Research areas at the Technology Transfer Center Unmanned Flight Systems

Current developments in civil and military applications show the increasing relevance of flying unmanned systems for mobility and security. At the TTZ, we are dedicated to the development of concepts for new unmanned platforms, the intelligent control of UAV swarms and the interaction of operators with highly automated UAVs.

Autonomes unbemanntes Luftfahrzeug zum Transport von Paketen. 3D-Rendering

Intelligent Control

We are working on the development of new concepts for unmanned aerial systems and the operational analysis of the application of UAVs in logistics and mobility.

Project: Control and regulation of a innovative propulsion system

In this research project, we are investigating a single-rotor platform concept with VTOL characteristics. The aim is to develop an AI-based control system to stabilise the system by selectively disturbing the centre of gravity.

UAV Coordination & Swarming

In this research area, we focus on the development of methods and algorithms for the control of swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The use of UAVs in swarms offers many opportunities in terms of scalability, mission performance and flexibility. The aim of our projects is the implementation of intelligent formation behaviour for the use of swarms in safety-relevant applications. This involves the use of control engineering and machine learning methods, e.g. for state estimation or path planning.

Project: Intelligent drone coordination for efficient automated air logistics (IDEALS)

In the IDEALS study, operational investigations were carried out into the use of UAV swarms in logistics. The aim was to identify technical requirements and analyse operational boundary conditions and feasibility.

Human-Machine Teaming & Interaction

Technological developments in the field of UAV automation are changing the way in which UAVs are controlled. The current manual control will be replaced by the control of UAVs with a higher degree of automation - possibly even from manned platforms The current manual control will be replaced by the control of UAVs with a higher degree of automation - possibly even from manned platforms in so-called Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) applications.
This requires novel interaction concepts that effectively enable the operation of highly automated (flight) systems and aim to enable unmanned platforms and human operators to work together in teams.

The "Human-Autonomy Teaming & Interaction" research group is investigating these concepts in simulation and real flight. The research focuses on mission performance as well as transparency and situational awareness when dealing with intelligent software systems.