HorizonUAM - Urban Air Mobility Research at the DLR German Aerospace Center

Abstract

Urban air mobility (UAM) is an evolving research topic and has gained attraction not only from researchers but also from potential manufacturers, operators, investors, regulators as well as the general public. Using the urban airspace for passenger transport promises to overcome restrictions that go along with conventional ground-based traffic by making use of the third dimension. DLR has been playing an active role in multiple UAM projects. They cover the investigation of enabling technologies (myCopter), urban flight guidance concepts (Metropolis), airspace integration (CityATM, CORUS), cooperative automation of traffic on road, rail, water and in the air (Verkehr 5.0, Automover). Regional passenger transportation (e.SAT), autonomous cargo transport (ALAADy), contingency management (voloCHRIS, voloSTREAM), multicopter drone acoustic (AACID) as well as the design of vehicle concepts for special urban applications (Urban-Rescue, Chaser, AGILE) are also among the UAM related topics; just to name a few as representatives of DLR’s UAM research activities. The recently started project HorizonUAM (running from mid-2020 to mid-2023) builds on the findings of the above projects conducted by various institutes. Now, the competencies of ten different DLR institutes are combined in a single research project for a collaborative approach to foster UAM research at DLR. The competencies of the involved institutes range from flight guidance, flight systems and air transport to propulsion technologies and atmospheric physics as well as flight medicine. Research on communication and navigation methods goes in conjunction with the findings of modern system architecture, airport technology and flight testing techniques. The four focus areas of HorizonUAM are UAM vehicles, infrastructure, operation and acceptance. Within the project UAM market scenarios up to the year 2050 will be analyzed, economic effects investigated and suitable UAM vehicle family concepts developed. The corresponding infrastructure such as vertidromes will be investigated with focus on flight guidance concepts for high density operations. Possible vertidrome networks will also be analyzed. Safety and security are further key aspects to be considered for feasible UAM concepts. Finally, the acceptance of the developed concepts will be evaluated. This talk gives an overview of the topics covered in the HorizonUAM project, as well as an early progress report.