ITB, Purdue University Students Collaborate on Electric Aircraft Design

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) collaborated with Purdue University in the Global Multidisciplinary Design Course program initiated by Arizona State University. A team of students from both campuses designed an electric-powered commercial aircraft capable of carrying up to 40 passengers on the Jakarta-Singapore flight route. 

The ITB students comprised Anthony Sinisuka, Aqil Vadhila, Darian Soetanto, Dwiki Ananda, Elisabeth Filandow, and Linquinn Aiko, all of whom came from the Aerospace Engineering Program at ITB. They collaborated with three students from Purdue University. 

The main focus of the USAID Higher Education Partnership Initiative (HEPI) program is aircraft design. Students collaborated virtually from February to June 2024 to complete the design project. 

Team member Darian Soetanto said on Thursday that the program was interesting since “electric aircraft are still rare so the design method will definitely be different from the start.”

Designing electric-powered aircraft was no easy feat as there were limited references, forcing the students to learn from scratch on some aspects. "We must consider the battery, engine, and other things that are different from normal aircraft," said Darian.

The student team is highly optimistic that technological advancement will allow them to use solid-state batteries for aircraft by 2035. Hopefully, the electric-powered aircraft will have a long-lasting battery and fast charging. The end goal of the project is to design an electric-powered commercial aircraft that is entirely emission-free. 

ANWAR SISWADI

Editor’s Choice: Indonesia's UGM Students Conduct Study on Green Election Possibility 

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News