The Aircraft Design Laboratory: bridging Germany’s universities for collaborative aircraft design and education

Abstract Germany’s major aerospace institutes have joined forces to develop a holistic aircraft design environment called UNICADO (UNIversity Conceptual Aircraft Design and Optimization). This environment was created to provide an independent platform that allows universities in Germany and around the world to combine and apply their own design expertise. Although the software itself integrates the knowledge of various partners, users remain limited by their individual levels of experience, which can lead to blind spots in the design process. To address this issue, UNICADO can be used collaboratively when implemented in a so-called Aircraft Design Laboratory (ADL). The ADL is a design facility specifically tailored to the needs of collaborative aircraft design, while also offering a low-threshold entry point for young researchers and aerospace students. This paper presents the methodology behind the ADL concept and its first implementations. Using this approach, an initial educational design network connecting several ADL sites, along with a new didactic graphical user interface, has been established across multiple institutes.