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Drones already play an important role in many areas, but this type of air traffic still has great potential for development. The Hamburg-based startup DM-AirTech collects meteorological and aerodynamic data to support decision-makers in planning and designing the infrastructure for drones, and operators in flight planning and execution.

© Pixabay: drones in agriculture
© Pixabay: drones in agriculture

The fascination of flying and the science of wind

The Italian Dario Milani has been fascinated by flying since his childhood, so there was no question as to whether he would also pursue this dream of mankind professionally. Just up for debate was whether he should pursue a career as a pilot or develop technological innovations for the aerospace industry. He opted for the latter option and studied aeronautical engineering in Milan and Toulouse, where he learned, among other things, how airplanes work and what role aerodynamics plays in this.

The basic physical principle that makes flying possible in the first place is called dynamic lift. It is used by birds as well as airplanes with their specially designed wings. Naturally, wind plays a key role when it comes to flight behaviour. The subject particularly fascinated Dario, so he deepened his knowledge by studying at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, graduating with a doctorate and the distinction magna cum laude. He specialised in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which deals with the solution of fluid mechanical problems. He could also be described as a computanional wind scientist.

photo © DM AirTech: the founder Dario Milani during a demonstration test in Costa Rica.
photo © DM AirTech: the founder Dario Milani during a demonstration test in Costa Rica.

Increasing use of drones led to the founding of DM-AirTech

He first brought his knowledge to a software company and an IT consultancy and then to Airbus. As is so often the case, the Covid pandemic brought about a decisive turning point in Dario's career. Demand for traditional aircraft fell and drones became more of a focus. This development matched the ideas he had been tossing around in his head for some time and was now developing into a business model. This resulted in the founding of DM-AirTech in May 2021, where DM obviously stands for Dario Milani. However, the startup was not to remain a one-man operation; he bootstrapped bringing Oskar Olechowski on board, an Airbus colleague specialized in software and certification, as a co-founder and soon enlarged the technical team.

Dario summarises what the company does as follows: ‘DM-AirTech brings the highest data granularity for weather-dependent decision making and processes up to the building level and is currently deploying its comprehensive weather and climate management supporting stakeholders with the development of vertiport infrastructure and aerial corridors as well as for the execution of safe and efficient flight operations of manned and unmanned aerial systems.’

© DM AirTech: founder Dario Milani exlpains the future of aviation
© DM AirTech: founder Dario Milani exlpains the future of aviation

Wind conditions in cities are complicated and ever changing

To put it simply: DM-AirTech offers a kind of weather report for drone flights. The startup not only takes current meteorological data into account, but also the environment in which the aircraft are flying. Passenger aircraft fly at high altitudes in an open sky, where wind conditions and therefore possible turbulence are relatively easy to analyse and predict. Drones usually fly at low altitudes in unclear terrain or in cities between buildings, which has a considerable influence on wind currents. Creating reliable forecasts here is literally a science in itself.

DM-AirTech provides such hyperlocal forecasts to assess the risk for current flights, but also for location decisions. A vertiport is a take-off and landing site for drones and air cabs that ascend and descend vertically. Such compact airfields, which could be positioned on roofs, for example, are still in the project phase at best. However, this could change in the near future, and DM-AirTech will then be ready.

© DM AirTech: chart of the wind currents in Los Angeles
© DM AirTech: chart of the wind currents in Los Angeles

An offer for drone and vertiport operators

This should also be an attractive prospect for investors, Dario thought, and drew up an initial business plan that included a financing round of two million euros after four months. But it wasn't that simple and feasable after all. So he and his team focused on productizing and gaining early traction. A few months after the launch, two large companied then converted into clients providing the hoped-for support to further advance product development. Funding from the InnoFounder programme of IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH also provided additional security.

DM-AirTech now has four Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings for its customers:

  • VertiPlace offers the possibility to analyse the operational capability of vertiports in advance and optimise them according to the usage plan and local weather conditions.

  • WeTwin creates a weather twin of a vertiport and its operating environment so that operators can understand, visualise, measure and optimise the design of their vertiport in terms of weather and hyperlocal wind and turbulence behaviour - also in real time.

  • Corridor analyses the operability of planned flight corridors. Using the software enables the planning and creation of optimal air traffic connections for vertiports by integrating weather analysis and specifications for vertical take-offs and landings.

  • VertiMonitor can be used to support real-time weather decisions for highly automated vertiport operations using DM-AirTech's pioneering work in computational physics and sensor robustness.

© DM AirTech: Dario Milani, founder and CEO of DM-AirTech
“Channeling weather and climate modelling expertise, computational science breakthroughs such as quantum computing and aviation expertise with institutions such as Max Plank Institute, DESY and Airbus respectively, Hamburg is the perfect place to give light to DM-AirTech's technology and innovation.”
Dario Milani, founder and CEO of DM-AirTech
© DM AirTech: the founders Oskar Olechowski and Dario Milani
© DM AirTech: the founders Oskar Olechowski and Dario Milani

Aviation location Hamburg as a starting advantage

So far, the company has grown organically and now employs seven people, five full-time and two part-time. The basis for stronger growth has thus been created, especially as there are only a few competitors worldwide in the space and few that have the expertise of DM-AirTech. The Hamburg location, the third largest in the world for civil aviation after Seattle and Toulouse, is certainly also helpful for positive development.

The Hamburg Aviation cluster is responsible for networking the various players in the Hanseatic city. Among other things, it is also coordinating the BLU-Space project for a traffic management system for unmanned drones in urban environments. Hamburg is to form Europe's first test airspace for this. The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport is funding the project with a total of 2.36 million euros. BLU-Space should be completed by mid-May 2026. Hamburg therefore sees itself as a pioneer for urban drone traffic; a claim it shares with DM-AirTech.


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Startup City Hamburg

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