Case Study: Technische Universität München achieves hands‑on, industry‑ready flight control education and cost‑effective flight‑worthy systems with MathWorks Model‑Based Design

Technische Universität München Uses Model-Based Design to Drive Research, Problem-Based Learning, and Industry Collaboration

Technische Universität München (TUM) needed to close the gap between theoretical flight‑control education and real‑world, flight‑worthy implementations while enabling smaller industry partners to develop cost‑effective systems with lean, automated processes. To meet this challenge, the institute turned to MathWorks’ Model‑Based Design toolchain — including MATLAB, Simulink, Stateflow, Embedded Coder, and Simulink Coder — for multidisciplinary modeling, simulation, and automated code generation.

MathWorks’ solutions were adopted across TUM’s Institute for Flight System Dynamics to build simulators, develop and test controllers in closed‑loop and real time, and generate deployable C code for quadrocopters and high‑fidelity flight trainers. The result: accelerated, problem‑based learning and stronger industry collaboration — graduates are highly sought after, student motivation and learning speed improved, and the institute grew from three staff to more than 40 while delivering flight‑worthy, certifiable software prototypes that shorten development cycles.

Technische Universität München

Florian Holzapfel

Professor