Institute of Flight Systems

The Institute of Flight Systems

The Institute of Flight Systems is concerned with studies on the automation of flight and mission management of manned and unmanned aircraft. We work predominantly experimentally, in virtual simulation, as well as in real flight tests. In doing so, we mainly rely on a systems engineering method inventory as well as excellent laboratory equipment. The institute is divided into three cooperative professorships. Please inform yourself.

The professorship of Aircraft Dynamics and Flight Guidance under the direction of Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Schulte is focused on the development of approaches for cooperative cooperation between man and machine in military and civil aviation.

Highly automated flight and mission management functions are investigated, which allow teams and swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles to be commanded from the ground or from the cockpit, missions on board to be flexibly rescheduled and pilots to be intelligently and adaptively supported. We are investigating the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The professorship has several cockpit simulators (helicopter, high-performance aircraft, UAV control station, A320 trainer), measurement technology for human-machine system evaluation, a mobile ground control station and several unmanned test aircraft.

The method inventory ranges from flight-mechanical and flight-dynamic modelling, system technology for flight control and flight guidance to Cognitive Systems and Human Factors Engineering.

Corresponding courses are also offered.

The professorship of Air Traffic Concepts under the direction of Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Michael Schultz elaborates on adaptive traffic concepts, develops innovations for complex air traffic and airport management, and research solutions for mobility in regional/urban airspaces.

In this context, air traffic must be considered as an aggregated system in which requirements for new technologies and processes of one stakeholder will have a lasting impact on the whole system. By integrating a large number of individual (sub-)systems in the integrated research laboratory, these new technologies and processes can be implemented, and the effects of the resulting interactions systematically researched.

The air traffic research laboratory is currently being established. Key elements are the digital airport/tower environment (airport in the lab), working positions for different air transport stakeholders (controller working positions, virtual/mixed reality), and a reference model for urban air transport.

The method portfolio ranges from model-based and data-driven methods to the use of virtual environments for fast-time and human-in-the-loop simulations to the design of dedicated operational concepts in cooperative/competitive operational environments.

The professorship for Aeronautical Engineering under the direction of Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Stütz investigates automated, environment-perceiving functions on board unmanned aerial vehicles as well as their effects on platform design and system concepts.

Such functions are necessary above all in order to carry out complex mission tasks in the military as well as in the civilian sector. Particular attention is paid to the specific performance characteristics of the sensors and processing methods used in order to provide the user with effective support.

The professorship has several unmanned test aircraft (aeroplanes, multicopters) which can be variably equipped with multispectral imaging sensors (EO, IR, lidar) , and various virtual simulation devices (e.g. UAV ground control station, sensor simulation, A320 trainer).

The inventory of methods ranges from aircraft systems engineering and aircraft design to sensor data processing and virtual simulation.

Corresponding courses are also offered.