Research
Artificial Intelligence and Urban Air Mobility
UAM + AI = A Winning Combination?
In director Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 dystopian film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Man (astronaut, Dr. Dave Bowman) and Machine (the spaceship’s computer system, the “heuristically programmed algorithmic computer system” aka HAL) face off over control of the ship and the astronaut’s fate. As HAL’s artificial intelligence (AI) system develops a “mind of its own,” HAL’s interests…
UAM By the Numbers in the EU
EASA Survey Says…
The European Aviation and Space Agency (EASA) surveyed EU citizens and found they, in general, had positive feelings about integrating urban air mobility into their lives.
UAS Deconfliction: A Strategic Plan
As millions of drones take to the air, how do we keep them from crashing?
The sky’s the limit, as the saying goes. Well, as it turns out, with millions of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) soon to take to the air for everything from small package delivery to surveillance and military actions, the sky is, in fact, limited. To prepare, aviation regulators around the globe are setting the stage —…
Batteries, Batteries, Batteries: Putting the e in eVTOLs
Thomas Edison, he of light bulb, phonograph, and kinetoscope fame was, to say the least, a prolific scientist and inventor. He also had more than a passing interest in batteries. You know, the things we are staking the future of eVTOLs and urban air mobility on. Industry focus is on lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries, but as Professor Dr. Martin…
eVTOL, UAS, and Now, Another UAM Acronym: LiDAR
When the UAM revolution takes off, there will be no shortage of acronyms. There’s already eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles), UAS (unmanned aerial systems), UAM (urban air mobility). Now add one more: LiDAR. A 50-year-old technology, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology, is expected to play a key role in the development of…
UAM Word of the Day/Year/Decade: Lithium
eVTOLs Need Batteries; Batteries Need Lithium
In the 1967 Oscar-winning film, The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman received a one-word piece of advice from his father’s friend at his high school graduation party: “Plastics. There’s a great future in plastics.” The film, were it to be remade today, might give a recent college grad a different one-word recommendation: Lithium. (If a few words of…