DLR Portal - News Archive

Tracking aircraft from space

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:38:10 +0200

On 4 May 2013 at 04:06 (CEST), when the European Proba-V satellite lifts off on a Vega launcher with the primary mission of observing vegetation from space, it will be carrying another instrument on board – one that will be keeping an 'eye' on aircraft.

Reducing turbulence near airports - DLR tests new procedures to mitigate wake vortices

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:47:21 +0200

Currently, safety considerations related to wake vortices force pilots of small and medium-sized aircraft to maintain a separation of about 10 kilometres from heavier planes flying ahead of them.

Cryptography of the future – DLR technology enables quantum key transmission from the air to the ground

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:09:41 +0200

A successful experiment by DLR in cooperation with the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich has opened up new possibilities in cryptography. For the first time, researchers have managed to transmit a quantum key from a fast-moving object.

Pilot training on a robotic arm

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:15:47 +0100

From the outside it looks like just a large industrial robotic arm with a cockpit, but to the pilot inside the simulator, it feels like a real aircraft. The pilot sits at the controls, and the flight commands are converted into corresponding movements of the robotic arm in real time.

Researching helicopter engine noise

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:03:28 +0100

For the first time, researchers at DLR have been able to carry out noise measurements inside a helicopter engine. To do so, researchers from the Division of Engine Acoustics at the DLR Institute of Propulsion Technology in Berlin used new hot gas microphone probes specially designed for investigating the processes responsible for noise generation.

Trick gives helicopters more 'puff' – DLR tests the influence on airflow when blowing air out of rotor blades

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:03:22 +0100

Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Göttingen have discovered a way to make helicopters more manoeuvrable.