Designing vertiports for air taxis

Are you looking forward to taking an air taxi? NASA is working to figure out where Advanced Air Mobility, or AAM, vehicles will take off and land. Many AAM vehicles will be electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, so they will have the ability to take off and land vertically like helicopters on helipads.

NASA is investigating where these vertiports or vertiplexes, which are multiple vertiports in close proximity, will work in existing infrastructure, such as today’s airports and heliports. Work is also underway to investigate new vertiports that can be created by reusing spaces originally intended for another purpose, new vertiports that can be integrated into existing buildings, or completely new vertiports. Some vertiports will surely be located in spaces adjacent to facilities already used for other means of transport, such as train or coach stations or bus stops.

Many of the first instances of eVTOL vehicle takeoff and landing will occur at existing airports. Later, these vehicles will use their unique performance capabilities to land on top of buildings or other suitable spaces in crowded urban areas.

In several projects of this type linked to the NASA initiative, work is already being done on different elements of the system to help make the daily activity of air taxis a reality. This includes work on automation, noise mitigation, vehicle and vertiport design, and airspace design to keep everyone safe as they fly through the sky together. It is clear that a coordinated effort between government agencies, industry and the public will also be needed to establish these new “highways” in the sky.

Artistic recreation of what a vertiport could be like. (Image: NASA)

high density vertiplex

NASA’s High Density Vertiplex, or HDV, subproject is developing a vertiport automation system and uses small remotely piloted aircraft to evaluate how vertiport automation can improve the safety and efficiency of operations. operations. HDV will initially test these smaller remotely piloted vehicles, but will progress to larger VTOL aircraft. The team is evaluating how vertiport-integrated automation, vehicle-integrated automation, and air traffic management system-integrated automation might interact, how these systems can adequately deal with hazards and contingencies, and how pilots, administrators of vertiports and fleet managers will interact with the technology. The data collected from these tests will be very useful as starting points for future areas of research on vertiport automation systems and urban air mobility operations in the areas around vertiports.

System-wide security

The System-Wide Safety project is investigating advanced security management systems aimed at reducing vertiport hazards and risks. These could include systems that forecast hazards and assess the performance of navigation systems. Assessment functions identify, aggregate, and track various safety metrics that identify precursors and trends that can lead to accidents. The project team is working with the High Density Vertiplex team to apply elements of this research to help solve vertiport security challenges.

Integration of vertiports in the communities

It is also working with local communities to find out how vertiport concepts, infrastructure and design can directly affect them.

NASA’s long-term goal for integrating this new mode of transportation into everyday life is to achieve a safe, accessible, and affordable air transportation system. To this end, it will collaborate with the Federal Aviation Administration, with some companies and with local entities in each area.

Once developed, passengers and cargo will travel on demand in innovative, automated aircraft across the city, between neighboring cities, or between more distant places typically accessible by car. (Source: NASA)