Urban Air Mobility: Viability of Hub-Door and Door-Door Movement by Air

Owing to a century of innovation in connected and automated aircraft design, for the rst time in history, air transport presents a potential competitive alternative to road, for hub-to-door and door-to-door urban services. In this article, we study the viability of air transport, for moving people and goods in an urban area, based on three metrics - enroute travel time, fuel cost and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We estimate the metrics from emission standards and operational assumptions on vehicles based on current market data and compare electric air travel to gasoline road travel. For passenger movement, air is faster than road for all distances. It fares better on fuel cost and emissions only for longer distances (specic transition distances are stated in the text). For consolidated movement of goods, air is at par with road. Finally, for movement of unconsolidated goods, air again fares better than road on all three metrics. It is also noteworthy that these results are based on a road friendly urban design. Changes in design that facilitate easier access to air based hub-to-door and door-to-door services, would only make the case stronger for Urban Air Mobility (UAM), especially with connected and automated aircraft, as the next revolution in urban transportation

Urban Air Mobility: Deconstructing the Next Revolution in Urban Transportation - Feasibility, Capacity and Productivity

Owing to a century of innovation in aircraft design, for the first time in history, air transport presents a potential competitive alternative to road, for hub-to-door and door-to-door urban services. In this dissertation, we first study the feasibility of uncongested air transport, for moving people and goods in an urban area, based on three metrics - enroute travel time, fuel cost and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We estimate the metrics from emission standards and operational assumptions on vehicles based on current market data and compare electric air travel of near future to predominantly gasoline road travel of today. For passenger movement, air is faster than road for all distances. It fares better on fuel cost and emissions for longer distances (specific transition distances are stated in the main text). For consolidated movement of goods, air is at par or better than road dependent on the type of aircraft used. Finally, for movement of unconsolidated goods, air far outperforms road on all three metrics. To enable the feasible air-based services, a typical metropolitan region's airspace needs to accommodate traffic orders of magnitude higher than the manned airspace of today, while staying uncongested to deliver the afore-mentioned benefits. Hence we also develop methods to study the urban airspace capacity. We use our methods to evaluate the airspace capacity for a specific use case of goods movement under 400 feet (low altitude airspace) and find that with today's technologies at least 10,000 free routed small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) flights per day can be safely enabled in the San Francisco Bay area. Better onboard technologies would only improve this number. Furthermore, our methods can be extended to evaluate the metropolitan airspace capacity to accommodate other use cases including movement of passengers and goods in a much wider band of airspace.Finally, we look at the energy efficiency, travel time and throughput trade-off between speed and direction control. We find that while maintaining a similar decent throughput, direction control is more energy efficient for enroute tactical resolution unless aircraft can be built with very high hover energy efficiency. However, speed control has a lower impact on travel time extension. Hovering capability additionally offers high flexibility for the type of operations that can be enabled in an urban airspace. Hence, the findings of this dissertation also have policy implications for the aircraft design industry for enabling Urban Air Mobility (UAM). It is quite noteworthy that all our results are based on a road-friendly urban design. Changes in design that facilitate easier access to air-based hub-to-door and door-to-door services, would only make the case stronger for UAM as the next revolution in urban transportation

Analysis of Interactions Between Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Operations and Conventional Traffic in Urban Areas: Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Study for UAM Operations

This paper presents results on potential interaction effects from UAM (Urban Air Mobility) operations integrated into current operational scenarios by evaluating if/where/how Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) alerts are triggered on-board commercial aircraft. A range of operational scenarios are evaluated with combinations of UAM vehicle route, speed, altitude, and direction along the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) "spine route." The effect of UAM altitude uncertainty on the above is also explored. The analysis was done for both South flow and North flow configurations of DFW. When UAM operations are deterministic, no TCAS RAs (Resolution Advisories) are issued. However, UAM altitude uncertainties point out geographic areas of concern with the associated severity of interactions

Simulating the Integration of Urban Air Mobility into Existing Transportation Systems: A Survey

Urban air mobility (UAM) has the potential to revolutionize transportation in metropolitan areas, providing a new mode of transportation that could alleviate congestion and improve accessibility. However, the integration of UAM into existing transportation systems is a complex task that requires a thorough understanding of its impact on traffic flow and capacity. In this paper, we conduct a survey to investigate the current state of research on UAM in metropolitan-scale traffic using simulation techniques. We identify key challenges and opportunities for the integration of UAM into urban transportation systems, including impacts on existing traffic patterns and congestion; safety analysis and risk assessment; potential economic and environmental benefits; and the development of shared infrastructure and routes for UAM and ground-based transportation. We also discuss the potential benefits of UAM, such as reduced travel times and improved accessibility for underserved areas. Our survey provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of research on UAM in metropolitan-scale traffic using simulation and highlights key areas for future research and development

Urban Air Mobility: Deconstructing the Next Revolution in Urban Transportation - Feasibility, Capacity and Productivity

Owing to a century of innovation in aircraft design, for the first time in history, air transport presents a potential competitive alternative to road, for hub-to-door and door-to-door urban services. In this dissertation, we first study the feasibility of uncongested air transport, for moving people and goods in an urban area, based on three metrics - enroute travel time, fuel cost and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We estimate the metrics from emission standards and operational assumptions on vehicles based on current market data and compare electric air travel of near future to predominantly gasoline road travel of today. For passenger movement, air is faster than road for all distances. It fares better on fuel cost and emissions for longer distances (specific transition distances are stated in the main text). For consolidated movement of goods, air is at par or better than road dependent on the type of aircraft used. Finally, for movement of unconsolidated goods, air far outperforms road on all three metrics. To enable the feasible air-based services, a typical metropolitan region's airspace needs to accommodate traffic orders of magnitude higher than the manned airspace of today, while staying uncongested to deliver the afore-mentioned benefits. Hence we also develop methods to study the urban airspace capacity. We use our methods to evaluate the airspace capacity for a specific use case of goods movement under 400 feet (low altitude airspace) and find that with today's technologies at least 10,000 free routed small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) flights per day can be safely enabled in the San Francisco Bay area. Better onboard technologies would only improve this number. Furthermore, our methods can be extended to evaluate the metropolitan airspace capacity to accommodate other use cases including movement of passengers and goods in a much wider band of airspace.Finally, we look at the energy efficiency, travel time and throughput trade-off between speed and direction control. We find that while maintaining a similar decent throughput, direction control is more energy efficient for enroute tactical resolution unless aircraft can be built with very high hover energy efficiency. However, speed control has a lower impact on travel time extension. Hovering capability additionally offers high flexibility for the type of operations that can be enabled in an urban airspace. Hence, the findings of this dissertation also have policy implications for the aircraft design industry for enabling Urban Air Mobility (UAM). It is quite noteworthy that all our results are based on a road-friendly urban design. Changes in design that facilitate easier access to air-based hub-to-door and door-to-door services, would only make the case stronger for UAM as the next revolution in urban transportation

SimUAM: A Comprehensive Microsimulation Toolchain to Evaluate the Impact of Urban Air Mobility in Metropolitan Areas

Over the past several years, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has galvanized enthusiasm from investors and researchers, marrying expertise in aircraft design, transportation, logistics, artificial intelligence, battery chemistry, and broader policymaking. However, two significant questions remain unexplored: (1) What is the value of UAM in a region’s transportation network?, and (2) How can UAM be effectively deployed to realize and maximize this value to all stakeholders, including riders and local economies? To adequately understand the value proposition of UAM for metropolitan areas, we develop a holistic multi-modal toolchain, SimUAM, to model and simulate UAM and its impacts on travel behavior. This toolchain has several components: (1) MANTA: A fast, high-fidelity regional-scale traffic microsimulator, (2) VertiSim: A granular, discrete-event vertiport and pedestrian, (3) FE³ : A high-fidelity, trajectory-based aerial microsimulation. SimUAM, rooted in granular, GPU-based microsimulation, models millions of trips and their exact movements in the street network and in the air, producing interpretable and actionable performance metrics for UAM designs and deployments. The modularity, extensibility, and speed of the platform will allow for rapid scenario planning and sensitivity analysis, effectively acting as a detailed performance assessment tool. As a result, stakeholders in UAM can understand the impacts of critical infrastructure, and subsequently define policies, requirements, and investments needed to support UAM as a viable transportation mode