The e-Genius is a two-seater research aircraft developed by the Institute of Aircraft Design (IFB). It was initially optimized for pure battery-electric flight and later also used for testing hybrid propulsion. In both configurations, the e-Genius was able to set various records, such as for the most powerful two-seater electric aircraft or for the longest non-stop flight of a hybrid-electric aircraft.
As part of the aviation research program (LuFo) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the e-Genius will be used to test safe, quiet and highly automated electric aerotowing. For this, the aircraft will be converted back to the purely battery-electric configuration and equipped with servo motors that are directly connected to the control rods, thus enabling automatic control by the flight computer. The project offers the Institute of Flight Mechanics and Flight Controls an opportunity to conduct research on automatic collision avoidance and the generation of flight paths that consider the noise input into the environment and enable efficient climb by exploiting updrafts.