AREA U-Space

Since January 2023, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has been building a U-Space real laboratory at the DLR site in Cochstedt with all relevant U-Space services, which is to be set up internally at DLR by December 2026. The new U-Space real laboratory in Cochstedt will be one of the most comprehensive of its kind in Germany and will cover all key aspects: the U-Space airspace, the necessary infrastructure and a wide range of services.

Project description

Central components of the project

The new U-Space real-world laboratory at the National Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems will provide answers to the interaction between traditional air traffic control and U-Space airspace. In order to realistically simulate other geographical regions, the future real laboratory will include a virtualization environment. This will allow U-Space airspaces and services to be validated for completely different geographical areas in Germany and Europe with comparatively little effort.

Stakeholders such as urban developers, aviation authorities and local residents have the opportunity to experience future mobility in a drone airspace for their regions at an early stage in the real-world laboratory, for example using augmented reality, and use their feedback to influence the design of the new concepts, processes and services.

Shaping the European concept

As a common EU concept, U-Space provides for geographical areas in which uniform rules and procedures coordinate drone traffic through special services in order to safely and efficiently integrate the growing number of drones in the airspace into the existing air traffic management system (ATM).

Since January 2023, new legal framework conditions have generally enabled the implementation of U-Space airspaces. Even though U-Space has already been developed as a framework, there are still a large number of research questions regarding how exactly these airspaces, the services and their interaction need to be designed. The technical requirements and interfaces to unmanned aircraft that are to be operated in U-Space and coordination with air traffic control are also still the subject of current research.

Data

Project

Air Space Research Area U-Space - Establishment of a U-Space real laboratory

Runtime

2023 - 2026

Financing

Institutional funding

Participating institutes and facilities

National Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

The National Experimental Test Centre for Unmanned Aircraft Systems will serve as a cornerstone for the further development of UAS technologies and thereby play a pioneering part in the enhancement of scientific and economic progress in the field of UAS.

Institute of Flight Systems

The Institute of Flight Systems (FT) has been active in the topics of flight mechanics and measurement and system technology of all flying systems at the DLR site Braunschweig since 1953.

Institute of Flight Guidance

The Institute of Flight Guidance is working on the development and application of future processes and technologies for the integrated airborne and ground-based guidance of aircraft.

Institute for Software Technology

The mission of the Institute for Software Technology is research and development in software engineering technologies, and the incorporation of these technologies into DLR software projects.

Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology

The Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology is a leading research institute in the field of aerodynamics/aeroacoustics of airplanes and aerothermodynamics of space vehicles.

Institute of Communications and Navigation

The Institute of Communications and Navigation develops and investigates new systems and methods for radio transmission and radiolocation.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Competence Center

The research facility in Cochstedt is dedicated to the topics of electric flight with a focus on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).