Accessibility Analysis of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Near Airports with a Four-Dimensional Airspace Management Concept

Abstract

The demand for UAS operations is increasing in recent years, as well as the traffic volume of civil aviation. The operations of both traffic modules are based on the utilization of airspace resources. Currently Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are not allowed to operate close to airports, where potential conflicts between UAS and manned aircraft may happen. This rule is constraining the application of UAS. Therefore, it is necessary to study the current airspace utilization pattern near airports, before the boundary determination of UAS operation to allow the UAS accessing airspace safely without conflicts. In this paper, a data-driven analysis on historical trajectories at Changi Airport in Singapore was carried out. Trajectory data have been clustered to recognize the utilization patterns of airspace. Discussions on the boundary of UAS operation were presented based on both current airspace utilization patterns and the estimated capacity. The airspace utilization was further modeled in an urban airspace management framework, and quantifiable area for potential UAS operation was analyzed. As this is the first research study to present the initial concept, more operational and other factors should be considered in the future study for the generation of potential boundary of UAS operations.

Conflict-free four-dimensional path planning for urban air mobility considering airspace occupancy

“…By preventing conflicts in block utilization, the concept provides a solution for dynamic airspace utilization within a manageable overall airspace framework. The application of AirMatrix can be extended to both manned and unmanned air traffic, to manage the entire urban airspace in a harmonized fashion [8].…”

A Simulation-Based Study on the Impact of Tracking Performance on UTM Flight Safety

“…On the other hand, compared with traditional civil aviation, higher flight operations density and higher environmental complexity in the urban airspace can be expected in UAS traffic. Due to these differences, existing ATM concepts and systems cannot be applied to UAS directly, which brings the need for the UTM system to guarantee safe UAS operations and promote the integration of unmanned and manned aviation in the NAS [7]- [9]. Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs) and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) are working on UTM Concept of Operations (ConOps) development, which formulates the UTM services provided by UTM Service Providers (USSs) for flight operators.…”

Conflict-Free Trajectory Planning for Urban Air Mobility Based on an Airspace-Resource-Centric Approach

“…The AirMatrix concept was initiated and developed for ARC airspace management [8][9][10][11]. The idea was to discretize the airspace into blocks.…”