Urban Air Mobility Airspace Integration Concepts and Considerations

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) - defined as safe and efficient air traffic operations in a metropolitan area for manned aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems - is being researched and developed by industry, academia, and government. Significant resources have been invested toward cultivating an ecosystem for Urban Air Mobility that includes manufacturers of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, builders of takeoff and landing areas, and researchers of the airspace integration concepts, technologies, and procedures needed to conduct Urban Air Mobility operations safely and efficiently alongside other airspace users. This paper provides high-level descriptions of both emergent and early expanded operational concepts for Urban Air Mobility that NASA is developing. The scope of this work is defined in terms of missions, aircraft, airspace, and hazards. Past and current Urban Air Mobility operations are also reviewed, and the considerations for the data exchange architecture and communication, navigation, and surveillance requirements are also discussed. This paper will serve as a starting point to develop a framework for NASA's Urban Air Mobility airspace integration research and development efforts with partners and stakeholders that could include fast-time simulations, human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations, and flight demonstrations

A dimensioning and tolerancing methodology for concurrent engineering applications II: comprehensive solution strategy

Dimensioning and tolerancing (D&T) is a multidisciplinary problem which requires the fulfillment of a large number of dimensional requirements. However, almost all of the currently available D&T tools are only intended for use by the designer. In addition, they typically provide solutions for the requirements one at time. This paper presents a methodology for determining the dimensional specifications of the component parts and sub-assemblies of a product by satisfying all of its requirements. The comprehensive solution strategy presented here includes: a strategy for separating D&T problems into groups, the determination of an optimum solution order for coupled functional equations, a generic tolerance allocation strategy, and strategies for solving different types of D&T problems. A number of commonly used cost minimization strategies, such as the use of standard parts, preferred sizes, preferred fits, and preferred tolerances, have also been incorporated into the proposed methodology. The methodology is interactive and intended for use in a concurrent engineering environment by members of a product development team

Dynamic density: measuring and predicting sector complexity [ATC]

In the present air traffic control system, traffic management personnel use the enhanced traffic management system (ETMS) 'monitor alert' parameter as a strategic planning tool to identify and predict sector traffic complexity, so that strategic and tactical air traffic decisions such as flow modifications, staff planning, and sector redesigns can be planned. The monitor alert parameter is based solely on aircraft count. For several years, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has supported the development of a better method to measure and predict sector complexity, referred to as dynamic density (DD), to provide a more encompassing, useful tool for today's air traffic control environment. This paper reviews a multi-year, multi-organizational research effort to develop and validate several proposed DD metrics. It provides an overview of the DD metrics under consideration, the study approach to collect operational subjective data, and the development and validation of a 'best' DD metric

Improving efficiency of departure release for en route overhead traffic flow management

Departures from some airports have to receive an approval by traffic management coordinators before their release. Such approvals are necessary to ensure that the departing aircraft will be accommodated in the overhead stream, which may have a miles-in-trail or some other traffic flow management restriction. Presently, such approvals are received by voice communications between tower controllers and traffic management coordinators. However, under busy periods, multiple tower controllers wait to talk to the traffic management coordinator. Such waiting time and the actual communications time to obtain the clearance create inefficient operations for both tower controllers and traffic management coordinators. This paper presents a proposed capability for electronic communications between the tower controllers and en route traffic management coordinators. This capability reduces the waiting and communications time between the tower controllers and traffic management coordinators