Flight plan: London engineering students win chance to impress Airbus

This year’s edition sees three PhD students from City University London heading to the finals to compete for a whopping €30,000 first prize.

The team of aeronautics engineering students has beaten off competition from 517 teams originating in 104 countries to reach the final with their solution to wirelessly power aircraft during taxiing.

Similar to the inductive charging method used by Qualcomm in the automotive sector, the solution from City would see jet engines turned off during taxiing, resulting in less fuel burn, less air pollution, and less noise at airports.

Specifically, their WEGO (Wireless and greener ground operations) system would employ transmitter sections on the ground, located just underneath the aircraft in the tarmac, to transfer electrical power inductively to a receiver placed between the nose-wheels. This, they claim, would then provide a sustainable energy source to power ground operations, reducing carbon emissions by half.

Team Bolleboos - Isabella Fumarola, Judit Guimera Busquets and Evelien Van-Bokhorst - are among five teams selected to take part in the final, which takes places in Hamburg on May 27, 2015.