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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Annoyance Model Assessments of Urban Air Mobility Vehicle Operations

As urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles begin to enter service, consideration must be given to vertiport siting and flight routing to help reduce community noise impact and promote adoption by the community. Notwithstanding environmental justice concerns, a possible early strategy is to operate out of existing heliports and fly along established helicopter routes, many of which follow uninhabited waterways and/or roadways (with the thought for the latter that an already noisy ambient environment will mask the sound of the aircraft). However, no prior annoyance model has been fielded that both takes audibility into account and that may be applied to such a real-world strategy. This paper reviews a recently developed annoyance model that includes audibility as a factor and applies it to two flight operations. A simple overflight case is first undertaken to demonstrate the approach. A point-to-point operation in the New York City area is then considered to demonstrate how annoyance varies across an urban soundscape. The cases considered use modeled UAM vehicle noise propagated to a set of ground observers as the signals and either recorded or modeled ambient acoustic data as the maskers.

aircraft community noise↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Annoyance Model Assessments of Urban Air Mobility Vehicle Operations

As urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles begin to enter service, consideration must be given to vertiport siting and flight routing to help reduce community noise impact and promote adoption by the community. Notwithstanding environmental justice concerns, a possible early strategy is to operate out of existing heliports and fly along established helicopter routes, many of which follow uninhabited waterways and/or roadways (with the thought for the latter that an already noisy ambient environment will mask the sound of the aircraft). However, no prior annoyance model has been fielded that both takes audibility into account and that may be applied to such a real-world strategy. This paper reviews a recently developed annoyance model that includes audibility as a factor and applies it to two flight operations. A simple overflight case is first undertaken to demonstrate the approach. A point-to-point operation in the New York City area is then considered to demonstrate how annoyance varies across an urban soundscape. The cases considered use modeled UAM vehicle noise propagated to a set of ground observers as the signals and either recorded or modeled ambient acoustic data as the maskers.

aircraft community noise↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Qualitative Data Coding of User Experience with an Urban Air Mobility Fleet Manager Interface

The NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate created the High Density Vertiplex (HDV) project to integrate and evaluate a prototype Urban Air Mobility (UAM) ecosystem. Part of the HDV testing environment included a prototype operator user interface called the Fleet Manager Interface (FMI). In 2023, HDV conducted flight testing with the FMI during which a user experience (UX) study was performed to assess the quality of UX and elicit design recommendations. As a result, a large database of open-ended, qualitative responses was generated and then coded using a new qualitative data coding technique called Directive String Coding, which used a blended coding approach to generate actionable heuristics that stakeholders (e.g., researchers, UI designers, software developers) could use to answer specific research questions and make future design decisions. The key themes that arose from the coded responses showed that the UX was pleasant, system notifications should be more salient, and information across multiple screens should be integrated into a central display. As the Fleet Manger operational role is still being defined, it is vital to increase our understanding of the tools and capabilities needed for such a role. The results from HDV work will eventually feed into standards for vertiport operations that will enable safe and scalable UAM operations in the United States.

high density vertiplex↗
NASA NTRS2024

High Density Vertiplex - Scalable Autonomous Operations - Flight Test Report

This Technical Memorandum describes the approach taken within the High Density Vertiplex Project to perform rapid prototyping and assessment of the UAM Ecosystem including representative: Onboard Autonomous Systems, Ground Control and Fleet Management Systems, Airspace Management Systems, and Vertiport Automation Systems (VAS). Small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS) were employed as effective low risk and inexpensive surrogates for larger proposed UAM aircraft to accelerate the prototyping effort, ensure safety, greatly mitigate costs, and accelerate progress. Flight testing performed included multivehicle operations where usability Human Factors (HF) data was collected on the operators.

Jacob Schaefer↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Usability of an Updated Version of the Supplemental Data Service Provider-Consolidated Dashboard for Supporting Uncrewed Aircraft System Traffic Management

The Supplemental Data Service Provider-Consolidated Dashboard (SDSP-CD) is a preflight planning user interface (UI) that serves to aid operators when drafting routes for small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUASs). The primary function of the SDSP-CD is to identify hazards that an sUAS may encounter along a proposed flight path and assess the severity of these risks. A usability study was conducted on an updated version of the SDSP-CD to determine if the most recent iterations made to the system improved objective performance and subjective user experience. There are two main components of the SDSP-CD interface: (1) the dashboard and (2) the interactive map. The dashboard provides users with hazard and vehicle limitations for each sUAS in their fleet while the map contains a graphical representation of each vehicle’s route, hazard details, and geographic information. A series of preflight risk-assessment questions and tasks were developed to examine how participants interact with the updated version of the SDSP-CD. Additionally, a new service that measures vertiport congestion was developed and included as one of the services that was tested. In the present study, participants were trained to use the SDSP-CD and then completed two simulated scenarios during which they performed a variety of tasks, responded to questions, and completed surveys. The two scenarios developed for the present study were the Package Delivery and Hurricane Preparation scenarios. The Package Delivery scenario involved a fleet of four sUASs delivering low-stakes items (e.g., lunches and snacks) to people in a fictitious city. The Hurricane Preparation scenario involved a fleet of 11 sUASs delivering a range of supplies (from medicine to boardgames) to employees stranded at an office park due to road closures caused by an impending hurricane. Participants assumed the role of a fleet manager during both scenarios and were responsible for managing the sUASs in their fleet. Questions included those with objectively correct responses, open-ended strategy responses, and subjective user experience feedback. It was found that participants were largely successful at using the SDSP-CD interface to answer questions with objectively correct responses. Additionally, participants were able to use reasoning and logic based on the information available in the SDSP-CD to determine the cause of various risks and what actions they would consider taking. Finally, although participants reported that there were elements of the UI that could be improved, overall feedback pertaining to user experience suggested that the SDSP-CD concept is viable.

usability testing↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lidar and UAS Measurements of Winds for the NASA Advanced Air Mobility Mission

The envisioned future of Advanced Air Mobility involves low-altitude operation of a new class of air vehicles. The low altitudes of the flight paths would have these vehicles spending most of their operation in conditions where unpredictable wind and turbulence effects may occur. Wind measurements will hence be critical to ensure safe and efficient operations for AAM. Such wind measurement could be used as a monitoring system for warning of hazardous wind events, as data input to forecasting models, or as a research tool to understand wind effects in complex environments. To meet this need NASA is evaluating wind sensing technologies with a capability to probe the atmospheric boundary layer. Doppler lidar is a leading candidate ground-based sensor, as shown by the decades-long history of being an effective tool for many wind studies. However, there is a need to re-assess the Doppler wind lidars for the AAM application which involves evaluating wind effects as vehicles operate in and out of vertiports, notably regarding spatial resolution. Meeting the needs for spatial resolution may involve the use of dual-Doppler techniques, rather than just single Doppler lidar. The study was furthermore motivated by looking toward the future of AAM, in which the air vehicles involved can also provide wind measurements. Airborne wind measurements, obtained directly from vehicle-mounted anemometers or indirectly from vehicle navigation data, offer a means to compare remotely sensed wind lidar with in-situ measurements. The following sections report on results of wind measurements obtained using lidar and the small uninhabited aircraft systems (sUAS’s) operating in the same volume of air.

Adam Medina↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Qualitative Data Coding of User Experience with an Urban Air Mobility Fleet Manager Interface

The NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate created the High Density Vertiplex (HDV) project to integrate and evaluate a prototype Urban Air Mobility (UAM) ecosystem. Part of the HDV testing environment included a prototype operator user interface called the Fleet Manager Interface (FMI). In 2023, HDV conducted flight testing with the FMI during which a user experience (UX) study was performed to assess the quality of UX and elicit design recommendations. As a result, a large database of open-ended, qualitative responses was generated and then coded using a new qualitative data coding technique called Directive String Coding, which used a blended coding approach to generate actionable heuristics that stakeholders (e.g., researchers, UI designers, software developers) could use to answer specific research questions and make future design decisions. The key themes that arose from the coded responses showed that the UX was pleasant, system notifications should be more salient, and information across multiple screens should be integrated into a central display. As the Fleet Manger operational role is still being defined, it is vital to increase our understanding of the tools and capabilities needed for such a role. The results from HDV work will eventually feed into standards for vertiport operations that will enable safe and scalable UAM operations in the United States.

high density veriplex↗
NASA NTRS2025

Provider of Services for Urban Air Mobility (PSU) Prototype Simulation (X5) Final Report

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a new air transportation service concept to carry passengers or cargo in metropolitan areas, leveraged by innovative aircraft and air traffic automation technologies. NASA has conducted a series of simulations, called the X-series simulation, to evaluate the UAM concept of operations and support the development of airspace procedures and services for UAM operations. The simulation called “X5” was conducted in 2023 to test a Provider of Services for UAM (PSU) prototype developed by NASA for UAM flight planning, strategic conflict management support, and data exchange between UAM operators. In this simulation, two strategic conflict management capabilities, Demand-Capacity Balancing and Sequencing and Scheduling, were further investigated. This document describes the UAM system architecture modeled, the X5 simulation environment to be executed (e.g., traffic scenario and UAM airspace construct), and the strategic conflict management processes developed and evaluated in this study. Then, the simulation results are provided using several system performance metrics, such as the number of operations planned and activated, demand-capacity imbalances detected and resolved, and pre-departure delays. Based on these metrics, the test findings and lessons learned from this simulation are discussed. NASA developed a PSU prototype as part of a reference implementation of UAM system architecture and evolved strategic conflict management capabilities for UAM operations from the previous collaborative simulations with industry partners. Below is the summary of the achievements: - Aligned NASA’s UAM reference architecture with the FAA’s UAM ConOps notional architecture - Extended UAM airspace management capabilities to include 1) Demand-Capacity Balancing (DCB) to ensure operators coordinate planned usage of shared vertiports, and 2) Sequencing and Scheduling (S&S) at UAM corridor entry and exit points to help facilitate an orderly flow of traffic - Defined the PSU information exchange APIs and requirements towards informing industry standards - Developed and tested a NASA PSU prototype as reference implementation to validate the requirements and APIs - Developed a prototype service connecting NASA’s PSU and the FAA system for testing future PSU-ATM interface requirements - Tested NASA-developed assumptions for UAM operations such as airspace design, procedures, vehicle performance, and strategic conflict management methods to inform future Cooperative Operating Practices (COPs) development with industry - Evaluated system performance metrics such as number of simultaneous operations and ground delays that can help define system-level requirements. The simulation results showed that the UAM traffic demand could be managed to minimize the needs of tactical separation provision with ground delays assigned by DCB and S&S. These accomplishments and the lessons learned from the PSU Prototype X5 simulation activities will be valuable inputs for the Air Mobility Pathfinders (AMP) project, which is NASA’s new project to create and evaluate a reference architecture for safe, secure, and scalable UAM operations.

Simulation↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effects of Motion Fidelity on Pilot Performance Using Mixed-Reality Visuals

This paper investigates the effects of simulator motion fidelity on pilot performance using mixed-reality visuals. In NASA’s Vertical Motion Simulator, eleven pilots flew a lift-plus-cruise electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle in a vertiport approach and landing task with four different motion conditions: no motion, small hexapod motion, large hexapod motion, and full motion. The simulator motion condition statistically significantly affected: 1) the severity of cybersickness, 2) motion ratings, 3) final approach and take-off boundary crossing groundspeed, 4) longitudinal touchdown point, and 5) battery time remaining after landing. The findings suggest that motion systems are essential in simulators with virtual- or mixed-reality visuals when it is required to have pilot flying performance similar to that in real flight.

mixed reality↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effects of Motion Fidelity on Pilot Performance Using Mixed-Reality Visuals

This paper investigates the effects of simulator motion fidelity on pilot performance using mixed-reality visuals. In NASA’s Vertical Motion Simulator, eleven pilots flew a lift-plus-cruise electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle in a vertiport approach and landing task under four different motion conditions: no motion, small hexapod motion, large hexapod motion, and full motion. The simulator motion condition statistically significantly affected: 1) the severity of cybersickness, 2) motion ratings, 3) final approach and take-off boundary crossing groundspeeds, 4) longitudinal touchdown point, and 5) battery time remaining after landing. These results suggest that the use of motion systems in simulators with virtual- or mixed-reality visuals is warranted.

simulation↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Operational Analysis to Evaluate Practical Potential of Vertical Vertiplex for Urban Air Mobility

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is intended to serve as an alternative mode of transportation to relieve congestions in and out of urban areas. Therefore, a high density vertiplex (HDV) with multiple touchdowns and liftoff (TLOF) zone is necessary to alleviate the demands. To increase the operational efficiency of the vertiplex, EVTOL aircraft are distributed to parking spaces to utilize the TLOF zone for another approach and departure procedure. The surface footprint of the infrastructure increases drastically due to the horizontal arrangement of taxiways and parking spaces. Because high-demand locations will likely be in an urban environment with space constraints, consideration to decrease the surface footprint of the infrastructure without jeopardizing the operational efficiency is necessary for the realization of UAM. The first part of this paper proposes an innovative approach to vertically orient taxiways and parking spaces by utilizing a vertical lift to transport EVTOL aircraft within the vertiplex while meeting the safety-critical requirements outlined in Heliport Design Advisory Circular: AC 150/5390-2c. The second part of the paper evaluates the practical potential of the proposed vertical vertiplex by analyzing relative surface area utilization and operational capacity.

Smart Air Mobility↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Proposed Taxonomy for Advanced Air Mobility

There has been a large growth in interest of utilizing new technologies—most notably electrified propulsion and automation—as well as new business models to bring aviation services into the daily lives of a greater segment of society. Generally, these services are envisioned to augment existing ground modes of transportation or to enable new operating capabilities for shorter-range aviation missions. These services, which have become known as advanced air mobility (AAM), include passenger transportation, cargo transportation, and aerial work missions, such as aerial photography. In this paper we describe advanced air mobility and provide a framework based on demand and supply concepts that can be used for developing a taxonomy for AAM with a focus on passenger applications. This taxonomy is intended to facilitate the nascent AAM stakeholder community in adopting a common terminology and to enable better coordination among disparate AAM research and development activities.

advanced air mobility↗
NASA NTRS2023

Analysis of Strategic Conflict Management Approaches as Applied to Simulated UAM Operations

This report presents the results of a comparison analysis of candidate Strategic Conflict Management (SCM) strategies as applied to Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations. The SCM strategies investigated included: no SCM, resource scheduling (RS), resource flow rates (FR), area-based flow rates (AR), and conflict detection and resolution (CR). The study evaluated each strategy against the same 3 levels of flight demand in a representative airspace construct for the Dallas/Fort Worth region. The study also accounted for different levels of uncertainty in operational planning and equivalent levels of trajectory following error. In the analysis, we compared the SCM strategies’ effectiveness in reducing the need for the tactical conflict management layer to act and looked at the metrics of unmitigated losses-of-separation (LOS), flight delays imposed by strategic planning, and throughput of the overall airspace. The study results indicated that the CR strategy was the most effective at reducing LOS and percentage of flights with LOS, even in the presence of trajectory error when uncertainty is accounted for in planning. Thus, if the objective is to reduce the number of actions that the tactical conflict management layer will have to take, in terms of conflicts that may need to be resolved, CR is the strategy to use. The FR strategy was found to be the worst at reducing LOS and percentage of flights with LOS. Thus, it is not very effective at reducing the actions required by a tactical conflict management layer. In the airspace tested, the demand was high enough to produce unacceptable levels of flight delay and reductions of throughput when the SCM strategies were implemented. This was especially evident at the higher levels of trajectory uncertainty and error. The need to account for expected levels of uncertainty becomes more and more important as the demand level increases and as the level of trajectory error increases. This is because the likelihood of flights with LOS increases as the density of operations increases and as the level of trajectory error increases. Accounting for uncertainty in the SCM strategies improves the strategy effectiveness with respect to LOS but increases delays and reduces throughput. Thus, there is a tradeoff between scalability and allowable levels of uncertainty. That is, we can implement an air traffic management construct that allows high levels of uncertainty, but we can expect that same system to have limits on scalability that may be evident even at small demand levels, such as those used in this study. Therefore, the results in this study indicate that an air traffic system should attempt to implement mechanisms appropriate for reducing uncertainty where possible in order to increase the chances for scalability. And this increased level of predictability of operations needs to be balanced with mechanisms for ensuring flexibility when operational conditions and plans need to change, even though those types of changes should be the exception rather than the rule under normal conditions. The study also introduced a trade space that could serve as a mechanism for selecting the appropriate SCM strategy in a trade-off between uncertainty and error, mean flight delay, and the LOS metrics (which this study equates to the potential for tactical conflict management actions). The optimal solution for a given airspace, demand level, and other factors, could likely be a combination of SCM strategies, although this study only compared the use of a single SCM strategy at a time. The CR strategy appeared to have the best opportunity for scalability by limiting the number of potential tactical actions to nearly zero.

Strategic Conflict Management↗