Speakers

The presentation title will be updated soon.

Short Bio:
Dr. Ray Foley is Director, Multiphysics Systems at Collins Aerospace Applied Research & Technology (ART). ART has the mission to accelerate transformative technologies for a safer, more connected and sustainable world.  In his role, Ray is responsible for progressing advanced system design and integration capabilities, including development of processes and methods to enable scaling and transition to the business units of Collins Aerospace. He is also Site Lead for the Collins Aerospace operation in Cork, Ireland.
Ray is an alumnus of University College Cork where, following his PhD degree, he worked as a lecturer in the Electrical Engineering department and undertook research on high density power electronics. He is the author/co-author of over 30 conference and journal publications. He has been a participant in several National and EU funded projects and is a board member of the EU Clean Aviation and SESAR joint undertaking programs. 

Leaning into the Future: NASA and Electrified Aircraft Propulsion

Aviation is currently marching towards commercialization of electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP).  There are numerous demonstrators making strides towards certification of products up to the megawatt scale for entry into service (EIS) by the 2030s, if not earlier.  Between NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration and Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core projects a clear path to megawatt-scale EAP has been created. While developing the megawatt scale EAP is largely in the hands of industry, NASA, academics and industrial advanced concept teams are pushing boundaries into high power EAP, pursuing systems of greater than 10 MWs. In a series of awards known as AACES 2050, NASA is exploring futuristic airplane concepts through system analysis. To compliment this, NASA also maintains a robust body of internal technology advancement work that extends from materials to components to the system. This effort builds upon previous work that explored partially turboelectric and parallel hybrid EAP concepts and studied impacts and opportunities at an airplane level. Similarly, built on prior investments, NASA continues to develop components level including electrical machines, power electronics and foundational materials efforts. In the latter category, materials teams have developed a unique capability for quantifying electromagnet losses encountered in the superconducting materials in a high-power machine’s rotating magnetic field. The materials teams are also developing soft magnetic materials for advanced inductor and materials for cryogenic applications within electric machines (e.g., electrical insulation encapsulants and structural components). For power electronics and machines, the NASA effort is focused on development and testing of the CHILL (Cryogenic High-power Low Loss) Motor and a compatible cryo-capable drive. This presentation will further discuss these topics and work that are designed to probe the barriers to enable high power EAP in 2050 + EIS aircraft.

Short Bio:
Dr. Andrew Woodworth is a lead technical advisor for NASA’s electrified aircraft technology development efforts and has specialized in closing technology gaps for megawatt and multi-megawatt powertrain systems. Currently, Andrew is in the Subsonic Vehicle Technologies and Tools (SVTT) project supporting transformational propulsion concepts. He has spent 16 years as a researcher in the Materials and Structures Division at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, leading efforts to develop new electric machine material approaches for electrified aircraft as well as researching and developing radiation-hardened silicon carbide-based power devices.  Dr. Woodworth earned a Ph.D. in Physics from West Virginia University.

The presentation title, abstract, and short bio will be updated soon.

Short Bio:
Dr. Tine Tomažič is the Director of Technology & Innovation at Pipistrel. He is an award-winning and globally recognized expert in the field of electric flight, with 20 years’ experience in aviation and 15 years’ experience in electric flight. 

At Pipistrel, Tomažič was part of the team that developed the world's first two- and four-seat electric aircraft; the Taurus Electro and the Taurus G4. His work in systems automation and human machine interfaces ranges from autopilot technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles to electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems. He holds EASA CVE and HDO privileges, is a member of SAE, EASA T4S Technology for Safety and received the 2016 AIAA Piper General Aviation Award as well as the 2021 AIAA Aircraft Design Award for Pipistrel’s Velis Electro, the world’s first certified electric aircraft. 

Outside of Pipistrel, Tomažič is involved in the strategic road-mapping for manned and unmanned aviation, batteries, autonomy and emission-free flight and is a member of several research project advisory boards. This includes his current research in the field of certifiable hybrid-electric propulsion systems and their intuitive user interfaces. As well as being involved in its development, Tomažič is active in working groups with ASTM, SAE, and EUROCAE to rewrite current general aviation design standards, to allow proliferation of electric flight. 

Tomažič holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in electrical engineering from the University of Ljubljana, which he received in 2007 and 2014 respectively.

The presentation title, abstract, and short bio will be updated soon.

Short Bio:
Prof. Tao Yang is a Full Professor in Power Electronics at the University of Nottingham and a recognized expert in electrified aircraft power systems. His work focuses on power electronics-dominated onboard electrical systems, including high-speed drives, microgrids, and digital twin technologies for more-electric, hybrid, and all-electric aviation. He has led major research initiatives in collaboration with leading aerospace companies such as Rolls-Royce, Safran, Dassault Aviation, GKN Aerospace, and Leonardo.
Yang completed his PhD in 2013, where he developed dynamic phasor modelling techniques for aircraft electrical systems—work that earned him the inaugural EU CleanSky Best PhD Award and was later incorporated into SAE AIR6326 standards. He has since played key roles in large EU-funded projects, including AEGART, focusing on advanced starter-generator systems. He currently leads a team of PhD researchers and postdoctoral fellows and holds a Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowship. Prof. Yang is Chair of the IEEE Power Electronics Society Aerospace Power Technical Committee, an IET Fellow, IEEE Senior Member, and active contributor to international standardization and leading academic journals.

Development of PEM fuel cell systems for aircraft main propulsion in the megawatt range
Advancements in the development of MW power class (hybrid) electric powertrains for aviation application are increasing the demand for high-power, light-weight energy supply systems. Among the state-of-the-art approaches, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) combined with liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage systems offer the best compromise between low weight and volume and dynamic power supply.
In this presentation, the test environments of the DLR Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics are presented, which aim to address the present challenges for the integration of the LH2-PEMFC technology. For the experimental investigation of fundamental research questions adherent to a high risk of failure, such as the performance analysis of novel PEMFC technologies under extreme operating conditions, the small-scale testbed ATLAS is available providing high flexibility and low financial risks. On the other hand, the larger test environment AERIS - capable of testing fuel cell stacks and systems in an application relevant scale of several hundred kW power output under altitude conditions - is used to develop and optimize operation strategies and system setups with more mature and market-ready components. Finally, the analysis and improvement of the electrical as well as the procedural coupling behavior between the multiple subsystems of a fuel cell-based aircraft powertrain is performed on the large-scale MW test facility BALIS, representing the preliminary testing stage before the integration into an iron bird testbed.
Selected experimental results and applied optimization methods are discussed. Main barriers to the implementation of the technology are analyzed and how they could be tackled in future studies.

Short Bio:

Dr. Cornelie Bänsch studied chemistry in Freiburg and Karlsruhe, Germany, and received her PhD in 2017 in the field of reaction kinetics. In 2019, she joined the German Aerospace Center (DLR), where she served as associate project leader on the BALIS project in 2020 and now leads the "Applied Electrochemical Systems" research group at the DLR Institute of Technical Thermodynamics. Her research focuses on the system integration of electrochemical energy systems for mobile applications and the upscaling of components to relevant power ranges for regional aircraft.

Battery-electric Regional Air Mobility - the enabler for hydrogen-based hybrid-electric aviation in general!

Under current EASA certification regulations, battery-electric regional air mobility represents a viable technological development path for realising zero-emission air transport systems in the short-haul segment while simultaneously laying the groundwork for hydrogen-based hybrid-electric propulsion. Battery-electric aircraft enable the operational deployment of fully electric propulsion systems under real-world conditions for the first time, thereby providing empirical data on energy demand, thermal management, charging cycles, degradation mechanisms, and system reliability. These insights are essential for the design of future hydrogen-electric architectures, as their performance requirements, safety concepts, and certification processes are significantly shaped by electrical system components.
In parallel, the establishment of electrified ground and charging infrastructure allows for the scaling of energy management and grid technologies that can subsequently be expanded to accommodate hydrogen-based operational models. This presentation provides an overview of the interdependencies between battery-electric and hydrogen-electric systems, demonstrating that battery-electric regional air mobility is not merely a standalone segment but acts as a crucial enabler for the development, certification, and societal acceptance of hydrogen-based hybrid-electric aviation.

Short Bio:

Gregor Müller, CEO and Co-Founder of MD Aircraft GmbH,  is an executive leader in aviation and advanced manufacturing, driving innovation to re-think Regional Air Mobility.

His work focuses on sustainable regional aviation, lightweight engineering and the industrialisation of next‑generation aircraft technologies.

At PEASA Europe 2026, he brings insights from international certification, regulatory alignment and the scaling of zero‑emission mobility solutions.

Setting up Physical-Digital Validation technologies for Electric Propulsion Systems for Aerospace at CHESCO
Hybrid-electric aviation requires integrated validation environments that combine physical testing, digital modelling and system-level scenario analysis. This presentation shares research insights from CHESCO’s commissioning of an electric propulsion testbed and its connection to a growing digital ecosystem for hybrid-electric aircraft development.
The commissioned testbed enables electric motor testing under representative physical load conditions and is being prepared to generate high-value data on performance, thermal behaviour, transient response and operational limits. A particular focus is placed on the interaction of up to four electric motors within one test environment, allowing coupled operating modes, load sharing effects and system-level dynamics to be investigated. In addition, selected electrical fault scenarios are reviewed to support future validation strategies, robustness assessment and safety-related analysis.
In parallel, CHESCO’s digital team has developed a digital ecosystem that supports simulation and digital twin implementation across propulsion systems, battery systems, aircraft and airport infrastructure. This includes modelling of battery health, battery charging and discharging behaviour, operating conditions and mission-related scenarios. The combined physical-digital approach creates a scalable validation framework, where testbed data can improve model fidelity and digital simulations can guide future test campaigns and subsystem development.

Short Bio:
Heiko Witte is Managing Director of CHESCO GmbH / Center for Hybrid-Electric Systems Cottbus GmbH, a role he has held since May 2023. He brings extensive professional and leadership experience in aerospace, project management, business transformation, innovation, continuous improvement, and digitalization.
From 1997 to 2023, he worked for BMW Rolls-Royce and Rolls-Royce Deutschland, where he held various roles with responsibility across engine testing, project management, product development, digitalization, and business development. During this time, he served as Rolls-Royce project lead for the product introduction of the V2500Select engine, used in the Airbus A320 family.
From 2009 he was Head of Engineering Improvement and Quality, coordinating and leading digitalization and Industry 4.0 projects. His expertise includes transforming current and future product development processes and shaping digital innovation strategies in complex aerospace environments.

The Center for Hybrid Electric Systems Cottbus is a cutting-edge research and development, manufacturing and test center based in Cottbus, Germany, focused on hybrid and fully electric propulsion systems for the aviation sector. As a subsidiary of the Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) Cottbus–Senftenberg, CHESCO GmbH maintains strong research ties, ensuring rapid technology transfer from science to industry. With its interdisciplinary team and high-end infrastructure, CHESCO plays a key role in advancing climate-neutral aviation.

Design and Experimental Verification of a Modular Cryogenic ANPC Phase-Leg for 800V DC-Link Applications
Recent research investigates fully cryogenic drivetrains to meet the requirements of future electric flight. In these environments, Gallium Nitride (GaN) offers significant performance advantages compared to alternative semiconductor technologies due to its ultra-low on-resistance at low temperatures. While previous research focused on high-current capabilities through device paralleling, scaling the blocking voltage remains largely unaddressed. This presentation introduces the design and experimental verification of a modular Active Neutral Point Clamped (ANPC) phase-leg for 800V DC-link applications. To eliminate thermal leakage penalties and minimize interface complexity, this architecture features a fully integrated infrastructure where the power stage, auxiliary power supply (APS), and gate driver units (GDU) operate in the cryogenic environment. Experimental results at room temperature and 77K validate the modular building block as a robust, scalable solution for future high-voltage cryogenic propulsion infrastructures.

Short Bio:
Dr.-Ing. Christopher Dahmen is a power electronics scientist at Airbus Central Research & Technology in Germany, focusing on advanced power electronic systems for aviation. Christopher’s current work centers on fully cryogenic inverter architectures - integrating the main power stage, auxiliary power supplies, and control electronics into cryogenic environments. Beyond cryogenic applications, he has also worked on SiC-based solid-state circuit breakers for 800V DC aircraft grids.

Previously, Christopher was a postdoctoral researcher on the dtec.bw DEFINE project, investigating fault-tolerant DC grids. His core doctoral research background focused on the development of novel Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) submodule topologies and the design of scalable SiC JFET super cascode circuits.