Public Final Report (Deliverable 1.3)

AiRMOUR presents an approach that takes on one of the most critical and challenging early real-life applications of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) in Emergency Medical Services (EMS). AiRMOUR fills in the gaps and advances the understanding of needed near-future actions by urban communities, operators, regulators, academia, and businesses AiRMOUR is a research and innovation project supporting the development of urban air mobility, via emergency medical services, supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program.

The AiRMOUR project engages 13 following partner organizations:

The AiRMOUR research and innovation project has conducted wide range of activities and delivered dozens of deliverables. These include, but are not limited to foresight analysis, UAM EMS functional requirements, public acceptance analyses, environmental analyses, simulations, real-life live validations, several online and on-site masterclass courses, as well as GIS tool and complete Guidebook for UAM integration.

In addition to these activities and deliverables this document highlights the large amount of new data, the new knowledge and the new state-of-the-art or more specifically a push to the state-of-the-art which has been generated by the project. On top of all of these, the most notable lessons learned by each work package during this research and innovation project are also shared in this document.

Several kinds of data, new knowledge and push to the state-of-the-art has been generated by different work packages through research, simulations, validations, workshops and stakeholder and citizen engagement. These all are described in detail in this document. These project results have been actively distributed to the various stakeholders and public through online and masterclass courses as well as through the active project dissemination, communication, and exploitation activities which are also described.

This document, the public final report, does not go extremely deep into the content and findings presented in individual project deliverables or reports. For a reader looking for maximum level of detail, it is best either to go through D6.4 Guidebook for UAM integration, which provides a relatively concise summary and roadmap of the key deliverables – or directly drill down into individual deliverables of interest themselves. All of the AiRMOUR public deliverables are available on the AiRMOUR web site airmour.eu/deliverables. Also the guidebook D6.4 is available there in 7 different languages, namely Dutch, English, Finnish, French,
German, Norwegian, and Swedish.

Read the whole Final Report here.

This deliverable wraps up the findings that help to achieve an initial understanding of the operational and environmental attractiveness and sustainability of UAM. Five recommendations were developed to help achieve such objectives. As yet, a further note: for demo flights, it might not be essential to use an aircraft with a configuration that perfectly matches the requirements, and some elements of the operating environment might be omitted. But to achieve effectiveness in operation, that is very important for both business and environmental aspects.

The link between UAM and circular economy and further – towards Sustainable Development Goals, relevant targets and indicators – has been found. Still, the impact of UAM elements and operations cannot be verified, even though it is expected to be positive. Too many factors influence sustainability matters. Only environmental concerns bring a range of unanswered questions. The project teams explored noise and CO2-related issues, which are just two elements out of many. How sustainable are the electric sources? How sustainable is the ground infrastructure – for example, vertiports, energy grids or storages, and other engineering communications? And how can sustainability be measured? The last question is not entirely relevant to UAM, but tangible verification could help set the benchmark. It will take some time while statistically significant data is collected and reliable assessment means appear.

The proposed categorisation of stakeholders defines high-level categories that could orient cities and municipalities. Nevertheless, finer categorisation might be needed with the increasing number of UAM operations and the growing maturity of business models. In this work, the interrelationships are indicated from the point of cities and municipalities. Along with the maturity of the UAM domain, it would be interesting to continue this work and identify the primary and secondary relationships from every stakeholder towards the other ones. As the AiRMOUR project is already finishing, and the jump in number of UAM operations and maturity of business models is not observed, it would be interesting to come to these matters in time. This work could be brought outside of the AiRMOUR project consortium and conducted by a broader range of European and international stakeholders involved in the development of UAM and the more recent notions, such as Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) introduced by the European Drone Strategy 2.0 [33] and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) [49] promoted by ICAO and NASA.

The CO2 Life Cycle Assessment model for UAS and eVTOL developed within the project may be replicated to assess the other operations within UAM, not only EMS. Ground infrastructure emissions amount to over 50% of the total UAM system life-cycle emissions, even under conservative assumptions, due to hangar thermal management and construction-time emissions. Therefore, energy-efficient hangar solutions and using existing infrastructure are essential to keep the environmental footprint from UAM at an acceptable level.

UAM is an industry in its infancy, with almost no concrete experience from UAM services enabled by BVLOS flight missions or with air taxi-type aircraft. The scalability indices are, therefore, based on the perceived, rather than objective, prerequisites to scaling up UAM services. With growing experience from actual operations, experience-based scalability assessment methods should be created. Until then, the AiRMOUR scalability assessment should only be regarded as qualitative and indicative.

Business models are probably the most sensitive results of the research. Organisations aspiring to incorporate UAM into their operational frameworks should anticipate and budget for up-front expenditures. That might encompass the acquisition and setup of a fleet but will also include comprehensive training programs and robust infrastructure development. Essential infrastructural elements include dedicated landing zones with secure access, state-of-the-art maintenance hubs, and cutting-edge technological systems tailored for UAM integration. Moreover, to navigate this evolving landscape effectively, these organisations must remain abreast of the latest regulatory changes concerning drones and eVTOL aircraft, given the profound impact such regulations can have on operational dynamics.

The answer to the research questions: How can the operational and environmental attractiveness and sustainability of Urban Air Mobility be achieved? – is still open. The research does not unveil the working under any circumstances guidance following which it is possible to achieve a high level of operational and environmental attractiveness and sustainability of UAM. A pathway towards operationally and environmentally attractive and sustainable UAM is complicated. But in the case of success, it is awarded. The authors of this work hope that their recommendations will help to succeed with planning and establishing the UAM operations.

Read the report here.

This document outlines the common findings in the literature to date, such as, a generally positive attitude amongst the public toward UAM, a general lack of knowledge on the topic, higher acceptance for emergency use cases and similar concerns, including safety and noise. It can greatly assist the UAM industry and associated stakeholders, including cities, in identifying successful strategies for future engagement and advance development of UAM services that are acceptable to all.

This study shows the use of different engagement strategies, tested in demonstration events, which resulted in increasing the public acceptance of UAM over the time and, tentatively, readiness for widespread applications of drones.

To investigate the public’s perception on UAM risks, benefits and concerns a set of questionnaires and surveys was performed, independently and in conjunction with flight demonstrations.

A key finding of the study is the existence of a general positive attitude towards UAM. Yet more important it highlights a lack of knowledge on the topic among the general public. This might lead to a rejection of UAM despite a general positive attitude. Furthermore, public acceptance levels towards drones significantly differ for different use cases; the medical emergency use case was found to be the very acceptable, even though it was not the most accepted one.

Real-life demonstrations are effective in conveying the UAM concept and bridging the gap between UAM’s technological complexity and public understanding. Citizens expressed their concerns regarding drones operations regarding safety standards and trust in technology. A notable difference in the priority of concerns was recorded, respondents with less knowledge on UAM rated safety and privacy as their top concerns, whereas those with the highest knowledge on UAM rated social inequality and inner-city occupation due to infrastructure requirements as their top concerns. This finding suggest that greater awareness and effective communication on the potential benefits of drones are necessary to increase public acceptance of drones and UAM services.

The results of this study have important implications for policymakers and stakeholders in the UAM industry, providing insights into the public’s acceptance of these technologies and the factors that shape their attitudes towards them. One way to lead it positively and to further increase the overall acceptance of UAM could be with the encouragement of information campaigns tailored to specific target groups identified in this AiRMOUR acceptance study.

Read the whole report here.

This report provides an understanding of how Urban Air Mobility (UAM) can be integrated into the existing urban context as well as their evolving policies.

Around 70% of Europe’s population lives in urban areas (European Court of Auditors, April 2019), traditional traffic infrastructure faces increasing challenges, particularly during peak hours and along routes to and from urban areas. The introduction of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) marks a shift into the third dimension—the airspace. AiRMOUR, a research and innovation project, focuses on exploring sustainable air mobility for emergency and medical services in urban contexts. The initial deployment of emergency and medical services using UAM has the potential to extend its benefits to other UAM service models over time. This deliverable aims to examine the insights gained from the AiRMOUR project and assess their implications for urban stakeholders and relevant policies. The project seeks to understand how the lessons learned can contribute to a more broader advancement of UAM in urban environments.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a concept that has the potential to revolutionize air travel, the way we move within cities, as well as transport goods. UAM has gained significant attention in recent years as a potential solution for addressing congestion and mobility challenges in metropolitan areas. (Anna Straubinger, August, 2020). UAM and or aerial vehicle concepts for passenger transportation promise a safer, more reliable, and more environmental alternative to alleviate congestion on transport networks (AirBus, 2017).

The earlier introduction of sustainable urban modes, such as cycling, carsharing, and bus rapid transport, along with the re-introduction of rail-based urban transportation like trams and light rail, has revealed that congestion is a more intricate issue. It is not solely addressed by the introduction of new means of mobility. While Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is not poised to replace most existing mobility and transportation services, the anticipation is that as the first commercial Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights for goods become operational and initial demonstrations of people transportation with electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft are showcased, UAM will become a part of the modal choice. Eventually, it is expected to contribute to co-modality and become a component of multimodal transportation.

The introduction of U-space, a traffic management system for lower airspace, coupled with the evolution of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) also known as remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) or drones, is anticipated to enhance the capacity of urban mobility and transport infrastructure.

For UAM to be a success, it will have to integrate into the wider city infrastructure. An integration that allows the provision of service levels both for personal transportation and for urban logistics. It should also offer quality and time savings over existing modes at a price point that individuals are willing to pay. For that policies and regulations have to evolve and service to be set up in ways that are acceptable to local communities. In addition, for any public authority to allow for such services, it will need to be assured that there is a real social value of UAM and a contribution to the wider socio-economic impacts.

Considering the AiRMOUR Emergency and Medical Service (EMS) use cases for which usage of UAM was validated, this deliverable tries to establish a link to present U-space and UAM regulations, strategies and future urban policies. Secondly an analysis of different urban planning practices (e.g., sustainable urban mobility plans, urban development planning) will take place. Following will also be looked at other urban social, noise and environmental policies at the urban level to allow for EMS UAM services. Therewith a multidimensional map of stakeholder interests and citizen engagement strategies that allow for public acceptance.

Based on the quantitative data collected on public acceptance, perceptions of risks, safety, noise, visual pollution and privacy, as well as the gathered qualitative feedback from the workshops organized in the frame of the AIRMOUR live validations in Helsinki, Kassel, Stavanger and Luxembourg it is possible to provide an insight on the impacts for each of relevant urban policy domains.

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Following consumer behavior theory, perceived risk is a multidimensional variable in user capability to adopt technologies. The definition of perceived risk in the context of the present AiRMOUR concept includes that of uncertainty about what UAM operations may provide in service and if this pays of the costs of operational implications. As from basic research, the risks arising from the public being exposed to UAM operations are not necessarily related to the objective operational risk indicated by an accident frequency and measured by a probability of fatalities or personal injuries per time.

Work package 4.2 ”Assessment and effective mitigation of perceived UAM risks and safety levels” deals with developing an understanding and means of how perceived risks can be assessed and even changed concerning its discrepancy to objective risk. The results shall be used to develop concepts on how to mitigate the perceived risks and thus increase the subjective perception of safety of the population affected by UAM services.

This work package focuses on those risks that the population is exposed by the operations of UAM:

The risks arising from the purchase and ownership of UAM as well as psychological risks, as assumed in theory, are disregarded.

Following the examination of the perceived risk, the focus is on mitigating this risk. In general, the approach of perceived risk mitigation lies on closing the gap between actual and perceived risk through appropriate measures applied to compromised people within the context of UAM activities. The design of these measures is differentiated along the dimensions presented above in order to tackle the root cause of the perceived risk.

The objectives of Work Package 4.2 are fourfold and described as follows:

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Flying Forward 2020, AiRMOUR, and AURORA are Research and Innovation projects on Urban Air Mobility (UAM) funded by the European Commission. Their 3-year journey will come to an end soon. Collectively, they represent 34 organisations from Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. 

Three years of work and many relevant results, tools and lessons haven now been condensed into ten joint recommendations. Of course, these do not claim nor aim to be complete: they serve to start discussions and as a call to action for the entire UAM community – regulators, industry and authorities alike. They also aim to support future endeavours in the drone and UAM field. For a deeper understanding of the basis for these recommendations, we recommend you watch the videos, use the tools and read the reports on airmour.eu, ff2020.eu and aurora-uam.eu.

This guidebook – translated to six languages – is designed to help city and regional decision makers, as well as Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operators, understand whether and how investing in urban air mobility is likely to provide benefits. Additionally, the intention is to present what questions and elements are involved in implementing a successful and sustainable UAM service network.

The guidebook is also relevant for other stakeholders in Europe, as it combines the four main points of view relevant to UAM: urban design and mobility; aviation safety; public acceptance and UAM integration process management.

The Foresight analysis D2.1 highlighted how past trends are not sufficient as a basis for planning the future. On the one hand, the human needs of mobility and privacy are immutable. On the other hand, both innovation and the climate crisis challenge the status quo. We also consider physical factors, such as the urban space that is available for UAM and the growing battle for energy and raw materials. We aim to offer the reader insights on the decision making and value added of UAM in general, seen through the lens of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) with an expanded focus to other UAM applications where beneficial.

The UAM Integration Guidebook is a curated introduction to most AiRMOUR deliverables developed during the course of a three-year, Horizon 2020 research and innovation project with links provided for further reading. The Guidebook has been refined in discussions with pilot and replicator cities and regions and other relevant stakeholders related to the integration of UAM and EMS.

This document is mainly intended as an internal report to the AiRMOUR consortium, summarizing the live validation events of manned UAM EMS scenarios. All findings from the validations will be summarized in D7.6, and the project final report. Hence, this report will be very brief in nature, limiting ourselves to high level details of the validation events.

The planning, preparation and execution of the live demonstration flight programs was based on the proposed objectives and the AiRMOUR project decision to use two concrete high-level EMS scenarios. The selected scenarios (as specified in WP2) were: eVTOL to “bring specialist medical personnel to the scene or a patient to the hospital”. UAS to “deliver EMS equipment or supplies to the scene or samples to a laboratory”. For each partner city we focused on one use-case as specified in Deliverable D2.2

The overall project objectives have been broken down into sub-objectives. Each sub-objective was assessed using one or several success criteria. Each success criterium is evaluated against a target value, as described in deliverable D7.1. Validation flights was only one of several tools available to evaluate the project’s success criteria. The live validation events were generally a part of validation events, with workshops focusing on getting as much data as possible through flights, simulations, table-top exercises and stakeholder interviews.

Hence, beyond the live validation of flying with drones and manned eVTOLs, this was also an opportunity to validate all AiRMOUR tools (standards, public acceptance maps, operational schemes, etc.) that were developed in the project. In addition to service as validation activities, the validation flights were also central elements to local stakeholder engagement in each of the validation locations.

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Most routine transportation missions in the medical sector are conducted by ground transport. Ambulances have a level of priority that allows them increased efficiency in traffic and taxis are routinely used for transportation between hospitals. Emergency evacuations may be conducted by air.

Typically, evacuations from disaster areas (epidemics, natural events etc.) often call for the use of airplanes and helicopters are frequently used for mountain/remote terrain operations and urgent transportation. While airplanes operate on runway strips, necessary of consequent dimensions and almost systematically known in advance, helicopters can operate to or from areas that are more complex because unknown.

With the fast development of new capabilities, the Urban Air Mobility segment could offer to perform some missions more efficiently than current alternatives. Efficiency gains could be of time, societal or economic value. Most of those vehicles could have the capabilities to land or hover in the same manner as helicopters do yet offer some gains during the flight phase.

As with all processes, the modification of one step, here the shift from one mode of transportation to another, requires changes in the workflows, processes, trainings, and skills of the involved personnel. The objectives and success criteria of the project, whose results are shown in this document cover the entire value chain of the mission from the time the need is felt at a location to the time the need is fulfilled, and the situation is back to nominal.

Examples of such need are the low inventory of blood samples at a location that needs restocking, the emergency calls received from an operator because a person is having a heart attack in a location described over the phone or the need to relocate a human being, whether patient or doctor.

Without providing all details along the workflow, this document builds on the concept of operations defined in AiRMOUR deliverable 7.1 and leverage the findings along the project. Multiple metrics of different nature, ability to perform the mission, infrastructure, economics, environment, etc. have been formulated in D7.1 and measured in this D7.6 based on live validations, simulations and desktop research from several AiRMOUR countries.

Read the report here.

As urbanization intensifies and population ageing continues, while workforce cannot not grow with the same pace, cities worldwide are grappling with increased demands on their Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Traditional ground-based EMS face challenges related to traffic congestion, remote access, and delayed response times.

Emerging aviation technologies, known as Urban Air Mobility (UAM) or Automated Air Mobility (AAM), promise to enhance emergency medical aid delivery. However, a knowledge gap persists concerning the economic feasibility of integrating UAM into existing EMS systems, hindering decision-making for policymakers, EMS providers, and stakeholders.

This research bridges this gap by providing a comprehensive understanding of the economic, operational, and societal implications of utilizing UAM in EMS. The study identifies and quantifies the direct and indirect costs associated with UAM and traditional EMS operations, evaluates their benefits, compared safety records, discusses social and ethical implications, and provides actionable insights for potential UAM adoption.

The research concluded that both Drone EMS Delivery and eVTOL UAM EMS Operation offer promising alternatives to traditional EMS delivery and HEMS operation respectively. While the initial investment in technology and infrastructure for these services can be higher than their traditional counterparts, the operational cost per mission and per minute of flight time can be considerably lower. This is largely due to the absence of crew costs and the lower fuel consumption of drones and eVTOLs.

However, the research also highlighted several challenges, including the immaturity and less widespread implementation of the technology, issues of privacy, noise pollution, and job displacement. Despite these challenges, the cost-benefit analysis suggests that the benefits of drone EMS delivery and eVTOL UAM EMS operation could potentially outweigh the costs. As technology advances and regulatory frameworks adapt, these innovative methods of EMS delivery could revolutionize the field, providing faster, more efficient, and potentially more cost-effective solutions.

The research recommends careful planning, strategic investments, and a keen understanding of regulatory landscapes for organizations looking to invest in or integrate UAM in EMS operations. Policymakers should develop clear regulations for the use of UAM delivery drones and eVTOLs in EMS services, addressing privacy, noise pollution, and safety issues. Infrastructure and technology investments are key, and public trust in these new technologies will be paramount for their adoption.

In conclusion, the integration of UAM in EMS operations is a complex yet rewarding endeavour. It requires strategic planning, significant investments, and a deep understanding of the regulatory landscape. However, with the right approach, it can revolutionize the EMS sector, providing faster, more efficient, and potentially more cost-effective solutions.

Read the report here.