Operational Analytics for Urban Air Mobility

Jan Niklas Burgkart, Unisphere GmbH, Turmstraße 5, 78467 Konstanz, Germany
Christoph Schlettig, Unisphere GmbH, Turmstraße 5, 78467 Konstanz, Germany

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and Regional Air Mobility (RAM) are driving the transformation of the aviation industry today through electrification, digitalization, and automation. New ecosystems are being created, including not only aircraft manufacturers and operators, but also systems for a more digitized airspace, infrastructure, and new service providers.

Commercial eVTOL operations are new to the world of aviation. Companies have raised billions of Euros to fund their way towards type certification, but there is a lack to support informed decision making for critical infrastructure and to manage operational expectations. Where are the best locations for vertiports? Which routes show a high service availability? Which aircraft limit restricts the service availability? Answering these questions today is essential to ensure viable business cases for the UAM and RAM services of the future.

This paper is focuses on the impact of weather conditions on eVTOL operations, which is critical for route network design and vertiport placement. The idea was already born during the Swiss Solar Impulse project – the first solar-powered aircraft to fly around the world. The two authors, Jan Niklas Burgkart and Christoph Schlettig will present how trajectory simulations, automated evaluation algorithms, historic high-resolution weather and cloud computing have been combined into a tool to create awareness for flight testers, manufacturer, and operators alike.