L. Babetto, R. König, J. Fassnacht, E. Stumpf

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has emerged as a promising solution to address the complex challenges inherent in urban transportation systems providing innovative aerial mobility options within cities. However, the successful integration of UAM critically hinges upon public acceptance of electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles flying in urban environments. This work briefly presents the outcomes derived from two extensive surveys on the acceptance of UAM and eVTOLs. The survey on UAM is carried out across mid-sized cities in Europe. The primary objective of this survey was to identify key concerns and barriers associated with UAM adoption. The emphasis is particularly on eVTOL safety levels and noise disturbance, which were identified as the most significant concerns among respondents with a share of 65% and 64% respectively. The survey targeting eVTOLs is conducted on a continent-scale, highlighting the international relevance of the findings initially obtained in Europe. Subsequently, these concerns are addressed during the eVTOL conceptual design phase to improve safety levels and reduce noise disturbance from the very beginning and, thus, enhance acceptance. On the one hand, a preliminary safety assessment is conducted to mitigate the potential risks posed by eVTOLs during both airborne and ground operations. This assessment is accomplished through a combination of the Specific Operational Risk Assessment (SORA), as stipulated by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and a Bayesian Networks approach. This approach can handle multistate variables extending the safety assessment beyond the conventional binary states. The incorporation of multistate variables encompassing recovery actions is discussed, thereby enhancing system reliability and safety with fewer mechanical alterations of the eVTOL architecture, and thus, saving costs and reducing take-off mass. This is demonstrated through the application of the proposed safety assessment to the total loss of the eVTOL avionic system. The reliability outcomes are compared between a standard scenario (i.e., without any operational mitigation) and a scenario involving a successful emergency landing at a recovery site (i.e., with the recovery action). The results show that the probability of total failure with a recovery action is 100 times lower than the standard scenario. This indicates that including recovery actions makes the system less prone to failures and could be considered safer in terms of failure frequency. On the other hand, the investigation is augmented by findings from studies on noise disturbance, incorporating psychoacoustics. This aspect aims to decrease the sound disturbances generated by eVTOLs, thus enhancing the overall urban soundscape quality. With the aim to develop safer and quieter eVTOLs during the initial design stages, the acceptance of eVTOL technology is increased, paving the way for seamless integration of UAM into future transportation services.

Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress 2023, Stuttgart

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V., Bonn, 2024

Conference Paper

englisch

21,0 x 29,7 cm, 17 Seiten

urn:nbn:de:101:1-2024041014080239826772

10.25967/610319

UAM, noise, psychoacoustics, safety assessment, SORA, public acceptance, eVTOL

Download - Bitte beachten Sie die Nutzungsbedingungen dieses Dokuments: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0OPEN ACCESS

Babetto, L.; König, R.; et al. (2024): Study On Public Acceptance of EVTOL: Safety & Noise. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V.. (Text). https://doi.org/10.25967/610319. urn:nbn:de:101:1-2024041014080239826772.

10.04.2024