Soon, drones will transport different things across the sky over urban centers: from packages to people. How to organize this new traffic?
It seems like something far away, but in a few years cities could gain another type of avenue with the advancement of technology: the skies. If it is already common to see drones flying around for recreational use, in the fields or in the delivery, these equipment will soon transport many more items (and even people). The challenge is now: how to organize this new traffic?
Urban air mobility (UAM) is a concept still in development, but it already sees drones flying to carry packages and passengers or support relief and security activities — such as combat to fires.
To organize this new means of transport, the European Union began testing, in June 2022, the feasibility of an urban air mobility management system in the project AMU-LED (acronym in English for Urban Air Mobility – Large Experimental Demonstrations).
With real-world testing and simulations, AMU-LED will explore and demonstrate use cases for air taxi operations, cargo transport, delivery of goods and medical equipment, infrastructure inspection, police surveillance and emergency services support. The project is financed by SESAR, a kind of consortium of public and private sector organizations on the continent.
The first test was carried out at Cranfield University, in the United Kingdom, and will be followed by other operations until September in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Enschede) and Spain (Santiago de Compostela). In total, there will be more than 100 hours of flights combining manned and unmanned aerial systems.
“This is a very exciting project and one that will pave the way for highways in the skies, removing traffic and congestion and changing the way we move,” Gokhan Inalhan, professor of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence at Cranfield University, told the website Cities Today.
Drone air traffic management will be carried out in a structure called U-space, created to offer safety and efficiency to this operation. The system is more automated than current air traffic control, with less human interaction and the ability to track more flights simultaneously.
And in Brazil, what is it like?
In May 2022, Eve, Embraer's urban mobility company, published the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for Urban Air Mobility in Brazil. O document, created in partnership with the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) and ten other institutions, has data and analyzes that cover the vision, points of attention and operational needs of eVTOL (acronym in English for electric vertical takeoff and landing), user journey and services and support.
The eVTOL is the most “robust” drone that will be used in the future to transport people, the next step in air taxis. Existing models resemble helicopters, with the difference that they are powered by electricity and have many more propellers.
In addition to studies and discussion groups, CONOPS carried out flight operations in November 2021 to simulate a UAM ecosystem using a helicopter. The route was made in Rio de Janeiro and connected the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood to Tom Jobim International Airport.
The population participated in the simulation by purchasing tickets at affordable prices on six daily departures carried out in one month. According to Eve, the data and information extracted from this simulation will contribute to defining the characteristics and needs for the development of urban air mobility for any city in Brazil.
