots using innovative network technologies that meet the time-critical and broadband communication and location requirements for depot automation and to identify suitable architectures and interfaces that can be used for depot automation. Among other things, the integration and transferability of a 5G campus network was investigated in order to enable customized and economical solutions for depot automation in the public transport sector. The aim was to research and test new services for the location, orchestration, and remote control of vehicles (buses) via a depot management system (DMS) in a laboratory setting. This meant locating the fully automated buses with sufficient accuracy via an innovative radio network and controlling them remotely with low latency.

MRK took on project management for the project and provided a real-world laboratory at the MRK industrial park in Torgau (Saxony), where a transport depot with indoor and outdoor areas could be simulated. MRK purchased a new 5G infrastructure system for the project, which was installed and commissioned in the real-world laboratory. Prior to this, MRK used photogrammetry to create a digital twin of the real-world laboratory, which served as the basis for the necessary radio network planning and ultimately provided information on where the 5G antennas should ideally be installed in the real-world laboratory in order to meet the requirements for positioning and communication.

The 5G infrastructure system made it possible to investigate the extent to which antenna configurations influence the triangulation required for positioning, how accurate positioning is under various conditions and influences, and whether 5G technology can be usefully implemented alongside other positioning and communication technologies in a traffic depot that is to be automated.

Due to the growing shortage of skilled workers in the public transport sector, demand for the automation of transport depots continues to rise. MRK therefore conducted a criteria-based economic analysis in the form of a cost-benefit analysis to provide interested transport companies with an initial basis for decision-making and to highlight the key factors involved. The result was a white paper and a small Excel-based tool that calculates various economic indicators (e.g., ROI) when the individual attributes of an existing transport depot (depot size, number of buses, type of buses, tracking and communication infrastructure to be used, etc.) are entered. This tool will be used by MRK in the future to support transport companies in considering an investment in the automation of their bus depots as part of a consultation.