Creation of a System Taxonomy for Advanced Air Mobility Operations

Abstract

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is an emerging field that envisions highly automated, high-tempo, passenger-carrying aircraft operating in urban environments. Numerous stakeholders have emerged in this space, each proposing unique concepts of operation (CONOPS). While this technology will enable a revolutionary leap in modern transportation, many challenges remain unaddressed. Discrepancies exist between envisioned AAM operations, current technology, and outdated federal regulations. This has led to an unclear vision within the industry of the current maturity level of technology and the path of development needed to achieve proposed CONOPS. We seek to fill this gap by integrating multiple proposed conceptual systems into a single, unified path forward for the field. The literature on AAM covers a diverse array of interconnected themes, each containing a multitude of considerations that require extensive exploration and understanding. In the present work, a literature integration was conducted to collate the numerous proposed concepts and envisioned works that exist within the AAM literature. With this information, a comprehensive AAM taxonomy was created to represent this integration of concepts and rectify the inconsistencies within industry CONOPS. This taxonomy will assist future stakeholders in navigating this intricate field while contributing to the safe and efficient development and deployment of AAM.