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Transportation
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Research Procedia
Procedia 00
00 (2016)
(2016) 000–000
000–000
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Transportation Research Procedia 41 (2019) 101–103

International
International Scientific
Scientific Conference
Conference on
on Mobility
Mobility and
and Transport
Transport
Urban Mobility – Shaping the Future Together
Urban Mobility – Shaping the Future Together
mobil.TUM
mobil.TUM 2018,
2018, 13-14
13-14 June
June 2018,
2018, Munich,
Munich, Germany
Germany

GIS-based Infrastructure Requirement Analysis for an Electric

Vertical Take-off and Landing Vehicle-based Transportation
System
Dimas
Dimas Numan
Numan Fadhil
Fadhil a,, Rolf
a
Rolf Moeckel
Moeckel a,, Raoul
a
Raoul Rothfeld
b, *
Rothfeld b, *
aTechnical University of Munich, Arcisstr. 21, 80333 Munich, Germany
a
Technical University of Munich, Arcisstr. 21, 80333 Munich, Germany
b
b Bauhaus
Bauhaus Luftfahrt
Luftfahrt e.V.,
e.V., Willy-Messerschmitt-Str.
Willy-Messerschmitt-Str. 1,
1, 82024
82024 Taufkirchen,
Taufkirchen, Germany
Germany

©
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
© 2017
2017
This
The
The
is an
Authors.
Authors.
open access
Published
Published by
by Elsevier
article under Elsevier
the CC
B.V.
B.V.
BY-NC-ND licenseof(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee mobil.TUM 2018.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientificcommittee
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committeeofofmobil.TUM 2018.
the mobil.TUM18.
Keywords: Urban
Keywords: Urban Air
Air Mobility;
Mobility; eVTOL;
eVTOL; Infrastructure;
Infrastructure; Vertiports
Vertiports

1.
1. Introduction
Introduction

The
The number
number of of inhabitants
inhabitants inin cities
cities have
have been
been increasing
increasing and and the
the settlements
settlements are are growing
growing dispersedly
dispersedly in in many
many
regions
regions worldwide. Helped by the invention of cheap, carbon-intensive transport modes, people tend to live in
worldwide. Helped by the invention of cheap, carbon-intensive transport modes, people tend to live in the
the
periphery
periphery area,
area, within
within manageable
manageable distance
distance to
to the
the city
city centers.
centers. The
The term
term “rush
“rush hour”
hour” embodies
embodies commuting
commuting culture
culture
between
between low
low density
density peripheral
peripheral areas
areas and
and high-density
high-density citycity centers.
centers. The
The accessibility
accessibility from
from the
the city
city center
center and
and other
other
important
important destinations, such as airport, entertainment facilities, and higher education facilities, reduce as the distance
destinations, such as airport, entertainment facilities, and higher education facilities, reduce as the distance
between
between the
the most
most outer
outer peripheries
peripheries settlements
settlements to to the
the city
city center
center andand other
other important
important destinations
destinations escalate
escalate and and
therefore
therefore adding travel time. As everyone has their own limitation of travel budget, in terms of travel cost and
adding travel time. As everyone has their own limitation of travel budget, in terms of travel cost and travel
travel
time,
time, the
the growing
growing size
size of
of cities
cities and
and their
their peripheries
peripheries appear
appear as as aa problem
problem for for its
its inhabitants.
inhabitants.
On
On the other side, to cope with an increase in travel time, researchers, engineers, and
the other side, to cope with an increase in travel time, researchers, engineers, and scientists
scientists are
are putting
putting efforts
efforts
to
to establish new concepts of commuting and travelling. Despite the increasing travel choices as a result from
establish new concepts of commuting and travelling. Despite the increasing travel choices as a result from urban
urban
policies
policies that
that favor
favor to
to urbanization
urbanization andand agglomeration,
agglomeration, traffic
traffic congestion
congestion stillstill increased.
increased. Over
Over the
the past
past 50
50 years,
years, traffic
traffic
congestion
congestion has
has increased
increased significantly
significantly within
within metropolitan
metropolitan areasareas (Mondschein
(Mondschein and and Taylor,
Taylor, 2017).
2017). Even
Even ifif the
the city
city

*
* Corresponding
Corresponding author.
author. E-mail
E-mail Address
Address raoul.rothfeld@bauhaus-luftfahrt.net
raoul.rothfeld@bauhaus-luftfahrt.net

2214-241X
2214-241X ©© 2017
2017 The
The Authors.
Authors. Published
Published by
by Elsevier
Elsevier B.V.
B.V.
Peer-review under
Peer-review under responsibility
responsibility of
of the
the organizing
organizing committee
committee of
of mobil.TUM
mobil.TUM 2018.
2018.

2352-1465  2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the mobil.TUM18.
10.1016/j.trpro.2019.09.020
102 Dimas Numan Fadhil et al. / Transportation Research Procedia 41 (2019) 101–103
2 Fadhil/ Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2016) 000–000

wants to expand existing networks, they would have to invest an immense amount of taxpayers’ money. The
burgeoning advancement of aviation technologies makes the aviation manufacturers able to build rapid, less noisy,
and more environmentally-friendly Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) vehicle. From major aviation
manufacturers to slim-structured new start-ups are now competing on this new futuristic urban transport mode (Vascik
and Hansman, 2017). Uber, as a major On-Demand Mobility (ODM) provider worldwide, also nurtures the progress
of this transport mode as it released its Uber Elevate white paper and held an international summit about the future of
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) topic. Operating the futuristic VTOL vehicle in an ODM concept makes the conceptual
UAM costs similar to surface ODM service for the same travelled kilometers, yet might provide faster travel time
(Uber Elevate, 2016). Although it looks promising, the conceptual urban air transport mode, the so called ODM
Aviation, is not deliberately developed and designed to reduce traffic congestion and loosen up cramped public
transport, but rather to provide high accessibility for broaden settlement inhabitants within metropolitan area, as well
as providing better mobility service for disable people.
Not only aircraft manufacturers but also startups, technology companies, and car manufacturers are contesting in
VTOL development race. Since most of them are coming with their own concepts and ideas of what a VTOL will be
manufactured, this thesis will only be considering particular VTOL vehicle type called electric Vertical Take-Off and
Landing (eVTOL) vehicle. The development of eVTOL vehicle began when drone invented. The way drone take-off
and landing reflected the potential to develop aerial vehicle further. Alike drone, the usage of distributed electric
propulsion in eVTOL vehicle brings a lot of advantages, for instance reduced energy cost and reduced maintenance
hours (Duffy, Wakayama and Hupp, 2017). Regarding community acceptance, which noise annoyance plays an
important role, eVTOL, such as CityAirbus (Airbus, 2017), Volocopter (e-volo GmbH, 2017) and Lilium Jet (Lilium,
2017), claimed emitting low acoustic footprint.

2. Research Objective and Methodology

Urban Air Mobility not only requires aircraft, which can safely accomplish vertical landing processes, but also
groundside infrastructure to provide seamless access for the passengers and maintenances for the vehicles. The term
Vertiport denotes groundside infrastructure of eVTOL Vehicle. Vascik created several Concept of Operations
(ConOps) that obviously demand Vertiport as a dedicated place for the passenger to board and alight into eVTOL
(Vascik and Hansman, 2017). Compared to the initial investment requirement for surface-based urban transportation
mode, the construction of Vertiports could cost less. The operator has chances to utilize current helipads with some
modification according to eVTOL vehicle requirements, as well as alter rooftop of high raise parking garages (Vascik
and Hansman, 2017). Nevertheless, there is only a few studies that have been done assessing the infrastructure
requirement of an UAM operation. To date, there is only a few focused studies about eVTOL or general VTOL
infrastructure requirements (HeliExperts International, 2017; Seeley, 2017). Moreover, there is no established
standard on how a Vertiport should be designed, constructed and placed (HeliExperts International, 2017). This
research aims to define and set the ground infrastructure requirements for eVTOL operation.
To establish economically sustainable UAM, the placement of Vertiports should cover potential demand of UAM.
This principle also applies in surface public transport system, which designed its network to attract as many passengers
as possible (Vuchic, 2005). The potential demand of eVTOL vehicle passengers can be measured using accessibility
analysis. Interplay between land-use components, transportation component, temporal component and individual
component influence accessibility to opportunities (Geurs and van Wee, 2004). Interpolating population density, job
density and land value data, accessibility analysis will present isochrone maps with Vertiport as its center. These maps
can also be called “Vertiports-based measures”. The number of affluent residences as potential user of UAM service
in particular metropolitan area is the expected result from this accessibility analysis. Unlike surface public transport
network, UAM faces significant challenge from severe weather condition. Although the advancement of eVTOL
vehicle technology might overcome this challenge, consideration of influencing factors, as a previous chapter result,
still important to ensure safety and reliability of UAM operation. These factors might also affect the design of
Vertiport, as well as the placement of Vertiports. Aiming to establish sustainable and reliable operation of UAM
service from groundside infrastructure point of view, this research endeavors to develop the sequence of Vertiport
placement, based on literature review.
 Dimas Numan Fadhil et al. / Transportation Research Procedia 41 (2019) 101–103 103
Fadhil/ Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2016) 000–000 3

3. Conclusion

Following the results of the literature review, geographic information system (GIS)-based software will be utilized
for a case study application. The importance of having such a case study is to validate whether the sequence of
Vertiport placement convincing enough. Errors and misinterpretation can also be discovered by validating the
sequence of Vertiport placement into a case study.
Providing an assessment that reveal where exactly to build groundside infrastructure for an UAM system might
assist the stakeholders (operators, investors, manufacturers and else) in spending initial investment efficiently. Step-
wise Vertiports placement according to demand is also necessary to develop public perception about UAM in an
economically sustainable way.

References

Airbus (2017) CityAirbus demonstrator passes major propulsion testing milestone. Available at: http://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-
releases/en/2017/10/cityairbus-demonstrator-passes-major-propulsion-testing-mileston.html (Accessed: 28 November 2017).
Duffy, M. J., Wakayama, S. R. and Hupp, R. (2017) ‘A Study in Reducing the Cost of Vertical Flight with Electric Propulsion’, 17th AIAA
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