Aircraft architecture and fleet assessment framework for urban air mobility using a system of systems approach

Abstract

This research article explores Urban Air Mobility (UAM) from a System of Systems (SoS) perspective in order to understand the impact of different fully electric UAM aircraft architectures on the overall SoS capability. For this purpose, a framework, combining aircraft design methods with an agent-based simulation, is developed. Thereby, not only different UAM aircraft architectures, but also fleet combinations, technology scenarios, and operational strategies are studied and evaluated for different success criteria. The UAM fleets are simulated for 24-hour operations, considering non-uniform passenger demand, dispatch of passenger as well as deadhead flights, aircraft architectural performance, load factor, energy consumption, and turnaround procedures. A large design of experiments, consisting of approximately 5,000 design points, is executed. Eventually, this article demonstrates the proof of concept for the proposed SoS framework and provides several parameter sensitivities for a given UAM scenario. For such complex SoS, analytical methods would not suffice for understanding complex and often nonlinear interactions. Therefore, the proposed simulation driven framework proves to be successful by providing sensitivity study results, linking subsystem, system (aircraft) and system of system (fleet) level. Thus, the framework allows for comprehensive understanding of the SoS design space and is important for successful deployment or optimization of UAM aircraft & fleet for a given city and operational context.