Indux-R

Transforming European INDUstrial Ecosystems through eXtended Reality enhanced with human-centric AI and secure, 5G-enabled IoT

It is somewhat ironic that Joseph von Fraunhofer, when he laid the foundation for X-ray technology over two centuries ago with his groundbreaking work in the field of optics, kept his work guarded as a state secret, while today all major players in X-ray technology come from outside Europe. Despite the solid scientific foundation of European organizations and companies in the field of X-ray technology and related areas, the success of the European X-ray technology industry is limited, primarily due to the strong fragmentation of the market, a lack of investment, and difficulties in commercializing applied research.

Against this background, INDUX-R is planning a human-centered XR ecosystem that will transform European industrial sectors by empowering people and creating innovative XR products and services with significant added value. It aims for concrete scientific breakthroughs that are integrated into technological prerequisites, applied in use cases oriented toward real-world needs, and have the potential to be replicated in various other applications. These breakthroughs focus on core XR technologies, namely the digitization and creation of XR assets, realistic animation, light-field HMDs, XR media streaming, and egocentric perception. To address the challenges posed by multi-user XR applications, INDUX-R will implement a highly scalable, contactless 5G architecture and a secure, interoperable IoT network that can handle fluctuating requirements and minimize the waste of resources.

The intended use cases cover a broad spectrum of industrial ecosystems in the areas of event planning, Industry 4.0, virtual medical training, cultural tourism, and the broadcasting of sporting events. End users are involved in every step of INDUX-R, from the development of user requirements to the final qualification of the ecosystem, thereby implementing a human-centered approach to the development of XR technology. In this respect, INDUX-R reflects on the societal and ethical challenges posed by XR and creates a legal and ethical framework that ensures technological development is aligned with European values.

The main contribution of Friedrich Schiller University Jena to this project is the creation of an XR Worlds Generation Toolkit. This will primarily involve the use of technologies such as 3D photogrammetry (SfM), Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF), and other AI-based methods to create digital representations of urban environments from both contemporary and historical photographs and maps. As part of this, a demonstrator is also to be further developed in which the generated content will be used and which covers the use case of cultural tourism and education.

Project lead: Professor Dr. Sander Münster de

Project staff: Jonas Bruscke, Vaibhav Rajan, Dávid Komorowicz

Project partners / supporting institutions:

Project duration: 01/01/2024 – 12/31/2026

Funding amount: €7,367,337 total; €399,275 FSU

Funding program: HORIZON-CL4-2023-HUMAN-01-22 - eXtended Reality for Industry 5.0 (IA)External link