Integrating manned and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in urban and high-density airspace requires a degree of autonomy that does not yet exist in current-day air traffic management.  This vision of shared airspace depends on the provision of U-space services capable of managing safe separation, dynamic flight re-routing, and demand/capacity balancing. The operational capabilities of these advanced U-space services are foundational elements of the future Digital European Sky.

Metropolis 2 was one of the few exploratory research projects working with the most advanced (U4) U-space services.  It consolidated results from U1/U2 services to provide a  unified approach to airspace design, demand/capacity balancing, flight planning, and separation management.  The project explored the future of urban air traffic mobility  (UAM) by investigating different combinations of strategic deconfliction, tactical deconfliction, and dynamic capacity management. It sought to find the right balance between long-term (pre-departure) and short-term separation management.

The main focus was given to developing solutions to support safe and efficient operations of large numbers of drones without adversely affecting manned aviation.

  It explored the benefits and drawbacks of separation management paradigms with different approaches to who acts as separator: the drone, the U-space service, or a combination of both, and extended the segmentation and alignment principles of geo-vectoring to an operational concept applicable to high-capacity urban airspace. It also specifically addressed safe U-space operations within the urban scope with better social acceptance.

The project used large-scale fast-time simulations, in combination with an extensive set of metrics relating to properties such as efficiency, safety, capacity, and equity, to evaluate and compare different separation management concepts. The project developed a unified approach to airspace rules, flight planning, and separation management approaches to support safe and efficient U-space operations in urban environments.

Benefits

• Consolidated U1/U2 U-space results
• Metrics to determine safety and efficiency
• Realistic foundation for urban air mobility