Project description
Planning for socially acceptable urban air mobility
Urban air mobility (UAM) is almost a reality in Europe. To ensure social acceptance, it is important to assess its impacts and the capacity of the airspace and ground facilities to accommodate movements in the third dimension. The EU-funded ImAFUSA project will focus on the understudied factors influencing UAM acceptance in urban areas, focusing on U3 and U4 services. The aim of the project is to deliver a framework to assist local authorities, U-space stakeholders, and users in deploying socially acceptable and beneficial UAM services in cities. The framework covers environmental (noise, visual pollution, air quality), safety, and socioeconomic aspects (economic growth, public space use, connectivity). To gather pertinent data, three immersive citizen experiences will be conducted in Athens. These experiences aim to enrich our understanding by providing real-world information regarding the potential implications and benefits of UAM.
Objective
ImAFUSA focuses on quantifying a variety of understudied factors influencing societal acceptance of UAM in urban, peri-urban and inter-urban areas, especially when these are deployed using U3 and U4 services. We aim to deliver an “Impact and capacity Assessment Framework for U-space Societal Acceptance” (ImAFUSA) to assist Local Authorities and other U-space stakeholders and users with the delivery of socially acceptable and beneficial UAM deployment in cities. The framework and its tools will provide insights in 3 major areas influencing societal acceptance: environmental impact (including noise, visual pollution and air quality), safety and socioeconomic impact (including affordability, accessibility, economic development, public space use and connectivity). In each area, innovative performance indicators will be described while mathematical formulas and algorithms will be developed to quantify them. Data on citizen noise perceptions, perceptions on visual pollution, safety perceptions and overall UAM acceptance will be collected during 3 immersive citizen experiences of UAM applications in the city of Athens, Greece. The usability of the developed indicators will be tested in a simulation environment simulating real future use cases with a varying volume and configuration of movements in U-space. Through the collaboration of the Partners and the Advisory Board, ImAFUSA facilitates the flow and co-creation of knowledge and 10 innovative tools between higher education (HEI), innovative SMEs, Local Authorities and National Aviation Authorities. ImAFUSA´s developments benefit a variety of stakeholders including Local Authorities, policy-makers, U-space service providers, ATM/UTM planners and operators, drone manufacturers, environmental agencies and citizens above all.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringurban engineeringsmart cities
- social sciencessocial geographytransportsocial aspects of transport
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesacoustics
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- social sciencessocial geographytransporttransport planningair traffic management
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.2.5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
1649 026 Lisboa
Portugal