Scientific Assessment for Urban Air Mobility (UAM)

Abstract

Better connecting the international research community and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) enables effective assessments of novel aviation innovations. The International Forum for Aviation Research (IFAR) created a group on Urban Air Mobility (UAM) to explore the broad array of aspects relevant to the ICAO mandate. The assessment began with a study of the current industry landscape, including an overview of existing market studies, proposed aircraft designs and concepts, and potential paths of industry evolution. The Industry Assessment is summarized into key takeaways highlighting the need for international assessments on economic and societal factors associated with UAM, common understanding of the extent to which the nascent industry can leverage current infrastructure and regulatory structures, and harmonization of industrywide terminology. The subsequent Scientific Assessment, developed through cooperative efforts between international domain experts, captures 17 focus areas relevant to UAM. All focus areas present opportunities for further research. Key takeaways include: the need for further study of the impact of autonomous systems (AS) on the industry; infrastructure requirements (including vertiports and weather sensing) to support the industry; and data requirements (including domains such as cybersecurity, emissions, and safety) to ensure safe, scalable operations. Finally, a brief overview of the current standards landscape as relevant to the Scientific Assessment is presented, which displays the benefits of applying digital systems engineering techniques to map current research efforts to ongoing standards activities.