All posts by : Kateřina Beranová

Czech companies received a grant of EUR 200,000 from the European FFplus initiative. Thanks to this, they can significantly speed up the process of designing a new type of aircraft using advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital modelling, neural networks, and simulations, which are also accelerated by supercomputers. Experts from IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center in Ostrava will help them with the implementation. The companies succeeded in a competition of 126 European projects, thanks in part to the support of the National Competence Centre in HPC, which provided assistance with the project’s development.

Financial support was provided to BRM AERO, a family-owned company specialising in custom aircraft manufacturing for developing new aircraft. It has formed a strategic partnership with the engineering Airmobis company, which also specialises in aerodynamic development work. IT4Innovations’ comprehensive industry know-how will be complemented by its expertise in advanced technology and supercomputing.

The new development method will focus primarily on the shape and configuration of the wing high-lift mechanism. Optimisation of the shape and path of the flaps will be key to achieving maximum efficiency.  Traditional computational methods have failed to achieve the required level of accuracy. The innovative approach will result in a methodology that will not only create an optimised aircraft shape in a fraction of the time and cost but also reduce the weight and volume of production material, increase cruise speed, and reduce fuel consumption. This will lead to greater environmental sustainability while meeting strict safety and performance standards.

The company will offer a new aircraft model with significant operational savings and gain a competitive advantage in the international market. In addition, this methodology will be applicable to the innovation of other new aircraft models, significantly reducing the time to market.

Over the past five years, it has become clear that customers prefer two-seat aircraft with the performance and comfort of a modern, high-end car. BRM AERO is responding to this demand by designing a new model. The growing market potential in the USA and Europe suggests that demand for these planes will grow significantly, with BRM AERO exporting 90 % of its production to more than 50 countries.

The project will make use of the latest technologies. The key will be computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, which can analyse the airflow around the aircraft in detail and optimise the shape of the flaps and wings to reduce drag and increase lift. Supercomputers will allow thousands of variations of these simulations to be processed efficiently and quickly. Another key technology used will be a neural network.  This deep learning model will be trained on a large amount of data obtained from the simulations, allowing faster and more accurate design of optimal configurations. This significantly reduces the need for physical prototyping, saving time and cost. In the final stages of implementation, the new designs will be tested through 3D simulations to verify the aerodynamic properties of the optimised aircraft.

In addition, experts from IT4Innovations have been invited to work on another initiative approved under the FFplus programme, worth almost EUR 260,000. This initiative will focus on developing a new AI model in applied structural biology. Find out more about it on the National Competence Centre in High Performance Computing (NCC in HPC) website.

For more information about other selected FFplus projects, see here.