Urban air mobility (UAM) systems include a network of (un)structured airspaces. The geometry and operations on these networks affect system performance across several goals including safety, efficiency, and externalities. The primary goal of this work is to find and illustrate the safety, efficiency, and externality trade-offs between different styles of network architecture. To do so, this paper uses a microscopic traffic simulator for UAM aircraft to experiment with different network architectures. Key performance measures reflecting the varied system goals are considered. Comparisons of network performance at varying demand levels illustrate the different behavior of traffic and congestion for each network architecture. The results indicate that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for network designs, rather there are trade-offs between designs. Fewer network restrictions and organization allow for routing efficiencies at the cost of a higher conflict rate and greater congestion at high demand levels. Greater network restrictions and organization can reduce the conflict rate and effectively manage high levels of demand but may suffer from locally concentrated conflicts and trajectories in addition to routing inefficiency. The insights will interest airspace researchers, regulators, and UAM operators as they consider appropriate future designs of airspace to accommodate UAM operations.


    Access

    Download

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Comparing Urban Air Mobility Network Airspaces: Experiments and Insights


    Additional title:

    Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2023-07-07




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Airspaces

    Pascoe, David | SLUB | 2001


    Airspaces

    Pascoe, David | TIBKAT | 2001


    Enabling Smart Urban Airspaces Through Distributed Sensing Technologies

    Ippolito, Corey A. / Martin, Rodney A. / Kawamura, Evan et al. | AIAA | 2025


    Identification and visualization of constrained airspaces

    Wenchel, Seth / Coville, Gareth | IEEE | 2012


    Enhanced Conflict Resolution Maneuvers for Dense Airspaces

    Malaek, Seyed Mohamad-Bagher / Golchoubian, Mahsa | IEEE | 2020