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 …
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 …
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 …
Feedback control of unsteady flows: using plasma to improve aircraft aerodynamics
May 14, 2015
Flow control is a fast growing multidisciplinary science aimed at altering a natural flow state into a more desired state, which could be chosen depending on control objectives (e.g. manipulation of flow separation and flow reattachment, drag reduction, noise suppression, etc.). It incorporates essential and non-trivial elements of fluid dynamics, numerical methods and control theory and this is …
Where, When and How can a UAV be used? (Part 1)
April 24, 2015
Are you a big fan of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV/‘Drones’)? Have you received one as a Christmas or birthday gift? Awesome! But be careful where you decide to fly your new “toy”, as each country has its own regulations for the use of these new and amazing devices. In this article we will explore the …
What will future aircraft look like?
February 23, 2015
Nowadays travelling by plane has become a common habit. We can reach different continents in a few hours and with an ever increasing level of comfort. That’s even more impressive if one considers that the first flight took place just a little more than a century ago. Since then progress has been made in leaps …
Further enhancement of aircraft performance: still a utopia?
January 26, 2015
The arrival of boundary layer control technologies is closer and closer! The brisk pace with which our climate is changing, and the increased awareness of the limitation of natural fossil fuels are making nations and supra-national organisations take measures to attempt to slow down the actual trend of global warming – the disastrous consequences of …
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