Federal award (DELIVERY ORDER, fiscal year 2023)
Recipient: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AEROSPACE ASSOCIATES
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2018-08-08 to 2018-12-14
Current total value of award: $220129.74
Description: ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE STUDY FOR URBAN AIR MOBILITY (UAM) AIRCRAFT. THE CONVERGENCE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES, SUCH AS ELECTRIC PROPULSION, AUTONOMY, AND NEW BUSINESS MODELS, SUCH AS APP-BASED RIDE SHARING, ARE GENERATING THE POTENTIAL FOR A NEW AVIATION MARKET KNOWN AS URBAN AIR MOBILITY (UAM) TO EMERGE. IT IS ENVISIONED THAT UAM MAY REVOLUTIONIZE MOBILITY WITHIN METROPOLITAN AREAS BY ENABLING A SAFE, EFFICIENT, CONVENIENT, AFFORDABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM FOR PASSENGERS AND CARGO. SUCH AN AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM COULD BRING AVIATION INTO PEOPLE S DAILY LIVES AND PROVIDE AN AUGMENTATION AND/OR ALTERNATIVE TO OTHER GROUND-BASED TRANSIT MODES, SUCH AS CARS. BECAUSE UAM IS ENVISIONED TO AID IN MOBILITY AROUND DENSE URBAN AREAS WHERE LAND AVAILABILITY IS SCARCE, MOST VEHICLES BEING PROPOSED IN THIS SPACE ARE CAPABLE OF VERTICAL TAKEOFF AND LANDING (VTOL) LIKE CONVENTIONAL HELICOPTERS. ADDITIONALLY, THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTRIC PROPULSION ONTO SMALL VTOL AIRCRAFT MAY ENABLE MORE EFFICIENT, QUIETER, AND FASTER VEHICLES THAN ARE ACHIEVABLE WITH CONVENTIONAL PROPULSION SYSTEMS AND CONFIGURATIONS. THEREFORE, THE VEHICLES THAT ARE LIKELY TO PERFORM UAM MISSIONS HAVE BECOME KNOWN AS ELECTRIC VERTICAL TAKEOFF AND LANDING, OR EVTOL, VEHICLES. THE LOCATIONS FROM WHICH THESE UAM AIRCRAFT WILL OPERATE HAVE BEEN TERMED  VERTIPORTS.  EACH VERTIPORT MAY HAVE A SINGLE  VERTIPAD  OR MULTIPLE VERTIPADS FROM WHICH AIRCRAFT MAY TAKEOFF, LAND, PARK, AND/OR RECHARGE. THE EXACT DISTRIBUTION, NUMBER, AND SIZE OF VERTIPORTS ACROSS A METROPOLITAN AREA IS AS YET UNDEFINED, THOUGH SOME ESTIMATES HAVE BEEN PRESENTED BY NASA-FUNDED RESEARCH1 AND UBER.2 FOR THIS INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT PURELY ELECTRIC VTOL AIRCRAFT, THERE WILL NEED TO BE RECHARGING CAPABILITIES AT MANY, IF NOT ALL, OF THE VERTIPORTS. SUCH INFRASTRUCTURE DOES NOT EXIST TODAY AND MUST BE INSTALLED PRIOR TO AN ALL-ELECTRIC UAM NETWORK BEING IMPLEMENTED.   THE PURPOSE OF THIS TASK IS TO HELP PROVIDE A HIGH-LEVEL UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHANGES THAT NEED TO BE MADE TO THE EXISTING ELECTRIC GRID TO SUPPORT EVTOL OPERATIONS AS A PART OF A UAM TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM. IN ADDITION TO A QUALITATIVE DISCUSSION OF THESE NEEDED MODIFICATIONS ESTIMATES OF THE TIMEFRAMES AND COSTS REQUIRED TO DEVELOP INFRASTRUCTURE, INCLUDING ALL INFRASTRUCTURE ELEMENTS FROM THE ELECTRICITY GENERATION THROUGH TO THE CHARGING OF THE AIRCRAFT AT A VERTIPORT, WILL BE THE MAIN OUTPUT OF THIS TASK.