What is it about?
This study introduces a new concept to manage air traffic in Urban Air Mobility (UAM) corridors, where aerial vehicles such as eVTOLs and air taxis will operate. We propose a self-separation scheme in which UAM operators share their planned arrival times at constrained waypoints to ensure safe coordination. We explore two methods to maintain safe spacing between vehicles. The first follows Near Mid-Air Collision (NMAC) avoidance rules, ensuring a minimum separation distance. It works well when vehicles follow speed limits but may fail if they exceed them. The second method is based on Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) rules, which prioritize safety even in emergencies. However, this approach requires larger time gaps, potentially reducing traffic flow.
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Why is it important?
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is an emerging transportation system that envisions using aerial vehicles—both manned and unmanned—for on-demand or scheduled flights in metropolitan areas. This concept has gained significant interest from industry, academia, and government in recent years. Despite rapid advancements in UAM technology, there is still limited research on how to efficiently manage air traffic and flight paths between locations. Recognizing this gap, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced UAM corridors—dedicated airspace routes—as part of its Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) infrastructure to help regulate air traffic. This study proposes a new Air Traffic Control (ATC) system designed specifically for UAM corridors. Our approach aligns with digital flight operations and Dynamic Flight Rules (DFR) by enabling UAM operators to share their intended flight plans, allowing for safe self-separation of vehicles. We develop two methods to coordinate arrival times at key waypoints, ensuring safe spacing between vehicles throughout their flights. Our research provides theoretical safety guarantees, supported by numerical simulations, and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each method.
Perspectives
As Urban Air Mobility (UAM) advances, managing air traffic safely and efficiently remains a critical challenge. This study proposes a self-separation approach for UAM corridors, which is crucial for the large-scale traffic network of aerial vehicles in urban environments. Our concept aligns with the FAA’s UAM Concept of Operations and the Digital Flight operating mode. In the future, we will explore different UAM corridor scenarios and study how our proposed methods impact traffic flow within these corridors.
Sasinee Pruekprasert
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Safe Arrival Scheduling at Constraint Waypoints in UAM Corridors, January 2025, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
DOI: 10.2514/6.2025-2232.
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