Scaling Constraints for Urban Air Mobility Operations: Air Traffic Control, Ground Infrastructure, and Noise

Abstract

The scalability of the current air traffic control system, the availability of aviation ground infrastructure, and the acceptability of aircraft noise to local communities have been identified as three key operational constraints that may limit the implementation or growth of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) systems. This paper identifies the primary mechanisms through which each constraint emerges to limit the number of UAM operations in an area (i.e. the scale of the service). Technical, ecosystem, or operational factors that influence each of the mechanisms are also identified. Interdependencies between the constraints are shown. Potential approaches to reduce constraint severity through adjustments to the mechanisms are introduced. Finally, an effort is made to characterize the severity of each operational constraint as a function of the density of UAM operations in a region of interest. To this end, a measure of severity is proposed for each constraint. This measure is used to notionally display how the severity of the constraint responds to UAM scaling, and to identify scenarios where efforts to relieve the constraint are most effective. The overall purpose of this paper is to provide an abstraction of the workings of the key UAM operational constraints so that researchers, developers, and practitioners may guide their efforts to mitigation pathways that are most likely to increase achievable UAM system scale. U 2 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics perceive to degrade their quality of life and enjoyment of their property. Local governments may use zoning or building codes to limit or prohibit aviation infrastructure development or operations. Finally, congressional representatives may compel the FAA to change ATC procedures to reduce noise, as was the case in the Los Angeles Residential Helicopter Noise Relief Act of 2013 [4]. While community acceptance of UAM activities may be influenced by numerous factors including privacy, viewshed, pollution, safety, and equity, aircraft noise has dominated recent public discourse and action and represents a key constraint for UAM operations. However, the successful implementation of helicopter-based UAM operations in São Paulo, as well as the large private and charter helicopter operations in Moscow and Mumbai, indicate that local values and expectations significantly influence the actual severity of this constraint. U.S. and European communities may exhibit increased sensitivity to aircraft noise compared to other potential UAM markets.These three operating constraints are of keen interest to researchers, potential operators, and transportation planners as they dictate if a UAM system may serve a few hundred customers per day or tens of thousands of customers per day. The contribution of this research is significant because it will support the estimation of achievable UAM system scale based upon local factors and the ecosystem of the city in which it is implemented. Furthermore, this work may support the evaluation of how potential design and operating decisi...

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“…2 Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 33-303, AIAA Fellow. 3 The findings of the paper are relevant to the underlying concept of UAM TOLA operation, independent the naming convention used. A variety of VTOL or STOL infrastructure could support UAM operations including heliports, vertiports, skyports, skyparks, STOLports, pocket airports, airparks, metroparks, nodes, air harbors, and portals.…”

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