AiRMOUR use case report published: Functional requirements for selected manned and unmanned UAM EMS scenarios

The report produced by University Medical Center Groningen builds bridges between novel forms of aviation and healthcare.

The AiRMOUR project has published a report on functional requirements for selected manned and unmanned UAM Emergency Medical Services scenarios. The partner responsible for the deliverable is University Medical Center Groningen and it is part of the AiRMOUR work package called ‘Emergency Medical Services UAM concept description’.

The purpose of the report is to select and define generic urgent medical use cases where UAM (Urban Air Mobility) is a transportation concept that is specifically created to move people and goods. It is done in the lower-level airspace (<150m height) of metropolitan areas using electric novel vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Secondly, the report zooms in on partner cities and regions within the AiRMOUR project and proposes valuable UAM urgent medical use cases. The suggestions are based on the input of local stakeholders, for example from the medical sector, city authorities and research entities.

“The report starts with the common history of aviation and healthcare and explains how they work together at present. It then continues to explain the new aircraft that the aviation sector is creating and explores new healthcare use cases based on the new types of aircraft”, says Innovation Manager Jaap Hatenboer from University Medical Center Groningen.

All use cases in the report can be characterised by two main features. The first feature is the type of cargo, which can either be a medical product, like equipment, blood, or samples or “human cargo”, such as medical specialists or patients. The second feature is the possibility to provide a predetermined landing zone for potential aircraft use (for example between two medical facilities) or ad hoc destinations (such as accident sites).

The report defines four generic UAM urgent medical use cases. The use cases are characterised by the type of vehicle (small unmanned aircraft, sUA or passenger carrying eVTOL) and the type of landing zone (interfacility or ad-hoc).

The requirements include infrastructure, aircraft capabilities, regulatory or knowledge-based infrastructure and operational requirements. All use cases are defined by functional requirements which provide guidelines on how to set up and operate such use cases for the highest value proposition. The requirements are detailed concerning a viable and a minimum viable system (MVS). The viable system describes a future system neglecting implementation hurdles offering the maximum value proposition to the customer (i.e., the healthcare system). The MVS makes a trade-off compared to the viable system allowing for early commercial application.

“The main challenge with the report was to create a common understanding between ‘aviation’ and ‘healthcare’”, says Hatenboer. “We will continue to improve and deepen the level of understanding through this project”.

See the AiRMOUR deliverable 2.2 ‘Functional requirements for selected manned and unmanned UAM EMS scenarios’ (pdf)

For further information, please contact:

UMCG Ambulancezorg

Jaap Hatenboer, j.hatenboer(at)rav.nl

Jannik Krivohlavek, j.krivohlavek(at)rav.nl