Innovative urban air mobility from the perspective of the Hamburg metropolitan region

Abstract

For the future of urban mobility, further developments in the fields of automation, communication and energy storage technologies will enable the expansion of traffic space into the air. Various concepts and scenarios of urban air mobility (UAM) are already part of current research. In addition to the investigation of relevant physical effects and system-internal constraints, a view including the external relationships and general conditions is essential for the design, acceptance and success of the UAM systems. Several projects (i-LUM, ULTRAS, UDVeo, LUV, Vertiport) with the participation of various Hamburg research institutions bundle a multitude of competences to develop UAM scenarios for the Hamburg metropolitan region and other regions. UAM scenarios are evaluated i.a. in terms of time, cost, noise, energy consumption, acceptance and the ease of integration. The evaluation considers societal interactions, legal frameworks, demand modeling, concept development, ground-based infrastructure, airspace organization and operation, as well as overall system modeling. This paper gives an overview about the disciplinary and methodical approach and setup of these UAM projects.