The aerospace industry is striving for a climate-neutral future. Accordingly, the ILA 2024 in Berlin from 5 to 9 June – supported by the European Commission as a strategic partner – will focus on topics such as climate protection, sustainability and digitalization.
The project aims to promote the circular economy through recycling, the use of secondary materials and the reuse of components as well as the development of decision support and end-to-end quality management systems. These measures are meant to ensure the efficiency and environmental friendliness of future aircraft and their components.
Fraunhofer IPK provides expertise in four areas
enVAR streamlines product development, reduces risks and maximizes resource utilization.
The enVAR platform enables realistic testing and adaptation of designs, prototypes and mock-ups, reducing design errors and project delays. It offers a wide range of possible applications such as installation testing, feasibility studies and requirements analysis, while saving costs and resources. Immersive technologies merge virtual and physical reality, opening up new possibilities for collaborative engineering.
Today, digital methods, processes, models and tools drive value creation throughout the product lifecycle. On their basis, development times, quality and costs of product systems can be planned and designed in a targeted manner. At Fraunhofer IPK, we realize the vision of a complete digitalization of product development and planning processes. We support manufacturing companies to consider the later phases of their product systems already at an early stage of their life cycle.
In Digital Engineering, we are advancing innovative solutions along the dimensions of intelligent integration, to design individually and efficiently adapted and interoperable IT systems landscapes, sustainable product ecosystems, to consider, model and assess global interconnections of systems and their environment, as well as the extended reality, to create interactive, user-centered immersive environments in an engineering metaverse.
At ILA 2024 we will present our expertise on a flyer in the form of a paper airplane you can fold yourself. You can download the flyer here:
The Aerospace-X project was launched on April 1, 2024, with 14 high-profile partners from industry and research. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
The goal of this project is to create a collaborative ecosystem that promotes sustainability and circularity in the aerospace industry and future-proofs supply chains through progressive digitalization.
Goals and use cases
Advancing the circular economy
Aerospace-X will develop circular economy approaches aimed at closing material loops. This includes
Systems for decision support and quality management
Aerospace-X develops decision support systems as well as an end-to-end quality and nonconformance management. These systems ensure that products meet the highest standards and satisfy all requirements, guaranteeing quality and reliability throughout the production and supply chain.
The Aerospace-X project thus represents a significant step towards a more sustainable and digitalized aerospace industry that combines both environmental and economic benefits.
Our latest innovation is a VR demonstrator that presents various Fraunhofer aerospace demonstrators in virtual space.
With this advanced technology, exhibits can be walked through virtually and explored in detail. This gives companies and interested parties a unique opportunity to gain a comprehensive insight into highly specialized expert tools for product development processes.
Innovation in planning and development
In industries such as mechanical engineering, automotive and particularly aerospace, consequences become more serious the later planning errors are discovered and the further projects are delayed. Using the advanced technologies of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), Fraunhofer IPK offers risk minimization solutions that support companies in the early detection and correction of errors.
Virtual immersion into aerospace
Visitors to the VR demonstrator can immerse themselves in the impressive virtual world of Fraunhofer AVIATION & SPACE aerospace projects. You will be able to interactively explore current projects and experience how experts work on highly complex products in virtual space.
Cooperation with Fraunhofer AVIATION & SPACE
This innovative VR project is the result of a close cooperation with Fraunhofer AVIATION & SPACE. Together they are creating a platform that not only increases the efficiency of development processes, but also sets new standards in digital visualization and project work.
Combining AR and VR with traditional aerospace processes unlocks completely new possibilities in planning and development. The Fraunhofer IPK VR demonstrator shows how modern technologies can contribute to optimizing and ensuring high standards in product development.
Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology