Benefits of Advanced Air Mobility for Society and Environment: A Case Study of Ohio

Abstract

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is an emerging transportation system that will enable the safe and efficient low altitude operations and applications of unmanned aircraft (e.g., passenger transportation and cargo delivery) in the national airspace. This system is currently under active research and development by NASA in collaboration with FAA, other federal partner agencies, industry, and academia to develop its infrastructure, information architecture, software functions, concepts of operation, operations management tools and other functional components. Existing studies have, however, not thoroughly analyzed the net positive impact of AAM on society and environment to justify investments in its infrastructure and implementation. In this work, we fill this gap by evaluating the non-monetary social impact of AAM in the state of Ohio for passengers, patients, farmers, logistics companies and their customers and bridge inspection entities, as well as its environmental impact, by conducting a thorough data-driven quantitative cost–benefit analysis of AAM from the perspective of the state government. To this end, the most relevant and significant benefit and cost factors are identified, monetized, and estimated. Existing ground transportation for the movement of passengers and goods within and across urban areas is considered as the base case. The findings demonstrate that AAM’s benefits are large and varied, far outweighing its costs. Insights on these benefits can help gain community acceptance of AAM, which is critical for successful implementation of AAM. The findings support decision-making for policymakers and provide justification for investments in AAM infrastructure by the government and private sector.

Designing a Surveillance Sensor Network with Information Clearinghouse for Advanced Air Mobility

“…The size of the total yearly surveillance data generated in a given area is determined based on several factors, including the projected yearly flight hours of AAM traffic in the area for potential use cases, such as passenger and cargo transportation, bridge inspections, small package delivery, and medical item delivery. We obtained the data of yearly estimated AAM passenger and cargo traffic from [60] and conducted forecasting to estimate the demand for other AAM use cases in [2]. Our assumption for the distribution of AAM flight hours over the given area is uniform.…”

“…AAM is envisioned to allow emerging short-haul aircraft, such as small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), to operate in the lower altitudes of national airspace for passenger and cargo transportation and other use cases in the coming years. AAM is anticipated to offer a number of benefits to society and the environment over traditional ground transportation systems, including a considerable reduction in travel and delivery times, increased operational safety, and a reduced negative impact on the environment [1,2]. Federal agencies, such as NASA and FAA, and industry and academia have been focusing their research on AAM aircraft design [3], concepts of operation [4], air traffic management [5], trajectory planning [6], deconfliction [7], market studies [8,9], network planning [10][11][12], and operations planning [13,14].…”

Advanced Air Mobility Operation and Infrastructure for Sustainable Connected eVTOL Vehicle

“…The aircraft in a AAM ecosystem can include eVTOLs for commuting and delivering supplies within the urban area, and the police department can use them for surveillance and security to decrease the crime rate in the city; moreover, eVTOLs equipped with fire extinguishers can be used to eliminate fires in places that are unreachable to the fire and safety department. Providing fair and equal access to airspace may be compromised by AAM operations at scale [35]. It is possible that AAM operation will monopolize access to airspace and exclude other operators as a result of rapid growth.…”

The Potential Role of Flying Vehicles in Progressing the Energy Transition

“…Though flying cars will ideally reduce both travel time and carbon footprints [48], due to requirements that they are lightweight to be able to get off the ground without using too much energy, they are often designed for small numbers of people, and are not efficient on short trips [49].…”