Applying a comparative performance assessment framework to different airspace management concepts for urban air mobility

Abstract With the emerging industry of Urban Air Mobility (UAM), a multitude of ideas and concepts are being explored and elaborated to deliver an integrated and harmonized UAM ecosystem. These ideas and concepts are involved in all aspects of the UAM ecosystem, including vehicle technology, airspace system design, infrastructure, and governing regulations. Along with the significant progress on the different UAM research topics, comparative assessment frameworks are also being proposed to objectively compare them. Before UAM deployment, stakeholders need to compare the different approaches and determine which one is the better fit to specific needs. This paper focuses on assessing concepts related to UAM airspace management. It aims to apply a comparative assessment framework to three concepts, namely Slot-Based Approach (SBA), Trajectory-Based Approach (TBA), both developed by DLR within the HorizonUAM project, and Corridor-Based Approach (CBA) developed by NASA under the Air Traffic Management–eXploration (ATM-X) project. This paper describes an initial comparative study while delivering the first key findings. The applied methodology is based on simulation runs conducted in different urban areas, Hamburg and Dallas/Fort Worth, using two simulation platforms namely a DLR Simulation using the Remote Component Environment (RCE) and the NASA-developed simulation platform called TestBed. The collected results shed light on the advantages and disadvantages of each airspace management concept and help to identify key distinctions between the concepts. Solutions and concepts are often tailored to a specific city, making it difficult to replicate and scale. Indeed, there is no one-size-fits-all concept. This study demonstrates the general applicability of the proposed performance assessment methodology and can serve as the basis for further comparison studies of future airspace management concepts for UAM.