Strategic Focus & Research Fields

Together with our partners, we work on innovative vehicle concepts and solutions for sustainable mobility. Our key areas of expertise include virtual system development using simulation and modelling, testing mechatronic control systems and applications, and tests on components and complete systems. Our teaching and research always focus on the vehicle as a system.

The automotive and supply industry is increasingly demanding that cooperation and development partners are highly qualified and offer broad-ranging expertise covering both individual components and the vehicle as a whole. A key focus at the Automotive Testing Lab therefore lies in determining parameters which indicate the functionality, safety and legal compliance of the entire vehicle.

Comprehensive expertise, from calculations to optimisation

Our areas of expertise include calculations, simulations and design, as well as experimental design, testing and evaluation. Future issues such as battery capacity, engine performance, alternative drives, transmission output and acoustic measurements are discussed, tested and optimised, both with scientists at FH JOANNEUM and external partners. Quality management in the testing labs is also subject to continual enhancements.

Synergies between research and teaching

The facilities and services provided by the Automotive Testing Lab are available both to companies in the automotive industry as well as to students of Automotive Engineering. Students fascinated by technology examine the development of environmentally-friendly technologies and innovative mobility concepts on their courses, while Joanneum Racing – the Formula Student Team at FH JOANNEUM – encourages a drive for performance, team spirit and a focus on competition. Joanneum Racing is dedicated to developing the racing technology of tomorrow.

This allows engineering skills and know-how generated in the Automotive Testing Lab to flow directly into research-led teaching and encourage innovation in the automotive industry. This generates synergies between the university and industry in the form of internships as well as Bachelor's and Master's theses, often leading to professional careers in the industry. As a result, Austria’s automotive industry benefits from access to highly qualified graduates with practical experience.

The Institute of Automotive Engineering explores a broad range of topics as part of contract research and development projects. They include virtual product development, simulation-based optimisation and application using computer-assisted methods, the experimental testing of individual components, and tests of entire vehicles.

The pillars of our applied research are:

• Testing and experiments
  • Testing, signal acquisition and processing, analysis *** Design**
  • Methodology, analysis, concept design, proof of concept
• Control systems and application
  • Development, design, representation and optimisation of mechatronic systems
• Engineering calculation and simulation
  • FEM analysis, computational fluid dynamics, multi-body systems