R. Brühl, M. Lindner, H. Fricke

To foster the rising urban and regional air mobility, suitable ground infrastructure is required in urban and regional areas. This takeoff and landing infrastructure can be described as "vertiplace", which is categorized into three types (vertihub, vertiport, and vertistation). Each type is expected to fulfill anticipated certification standards for air taxi operations, further consisting of the turnaround of the vehicle and passenger handling. We assume electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft configuration to become dominant. Each type of vertiplace has a different scope of anticipated services resulting in distinct equipment levels and space requirements. In this contribution, we evaluate 70 candidate locations in Saxony representing existing mobility infrastructures (airfields, parking lots, and parking garages) by conducting an operational location assessment. Various factors (e.g., space availability, catchment area, links to other transport modes (intermodality), infrastructure installation costs, environment) are considered to figure out which locations meet best operational requirements. Selecting high-ranked locations, we design a hub-and-spoke network by simultaneously considering operational vehicle characteristics such as maximum range and passenger capacity of eVTOL aircraft to serve the demand. This results in a generalized hub location problem (HLP) methodology designing an air taxi network using demand data, cost estimates for infrastructure installation, distances, and ticket prices for passengers. This methodology is applied to an use case in Saxony. Our paper aims at contributing to efficient integration of vertiplace infrastructures in urban and regional areas by simultaneously minimising excessive costs and considering the operational requirements of Regional Air Mobility (RAM).

Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress 2022, Dresden

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V., Bonn, 2023

Conference Paper

englisch

21,0 x 29,7 cm, 10 Seiten

urn:nbn:de:101:1-2023010614193039264610

RAM ground infrastructure, network design, location assessment

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Brühl, R.; Lindner, M.; Fricke, H. (2023): Locating Air Taxi Infrastructure in Regional Areas - The Saxony Use Case. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V.. (Text). urn:nbn:de:101:1-2023010614193039264610.

06.01.2023