Collaboration
Let's architect future aviation together
Aviation has to become climate-compatible while being economically viable – and it has to happen fast. No single institute, university or company can design the aircraft that makes this possible on its own. At aircraft level it takes aerodynamicists, structural engineers, propulsion specialists, systems architects and many more, all working on the same aircraft at the same time.
That is why we publish our aircraft concepts here in the Digital Hangar. Shared, openly described designs give everyone a common starting point: you can compare your results with ours, challenge our concepts with your insights, potentially test how your technology behaves in a complete future aircraft, and build on work that has already been done rather than starting from scratch.
We collaborate with industry, universities, research organisations, small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups – in funded projects, in bilateral cooperations, and through open activities that anyone can join. Below you find the concrete ways to work with us today.
Ways to work with us
Use our aircraft data
Every concept in the hangar comes with its data – geometry, characteristics and, where available, the full CPACS description. Use it as a reference or as the starting point of your own study.
Browse the hangar →Bring in your technology
Are you wondering what your technology for future aircraft would be worth at aircraft level? We can integrate it into one of our concepts and assess the effect on the complete aircraft and its mission.
Talk to us →Join a research project
Our concepts are the baseline of national and European research programmes. There is usually a way to take part – whether as project partner, as guest researcher or as a student writing your thesis.
Get in touch →The MDO Benchmark
Designing an aircraft means balancing disciplines that pull in opposite directions: a wing that is aerodynamically ideal is rarely the lightest one. Every organisation solves this balancing act with its own tools and methods – and gets a slightly different aircraft out of it.
The MDO Benchmark makes those differences visible. Research institutions and industry partners optimise the same aircraft – our DLR-F25 – against the same set of requirements, and then compare what comes out. The result is a shared yardstick for design optimisation methods, and a realistic, industry-relevant test case that anyone can work on.
Tasks range from a single discipline to fully coupled optimisation, so you can take part whatever the maturity of your toolchain.
Explore the MDO Benchmark
Something else in mind?
If your idea does not fit any of the above, tell us about it anyway. We are always interested in new ways of working together.
digital-hangar@dlr.de