Aviation research

The main VIVES Aeronautics research domains are  Drones and MRO (Maintenance Repair & Overhaul). VIVES is a partner institute of ATAERA.

DroneLab

RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems), also known as UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) or commonly called "Drones" are unmanned aircrafts which have a wide variety of applications. They are used for aerial photography and filming, mapping, inspection of windmills and industrial sites, SAR (Search and Rescue), flora and fauna monitoring, pipeline inspections, archeology, pollution detection ... This new branch in aeronautics needs a multidisciplinary approach taking not only the technical part into account, but also many new topics for unmanned aviation such as operations, safety, human performance ...

Due to its large network can VIVES provide a solution to most RPAS related challenges such as:

  • tailor made courses
  • aircraft/component design and selection
  • technical consultancy
  • manuals
  • ...

Drone Projects

VIVES is one of the founding member of BeUAS - the Belgian association for unmanned aviation. A selection of technical national and international projects at VIVES:
LITUS: development of RPAS for coastal monitoring, development RPAS for bush fire monitoring (Federal Police), development RPAS autogyro, energy management of an electric RPAS, development of RPAS test bench, development of RPAS flying wing for SAR, implementation of aerial gas sensor on RPAS (Civil Defense) ...

Beside the design and prototype possibilities, VIVES also contributed in: technical committee for Belgian RPAS legislation, tailor made RPAS trainings, RPAS selection (Civil Defense) ...

Unmanned Aircraft Systems course

VIVES offers a dedicated Unmanned Aircraft Systems course up to 60 ECTS credits in Dutch and English with topics such as fundamentals of flight, flight training, design, manufacturing, maintenance, applications and small business project. 

MRO

MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul) at VIVES is not only focussed on airline maintenance but also on general aviation, helicopter and piston engines. VIVES develops MRO improvements for small and large companies such as maintenance jigs, tow trucks and shop optimization. Also were cargo airplane and helicopter modifications designed and implemented. The specific MRO knowledge gives the possibily to provide solutions for:

  • technical feasability studies
  • design and manufacturing of tools/jigs
  • improvement of shops and workflows
  • investigation of  legal aspects
  • dedicated technical courses
  • WBT/CBT specialization course development

MRO projects

A selection of projects which were executed together with MRO companies: development of a tow robot for small aircraft in general aviation, study of an airline freight conversion, CBT (Computer Based Training) for aircraft systems, CBT (Computer Based Training) for cargo handlers ...

Aeronautical Engineering course

VIVES offers a Aeronautical Engineering course up to 60 ECTS credits in Dutch and English with topics such as fundamentals of flight, flight training, design, manufacturing, maintenance, applications and small business project. 

Staff