NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AEROSPACE ASSOCIATES

ANALYSIS OF OPERATIONAL ASPECTS OF ON DEMAND AIR MOBILITY: VERTIPORTS, AIRSPACE AND CONCEPTS. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AEROSPACE (NIA), WORKING WITH THE MIT INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AIR TRANSPORTATION (ICAT), CONDUCTED PART I OF THE OPERATIONAL ASPECTS OF ON-DEMAND AIR MOBILITY STUDY FROM FEBRUARY 2016 THROUGH JULY 2017. THIS FIRST PART OF THE PROJECT COMPLETED A CASE STUDY IN LOS ANGELES TO IDENTIFY KEY SYSTEM-LEVEL CONSTRAINTS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ON DEMAND MOBILITY (ODM) AVIATION SERVICES IN THE CONTEXT OF URBAN AIR MOBILITY (UAM). PART II OF THE STUDY, TITLED FURTHER ANALYSIS OF THE OPERATIONAL ASPECTS OF ON-DEMAND MOBILITY, WAS CONDUCTED FROM JULY 2017 TO JANUARY 2019. PART II EXPANDED THE CASE STUDY METHODOLOGY DEVELOPED IN PART I TO TWO ADDITIONAL CITIES, PRIORITIZED AND CHARACTERIZED THE SEVERITY OF THE IDENTIFIED OPERATIONAL CONSTRAINTS, AND DEVELOPED INITIAL MODELING TECHNIQUES FOR VERTIPORT OPERATIONS AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL. THIS WORK WAS PERFORMED UNDER NASA/NIA CONTRACT NO: NNL13AA08B; TASK ORDER NO: 80LARC17F0074. THE INTENT OF THIS NEW TASK IS TO BUILD UPON THE FINDINGS AND OUTPUTS OF THE PART I AND II EFFORTS THROUGH A FOLLOW-ON STUDY. A PRIMARY GOAL OF THIS FOLLOW-ON WORK IS TO REFINE AND MATURE THE MODELS, TOOLS AND ANALYSIS METHODS DEVELOPED IN THE PREVIOUS PARTS OF THE PROJECT INTO A DOCUMENTED DELIVERABLE THAT CAN INFORM DEVELOPMENT OF THE NASA AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT-EXPLORATION (ATM-X) TESTBED FOR USE IN SIMULATION ENVIRONMENTS AND STUDIES. FURTHERMORE, WHERE REQUESTED BY NASA, IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT THE CONTRACTOR WILL SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF UAM CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS (CONOPS) AND TECHNOLOGY ROAD MAPPING THROUGH RESEARCH BRIEFS, TELECONFERENCES, AND PARTICIPATION IN MEETINGS. THE CONTRACTOR WILL INTERFACE WITH OTHER RESEARCH PROGRAMS, SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS, AND CONSULTANTS AS NECESSARY, FOR RESEARCH INTO SPECIFIC TOPICS THAT MAY ARISE.