Fraunhofer AVIATION & SPACE

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) does more than just open up new potential in terms of transporting goods: if some of urban traffic goes airborne, this will also offer completely new approaches when it comes to sustainable mobility solutions. In the Fraunhofer ALBACOPTER® Lighthouse Project, six Fraunhofer institutes are addressing the technical and social issues associated with UAM. Led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI, researchers have developed an aircraft that glides in a particularly efficient way – taking inspiration from the albatross. This device and other high-lights will feature at the joint Fraunhofer booth (D11, in Hall B1) at the IAA MOBILITY trade show in Munich from September 5 to 8, 2023.

Maintenance of modern aircraft is a complex process. The use of AR smart glasses with 3D information visualization should make repair and maintenance work easier for aircraft mechanics. Virtual elements such as instructions, displays and technical tools can be operated by way of gesture, voice and gaze control. With the help of augmented reality systems, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE have developed concepts and solutions for maintaining the Airbus A400M.

Automated machining and assembly of large lightweight structures on a 1:1 scale

The Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR is participating in the "Instantaneous Infrastructure Monitoring by Earth Observation" (IIMEO) project. The project is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe program as an Innovation Action with 2.8 million euros and aims to develop and demonstrate key technologies for global monitoring of critical infrastructure from space in near real-time. The pilot application is the monitoring of rail networks. The project runs until November 30, 2025.