Epistemic Review
Confidence: 75% Sourced from the TUM MOOC (Coursera) on Urban Air Mobility - Introduction to UAM by Dr. Kay Plötner. A generalized topic that may need more research
Additional Sources
The main technological drivers in UAM are
- Battery technology - Development of electric propulsion for eVTOLs
- Sensor technology - Intelligent sensors and IoT systems for tracking eVTOLs and monitoring their health
- Communication technology - Spectrum resource management and 5G/6G for efficient BVLOS communications
- Computing power - We need strong computational resources to process complex algorithms and crunch big data
- Blockchain - To establish data security, confidentiality, and integrity
- Digital Twin - UAM requires the use of digital twins for large-scale full-system and real-time simulations of the entire airspace network, as well as cloud-based management systems. There’s work already being done in this field. Examples of digital twins used in UAM are Airbus UTM and MATSim
- Autonomous Systems - For management and improvement of UAM systems. AI/ML, path planning algorithms (notably the RRT* algorithm), machine vision, Conflict Detection and Avoidance, and Aviation Management
- Advanced Manufacturing and Design - 3D printing, predictive maintenance, design techniques and simulations to develop high-quality eVTOLs