On this page you will find an overview of the ongoing ATLAS research project, in which the Institute for System Architectures in Aeronautics is participating.
ATLAS - Air Transport Analysis and
Technology Synergy Study
ATLAS - Air Transport Analysis and Technology Synergy Study
The LuFo project ATLAS makes a decivise contribution to the climate-neutral transformation of aviation. By integrating climate impact models, systematically evaluating future aircraft concepts, and identifying technologies at an early stage, the project provides a scientifically ground basis for political and industrial decision-making.
The LuFo project ATLAS pursues three central objectives:
1. Development of a publicly accessible simulation environment that enables the quantitative evaluation of new technologies and their climate impact — from individual flights to the fleet level.
2. Identification and assessment of disruptive and synergistic technologies options for future long-haul aircraft, with a focus on climate-neutral concepts.
3. Establishing of a scouting process, to identify innovative individual technologies at an early stage and systematically evaluate them.
Implementation is carried out in three main work packages (HAP1–3). The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is heavily involved through the Institute of Air Transport, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, and the Institute of System Architectures in Aeronautics.
HAP1: Development of an Air Transport Simulation Environment
In this work package, DLR integrates the effects of non-CO₂ emissions—particularly contrails—into a central simulation environment. The Institute of Atmospheric Physics contributes the contrail model pycontrails/CoCiP, develops interfaces to the runtime infrastructure, defines climate metrics, and is responsible for validating the simulation results.
HAP2: Evaluation of Innovative Long-Haul Aircraft Concepts
In the second work package, project partners design innovative long-haul aircraft concepts for market entry around 2050, which are then evaluated by DLR. The Institute of System Architectures in Aeronautics, together with the Institute of Air Transport, conducts the overall system assessment. The team builds on results from the DLR project ALICIA, develops interfaces to relevant design tools, performs multi-fidelity analyses, and evaluates both the efficiency and climate impact of the developed concepts.
HAP3: Technology-Scouting
In the third work package, a scouting process is established in collaboration with all project partners to identify promising individual technologies with long-term impact at an early stage. All participating institutes carry out potential, sensitivity, and risk analyses and expand existing technology roadmaps.
Project
ATLAS (Air Transport Analysis and Technology Synergy Study)
