Successful Dissertation Defense by Dr. Simon Schäfer: Research on Infrastructure-Based Localization Across Scales

19 June 2026

On June 19, 2026, Simon Schäfer successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Infrastructure-Based Localization Across Scales" at RWTH Aachen University.

The dissertation was carried out within the framework of the Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio SFB/TRR 339 "Digital Twin of the Road System" and was supervised by Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bassam Alrifaee, Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Kowalewski (RWTH Aachen University), and Prof. Ehsan Hashemi (University of Alberta, Canada). The supervision began in early 2022 at RWTH Aachen University and continued across institutions after Prof. Alrifaee's appointment at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich in March 2024.

Dr. Schäfer's scientific contributions were instrumental to the success of the SFB/TRR 339 and played a key role in securing the second funding phase. With the continuation of the project at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, the collaboration with partners at RWTH Aachen University, TU Dresden, the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), and the University of Alberta will be further strengthened.

We are particularly pleased that Dr. Schäfer will continue his academic career as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich. Within the second funding phase of the SFB/TRR 339, he will further advance his research and continue the successful collaboration with the project partners.

Congratulations to Dr. Simon Schäfer on this outstanding achievement — we look forward to the continued collaboration at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich.