"A new class of large scale wind power generators shall be investigated viamathematical modelling, computer simulation and multidisciplinary optimization methods. The underlyingtechnical idea is to use fast flying tethered airfoils that fly in altitudes of several hundredmeters above the ground. They will perform specially controlled loops accompanied by line lengthand line tension variations, that are used to drive a generator on the ground.Being a high risk / high gain technology, the applicant believes that the main focus in the first developmentyears should not be on building large and expensive experimental setups (as some courageousexperimentalists currently do in Europe and the US), but on mathematical modelling, computersimulation and optimization studies, accompanied by only small scale experiments for modeland control system validation. This will help finding optimal system designs before expensive andpotentially dangerous large scale systems are built. The research requires an interdisciplinary collaborationof scientists from mathematical, mechanical, aerospace, and control engineering, as wellas from the computational sciences. At the end of the project, a small scale, automatically flying prototype shall be realized, accompaniedby validated and scalable mathematical models and a toolbox of efficient computational methodsfor simulation and multidisciplinary optimization of high altitude wind power systems. If successful,the project will help to establish this new type of wind power generator that might provide electricitymore cheaply than fossil fuels and is deployable at considerably more sites than conventional windmills."