As one of the leading colloquia on industrial communication, this year's annual colloquium ‘Communication in Automation’ (KommA) brought together experts from all over Germany in Magdeburg.
The event took place on 11 and 12 November at the Institute for Automation and Communication (ifak). Chaired by Prof. Dr. Lisa Underberg (ifak) and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Jasperneite (inIT | Fraunhofer IOSB-INA), the event saw experts discuss current developments in industrial communication. There was strong participation from Lemgo, which was particularly gratifying: in addition to Krithiga Ramesh (inIT), Fraunhofer IOSB-INA presented a total of seven contributions.
Two days of expert dialogue in Magdeburg!
The KommA is held in Lemgo or Magdeburg each year, alternating between the two locations. This year, ifak organised a varied programme of keynote speeches, specialist presentations and discussion panels. With Prof. Dr. Lisa Underberg and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Jasperneite as joint chairs, participants were guided through two intensive days of events, which once again provided valuable impetus for industrial communication research.
Impulses from research and practice: Keynotes on the future of industrial communication
One of the highlights of KommA 2025 was the keynote speech by Prof. Dr. René Simon from Harz University of Applied Sciences. Under the title ‘Virtual Control Systems – Evolution, State of the Art and Requirements for Industrial Communication,’ he highlighted the development from classic, hardware-based programmable logic controllers to modern virtual implementations. He showed which technological advances are enabling this change, what application potential virtual control systems already offer today, and what new requirements this entails for industrial communication systems.
In another keynote speech, Alexander Bentkus from Deutsche Bahn provided insights into the introduction of industrial 5G networks in the railway environment. In his presentation entitled ‘Industrial 5G Networks at Deutsche Bahn – Areas of Application, Potential, Challenges,’ he showed how the technology is being gradually tested and rolled out in Deutsche Bahn's maintenance facilities. He particularly highlighted the new DB plant in Cottbus, which will commission the first productive 5G network for heavy maintenance of the ICE4 fleet in January 2026.
Krithiga Ramesh presents research on CNN-based SLAM
Krithiga Ramesh, research associate in the Computer Networks research group headed by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Jasperneite, presented a paper at KommA 2025 that builds on the results of her master's thesis. Entitled ‘Lightweight CNN-Augmented SLAM: A ROS-2 Framework for Mapping and Loop Closure,’ she presented an approach that extends classic SLAM methods with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to improve both map quality and loop closure detection.
The approach aims to make environmental perception more robust and efficient, especially in complex industrial environments. The presented ROS-2-based framework shows how neural networks can be used in a targeted manner to strengthen perception algorithms in robotics and automation. The contribution met with a great response in the technical discussions at KommA and aroused great interest among the participants.
Exchange in a special atmosphere: evening event in Magdeburg
The first day of the event concluded with a joint evening event at the Haus des Handwerks in Magdeburg. In a historic atmosphere, participants had the opportunity to continue the day's professional exchange in a relaxed setting. In addition to intensive discussions and networking, a ‘networking bingo’ provided additional interaction and a relaxed atmosphere.
A resounding success and important impetus for industrial communication
With numerous specialist presentations, intensive discussions and a lively evening event, KommA 2025 once again provided valuable impetus for industrial communication research. For Prof. Dr. Jürgen Jasperneite, the continuous exchange of ideas is at the heart of the colloquium:
‘KommA thrives on open dialogue between science and industry. Every year, the exchange demonstrates how important joint discussions are for critically assessing and advancing technological developments. I am particularly pleased that we were able to contribute so many presentations from Lemgo this year.’