Urban air mobility network design and operations strategy in an urban agglomeration

Urban air mobility (UAM) is an emerging mode of mobility implemented with the utilization of electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOLs). UAM is expected to overcome the major side-effects of traditional transportation systems, such as land overuse, congestion, and pollution, since the UAM services are operated in the low-altitude airspace. This paper studies the design of an UAM service network in an urban agglomeration by modeling and analyzing the vertiport locations, eVTOL fleet operations, and passenger acceptance, so as to provide a viable solution for the design of an efficient and sustainable UAM system. We propose a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model to capture the tactical and operational aspects of the UAM system. By exploiting the structural properties of the nonlinear model, we reduce the numbers of variables and constraints and convert the model into an equivalent linearized version, facilitating the generation of optimal solutions for the application in a large urban agglomeration. To validate the applicability of our model and solution, a case study on major cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is conducted. The results indicate that UAM offers higher transportation efficiency compared to traditional ground transportation due to point-to-point flights and immunity to ground traffic congestion, with a reduction of up to 78 min in the average travel time. In addition, sensitivity analysis on passengers’ time sensitivity, eVTOL procurement cost, and flight service price are conducted to reveal insights into the UAM performance and optimal system design.