Urban Air Mobility Perspectives Over Mid-Term Time Horizon: Main Enabling Technologies Readiness Review

Abstract

The world is becoming increasingly urbanized. Since 2007, more than half of the world's population has been living in cities, and according to the United Nations that share is projected to rise to 60% by 2030. With a rising population and more cars on the road, travelling across metropolitan areas is increasingly becoming slower and not efficient in terms of energy usage, fuel consumption, and productivity. This significant urban population growth is pushing towards innovative mobility options design, as ground infrastructure becomes increasingly congested. In this framework, a novel transportation concept has been proposed aimed to exploit the vertical dimension in urban transport environment: the Urban Air Mobility (UAM). This paper focuses on the description of the UAM perspectives over the mid-term time horizon, based on the consideration of the expected readiness level of the main enabling technologies for UAM implementation, while also considering aspects related to propulsion, information and communication technologies, infrastructures and U-Space, all of them necessary for the deployment of UAM.

Multimodal 3D transport system implementation barriers in populated municipalities

“…However, here it is of special importance for multimodality and transport-wide integration. Technologically unconstrained sharing of data is necessary and require implementation of 6G and beyond standards (Menichino et al, 2022;Dziugiel et al, 2021). Data collected in particular modes needs to be available for all interested parties.…”

“…Depending on the mission type, either piloted or automated, the specific datalink is required. Communication solutions able to provide necessary services to all air space users (both manned and unmanned) overcoming current and expected bottlenecks like spectre availability limitations (Menichino et al , 2022). Geo-awareness.…”

“…It is necessary to guarantee UAM contribution to sustainable urban mobility. UAM must be smart (Menichino et al , 2022). AG and natural language processing.…”

AAM/goods delivery: main enablers for BVLOS routine operations within environment at low and medium risk

“…Many of these aircraft are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) (EU 945, 2021), meaning they are self-flying or autonomous. For the inclusion of these technologies, the possible roadmap is reported in Menichino et al (2022): about integration in civil air traffic for the delivery of goods, there is still a lot to do, especially as regards the on-ground infrastructures (vertiports) for their inclusion in urban contexts. In this case, it is necessary that the cities provide dedicated areas where these cargo drones can land, take off, recharge battery, etc.…”

“…Another fundamental aspect concerns the regulation to be applied to urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles for their safe integration in the air traffic management (ATM). In this regard, before these technologies become operative in ATM, it will be necessary to wait for the U2/U3 and later for the U4 phase of the U-Space (Menichino et al , 2022; EU 664, 2021), for safety reasons (Menichino and Di Vito, 2021). One of the main factors enabling UAV operations in beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) is to equip the drone with a robust detect and avoid system, capable of identifying static and dynamic obstacles and re-planning the flight path to avoid the obstacles.…”