German aerospace research centre DLR is to open a new Hamburg laboratory focused on the development of future aircraft maintenance processes.
The city's regional government is supporting the project – named "Application Centre Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul 4.0" – with a grant of €1 million ($1.1 million), DLR says.
Scheduled to be completed by year-end, the laboratory will be located at the ZAL aerospace research facility near the Airbus factory in Hamburg.
The ZAL facility is jointly owned by Airbus, Lufthansa Technik, the city of Hamburg, DLR, several local universities, and other entities.
Projects at the new laboratory will include the development of predictive and digitised maintenance processes and "comprehensive" monitoring of onboard systems, DLR says.
Hans Peter Monner, acting director of DLR's institute of maintenance and modification, states that the new laboratory will create a "link between the real and digital world in MRO processes".
The laboratory is to serve as "platform of co-operation between DLR institutes, universities, research bodies and industry", he notes.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
