Evaluation of the Technical Value of Powertrain Systems to Enable Safe Performance-based Flight Guidance for Urban Air Mobility

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has emerged as a promising solution to address the challenges of traditional transportation at urban level. This paper focuses on the powertrain systems of UAM vehicles, which play a critical role in ensuring safe and reliable flight operations. The study evaluates the performance implications of different powertrain systems for UAM multirotors and their relevance to safe performance-based flight guidance. Six different powertrain architectures are analyzed for three use cases (Airport Shuttle, Intra-City, and Mega-City), which results in 18 different variations of use case and powertrain architecture combinations. Key performance indicators are used to assess the technical value of each use case - powertrain architecture combination. The findings highlight the importance of power and energy demand, weight, but also reliability in powertrain design. Power, efficiency, range, endurance, redundancy, and integration are identified as crucial factors for successful UAM operations. The study result show that a hybrid parallel powertrain architecture, which combines 20% battery power and 80% fossil fuel-derived power, demonstrates the highest technical value for all three covered use cases. The study contributes to the ongoing efforts in UAM research and development, paving the way for the realization of UAM's full potential as a sustainable mode of transportation in urban environments.