Sustainability is a complex topic. The approach undertook by the sector to transition to a sustainable aviation focuses almost exclusively on technological solutions aiming at reduction of emissions. Though essential, reducing (or even eliminating) emissions is only part of environmental sustainability. The whole topic of sustainability spans over environmental, social and economical considerations. This broad view may be present on some aviation strategic documents, but it is hardly getting the attention (including the funding) it deserves.
This session wants to cover topics which are essential for the transition to sustainability in the air transport system. The session wants to provide a platform for researchers working on aviation sustainability to share their work and participate to a fruitful dialogue. Researchers working on sustainability aspects out of the mainstream are encouraged to also share their work and contribute with their ideas and views on a better understanding of sustainability in aviation and the way forward to achieving it.
The range of topics is broad and includes but is not limited to:
This session welcomes contributions concerning the theoretical and experimental approaches to the design and investigation of innovative electrical devices powering innovation in aviation and space. Moreover comprehensive analyses of the state of the art of nanomaterial based solutions are welcome. Examples are, but not limited to:
Works stimulating discussion about the improvement of the efficiency, reliability, and robustness of the materials and related electrical devices are especially welcomed.
Advanced Manufacturing plays a key role in the Aeronautics and Space industry. Researchers and engineers consistently make efforts to develop and improve manufacturing technologies and operations. Delegates are encouraged to exchange ideas and experiences, and to discuss their thoughts and opinions on technological trends and challenges in the present and future years.
The session addresses not only the research, development, and applications of conventional manufacturing technologies but also the latest achievements in other emerging technologies. These include but are not limited to:
This Session is dedicated to one of the most rapidly advancing fields of modern Aviation: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. They range from small-scale aerial vehicles that weigh a few kilograms, to large platforms with a GTOW of several tonnes, and can conduct several missions at an increased effectiveness and efficiency compared to crewed aircraft. In the 21st century they have established a presense in global Aviation, which in turn has lead to a substantial increase in dedicated research studies and projects by academia and industry alike. Authors are invited to present their research on UAV-related topics, focused on (but not limited to):
Within the framework of Clean Sky 2, key findings from the T-WING, TRAIL, and LIFTT Consortia will be presented. These consortia have played pivotal roles in developing the primary aerostructures of the NGCTR-Technology Demonstrator, encompassing the wing, nacelles, and empennages.
The session will delve into the significant challenges encountered throughout the project lifecycle, as well as highlight the principal technical achievements. Furthermore, it will explore how collaborative research opportunities facilitated by Clean Sky 2 have enhanced expertise and competitiveness within the tiltrotor domain.
Managing the safe and efficient flow of air traffic requires increased efforts of the aerospace scientific community. ATM remains a bright spot on the innovation chart. There are several questions facing the ATM system and the airports as key components, which this section tries to address: (i) Flight trajectory optimization problems which may improve CO2 and non-CO2 aviation footprint. (ii) At the EASN Conference 2023, one of the key question was why has the number of safety incidents increased, especially runway incursions on busy airports, in spite of the unprecedented levels of aviation safety? In January 2024, the collision on Tokyo Narita Airport confirmed this concern, and validated the use of incidents as a leading indicator to accidents. Engagement of the scientific community to aviation safety is expected to increase, especially in the ATM and Airports segment. How can aviation safety be further improved? (iii) What are the effects of the increasing unlawful interferences with the GNSS signals and other security challenges caused by war on aviation? How resilient is civil aviation to GNSS jamming and spoofing? How could the risks of GNSS outage be mitigated? (iv) How can AI tools be employed to solve ATM and airports problems? (v) Urban mobility and U-space challenges to the traditional ATM: UAV/UAS, and RPAS integration in the airspace. How can urban mobility traffic interfere with the classic VFR and IFR traffic, especially around busy airports?
Targeting minimizing environmental impacts, the sustainability of aviation is facilitated by continual technical developments of innovative solutions and advanced methodologies. Aircraft noise reduction has long been a significant focus in the quest for greener aviation. Despite remarkable technological strides made in addressing aircraft noise pollution, new challenges are anticipated with the growth of air traffic and the emerging adaption to air transportation for increasing urban air mobility (UAM).
This session, Aircraft Noise and Noise Reduction, aims to present and discuss recent scientific and technical developments that enhance our understanding of, and advance the technologies and methods in addressing, aircraft noise generation, propagation and mitigation, as well as the related regulatory framework addressing community noise concerns. It provides a platform for researchers and engineers from academia, research institutes and industries to share their research findings and perspectives on aviation noise and its environmental impacts.
The session covers the following main topics:
This session shows the major results of the Clean Sky Technology Evaluator Project of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking. The assessment is divided into:
On the mission level, technology bricks, reference and concept aircraft are defined to assess noise and emissions in reference missions. The people mover developed by DLR is one of those concept aircraft. It is a high seating capacity aircraft for flights of up to 4,000 km.
On the airport level, the impact of Clean Sky 2 technology is assessed for airports to identify the reductions in noise and emissions in daily operations.
On the ATS level, forecast and scenarios of passenger demand and fleet development up to 2050 are created to assess the technology diffusion over time and the related environmental and economic impact. A major point of the ATS level assessments is the consideration of limited airport capacity which has a substantial impact on passenger volume and fleet development.
The session will give an introduction to the Clean Sky 2 Technology Evaluator, show the main achievements on the 3 levels and provide an outlook on the current and future work on Impact Monitoring.
This session will provide latest achievements in research leading towards a fully virtual and circular aircraft, by diving into energy efficient and low carbon footprint manufactured cabins using green materials and bionic design plus using circular manufacturing cells in a data-driven production network.
The session will also provide details for a PCF driven end-to-end manufacturing approach and hydrogen integration solutions combined with a 5G hard- and software test environment. The highlight will be a newly released platform covering a sustainable supply chain.
Future Sky (FS) is a Joint Research Initiative of the Association of European Research Establishments in Aeronautics (EREA) devoted to preparing key technologies and capabilities for a green and seamless air transport in Europe. Within Future Sky EREA promotes joining forces with the European industry and universities to design a new air transport system allowing environmentally friendly, smooth and efficient air vehicles and associated mobility.
Future Sky seeks to rally the available but so far scattered capabilities to tackle the major longer-term challenges of Flightpath 2050. For this reason main feature of this program will be the coordination, as far as possible, of research establishments’ efforts in the field of aviation research in Europe. EREA believes institutional cooperation of European research establishments is the best guarantee to ensure medium and long term technology development beyond the scope of top-down approach in SESAR and Clean Aviation JUs.
The session will give an overview on the Future Sky initiative and the different research themes. Furthermore, selected research projects and activities will be presented.
Sending humans to space requires a series of technologies that are not necessarily needed for other space missions. A habitat and a Life Support System (LSS) are the first elements required for human survival in space. The design of the habitat should consider among others radiation protection, safety measures and human factors. The LSS will require technologies able to recycle human waste to produce fresh oxygen, water and food for the astronauts. This recycling can be complemented with In-Situ Resources Utilization (ISRU), for missions on the lunar or planetary surfaces. The materials in-situ can also serve as construction materials or to produce fuel for the return vehicle. All these technologies will be crucial for long-term human spaceflight exploration.
The session covers recent developments in hybrid-electric flight, looking at all elements of hybrid electric architectures, i.e. from energy storage, conversion and distribution to electric machines and propulsor arrangements. Also, integration effects and impact on aircraft level are in the focus of the session.
Industrial needs and environmental goals require a revolutionary frame vision in research and innovation. The new challenges to combine the efficiency of air transport with the reduction of resources and energy consumption entail a high-level vision of the researchers working in this field. The future aviation sector must be increasingly competitive, clean, safe, and secure. This session focuses on new strategies for reducing resource and energy waste during the Manufacturing Processes of Aeronautical Composites. The session also includes contributions toward integrating smart functions in composite materials using strategies to simplify production processes and determine a significant weight reduction of aeronautical structures.
Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) technologies have improved very largely during the last 2 decades with much lighter structure materials, lighter electric propulsion systems and drone / unmanned flight developments. LTA balloons and airships offer also clear advantages from an environmental point of view with a lower energy demand per ton payload per km distance than aircraft, but at a much lower speed. The most attractive missions and applications of LTA's will be discussed and analyzed with the requested performance and technologies and their impact on GHG emissions and other environmental challenges.
The aim of the present session is to present the recent developments, from the perspective of materials and structures, of alternative aircraft propulsion systems such as electric, hybrid-electric, hydrogen, etc., by gathering contributions from different fields such as :
In the pursuit of a more sustainable European aviation industry, the Clean Sky 2 and Clean Aviation Research Programs are about to introduce numerous new technologies, materials, and manufacturing approaches. This session presents a selection of outstanding examples which have the power to push aviation substantially further towards sustainability. A special emphasis is given on the producibility readiness of new materials and technologies as well as the integration of components to form efficient systems.
The session presents results that focus modelling and simulation methods and tools for the dual relation between what is needed and what is provided, by, and from, sustainable technologies.
Contributions expect to deal with both quantifying the potential and limitations to Carbon Neutrality, but also wider sustainability implications, such as material criticality and societal impact.
Compared to one decade ago and a large European project as POA (Power Optimised Aircraft), electric motors and related technologies have largely changed and their performance have largely improved. In this session, more electric gas turbine engines (GTE) for aircraft and rotorcraft applications will be presented with the use of high-power compact moto-generators integrated in the GTE or electrically-driven accessories as e-pumps. Hybrid architectures of electric propulsion coupled with gas turbine engines will also be presented and analyzed.
The session deals with the forefront of advancements in metallic structures that are candidate to be used by the aerospace industry. With a focus on innovation and cutting-edge technologies, this session brings together researchers and engineers to explore the latest developments in new aeronautical alloys, new design and testing approaches, manufacturing, maintenance and surface treatments technologies, and applications in aeronautical structures. Participants are encouraged to share insights into the research and development of next-generation metallic materials, their performance characteristics, and their applications in aeronautical engineering. The discussions will span a spectrum of topics, including but not limited to:
The modern and modernised aircraft are equipped with new avionics whose importance is constantly increasing. Its extensive development created new capabilities for crewed and uncrewed aircraft to perform new missions at a high level of automation or autonomy.
The crucial to modern aircraft are onboard sensors. They are dedicated to navigation, flight control, surveillance, object recognition, and monitoring onboard systems. They can be of any kind: electric, mechanical, optical, magnetic, MEMs and different electromagnetic spectrums sensing. The onboard systems can work independently or in complicated hierarchical structures.
This session is dedicated to the onboard sensors, a fusion of data gathered by them and the systems. In addition, the papers on designing, optimizing, researching, testing and lessons learned from the virtual and real-life tests are welcomed.
The session is the best platform to share ideas, recognize new trends and know the experts' opinions.
This session will address issues of interest across a spectrum of technology subjects related to near future air & space propulsion systems, with the view on sustainability for civil aviation as well as high speed vehicles and propulsion. Authors are invited to present their research on relative topics, including (but not limited to):
Modelling and Simulations
Integrated Engine Design & Multi-disciplinary Design Optimisation
Sub-Systems Integration
The session is focusing on renewable aviation fuel supply to fuel the transition towards climate-neutral aviation. Suitable topics cover the full field of research and innovation activities of kerosene-type aviation fuels, but also the supply perspective of non-drop in fuels such as liquid hydrogen.
The focus of the session is on scaled flight testing and demonstration with its various applications in view of configuration validation, technology demonstration and reduced times for technology maturation, specific methods for scaling, design and data acquisition and project results.
Small Air Transport (SAT) is emerging as the most suitable transportation means in order to allow efficient travel over a regional range, in particular for commuters, based on the use of small airports. The vehicles that are comprised under the SAT domain are usually fixed-wing aircraft with 5 to 19 seats or similar cargo vehicles, belonging to the EASA CS-23 category. In order to ease the growth of the SAT business domain, the availability of new technological solutions allowing reducing the related operative costs represents a challenge of capital importance. Relevant research activities in this domain are developed in the framework of international programmes, such as, for instance, the European research programme Clean Aviation, where SAT specific projects were carried out. The session, therefore, aims providing the description of the most recent innovations developed in the framework of international research activities addressing the Small Air Transport (SAT) domain, having a look also to sustainability implications in the current and future transport scenarios.
The topics under the scope of the session cover the whole spectrum of Small Air Transport (SAT) technologies and related concepts, including innovations in cockpit and avionics, propulsion, airframe, materials, air traffic management, self-separation and collision avoidance, mission management, decision making support to the pilot, single pilot operations, sustainability of SAT operations, scenarios, safety regulations and standards. In addition, cross-fertilization among SAT and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) domains is also under the scope of the session, where technologies derived from the UAM applicable to SAT, and vice versa, are of relevant interest.
Technology progress in the field of UAV dedicated electric propulsion we are witnessing during the last decade opened a new promising industry sector. Mobility and transportation-related applications are commonly considered as being among the most disruptive and innovative – enabling the extension of the urban ecosystem to the third dimension. But in parallel to the “UAM revolution,” there is another positive disruption on the horizon – the smart-city trend. IT/ICT and AI-driven changes in the approach to key resources we manage as well as the cities' everyday needs are transforming our environment. What is the potential of these two trends if synergized? What will the smart-UAM look like, and how will it impact the potential application areas for the sustainability of urban transportation?
Space is recognized as a fundamental resource for making our life on Earth more sustainable. As an example, space-based services and technologies are key in understanding climate change and in full disaster management. In the past few years, a shift has occurred from a mainly governmental use of space to a private and commercial use: space tourism, mega-constellations for broadband services, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations for Internet of Things (IoT) services, or to improve navigation services. Terrestrial operators have finally recognized the important role of satellites in the future 6th generation communication networks (6G). However, such evolution has occurred in an uncontrolled and unregulated way, thus leading to sustainability challenges both on Earth and in space.
Nowadays space is extremely congested and soon it will no longer be a safe place to provide services. The issue of a sustainable use of space and its protection has become very urgent and requires strong commitments from governments and legislative/political decisions. However, regulatory entities and political decisions must rely on available technological solutions that could turn the challenge of space sustainability into a real opportunity for the future of space systems and industry.
This special session aims to collect contributions that show the current research efforts to face this huge and urgent challenge. In particular, we look for contributions on (not limited to):
The aeronautical and space industries have always been sources of innovation and technological progress. Nowadays, they are of fundamental importance for the development and industrial competitiveness of countries. The design and management of aircraft now follow a systems approach widely recognized in the technical-scientific community. This approach is generating interest and having technological impacts in various other fields and disciplines. These developments have fostered strategic issues such as safety, diagnostics, prognostics, and, more generally, a holistic view of the aerospace system. These issues are now in the spotlight of the scientific community and are attracting growing interest in various industrial sectors such as aerospace, automotive, and automation. Therefore, we believe that a session dedicated to collecting and discussing innovative and promising studies can be of great interest to the technical-scientific community.
Within the German research landscape, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's task is to champion applied research. Complementary to this, the Max Planck Society focuses on basic research. The system is supplemented by other research organizations such as the Helmholtz and Leibniz Associations. An overview presentation will explain how Fraunhofer’s special funding structure boosts industrial implementation and how its own research and the transfer of knowledge between a wide range of industrial sectors fosters European aerospace. Further presentations showcasing individual examples demonstrate the diversity and innovative productivity of this approach.
Use of robotic systems for future planetary exploration involving robotic mobility, manipulation, multi-robot cooperation, modularity, sustainability, sampling, and astronaut assistance.
This includes all aspects of these robotic systems like design, development, implementation operation as well as the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Also, research prototypes as well as fielded or flown systems are of interest.
Topics of on-going and future missions involving in-space robotic systems and operations, to include On-Orbit Servicing, Active Debris Removal, Assembly, and Astronaut Assistance are also welcome. This includes designs and methods to accomplish robotic tasks in orbit, such as mobility, manipulation, assembly or maintenance. Specific aspects can be addressed, such as hardware design, open-loop or closed-loop control, rendezvous trajectory generation, autonomy, teleoperation, experimental facilities on the ground, modularity, sustainability, or others of relevance.