The IAM-OSA (Innovative Air Mobility for Optimal Sustainability and Accessibility) project continues DLR's research on urban air mobility and expands it to include regional and multimodal scenarios to create "innovative air mobility" concepts. The key elements of operation, safety, security and acoustics are taken into account in the evaluation of the overall IAM system.
Innovative air mobility (IAM) describes a modern, safe and sustainable air transport system and can be seen as an extension of urban air mobility (UAM). IAM aims at the efficient transport of passengers and freight by air and combines different use cases (e.g. urban, regional and international air transport connections) into an intermodal transport network. The concept of IAM is designed to overcome the traditional boundaries of air transport and offer innovative solutions (e.g. air taxis) for mobility in urban and regional areas. In contrast to traditional air transport systems, which are largely focused on large airports and long-haul flights, IAM centres on more flexible and accessible air transport services that are tailored to the specific needs of the regions. Based on the findings from the DLR project HorizonUAM (2020-2023), IAM-OSA expands the research scope by considering new intermodal and regional use cases with the aim of seamlessly integrating IAM into existing transport systems. Ten DLR institutes and facilities are involved in the IAM-OSA project, coordinated by the Institute of Flight Guidance.
The aim of the IAM-OSA project is to investigate IAM transport systems within urban, regional and international transport systems in the context of the operational, technical and social challenges of the future. The basis for this is the expansion of the system-of-systems (SoS) overall traffic simulation developed in HorizonUAM with the aim of optimising air traffic management and fleet operation of future IAM aircraft for different use cases (e.g. urban, regional). In addition, an overall traffic demand will be modelled for this SoS simulation and based on this, technology impacts and the sustainability of future IAM transport concepts will be investigated. The airside aspects of IAM operations, including the required operator positions and U-space services in an air taxi control centre, will be simulated in fast time and validated in real time.
In addition, a digital controller is being developed to support existing air traffic control and accompany the new air traffic concepts. Furthermore, various acceptance tests are being carried out on this new type of air traffic system in order to validate passenger acceptance for airspace users and to verify innovative cabin designs. Methods will also be developed to extend the autonomy of aircraft with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). Possible cyber-physical threats to vertiports are being identified in close collaboration with the other work packages. In terms of sustainability, novel electrically powered air taxi configurations promise lower noise emissions compared to conventional helicopters. In order to create a basis for evaluation, the acoustics at vertiports, particularly during the take-off and landing phases, are modelled and validated in flight tests.
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Key Data
Project
IAM-OSA (Innovative Air Mobility for Optimal Sustainability and Accessibility)
Participants
DLR Insitute of Flight Guidance (coordinator)
DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology
DLR Institute of Propulsion Technology
DLR Institute of Flight Systems
DLR Institute of Communications and Navigation
DLR Institute of Air Transport
DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicin
DLR Institute of System Architectures in Aeronautics
DLR Institute of Software Methods for Product Virtualization
Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems
