Shaping the Future of Airspace: The AMIUS Project

22 June 2022

What must urban airspace look like so that air taxis can transport people and drones can deliver medication in the future? This question forms the basis of the AMIUS (Air Mobility Integration U-Space) collaborative project within the Air Mobility Initiative (AMI), in which the RI CODE at UniBw M is participating. The project aims to create the first integrated Bavarian U-Space, connecting the city of Ingolstadt with Manching Airport.

Urban Space (U-Space) is a specialized, innovative concept for airspace that also takes drone flight paths into account and is being developed in accordance with European Union guidelines. To ensure that the integrated operation of UAS (unmanned aircraft systems), eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft), and general aviation proceeds efficiently and safely in the future, innovative traffic management concepts are required: Existing airspace management must be supplemented by an integrated UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system, thereby expanding to include the dimension of previously uncontrolled airspace.

In the AMIUS project, researchers are investigating how a digital-service-based U-Space can integrate both today’s air traffic — including its processes and technologies — and the future operational scenarios of unmanned aircraft systems and eVTOLs into a shared airspace. To this end, they are developing the necessary air traffic management functions based on the U-Space services defined by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA): On the one hand, they are analyzing the existing infrastructure and the resulting cost structure; on the other hand, they are focusing on the secure and efficient exchange of data and the use of a wide variety of communication networks. In addition, flights — for example, from the Manching Drone Center to Ingolstadt Central Station — are planned as concrete use cases.

The project focuses on the design and technical implementation of a demonstrator featuring a UTM system (global coordinate system) and corresponding ground infrastructure (takeoff and landing points, flight corridors, passenger flows), supplemented by innovative communication technologies and a central control station. The project will also investigate how the data flow between the participating airspace users and the storage of relevant data can be secured against unauthorized external interference.

The RI CODE at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich is collaborating with the Institute for Air Transport Systems at the Hamburg University of Technology on a subproject within the AMIUS initiative. The subproject has two objectives: First, it aims to provide reliable insights into how the necessary flight control and communication infrastructure (navigation, communication, and surveillance systems) for urban air mobility can be implemented. In this context, a use-case-specific ground traffic simulation will be developed, among other things. Second, the researchers aim to identify solutions for secure, cloud-based data storage throughout the entire lifecycle of a flight system in order to speed up data analysis and communication. Information security is a top priority here, as the predominant use of radio communication creates a significant potential for attacks. Therefore, the work will be accompanied by a continuous vulnerability analysis throughout the project’s duration.

The Air Mobility Initiative (AMI) brings together leading companies, universities, and research institutions, as well as municipalities and organizations, to advance the development of electric air transportation. A primary goal is to create the first integrated Bavarian U-Space, connecting the city of Ingolstadt with Manching Airport. The U-Space can serve as a realistic test bed for Bavarian companies in the eVTOL and UAS industries. Work on the individual AMI projects—which include AMIUS—began in January 2022. The initiative is funded with a total of €17 million from the Free State of Bavaria and €24 million from the federal government. Together with the industry’s own funds, this results in a total investment of €86 million over a three-year period.

_{The AMIUS partners, listed in alphabetical order, are: Airbus Urban Mobility, Airbus Defence and Space, Airbus Helicopters, APSYS Risk Engineering GmbH, amd sigma strategic airport development GmbH, Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V., Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz, brigk - Digitales Gründerzentrum der Region Ingolstadt GmbH, C-3 Comm Systems, DB Regio represented by Regionalverkehr Oberbayern GmbH (RVO), DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, Diehl Aerospace GmbH, Droniq GmbH, EchoStar Mobile Limited, Flughafen Nürnberg GmbH - Airport Nürnberg, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., f.u.n.k.e. AVIONICS GmbH, HENSOLDT Sensors GmbH, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Munich Airport International GmbH, Schwarzbild Medienproduktion GmbH, SkyFive AG, Skyports, Stadt Ingolstadt, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Technische Universität Hamburg, Technische Universität München, Telekom Deutschland GmbH, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Universität Stuttgart}.

Contact points

PD Dr. Corinna Schmitt
Projektkoordinatorin AMIUS-UniBw M
Forschungsinstitut CODE
Universität der Bundeswehr München

Email: corinna.schmitt@unibw.de  

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing Volker Gollnick 
Teilprojekt UAM und CNS-Infrastruktursimulation
Technische Universität Hamburg
Institut für Lufttransportsysteme

Email: volker.gollnick@tuhh.de


Dr. Andreas Thellmann
Leiter Air Mobility Initiative

Email: info@ami.bayern

_{Photo: Simulation des CityAirbus NextGen über München. © Airbus Urban Mobility}