On 30 June 2011, DLR’s A320 ATRA (Advanced Technology Research Aircraft) taxied around Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport propelled by an electric nose wheel. In the taxiing tests, researchers and engineers from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Airbus and Lufthansa Technik demonstrated a fuel cell-powered electric nose wheel. When installed in airliners, such nose wheels could significantly reduce noise and emissions at airports.
Air traffic will continue to grow in the foreseeable future, increasing the workload of air traffic controllers. Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have been examining what would happen if air traffic controllers started to view German airspace as a whole, rather than continuing the current practice of viewing it as small areas known as 'sectors'.
Road traffic accidents are often the result of errors made by inattentive, overstressed or tired drivers. The objective of the EU project HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport), in which the German Aerospace Center (DLR) played an active role, was to minimise the number of this kind of accidents. The results were presented at the final meeting in Boras, Sweden, on 21 and 22 June 2011.