ALBACOPTER® – Experimental Vertical Take-Off and Landing Glider

Relocating parts of urban traffic into the air is not a dream for the future any longer. Within the ALBACOPTER® Lighthouse Project led by Fraunhofer IVI, an airborne experimental platform will be developed and approved for testing and demonstration flights that combines the VTOL capabilities of multicopters with the aerodynamic advantages of gliders. The ambitious project will incorporate six Fraunhofer Institutes' expertise and technologies from the fields of mobility, materials science, energy and propulsion engineering, mechatronics, as well as sensor, communication and automation technology, artificial intelligence and production engineering.

Fraunhofer ALBACOPTER® Lighthouse Project

Project term: 2021 to 2024

Coordinator: Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI, Prof. Dr. Matthias Klingner

Project partners:

Funding body: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Budget: ca. 8 million Euro

 

About Fraunhofer lighthouse projects

Fraunhofer is tackling the current challenges facing industry head on. Its lighthouse projects put the focus on strategic objectives with a view to developing practical solutions from which economies such as Germany’s can benefit. The topics these projects address are geared towards economic requirements. By pooling their expertise and involving industrial partners at an early stage, the Fraunhofer Institutes involved in the projects aim to turn original scientific ideas into marketable products as quickly as possible.

The following six Fraunhofer Institutes pool their expertise within the Fraunhofer ALBACOPTER® Lighthouse Project: