The CELab was established in 2019 in cooperation between the FSR and the European Space Agency ESA within the framework of the initiative “ESA_LAB@” as a joint research laboratory, in which concurrent engineering is carried out on the one hand for the analysis and evaluation of new strategic areas with regard to ground segment and operations and on the other hand for research programmes of all faculties of the TU Darmstadt as well as for practical experience of the students.
Under the label “Industry 4.0 for Space 4.0”, the CELab offers state-of-the-art technical equipment to enable experts from different disciplines to develop complex technical systems together in an efficient and agile manner.
Virtual Tour in the Lab
Equipment
The CELab has a horseshoe arrangement of 10 workstations, each equipped with a desktop PC, a 24'' monitor and a docking station, which also allows mobile devices and laptops to be integrated into the work environment and to be charged. The workplace of the team leader / system architect is located in the centre in front of the workstations of the specialists. This workstation additionally features two large wall-mounted monitors where team results can be shared and discussed. Due to this design the entire IT and audio-visual equipment is bundled in a physical unit in a very efficient way.
Furthermore, the room has a 75'' touch display, which can also be used as a whiteboard, and 2 height-adjustable tables, which can be used to create workstations for 8 additional specialists, if required, who can participate in concurrent engineering sessions with their own laptops. The CELab can be divided into two rooms by means of a flexible glass partition wall system, so that meetings can be held parallel to the concurrent engineering sessions in the additional small room. This part of the room is also equipped with height-adjustable tables as well as a mobile 65'' display, which can be used for the meetings when the partitions are closed or, when the partition is open, can be used as an additional display for the Concurrent Engineering Session.
Each workstation has a virtual user interface on the desktop, allowing content to be displayed on multiple screens, including the team leader's large central displays, and to be shared with other participants during video conferences. The team leader also has a touch panel that can be used to switch the entire system on and off, switch between videoconference and presentation modes, select the display sources for the displays and control lights, blinds and volume.
The specialists are supported in their work by the latest domain-specific software, which is pre-installed on the workstations. Teamwork is further simplified by the use of the CDP4 and OCDT concurrent design platforms.
Characteristics
Main room with
- 10 fixed workstations and 10 laptop connections
- 2 large 65-inch displays
- 1 touch display 75-inch
- Team leader workstation
- Polycom video conference system with 2 cameras and room microphone
- Secured VPN access for external participants
- Concurrent design platforms:
- OCDT (ESA)
- COMET (RHEA)
Adjoining room configurable as a separate meeting room or as a laboratory extension (another 8 mobile workstations) with a mobile 65-inch large display
