RUAG (Switzerland)

Abstract Combined Transport (CT) is one of the most sustainable and safest mode of freight transport in Europe using the advantages of road for the first and last mile and rail for the long-haul journey. The CT chain consists of a comparatively large set of actors and organisation specific rules. Operational issues like a low level of punctuality and related company-specific delay management block efficient quality management and concerted improvement across multiple stakeholders. Under the CEF programme, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) co-funded the EDICT project to find pragmatic solutions to ease the connectivity of several existing platforms and to develop standardised master and transaction data to provide a set of interoperable platforms that facilitate the data sharing and interaction between key CT stakeholders. The core innovation is a collaborative Quality Management System (cQMS) that is conceptualised and implemented based on harmonised and improved existing company specific standards for timestamps, delay and cancellation reason codes, and master data. The project partners intend to share a common process design and use a set of interoperable software-as-a-service solutions to improve process and cost efficiency. During the two-year EDICT project lifetime, eight CT stakeholders, under the coordination of the industry association UIRR and consulting partner Consilis, jointly conceptualise, implement, and run a 5-month cQMS demonstrator pilot based on actual operational data. The project aims to facilitate the digital integration of Road-Rail Terminal Operators, CT Operators, Railway Undertakings and Infrastructure Managers to provide accurate information and ultimately to improve the overall punctuality, reporting and data analysis capabilities, and service quality to door-to-door customers (LSPs and shippers). Thereby, the project contributes to achieve the EU’s policy objectives to increase the share of rail, to push forward the greening of freight transport and contribute to the European mobility data space. The targeted project results lay the foundation for an industry ecosystem solution providing standardised electronic data interchange and sector-wide processes to improve the service quality of regular Combined Transport trains. Technically, several digital platforms are either introduced, modernised or integrated to achieve the best cost-performance ratio and become attractive for a larger group of customers. Piloting 5 regular trains on 3 different TEN-T corridors will serve to learn in practice about benefits and improvement potentials. The evaluation will be used to refine the business model and the adoption strategy to facilitate a future roll-out to become an industry standard. Consequently, not only the CTOs but also the shippers and LSPs will profit from better information transparency on the status of their goods, causes of delays and long-term improvements based on the analysis and elimination of the root causes of disruptions. Thereby, the project and its future roll-out will significantly contribute to a higher attractiveness of Combined Transport and to achieve the declared objectives of the Green Deal, Fit-for-55 and REPowerEU policy initiatives.

Several automated pollen monitors have recently become available, most using conventional and/or machine-learning algorithms to detect pollen and classify their taxa. An international intercomparison campaign was organised by the EUMETNET AutoPollen Programme and the ADOPT COST Action in Munich (March–July 2021) (Maya-Manzano et al. 2023). The study showed that some automatic systems, especially those that have built-in correction factors to compensate for losses of sampling, detection and classification, agreed with the averaged pollen concentration of four manual Hirst-type measurements. The manual pollen counting method, relying on human operators, is still used today due to a lack of traceable metrological standards for pollen monitoring. Additionally, existing reference particle counters have been validated up to particle sizes around 20 µm only (Vasilatou et al. 2022). In this study, we evaluated the shake-the-box particle tracking/detection algorithm (Novara et al. 2023) to serve as a reference measurement of particle number concentration. A volume is illuminated with an expanded light sheet produced by a double-pulse laser, and four calibrated double-frame cameras record images of the particles inside this volume. The algorithm determines the position and velocity of each particle, allowing the measurement of particle number concentration directly in the air without sampling inlets that could influence the measurement.Particle tracking was validated against the Inkjet Aerosol Generator at the Japanese National Metrology Institute NMIJ and the reference optical particle counter at METAS using an 11-D spectrometer (Grimm GmbH, Germany) as a transfer standard and size-certified polystyrene particles. Expanded uncertainties (coverage factor k=2) were 24 %, 10 %, and 7 % for particle sizes 15 μm, 20 μm, and 26 μm, respectively. The good agreement among the three methods shows that the shake-the-box particle tracking method can be applied as a reference for particle number concentration.We used a laboratory-based method for characterising the performance of bioaerosol monitors as a whole unit (hardware plus identification algorithms) using the particle tracking method and, in a separate experiment, freshly sampled pollen. Experiments were carried out with the SwisensPoleno Jupiter, which combines light scattering, inline digital holography and ultraviolet laser-induced fluorescence with machine learning to classify different particles. For a pollen grain to be measured, it must be sampled, detected and correctly classified.  Each stage is subject to particle losses, leading to a measurement efficiency below 100 %. Particle tracking measurements of pollen (Pinus, Zea Mays) resulted in an average counting efficiency of about 43 %, neglecting particle losses in the Sigma-2 sampling head and issues with the classification of particles. The unit-to-unit variability of the Poleno instruments was 30 % based on measurement with three units. Independent experiments with Alnus glutinosa, Betula pendula and Corylus avellana showed that the major source of losses, however, originates from the pollen classification algorithm, which is trimmed to best correlate with Hirst measurements (currently the defacto reference for pollen monitoring). This highlights the need for an independent, standardised method for evaluating classifier losses.

Die liquiditätsschonende Deckung der Pflichtteilsansprüche ist eine zentrale Aufgabe bei der Gestaltung von Unternehmensnachfolgeprozessen und ein wesentlicher Erfolgsfaktor für deren Gelingen. Seit der Erbrechtsreform 2016 (ErbRAG 2015) besteht hier größerer Gestaltungsspielraum. Dabei treten Bewertungsfragen immer mehr in den Mittelpunkt. Bei der Ausgestaltung konkreter Regelungen bedarf es daher eines sorgfältigen Zusammenwirkens von Juristen und Bewertungsexperten.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the aerodynamic interference effects of typical devices supporting aircraft models during wind tunnel tests by means of CFD tools. This work proposes the use of steady RANS simulations of the flow field in order to predict the interference produced by two different models of struts: (1) one that is made up of two parts and is solidal with the wind-tunnel model for variation of the angles of incidence (α) and of the angles of sideslip (β) and (b) the second that is made up of one part and is fixed for α variations and is solidal with the model for β variations. Low and high Reynolds flow conditions are considered and a typical cruise configuration of a scaled model of regional aircraft is addressed in both power-off and power-on conditions. The strut effect is investigated for several angles of incidence and sideslip. From the numerical point of view, the flow field and forces disturbance caused by the struts are derived by comparing simulations with and without the support. The interference is analysed in terms of global forces and moments coefficients and local quantities, such as pressure coefficients distributions. The main result regarding the comparison between the two models of strut is that the corrections to be applied to experimental data and the effect of both ventral struts on the global aerodynamic forces and moments are small.

In order to meet the requirements of the new generation of radio telescopes, we have developed a new topology called DYQSA, which stands for DYson Quad-Spiral Array. The design exhibits dual circular polarization contrary to dual linear polarization of state-of-the-art feeds. It covers the required ultrawideband (UWB) from 2 to 14 GHz with an almost constant and real input impedance which facilitates the design of the feeding structure and the low-noise amplifiers (LNAs). Different versions are investigated for enhancing feed performance, ensuring higher aperture efficiencies and mechanical stability. The simulation results of the reflector loaded by the proposed feed show an aperture efficiency of 65%±5% with a noise antenna temperature around 14 K and a system equivalent flux density (SEFD) of about 1300 Jy, both averaged over the required bandwidth at zenith. Measurements of the single-element and the four-element feeds are presented. Comparisons with other state-of-the-art feeds are shown in terms of total aperture efficiencies, design adaptability to different reflectors, calibration signal injection, and the required number of LNAs per feed, cost, and physical volume.

The research in this paper provides an analysis of the payload-range capabilities of a retrofitted CS-23, 19-passenger class aircraft, specifically the RUAG Do 228NG. The aircraft is retrofitted with a serial-hybrid electric propulsion system having current technology-level components. The analysis in this paper finds the design points of the propulsion system (battery mass and generator size) with regard to specific operational requirements by performing mission simulations with different flight profiles (operating scenarios). With the requirement of pure electric take-off and initial climb, it was found that two operational parameters, the top-of-climb altitude and the generator-activation altitude, are significant drivers for the battery mass. The generator size is mainly driven by the design’s speed. The mission performance results show that operational decisions affect the sizing of a retrofitted serial-hybrid propulsion system. The results suggest that once a system is sized, the airplane cannot easily be operated under different conditions. The calculated payload-range chart shows that the retrofit cannot match the payload-range capabilities of the baseline aircraft, showing a range reduced by 37% at a payload of 50% (1020 kg).

Launched on November 2nd, 2009, SMOS (Soil Moisture, Ocean Salinity) is the second Earth Explorer Opportunity mission developed as part of ESA’s Living Planet Programme. It demonstrates a completely new type of instrument – a large, deployable synthetic-aperture microwave radiometer [1]. RUAG Space, Switzerland, as a subcontractor of EADS Astrium, Spain, has provided the instrument’s fibreoptic harness, which interconnects the central data processor with all 69 microwave receivers, as well as 12 auxiliary units on board. For reasons explained in Section 3, SMOS is the first European mission extensively using both fibre-optic clock distribution and data transmission in space. In Section 2, we present an overview of the scientific goals of SMOS, and describe the payload’s basic function. There from we derive the rationale and the design of the fibre-optic harness (Section 3). In Section 4 all development, manufacturing, and test activities are summarised, which culminated in the successful delivery of all flight units to EADS Astrium by October 2006. We present the major test results obtained with the flight harness (Section 5), and conclude with a short summary of the higher-level activities, which lead to successful launch and commissioning of the SMOS satellite (Section 6).

This paper is intended to provide a summary of the necessary adjustments required for road-representative open-jet wind tunnel measurements on automobiles. The open-jet wind tunnel provides accurate measurements, but they are made in a finite-sized jet that differs from the unconfined open-road conditions. Furthermore, measurements on a given automobile made in different open-jet wind tunnels disagree with each other, and with measurements in closed-wall wind tunnels that were corrected for the influences of their solid boundaries. There appears to be reticence at some company levels to making ‘corrections’ to open-jet measurements. Perhaps non-specialist managers think that the need for a ‘correction’ means an erroneous measurement. It does not! Any high-quality wind tunnel measurement is accurate, but it needs to be ‘calibrated’ to on-road conditions through an appropriate set of procedures. Closed-wall wind tunnels measure higher drag coefficients, in comparison with those in an unconstrained on-road flow. Open-jet wind tunnels frequently measure a lower value. The closed-wall adjustments lower the drag coefficient to the unconstrained value. Open-jet adjustments should also adjust the drag coefficient to the same unconstrained value. This paper explores the range of effects from the finite jet and elucidates the effectiveness of a two-measurement correction procedure. It is shown that not every data point must be measured twice, only a small selected subset. Since approximately 20% of tunnel occupancy is in the fan-on condition, then the additional cost of correct accurate on-road-equivalent data is low.