Abstract
Air corridors are an integral part of the advanced air mobility infrastructure. They are the virtual highways in the sky for the transportation of people and cargo in a controlled airspace at an altitude of around 1000 ft. to 2000 ft. above ground level. These corridors will be utilized by (unmanned) air taxis, which will be deployed in rural and metropolitan regions to carry passengers and freight, as well as air ambulances, which will be deployed to offer first responder services such as 911 emergencies. This paper presents fundamental insights into the design of air corridors with high operational efficiency as well as zero collisions. It begins with the definitions of air cube, skylane or track, intersection, vertiport, gate, and air corridor. Then a multi-layered air corridor model is proposed. Traffic at intersections is analyzed in detail with examples of vehicles turning in different directions. The concept of capacity of an air corridor is introduced along with the nature of distribution of locations of vehicles in the air corridor and collision probability inside the corridor are discussed. Finally, results of traffic flow simulations are presented.
Highlights
Air corridors are three-dimensional (3D) volumes of airspace reserved for UnmannedAircraft Systems (In this paper, the terms UAS and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) are used interchangeably for convenience
This paper considers three layered air corridors in a typical urban or rural setting, each layer consisting of two skylanes
(2) A vehicle needs to make sure that the air cube it is entering at time (t + 1) is going to be empty at time (t + 1). (3) Overtaking does not occur in air corridor
Summary
Air corridors are three-dimensional (3D) volumes of airspace reserved for Unmanned. By definition, a UAS includes a UAV, its ground control station, and a human operator.) (UASs) for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). Air corridor design specifications are specific to each country and are defined by its respective federal aviation authority. Administration (FAA) defines air corridors in class B, C, or D airspace [3]. The FAA defines the expected performance requirements of a UAS flying in an air corridor. The design of air corridors, traffic rules in air corridors, safety requirements, and performance specifications are still evolving. Airspace design concepts, such as geofences [4], are currently being considered by various research groups
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