The partnership with the University of Freiburg will address one of the critical challenges in making Kitepower’s systems fully autonomous: improving the control of the kite’s flight path through all stages of operation. The collaboration will be structured around two distinct projects, each contributing to key areas of development.

 

Digital twin

The first project will focus on developing a digital twin—a simulation model of the kite power system. This model will accurately replicate the design and operation of Kitepower’s soft-wing kites and will be validated using real-world flight test data. Once validated, the digital twin will serve as a critical tool for solving trajectory optimisation problems, improving flight path planning, and refining overall control strategies. The result will be greater system efficiency and reliability.

 

Flexible flight path

The second project will aim to improve Kitepower’s flight path planning by reducing its reliance on heuristic methods. By exploring advanced computational techniques, this project seeks to make the flight path planning process more flexible and adaptable to varying wind conditions. This will significantly enhance system performance, enabling Kitepower’s technology to respond dynamically to changing environmental factors.

 

Source: Kitepower

 

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