Will Planes Be Pilotless? The Future of Commercial Aviation
June 6, 2016
News related to driverless cars is becoming increasingly popular in recent years, and these self-driving vehicles may be on the market as early as next year. Several large companies such as Google, Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Apple, Microsoft and many more, are investing in the driverless technologies that will soon provide us with our ground transportation, …
Is air traffic optimisation really that important?
April 22, 2016
Over the last 20 years the number of aircraft that are handled by airports has increased dramatically and continues to rise, according to ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization). Transportation with aircraft is becoming cheaper as low cost airlines become more popular. For the first time ever the total number of UK passengers passing through UK airport …
Spending time in industry during the PhD
March 21, 2016
Very often, successful achievements in industry benefit from extensive research work performed in universities – with whom industry can collaborate with on multiple levels, ranging from the sharing of knowledge to hosting complex, dedicated test rigs. Engagement between young researchers, with a fresh and comprehensive understanding of the underlying physics and mathematics involved in engineering …
Explosive bubbles: Is it really the future of subsonic flow control?
February 8, 2016
Concerns over global climate change have prompted many countries to re-think about the concept of transport. Indeed, it is of primary importance to reduce impacts of transport on the environment. This is no different for the aerospace industry, which is particularly focused on the idea of greener aircraft, due to the level of fuel consumed by …
An insight into the future of in-flight experience: the good, the promising and the ugly
January 20, 2016
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end”. Ernest Hemingway might have used it in a very different context but if you travel quite frequently on long/short haul flights, you begin to understand the significance of having a comfortable experience on-board… I’m quite used …
Cryogenic applications for visionary aircraft concepts
December 18, 2015
The ambitious long-term environmental targets set by the European Commission (2011) and the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) require airframers and their suppliers to improve the integration between an aircraft’s propulsion system and the airframe… In particular, concepts such as the distribution of the thrust generation along an airframe’s main components and …
A human factors study on helicopter pilot performance
November 24, 2015
With very few exceptions, going to the office is mostly a dull experience acceleration wise. That is until one day when instead of taking the usual bus to work you get on a plane to Aberdeen, and instead of sitting on the usual three-degrees-of-freedom office chair you find yourself in a six-degrees-of-freedom full Airbus Helicopters …
INNOVATE and AVIO AERO: Bringing Industry and Academia Together
October 21, 2015
INNOVATE is a University of Nottingham European-funded doctoral training program that offers a researcher the opportunity to study for a PhD as well as spending a minimum period of six months in a company. Here INNOVATE Early Stage Researcher (ESR), Sara Roggia, talks about her role as part of the INNOVATE project and her secondment …
Can we “3D-Print” an Electric Motor?
August 10, 2015
The well-established success of the Rapid Prototyping technologies derives from the possibility of creating parts with almost any shape at no added costs. However, in order for a part to be functional (i.e., with good mechanical properties), high density and tailored material properties are desired. In the past few years, Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies such …
Levitation spell (magnetic levitation technology)
June 23, 2015
Since the beginning of time humans have dreamed of possessing great magical powers. The power of casting fire, strong winds and many other traits which are supposedly possessed by divinities, heroes and magicians of the saintly days of yore. One of them is the art of making objects float in the air. In the Necronomicon of …
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