Students view group project aircraft design models in display cabinet
The relationship between aviation and the environment is one of the key challenges facing developed societies. With specialist facilities and key academics who work jointly across aviation and the environment, Cranfield is uniquely placed to prepare you for a career in the ever-evolving space, aerospace and astronautics sectors.
“The group design project was the best part of the course. It was an out-of-this-world experience when we received appreciation for our project work from the who’s who in the aerospace industry.”
Anurag Anil Joshi,
Co-founder and Director of INDrone Aero Systems,
(Aerospace Vehicle Design MSc 2016)
Students view group project aircraft design models in display cabinet
UK No. 1
Over a third of all aeronautical and aerospace engineering master's students in the UK study with us.
(Higher Education Statistics Agency, 2020-2021)
specialisms
Our aerospace capabilities combine expertise in manufacturing and transport systems mirroring the real world.
Over three-quarters of our Aerospace learners come from outside the UK, representing 76 nationalities.
(Figures from August 2022)
Research in action
Student challenge to counter threat from UAV swarms
BAE Systems sponsored a multi-university swarm competition at Cranfield. The teams had to answer a scenario based on the real and emerging threats that exist to protect urban spaces, airfields and airports from such incidents. Increasingly capable, UAV’s are becoming more affordable and easy to source, so there is a need to counter these systems in a robust and affordable manner using innovative solutions.
The students used a combination of technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, together with innovative thinking and close co-operation between UAVs to autonomously detect, intercept and neutralise hostile drones.
“With autonomy and AI being a vital part of what we do, this challenge offered the perfect blend of exploring the art of the possible while testing the students’ abilities in this important field.”
Professor Nick Colosimo,
Principal Technologist at BAE Systems
Investing in innovative facilities
Cranfield is the only university in Europe with its own fully-operational airport, aircraft and air navigation service provider on campus. This global research airport, a national asset for the UK, features extensive facilities including wind tunnels and avionics laboratories. In addition, we continue to invest in our aerospace facilities to ensure we add the value you need:
- Aerospace Integration Research Centre (AIRC): the AIRC houses physical and virtual simulation labs including development of a virtual wind tunnel and an aircraft flight simulator to assess the impact of new ideas on aircraft.
- Air traffic management laboratory: with an integrated airport control tower simulator and high-fidelity flight simulators, we can investigate the impact of the different air traffic management agents on airspace users.
- UAV laboratory: used for flight testing in the areas of guidance, navigation, control and surveillance.
- Gas turbine engineering laboratories: equipped with a 2MW compressed air plant and regenerative air heater, giving the capacity of providing clean air at high pressure, temperature and flow.
- Delta High Performance Computer: an academic supercomputer for scientific, data analytic and machine learning applications, predictive modelling and simulation tasks. Supporting 250-300 users, it reduces the time taken to perform complex research by carrying out calculations across many processors simultaneously.