Vertidrome Design: State of the Art and Current Research

Abstract

As one might expect Urban Air Mobility to be a brand-new topic, the approach of lifting (a portion of) urban traffic into the air is not really new. Helicopter operations and the hype about tiltrotor aircrafts at the end of the 20th century already built a path towards urban aerial ridesharing operations. Even if some developments remained theoretical at that time, a wide spectrum of research was conducted to elaborate the feasibility of this new transportation mode. Today, with technology far more advanced, we are closer to aerial urban transportation than ever before. But before UAM vehicles can take-off, we need to define places where this operation can be conducted as safe and efficient as possible in order to offer an affordable and competitive transportation mode. We started the Vertidrome Design research by conducting an extensive literature review to cover the global current state of the art. We focused on the review of current development processes regarding vertidromes; their designs, the regulatory framework which may come into question, procedures for approach and departure intends, and on the overall question of what does “on-demand” really mean. In addition, we identified unique characteristics of a vertidrome operation which will be faced by multiple stakeholders participating in the operation. Based on these insights, we defined a specific vertiport layout (LIEDT – linear independent expandable drive through) and defined a corresponding Concept of Operations (ConOps) which led us to the question how do we decide if a specific vertidrome design and ConOps satisfies all operational needs and reflects an optimum solution? To answer this question, we developed a level of service concept (VALoS) considering a vertidrome’s airside operation, its ConOps and the requirements of multiple stakeholders. Based on a specific demand distribution the vertidrome design can be evaluated by the VALoS framework, on behalf of all considered stakeholders. Since UAM vehicles are already progressing successfully, now, we need to develop insights, proposals and solutions addressing realistic vertidrome operations.