Aircraft Architecture and Fleet Assessment Framework for Urban Air Mobility using a System of Systems Approach

This research article explores Urban Air Mobility (UAM) from a System of Systems (SoS) perspective in order to understand the impact of different fully electric UAM aircraft architectures on the overall SoS capability. For this purpose, a framework, combining aircraft design methods with an agent-based simulation, is developed. Thereby, not only different UAM aircraft architectures, but also fleet combinations, technology scenarios, and operational strategies are studied and evaluated for different success criteria. The UAM fleets are simulated for 24-hour operations, considering non-uniform passenger demand, dispatch of passenger as well as deadhead flights, aircraft architectural performance, load factor, energy consumption, and turnaround procedures. A large design of experiments, consisting of approximately 5,000 design points, is executed. Eventually, this article demonstrates the proof of concept for the proposed SoS framework and provides several parameter sensitivities for a given UAM scenario. For such complex SoS, analytical methods would not suffice for understanding complex and often nonlinear interactions. Therefore, the proposed simulation driven framework proves to be successful by providing sensitivity study results, linking subsystem, system (aircraft) and system of system (fleet) level. Thus, the framework allows for comprehensive understanding of the SoS design space and is important for successful deployment or optimization of UAM aircraft & fleet for a given city and operational context

Development of a Conceptual Design Tool for Supersonic Transport with a Variable Fidelity Interface

The growing attention of supersonic transport (SST) renews economic and environmental concerns. New designs shall improve flight efficiency as well as mission, air traffic management (ATM) & air traffic service (ATS) impact, requiring a flexible and collaborative approach. A conceptual design tool linking to varied fidelity domain is developed in DLR since 2005. The focus areas of this paper are: Expanding openAD to design and evaluate future SST Aircraft within a higher-fidelity workflow. Capabilities demonstration of openAD via sensitivity studies of reference vehicle Concorde, HIASC A, HICAC C and X-59A (publicly available data)

System of Systems Simulation driven Urban Air Mobility Vehicle Design and Fleet Assessment

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is increasingly becoming popular for Passenger or Cargo movement in dense smart cities. Several researches so far are focused on individual vehicle architectures such as multirotor or tiltrotor etc., but not much effort in a System of systems point of view where a homogenous fleet of vehicle with different passenger capacity, speed, and propulsive energy concepts are assessed in a framework for a successful UAM operations in a given city. An effort is made in this paper wherein, vehicle architecture is derived from the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) of scenarios such as urban and suburban operations and as well as propulsion subsystem for sustainable UAM. This paper approaches UAM aircraft design driven by System of Systems (SoS) approach and an agent-based simulation supports the vehicle architecture evaluation and fleet definition. The outcome of this study are: multiple aircraft design with subsystem architectures, ideal fleet size for the respective operational scenarios, autonomy and battery technology effectiveness on UAM throughput (to efficiently provide UAM on-demand service maximum passengers within 15 min wait time), and importantly, sustainability metrics such as total fleet energy required. Several System of Systems, system and subsystem level sensitivity research questions are addressed to understand the interlevel couplin

System of Systems Simulation Driven Wildfire Fighting Aircraft Design and Fleet Assessment

Large wildfires are increasingly occurring phenomenon in several since the past few years. The suppression of wildfires is complex considering heterogeneous independent constituent systems operating together to monitor, mitigate, and suppress the fire. In addition, the management of the disaster response involve multiple institutions in collaboration. Recognition of this wildfire fighting scenario, as a System of Systems (SoS) is valid. Aerial vehicles may play a big role in firefighting considering monitoring and suppression at early stages when the fire is still small. Thus, there is scope for designing a new Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with a payload of 250 kg to 500 kg for aerial forest fire suppression, using a SoS wildfire simulation driven aircraft design approach, where the individual optimum performance of a system, especially of a new aircraft for firefighting, does not guarantee optimum overall firefighting mission effectiveness. Whereas an optimum combination of fleet, technology and operational tactics can effectively suppress fire. For this reason, this research focuses on four different aspects: 1) Applying the inverse design paradigm to a wildfire suppression air vehicle by coupling a fire propagation cellular automata model with a stochastic agent-based simulation of an evolved firefighting SoS. An efficient SoS framework to Evaluate fleet performance. 2) Four System of systems – system – subsystem interlinking research questions are addressed with corresponding sensitivity results. The impact of wildfire based on vehicle fleet size, vehicle architecture (Tiltrotor, Compound Heli, Multirotor or Lift cruise), payload carrying capability, response time and cruise speed. 3) The evolution of perfect combination of aerial vehicle fleet with different vehicle architectures, technologies and performances using simulations. 4) Obtaining a set of system level (aircraft level) Measures of Performance (MoP) for the large suppression UAVs that produce improved SoS-level Measures of Effectiveness (MoE) during an initial attack quantified by containment time and total fire burnt area. As addressed by research questions and results. The response time and Number of Aircraft has large impact on success of the firefighting mission. As the time advantage deteriorate, the wild fire expands exponentially

Exploration of Aerial Firefighting Fleet Effectiveness and Cost by System of Systems Simulations

Wildfires are becoming a more frequent and devastating phenomena across the globe. The suppression of these wildfires is a dangerous and complex activity considering the vast systems that need to operate together to monitor, mitigate, and suppress the fire. In addition, the required cooperation spans multiple institutes in different capacities. Thus, the recognition of the wildfire suppression scenario as a System of Systems (SoS) is valid. Due to the dangers associated with firefighting and the increased occurrence, there is scope for the design of unmanned aerial vehicles for wildfire suppression. In this work, a SoS driven aircraft design, cost, and fleet assessment methodology is utilized together with a wildfire simulation to investigate several sensitivities relating to design and operational parameters. Further, this paper investigates their impacts on the measures of effectiveness, i.e. burnt area and operating cost. These two parameters enable the identification of optimal fleet size for wildfire suppression for a given scenario and aircraft definition

Exploration of Aerial Firefighting Fleet Effectiveness and Cost by System of Systems Simulations

Wildfires are becoming a more frequent and devastating phenomena across the globe. The suppression of these wildfires is a dangerous and complex activity considering the vast systems that need to operate together to monitor, mitigate, and suppress the fire. In addition, the required cooperation spans multiple institutes in different capacities. Thus, the recognition of the wildfire suppression scenario as a System of Systems (SoS) is valid. Due to the dangers associated with firefighting and the increased occurrence, there is scope for the design of unmanned aerial vehicles for wildfire suppression. In this work, a SoS driven aircraft design, cost, and fleet assessment methodology is utilized together with a wildfire simulation to investigate several sensitivities relating to design and operational parameters. Further, this paper investigates their impacts on the measures of effectiveness, i.e. burnt area and operating cost. These two parameters enable the identification of optimal fleet size for wildfire suppression for a given scenario and aircraft definition

Fighter Design and Fleet Effectiveness Evaluation via System of Systems Battlespace Simulation

With ever-increasing regional conflicts and demand for military deterrence and peace, there is a need for highly capable, agile and multirole manned and unmanned fighter. Due to difficulty in prediction, uncertain needs drive more and more capabilities in a specific vehicle leading to bigger, more expensive and harder to upgrade multirole fighter aircraft. Today’s fighter aircraft operate in a highly agile environment, fulfilling a wide set of roles like air superiority, aerial reconnaissance, forward air control, electronic warfare, etc. To fulfill these tasks, several kinds of weapons, sensors and communication systems are necessary. That results in a larger airframe and also in a higher total weight. Next generation fighters will not incorporate all of the systems for the specific roles. Instead the systems responsible for the abilities are spread over several smaller unmanned platforms which are linked to the manned fighter by network connections. The fighter itself can be lighter and more agile, and the abilities can be upgraded by additional platforms. The increased complexity of the battlespace increases the scope for evaluating requirements, conceptual design of new fighter aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicle, mid-air refueling tanker, etc. Using a System of Systems (SoS) Battlespace simulation driven aircraft design approach helps to simulate multi-platform interaction and account for numerous uncertainties in the development of future battle systems. For this reason, this research focuses on developing a SoS framework for fighter evaluation and design with three different aspects: - Linking conceptual fighter aircraft design & weapon performance to a large multi vehicle battle scenario via agent-based simulation - Analyzing the sensitives of technology, vehicle design, fleet composition, interoperability and weapon selection as well as evaluating requirements - Obtaining a set of aircraft level parameters for the fighter aircraft that produce improved SoS-level Measures of Effectiveness (MoE) during a Counter-Air Fighter Sweep mission such as blue win rate, Survivability and weapon usage Herein, a baseline aircraft and its sensitivity trade-offs modelled. The mission performance is evaluated by formulating different measures of effectiveness. In summary, this study demonstrates the need for system of systems simulations to derive adversary and operations-tailored vehicles and fleets

Sensitivity analysis of aerial wildfire fighting tactics with heterogeneous fleets using a system of systems simulation framework

The rise in the average global surface temperature has caused wildfire seasons to expand leading to more incidents with severe intensities causing a significant increase in suppression expenditures, losses, and casualties. In addition, the larger number of wildfire incidents gives rise to higher carbon release that stays in the atmosphere, therefore, further intensifying global warming. Fire incidents vary substantially in complexity from the point of view of required and available firefighting means which makes for a challenging multi-level complex problem. System of Systems (SoS) approach can be used to investigate such problems taking into accounts various factors such as response time, firefighting tactics, fleet composition, available agents, and resources. This study uses a SoS simulation framework for overall wildfire suppression mission modeling. It builds upon the research previously performed by the authors by introducing: 1. An extensive analysis for the effect of wildfire environment parameters on fire spread. 2. Multiple suppression tactics which open the door to new solutions for wildfire fighting in addition to revealing nuanced trends at the system of systems level by using SoS framework. 3. A heterogeneous fleet composed of various suppression drones with different airframe configurations, payload capacity, flight velocity, and powertrain architecture