ATLAS: Air Transport Analysis and Technology Synergy Study
Project information
- Supported by: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE)
- Project management: RWTH Aachen - Chair and Institute of Aerospace Systems
- Project duration: 36 months, October 2025 - September 2028
Summary
As part of the ATLAS project funded by the aviation research program LuFo VII-1, TU Dresden, in close cooperation with other German research institutions, is investigating central building blocks of sustainable, efficient aviation.
In the work packages for which the Institute of Logistics and Aviation (IFL) is responsible, extended performance indicators (PIs) for evaluating alternative propulsion systems, physical simulation models for the long-term effects of emissions and global climate models for estimating global warming caused by air traffic are being developed. Building on this, multi-stage operating scenarios are being designed that depict economic, ecological and technological developments for different time horizons. The aim is to create the basis for climate-friendly flight planning and decision-making processes by integrating these models into multi-criteria optimizations.
A central element of the IFL's work is the implementation of the developed models and indicators in an open source software environment. For this purpose, the institute's own platform TOMATO (TOolchain for Multicriteria Aircraft Trajectory Optimization) is being expanded in order to integrate the new ecological and economic evaluation criteria and climate models directly into simulation-based optimization processes. This further development makes it possible to design sustainable flight trajectories in a transparent, reproducible and jointly usable manner and thus represents an important contribution to open research in aviation.
In parallel, the Institute of Aerospace Engineering (ILR) is researching the thermo-mechanicaldesign and integration of hydrogen tanks into the aircraft structure. Detailed finite element models and synergy analyses between tank, structure and system components are used to develop innovative design concepts for future long-haul aircraft.
Together, the two Institutes are helping to lay the scientific foundations for climate-neutral long-haul flights and further strengthen TU Dresden's role as a leading research institution in the field of sustainable aviation technologies.
Who’s Involved
ATLAS is a collaborative network of 12 national research partners :
- Technical University of Berlin (TUB)
- Technical University of Braunschweig (TUBS)
- Technical University of Dresden (TUDD)
- Technical University of Darmstadt (TUDA)
- Technical University of Hamburg (TUHH)
- Technical University of Munich (TUM)
- University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich (UniBW)
- University of Stuttgart (USTUTT)
- Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V. (BHL)
- German Aerospace Center (DLR)
- Fraunhofer Society (FHG)
An advisory board comprising leading industry players supports the consortium, ensuring strong alignment between research and industrial application:
- Airbus Operations GmbH
- Jeppesen GmbH
- MTU Aero Engines AG
- Rockwell Collins Germany GmbH
- Liebherr Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH
Publications
- S. Förster, K. Alimu, and H. Fricke (2026). Spatio-Temporal Integration of Safety Proxies in Multi-Criteria Aircraft Trajectory Optimization. 75. Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress (DLRK), Aachen, Germany.
Contact
© Sven Ellger
Research Associate
NameDipl.-Inf. Stanley Förster
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Chair of Air Transport Technology and Logistics
Visiting address:
Gerhart-Potthoff-Bau (POT), Room 167 Hettnerstraße 1-3
01069 Dresden