Project description
Advancing safe and sustainable urban air mobility
Urban air mobility (UAM) promises to revolutionise transport, but key challenges remain. The safe integration of air taxis and cargo drones into diverse airspaces (controlled, uncontrolled, and U-space) requires rigorous validation. Bridging the ‘Valley of Death’ in technology development is crucial to moving innovations from prototypes to real-world applications. Additionally, sustainability, noise reduction, and regulatory frameworks must align to ensure public acceptance and operational success. In this context, the EU-funded OperA project is tackling these challenges head-on. By testing three complex UAM operations in real-life air traffic management conditions, it aims to validate critical autonomy-enabling technologies and optimise flight efficiency. By accelerating UAM deployment, OperA paves the way for a safer, more sustainable urban aviation future.
Objective
This Fast Track project is a unique opportunity allowing the different stakeholders to approach, in an agile way, the development and joint validation of needed UAM technologies and operations in a real European environment. This will help the market bridge the famous “Valley of Death” in technology development, while it will bring a significant amount of insights that will be necessary for ensuring a safe introduction of the new UAM vehicles in all types of airspaces. The project has set 5 key objectives which will deliver 6 well-defined results that will contribute to achieving all Expected Outcomes stated in the Call text. The OperA project will enable safe and efficient operations in all types of airspace (controlled, uncontrolled and U-space) and conditions by validating 3 different complex UAM (piloted Air Taxi and unmanned cargo) operations in real-life and/or simulated ATM conditions including contingency and non-nominal situations. It will stimulate the uptake of new sustainable Urban Air Mobility services by addressing Air/Ground integration and the critical transition steps from piloted towards automated flights for 5 key autonomy-enabling technologies . In addition, it will ensure environmental sustainability compared to the next best transport alternative, and enhance it, by optimizing flight routing for minimum noise footprint and aircraft energy utilization. Eventually, it will accelerate the deployment of Urban Air Mobility by addressing necessary standardization, regulation and roadmaps, in synchronization with the ongoing certification of the involved European UAM vehicles and ensure social acceptance by targeted communication and dissemination activities. All of this will be done through 3 distinct and well selected demonstration activities involving Europe’s promising UAM OEMs.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering aerospace engineering aircraft
- social sciences social geography transport transport planning air traffic management
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.2.5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-JU-IA - HORIZON JU Innovation Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-SESAR-2022-DES-IR-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
148 00 CHODOV, PRAHA
Czechia
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.