Urban Air Mobility

Quantifying the Resilience of the U.S. Domestic Aviation Network During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bauranov, Aleksandar
Parks, Steven
Jiang, Xuan
Rakas, Jasenka
González, Marta C.
2021

This paper analyzes the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the United States air transportation network between March and August 2020. Despite dramatic reductions in flight and passenger volumes, the network remained robust and resilient against perturbation. Although 24% of airports closed, the reduction in network efficiency was only 5.1%, which means airlines continued to serve most destinations. A deeper analysis of airport closures reveals that 1) small peripheral airports were the most likely to be closed; 2) socio-economic and epidemiological factors characterizing the airport’s region...

Integrating urban air mobility into the power grid through smart charging solutions

Wu, Jiaman
Cao, Shangqing
Hansen, Mark
González, Marta C.
2025

Adapting the existing power grid to support large-scale urban air mobility (UAM) operations using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft presents a critical infrastructural challenge that needs to be tackled. To this end, this paper presents a framework for estimating the potential of smart charging to improve power system welfare when integrating large-scale UAM into the power grid. We first estimate passenger travel demand for UAM from location-based service (LBS) data. Then we obtain the feasible charging window of aircraft by solving a fleet dispatching problem to...

Designing Airspace for Urban Air Mobility: A Review of Concepts and Approaches

Bauranov, Aleksandar
Rakas, Jasenka
2021

The article brings together the academic and industry literature on the design and management of urban airspace. We analyze the proposed airspace concepts, identify their strengths and weaknesses, point to gaps in research, and provide recommendations for a more holistic approach to designing urban airspace. We first identify the structural factors that define the size, capacity, and geometry of urban airspace. These factors are grouped into four categories: safety-related factors, social factors, system factors, and aircraft factors. Second, we review different urban airspace concepts...

Urban Air Mobility and Manned eVTOLs: Safety Implications

Bauranov, Aleksandar
Rakas, Jasenka
2019

New propulsion systems, artificial intelligence, sensor technology, and operational system autonomy are transforming the short to mid-range aviation industry. Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft offer new possibilities for Urban Air Mobility (UAM). However, these developments will create operational issues and safety concerns, especially in the socalled transition period when these aircraft are expected to be manned by pilots, and assisted by onboard automation systems. In this transition period, different aircraft will have different systems for flying. Additionally,...

Urban Surface and Air Mobility Control: A Microsimulation Integrating Intelligent Fly-Drive Vehicles Into Surface Traffic

Gavric, Slavica
Stevanovic, Aleksandar
Mitrovic, Nikola
Netjasov, Fedja
Rakas, Jasenka
2025

The emergence of the urban air mobility (UAM) concept promises to leverage a new generation of electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to provide three-dimensional and comprehensive transportation services. However, UAM does not provide door-to-door service and often requires other transportation modes to travel from origin to destination. To address this problem, study proposes the Urban Surface and Air Mobility (USaAM) concept that enables door-to-door travel, utilizing the same fly-drive vehicle for both surface and airborne transportation. The proposed USaAM concept...

Truck Scheduling for Ground to Air Connectivity: Final Report

Hall, Randolph W.
Lo, Shih-Che
2002

A critical link in the overnight package business is the on-time arrival of trucks at airport terminals. Truck delays can delay the package sorting and transfer process, which can in turn delay aircraft departures from the local terminal, as well as aircraft departures from hub terminals that depend on timely aircraft arrivals. This report models the airport terminal as a queueing process with random bulk arrivals. The models have been implemented in a web-based decision support tool (Truck to Air Dispatch, TAD, available at the website ger309-pc16.usc.edu), which provides real-time...

The Potential of Using Transit Infrastructure for Air Freight Movement: A Case Study in the Bay Area

Wang, Rui
Lu, Xiao-Yun
Sivakumaran, Karthik
2010

This report examines the impact and feasibility of using urban railway system for freight movement. In particular, using the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system for FedEx Express air cargo movement is analyzed as a case study. Based on the framework constructed in the study of last phase, social impact (externalities), reliability, and infrastructure feasibility are considered. The social cost related to emission, energy consumption/efficiency, impact on road traffic and land use is considered. The reliability issue is examined from two aspects: transportation delay, and emergency...

Transportation Periodicals and Newsletters Currently Received at the Institute of Transportation Studies Library, University of California at Berkeley

Hernandez, Paul A.
2000

This publication is intended to serve as a convenient reference to selected transportation periodicals and newsletters currently (2000) received by UC Berkeley's Harmer E. Davis Transportation Li-brary. This latest version of Transportation Periodicals and Newsletters represents a thourough revision of earlier editions (1989, 1993, and 1995) published under the same (or similar) title. The subject content of this listing reflects the subject strengths of the H.E. Davis Transportation Library: highways and traffic, air transportation, railroads, and urban transit. Water and pipeline modes...

Development of a Modeling Framework for Analyzing Improvements in Intermodal Connectivity at California Airports

Lu, Xiao-Yun
Gosling, Geoffrey D.
Shladover, Steven E.
Xiong, Jing
Ceder, Avi
2006

This report has been prepared as part of a research project developing a combined quantitative and qualitative approach to planning for improved intermodal connectivity at California airports. The quantitative approach involves the development of an Intermodal Airport Ground Access Planning Tool (IAPT) that combines an air passenger mode choice model, a model of transportation provider behavior and a traffic network analysis model. The qualitative approach will be used to enhance the quantitative analysis to account for those factors which are difficult to quantify and to provide...

Planning for Advanced Air Mobility

Cohen, Adam
Shaheen, Susan
Wulff, Yolanka
2024

Advanced air mobility (AAM) could result in fundamental changes to land use and the built environment and transform how people access essential services (e.g., emergency and medical services), goods, and mobility. While the impacts of these innovations remain to be seen, planners and policymakers need to prepare for these changes to minimize the potential for adverse impacts and maximize the likelihood of sustainable and equitable outcomes.