Aviation brings people and cultures together, and facilitates international trade and economic growth. But it also has its drawbacks, such as harmful greenhouse-gas emissions and the noise pollution caused by aircraft. Fraunhofer researchers are developing new technologies and strategies to enable air traffic to grow while becoming more environmentally friendly at the same time.
Drones do not only serve as toys, they can also be a danger. For example, they can be used for a terrorist attack; it can be at a football match in a stadium. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (IOSB), an interactive and situation-aware assistance system is under construction to counter the threats from unmanned flight systems (UAS). The solution is called »ArGUS« and stands for »Assitenzsystem zur situationbewussten Abwehr von Gefahren durch UAS« (assistance system for situation-aware defense against threats of UAS).
Clean Sky is a project designed to make air travel more environmentally friendly. The project aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 50 percent, NOx emissions by 80 percent and perceived noise levels by 50 percent between now and 2020, and to introduce sustainable life-cycle management criteria throughout the aviation industry. The Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF is responsible for coordinating the contributions made by all Fraunhofer Institutes to the Clean Sky project.
The positioning systems developed in the EU project e-Airport help control processes on airport aprons more efficiently.
An airport apron bustles with traffic. The tow tractors, tankers and buses moving busily around an aircraft run the risk of colliding. An enhanced positioning system will increase safety and the efficiency of logistical operations in the future – available airport capacities will be utilized better.
The small Bavarian town of Holzkirchen is home to a unique flight laboratory that is part of the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP. The lab’s 30-meter-long low-pressure chamber contains the forward section of a real Airbus A310 aircraft, complete with cockpit and eight rows of cabin seating. How can cabin air quality aboard aircraft be improved? Which factors in on-board comfort allow wellbeing to be increased most efficiently and with a minimum of effort? These are the questions that Dr. Gunnar Grün and his team are trying to answer in the climate lab.
In production facilities, robots, and people will soon be working side-by-side. A new mobile assistant is intended to support technicians in the airplane manufacturing industry when applying sealant, measuring, and testing – without putting them at risk.
A top priority for any airline is to conserve as much fuel as possible – and this helps to protect the environment. The EU project SARISTU aims to reduce kerosene consumption by six percent, and integrating flexible landing devices into aircraft wings is one step towards that target.
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