DRZ
In their daily work, task forces face a variety of challenges. Despite training, tactical concepts and protective equipment, thousands of emergency personnel are injured or killed worldwide every year. With the advancing technical development, it is foreseeable that mobile robot systems will take over tasks in order to make the operation more efficient and above all safer. The requirements on the supporting rescue robot systems are complex and varied.
Project duration: 01.10.2018 - 30.09.2022 (Phase 1: A-DRZ); 01.10.2022 - 30.09.2026 (Phase 2: DRZ)

The German Rescue Robotic Centre (DRZ) is intended to promote the use of robot systems in civil terrestrial emergency response in hostile environments. Here, the four guiding scenarios of fire, collapse & burial, detection of hazardous substances and flooding as well as the resulting challenges for rescue robotics form the basis. Among other activities, a so-called Living Lab will be set up for this purpose, i.e. a laboratory with an attached test site, in which scientists, companies and users can jointly research the best possible solutions for supporting rescue robots and test them in realistic environments.
The implementation of the DRZ will create a national competence centre with international appeal. For the first time in Germany, emergency forces, researchers and industry will work on the realization of autonomous rescue robots and the establishment of a national and international robotics task force. In addition, test and inspection criteria are developed in order to ensure later standardization and certification of different robot systems. The Communication Networks Institute (CNI) will be in charge of the work on robust wireless networking of robotic systems even under the difficult conditions of a rescue operation.
The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the grant agreement number 13N16476.
News
6GEM@INTERSCHUTZ 2022: Demonstrating the potential of the future Rescue Robotics Metaverse
CNI presents the 6GEM vision of future immersive control of robots in rescue missions by first responders on the DRZ booth at INTERSCHUTZ 2022.
BMBF 6G research hub "6GEM" visits DRZ Living Lab for evaluation experiments
Which added value can future 6G mobile communications systems provide for highly relevant use cases in society and industry? This is one of the…
5G.NRWeek Rocket Session: interactive live rescue robotics demo at high-profile 5G event
CNI has interactively illustrated requirements and opportunities of 5G in rescue robotics in close cooperation with the Fire Department Dortmund and…
CNI joins firefighting exercise in rescue robotics project
As part of the establishment of German Rescue Robotics Center (DRZ), CNI is working on reliable communications solutions for use in disaster…
TU Dortmund's CNI contributes to the establishment of the German Centre for Rescue Robotics in Dortmund
On October 1, 2018, a new project has started - funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) - which aims to establish a national…
Publications
Realtime Wireless Network Emulation for Evaluation of Teleoperated Mobile Robots
M. Patchou, et al.
In 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotic (SSRR), November 2022, Spain.
QoE Evaluation of Real-Time Remote Operation with Network Constraints in a System-of-Systems
C. Schüler, T. Gebauer, M. Patchou, C. Wietfeld
In 2022 Annual IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon), Virtual Event.
Experimental Evaluation of IEEE 802.15.4z UWB Ranging Performance under Interference
J. Tiemann, J. Friedrich, C. Wietfeld
In Sensors, vol. 22, no. 4, 2022.
Modeling and simulation of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for hybrid aerial and ground-based vehicular communications
K. Heimann, B. Sliwa, M. Patchou, C. Wietfeld
In Proceedings of the 24th International ACM Conference MSWiM 2021
Pushing the Limits: Resilience Testing for Mission-Critical Machine-Type Communication
C. Arendt, M. Patchou, S. Böcker, J. Tiemann, C. Wietfeld
In 2021 IEEE 94th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC-Fall), Virtual Event, September 2021
German Rescue Robotics Center (DRZ): A Holistic Approach for Robotic Systems Assisting in Emergency Response
I. Kruijff-Korbayova, et al.
In 2021 IEEE International Conference on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR), New York, USA, October 2021.
Robust machine learning-enabled routing for highly mobile vehicular networks with PARRoT in ns-3
C. Schüler, M. Patchou, B. Sliwa, C. Wietfeld
In Proceedings of the 2021 Workshop on Ns-3, Virtual, June 2021.
Flying Robots for Safe and Efficient Parcel Delivery Within the COVID-19 Pandemic
M. Patchou, B. Sliwa, C. Wietfeld
In 2021 IEEE 15th International Systems Conference, Vancouver, Canada, April 2021
PARRoT: Predictive ad-hoc routing fueled by reinforcement learning and trajectory knowledge
B. Sliwa, C. Schüler, M. Patchou, C. Wietfeld
In 2021 IEEE 93rd VTC-Spring, Helsinki, Finland, April 2021. (Best Student Paper Award).
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Location & approach
The campus of TU Dortmund University is located close to interstate junction Dortmund West, where the Sauerlandlinie A 45 (Frankfurt-Dortmund) crosses the Ruhrschnellweg B 1 / A 40. The best interstate exit to take from A 45 is “Dortmund-Eichlinghofen” (closer to South Campus), and from B 1 / A 40 “Dortmund-Dorstfeld” (closer to North Campus). Signs for the university are located at both exits. Also, there is a new exit before you pass over the B 1-bridge leading into Dortmund.
To get from North Campus to South Campus by car, there is the connection via Vogelpothsweg/Baroper Straße. We recommend you leave your car on one of the parking lots at North Campus and use the H-Bahn (suspended monorail system), which conveniently connects the two campuses.
TU Dortmund University has its own train station (“Dortmund Universität”). From there, suburban trains (S-Bahn) leave for Dortmund main station (“Dortmund Hauptbahnhof”) and Düsseldorf main station via the “Düsseldorf Airport Train Station” (take S-Bahn number 1, which leaves every 20 or 30 minutes). The university is easily reached from Bochum, Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr and Duisburg.
You can also take the bus or subway train from Dortmund city to the university: From Dortmund main station, you can take any train bound for the Station “Stadtgarten”, usually lines U41, U45, U 47 and U49. At “Stadtgarten” you switch trains and get on line U42 towards “Hombruch”. Look out for the Station “An der Palmweide”. From the bus stop just across the road, busses bound for TU Dortmund University leave every ten minutes (445, 447 and 462). Another option is to take the subway routes U41, U45, U47 and U49 from Dortmund main station to the stop “Dortmund Kampstraße”. From there, take U43 or U44 to the stop “Dortmund Wittener Straße”. Switch to bus line 447 and get off at “Dortmund Universität S”.
The AirportExpress is a fast and convenient means of transport from Dortmund Airport (DTM) to Dortmund Central Station, taking you there in little more than 20 minutes. From Dortmund Central Station, you can continue to the university campus by interurban railway (S-Bahn). A larger range of international flight connections is offered at Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), which is about 60 kilometres away and can be directly reached by S-Bahn from the university station.
The H-Bahn is one of the hallmarks of TU Dortmund University. There are two stations on North Campus. One (“Dortmund Universität S”) is directly located at the suburban train stop, which connects the university directly with the city of Dortmund and the rest of the Ruhr Area. Also from this station, there are connections to the “Technologiepark” and (via South Campus) Eichlinghofen. The other station is located at the dining hall at North Campus and offers a direct connection to South Campus every five minutes.
The facilities of TU Dortmund University are spread over two campuses, the larger Campus North and the smaller Campus South. Additionally, some areas of the university are located in the adjacent “Technologiepark”.
Site Map of TU Dortmund University (Second Page in English).