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Fraunhofer to Showcase Exhibits for the Aerospace Industry
From June 16–22, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will again be represented at the joint booth (booth 2C-C358) of the German Aerospace Industries Association at the Paris Air Show 2025.
www.fraunhofer.de
The Paris Air Show takes place every two years and is the largest event in the aerospace industry in Europe. This year, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will be represented with 10 Fraunhofer institutes, whose 21 exhibits will showcase space and aviation research. The exhibits will highlight pioneering technologies with a focus on environmental protection and sustainability. This is an event that attracts aerospace experts and enterprises from all over the world. A total of 21 exhibits from 10 Fraunhofer institutes will demonstrate technological excellence and solutions geared toward industrial practice but also to sustainability and climate protection, which underlines Fraunhofer’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Highlight exhibits for AVIATION
“MFFD” — thermoplastic for aircraft fuselages
In the Multi Functional Fuselage Demonstrator (MFFD) project, Fraunhofer researchers assembled —for the first time worldwide — a full-size aircraft fuselage section made of thermoplastic carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) in a fully automated process using thermoplastic welding methods. Fraunhofer's focus here was on the longitudinal seam. Experts from Fraunhofer IFAM and Fraunhofer IWS will present a printed 3D model of the fuselage and a welded fuselage panel. This technology sets new standards for manufacturing large aircraft structures and reduces the weight and production costs of aircraft fuselages by up to 10 percent.
The development of the MFFD was led by AIRBUS in collaboration with approximately 40 international partners as part of the European aerospace research program, Clean Sky 2.
RAFINESS: robot-guided additive manufacturing of aircraft cabins
Together with ZAL Center of Applied Aeronautical Research based in Hamburg, Fraunhofer will present the RAFINESS Bin, a recyclable overhead bin manufactured in a semi-automated process. Robot-guided additive manufacturing not only saves time and reduces costs, it also increases sustainability. Instead of seven different materials, the process only requires two, and over 50 percent of the printing material is bio-based.
Highlight exhibits for SPACE
GAIA: observation of wildlife using satellites
As part of the GAIA initiative, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) developed technology that uses satellites to observe wildlife populations. The project is tagging large birds such as vultures with camera tags that use on-board AI to analyze raw data on parameters such as acceleration as well as image data. Several of these transmitters can network to form an intelligent swarm that efficiently distributes the computing load and analysis processes. The mioty® IoT wireless protocol developed by Fraunhofer is used to transmit the extracted information to satellites, which in turn relay it to ground stations.
The data can be used to analyze wildlife population behavior and help detect epidemics. This principle of a networked swarm can also be transferred to other applications, such as cooperating drones within a fleet that uses distributed sensor technology and decentralized, resilient data processing.
CubEniK mini satellite for quantum communication
The mini satellite is the size of a shoe box and can be used for highly secure quantum communication from space. A photon source generates millions of entangled photon pairs per second. This enables transmission of quantum keys over distances of 300 kilometers between two ground stations. The target group consists of public authorities and companies that are reliant on secure communication. Led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, the present objective is to develop the payload in collaboration with Quantum Optics Jena GmbH and SpaceOptix GmbH.
www.fraunhofer.de
Highlight exhibits for AVIATION
“MFFD” — thermoplastic for aircraft fuselages
In the Multi Functional Fuselage Demonstrator (MFFD) project, Fraunhofer researchers assembled —for the first time worldwide — a full-size aircraft fuselage section made of thermoplastic carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) in a fully automated process using thermoplastic welding methods. Fraunhofer's focus here was on the longitudinal seam. Experts from Fraunhofer IFAM and Fraunhofer IWS will present a printed 3D model of the fuselage and a welded fuselage panel. This technology sets new standards for manufacturing large aircraft structures and reduces the weight and production costs of aircraft fuselages by up to 10 percent.
The development of the MFFD was led by AIRBUS in collaboration with approximately 40 international partners as part of the European aerospace research program, Clean Sky 2.
RAFINESS: robot-guided additive manufacturing of aircraft cabins
Together with ZAL Center of Applied Aeronautical Research based in Hamburg, Fraunhofer will present the RAFINESS Bin, a recyclable overhead bin manufactured in a semi-automated process. Robot-guided additive manufacturing not only saves time and reduces costs, it also increases sustainability. Instead of seven different materials, the process only requires two, and over 50 percent of the printing material is bio-based.
Highlight exhibits for SPACE
GAIA: observation of wildlife using satellites
As part of the GAIA initiative, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) developed technology that uses satellites to observe wildlife populations. The project is tagging large birds such as vultures with camera tags that use on-board AI to analyze raw data on parameters such as acceleration as well as image data. Several of these transmitters can network to form an intelligent swarm that efficiently distributes the computing load and analysis processes. The mioty® IoT wireless protocol developed by Fraunhofer is used to transmit the extracted information to satellites, which in turn relay it to ground stations.
The data can be used to analyze wildlife population behavior and help detect epidemics. This principle of a networked swarm can also be transferred to other applications, such as cooperating drones within a fleet that uses distributed sensor technology and decentralized, resilient data processing.
CubEniK mini satellite for quantum communication
The mini satellite is the size of a shoe box and can be used for highly secure quantum communication from space. A photon source generates millions of entangled photon pairs per second. This enables transmission of quantum keys over distances of 300 kilometers between two ground stations. The target group consists of public authorities and companies that are reliant on secure communication. Led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, the present objective is to develop the payload in collaboration with Quantum Optics Jena GmbH and SpaceOptix GmbH.
www.fraunhofer.de
