29. February, by Konstanze Reupert
This 2-day trip paved the way for new progress in transforming the Alberhafen of Dresden into a more efficient and sustainable one.
Alberthafen is the busiest and most dynamic terminal in Dresden. That’s why we chose it to be one of the two ports whose processes we want to optimize with the help of drones and Digital Twins for our project InteGreat Drones and to be our real-world counterpart to the Digital Twin we want to create for simulation purposes in the context of this project.
Key to leading our endeavors to success is having enough information, i.e. data, about the actual port. This not only concerns collecting data in the real world but also later on in the digital world to save time and resources which is why the Digital Twin comes in handy.
So we made our way further to the actual port to increase our understanding of what’s happening in reality. After an insightful overview during a guided tour through the port, we were allowed to observe the busy bustling of the trucks and gigantic reach stackers on- and offloading containers during the night. For the first time, we made drone recordings at this late hour. This is especially important if we want to understand what it’s like when visibility conditions make it harder to recognize license plates and container IDs. Moreover, we got the first sensor data from a Reachstacker by attaching a camera to it.
However, our trip was not only about observing, taking new footage, and gathering information. We also made use of the excellent opportunity for our team to all meet in person, discussing data flows, evaluating our achievements so far as well as setting new goals for the further course of our project.
All in all, this little journey was a great experience, because we were successfully gaining various new insights, planning, and making our way further along the port’s territory for InteGreatDrones in a productive but also sociably nice way with all team members being together in one place for these two days.