Abstract:This paper presents an extendable approach to the modelling and simulation of Urban Air Mobility (UAM), and dissemination criteria for system of systems simulation driven studies. UAM involves a multitude of complexities including the airspace, fleet, demand, and vertidrome management. Simulation is a key enabler for understanding these complexities and the interaction of the different stakeholders within the UAM paradigm. This work builds upon past research of the authors and presents a framework for simulati… Show more
“…In an effort to start understanding the peculiarities of UAM networks, different DLR institutes have developed a collaborative system-of-systems simulation where V-Lab interacts with other UAM stakeholders including the booking platform operator, air taxi fleet operator, U-space operator and other transport modes such as cars. Initial results of a proof of concept will be published in [49].…”
This paper presents the Vertidrome Airside Level of Service (VALoS) framework, a novel performance metric designed to evaluate airside traffic flow operations at vertidromes in the context of Urban Air Mobility (UAM). As the UAM industry rapidly evolves, the need for a comprehensive evaluation framework becomes increasingly important. The VALoS framework provides a performance-based approach to evaluating vertidrome traffic flow performance, considering metrics like average passenger delay, air taxi in-flight delay, and vertidrome punctuality. Unlike existing Level of Service approaches, the VALoS framework unifies the requirements of various stakeholders, the passenger, the air taxi operator, and the vertidrome operator each with their own performance metric and target. It provides a multi-faceted approach covering airside air and ground traffic flows, arrivals and departures, and performance changes during strategic planning and tactical execution phases. The VALoS is evaluated at 15-min intervals while considering changing stakeholder performance targets and operational uncertainties. For the reference use case, the study demonstrates the significant impact of short-term disruptions, while stochastic deviations can be neglected. Higher traffic volumes due to changing demand/capacity ratios result in higher VALoS variability. The VALoS framework, together with a fast-time simulation, provides a versatile method for exploring future vertidrome traffic flows and supporting strategic vertidrome airside planning and integration. This integrated approach is essential for the evolving UAM vertidrome industry; aligning the interests of different stakeholders and promoting sustainable and efficient vertidrome planning and operation.
“…In an effort to start understanding the peculiarities of UAM networks, different DLR institutes have developed a collaborative system-of-systems simulation where V-Lab interacts with other UAM stakeholders including the booking platform operator, air taxi fleet operator, U-space operator and other transport modes such as cars. Initial results of a proof of concept will be published in [49].…”
This paper presents the Vertidrome Airside Level of Service (VALoS) framework, a novel performance metric designed to evaluate airside traffic flow operations at vertidromes in the context of Urban Air Mobility (UAM). As the UAM industry rapidly evolves, the need for a comprehensive evaluation framework becomes increasingly important. The VALoS framework provides a performance-based approach to evaluating vertidrome traffic flow performance, considering metrics like average passenger delay, air taxi in-flight delay, and vertidrome punctuality. Unlike existing Level of Service approaches, the VALoS framework unifies the requirements of various stakeholders, the passenger, the air taxi operator, and the vertidrome operator each with their own performance metric and target. It provides a multi-faceted approach covering airside air and ground traffic flows, arrivals and departures, and performance changes during strategic planning and tactical execution phases. The VALoS is evaluated at 15-min intervals while considering changing stakeholder performance targets and operational uncertainties. For the reference use case, the study demonstrates the significant impact of short-term disruptions, while stochastic deviations can be neglected. Higher traffic volumes due to changing demand/capacity ratios result in higher VALoS variability. The VALoS framework, together with a fast-time simulation, provides a versatile method for exploring future vertidrome traffic flows and supporting strategic vertidrome airside planning and integration. This integrated approach is essential for the evolving UAM vertidrome industry; aligning the interests of different stakeholders and promoting sustainable and efficient vertidrome planning and operation.
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a new air transportation system for passengers and cargo in urban environments, enabled by new technologies and integrated into multimodal transportation systems. The vision of UAM comprises the mass use in urban and suburban environments, complementing existing transportation systems and contributing to the decarbonization of the transport sector. Initial attempts to create a market for urban air transportation in the last century failed due to lack of profitability and community acceptance. Technological advances in numerous fields over the past few decades have led to a renewed interest in urban air transportation. UAM is expected to benefit users and to also have a positive impact on the economy by creating new markets and employment opportunities for manufacturing and operation of UAM vehicles and the construction of related ground infrastructure. However, there are also concerns about noise, safety and security, privacy and environmental impacts. Therefore, the UAM system needs to be designed carefully to become safe, affordable, accessible, environmentally friendly, economically viable and thus sustainable. This paper provides an overview of selected key research topics related to UAM and how the German Aerospace Center (DLR) contributed to this research in the project "HorizonUAM - Urban Air Mobility Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)". Selected research results on the topics of market potential and public acceptance, vehicle design (including battery degradation, onboard systems, cabin design, cabin simulation), infrastructure, operations (including U-space, safe autonomy, navigation, communication, cost modeling) and overall system modeling are briefly presented.
<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Continuous improvements and innovations towards sustainability in the aviation industry has brought interest in electrified aviation. Electric aircrafts have short missions in which the temporal variability of thermal loads is high. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have emerged as prominent power source candidate for electric aircrafts and Urban Air Mobility (UAM). UAMs and Electric aircrafts have large battery packs with battery capacity ranging in hundreds or thousands of kWh. If the battery is exposed to temperatures outside the optimum range, the life and the performance of the battery reduces drastically. Hence, it is crucial to have a Thermal Management System (TMS) which would reduce the heat load on battery in addition to the cabin thermal loads.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Thermal management can be done through active or passive cooling. Adding a passive cooling system like Phase Change Material (PCM) to the TMS reduces the design maximum thermal loads. However, the added weight of the PCM module may at times outweigh the benefit of energy savings. This research studies thermal management of electric aircrafts/UAMs using Vapor Cycle System (VCS), Phase Change Material (PCM) and combination thereof (Hybrid). The three TMS architectures are compared for different UAM/electric air vehicle, and the results will help us conclude the best method of cooling. The analysis of the results quantifies the impact of the architecture on the weight and size metrics on the UAM/electric air vehicles. Also, three representative UAM/electric air vehicles of different capacities are simulated using MATLAB, and their results will help us to optimize the best TMS that can be applied to electric aerial vehicles of varying passenger capacity depending on its heat loads. The simulated results show for lower heat loads PCM alone, and for higher heat loads hybrid TMS provide best cooling solution.</div></div>
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